Intermediate

Backgrounding a business

How to search for proxies and tools for covering business, non-profits and the economy overall.

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    • Secure communications with sources and tipsters

    Tips and traps: Tools such as Signal app, Freedome and VPNs to keep you, your data and your sources safe.

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    • Basic databases in Google Flourish and other tools

    A few easy tools to help you show your work: Google Flourish, Airtable and Tableizer.

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    • Advanced fact-checking for reporters

    Fact-checking images, video and verifying facts.

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    • What do you mean, it’s “statistically significant?”

    Advanced math for journalists.

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    • The best data about inequality

    What are the best datasets out there and what stories can they tell?

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    • Investigative/data skills series: Data visualization using DataWrapper

    In part I of our two-part series, “Data visualization for everyone,” we explore DataWrapper — an easy but powerful tool available to journalists across Gannett.

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    • Finding diverse expert sources

    This session will show you how to use expert databases to find vetted sources, what to look for with “faux experts” and how to follow experts when they publish.

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    • Fact-Checking IV: Fact-Checking Videos

    Was the video doctored? How can we see when and where a video was first published? We’ll explore how with Watch Frame-by-Frame and Amnesty International’s YouTube Dataviewer.

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    • Fact-Checking III: Put Your Photo Fact-Checking Skills to the Test

    We’ll give you three photos to fact-check with context shared (for real) on social media about each photo. Your job is to reverse image search each photo to see if the context is accurate or if the photo has been misrepresented.

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    • Fact-Checking II: Fact-Checking Photos

    How can we see when and where a photo was first published? We’ll explore how with Google Image Search, TinEye and FotoForensics.

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    • Intro to mapchecking.com

    Do you need to estimate a crowd size at a large outdoor event such as a protest, parade, concert or other ticketless event? Then MapChecking.com is the tool for you.

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    • Unlocking the power of Excel pivot tables

    Slice and dice data to to organize your reporting, find patterns and reveal better stories.

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    • Data visualization introduction

    Visualizations can help make a complex story simpler. Play with simple data visualization tools, learn how to automatically import data into a map, and explore the elegant templates of Flourish.

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    • Introduction to using data in your reporting

    An overview of the key data analysis tools and techniques used to produce investigative stories, with examples of stories that were made possible with these tools.

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    • Backgrounding like a boss: Reporting on people and companies with free tools

    Even great reporters can get tricked by fake names or sketchy backgrounds. We’ll walk through some websites and strategies you can use to create a routine and spot potential red flags before you get burned.

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    • Advanced Search: Power tools for search, research and analysis

    See what users in your area are searching and discover story ideas on Google Trends. Explore Backlight, an AI tool for parsing massive amounts of documents.

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    • Building a public records mindset

    A discussion on developing a documents state of mind — the key to doing solid watchdog work on a beat.

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    • How editors and managers can help keep reporters and photographers safe during protests

    Guidance for managers, starting with planning before a charged event, to communicating and adapting as conditions change to after-action debriefs.

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    • Earning trust in your election coverage

    Learn how to defend your coverage, explain it, and demonstrate to your audience why you’re a credible source.

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    • 9 remote interviewing tips for journalists

    From the technical to the legal, how to make sure you’re covered when you can’t meet a source face-to-face.

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    • Advanced backgrounding of people and companies

    From Investigative Reporters and Editors, here’s how to build a deep well of background to inform your reporting and writing.

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    • Reporting on farm bankruptcies in your own backyard

    Using a database created by Sky Chadde, the Gannett Agriculture Data Fellow at the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, you’ll be able to localize the impact of these bankruptcies and identify trends in your community.

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    • #DoJournalismWithImpact (for digital editors)

    Got a major project planned? Why not use Architect, the new external article template from GateHouse Media? Program developer Tyson Bird touches on how this tool can be used most effectively and shows examples of the template in action.

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    • Google: Geo and mapping

    Maggie Farley, a former Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent who now works with Google News Initiative, covers Geo and Mapping.

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    • Exploring Google Trends

    Maggie Farley, a former Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent, is now working with Google News Initiative to help journalism thrive in the digital age. This video covers Google Trends.

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    • Identifying and supporting trauma among fellow journalists

    A newsroom-wide briefing and discussion on trauma and journalism, introducing best practices in coverage and the basics of self-care and collegial support.

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    • 50 tools for writing well with Roy Peter Clark

    Organized into four sections, “Nuts and Bolts,” “Special Effects,” “Blueprints for Stories,” and “Useful Habits,” this series is infused with more than 200 examples from journalism and literature.

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