Blogging: Så rykker datajournalisterne ud

Udskriver din læge medicin til dig, fordi du er syg? Eller udskriver din læge medicin til dig, fordi han er konsulent for et bestemt lægemiddelfirma? Ja – jeg har da fluks slået min egen læge op! ”Læger til salg” var dagens vinderhistorie på Dagbladet Informations Nyhedshacker-aktion. Vinderen er selvfølgelig på programmet til Data Harvest i Bruxelles om et par uger.

Story archive growing

I ongoingly add stories to my archive, as I need them and find the time. This archive thus is not complete.

Some of the stories I wrote for Danish daily Information are  here, some of the stories and quotes on Danmarks Radio are here.

Looting the Sea II

Spain is the most powerful fishing nation in a region where economies and fish stocks are in shambles. A team of reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists examined the Spanish fishing industry’s political influence, global reach and criminal record. The stories reveal an industry more subsidized by taxpayers than any other in the European Union, even as it has racked up an extensive history of flouting rules and breaking laws.

Nieman Reports: The challenge of crossborder reporting

In the spring of 2011 the Nieman Reports of Harvard University picked up on cross-border reporting.

Reading the list of content of the Nieman Reports spring issue was like meeting a group of long year friends: Stefan Candea, Stanimir Vaglenov, Vlad Lavrov, Allain Lallemand, Henrik Kaufholz, Nils Mulvad…

Of “our” projects Nils was asked to write about Farmsubsidy.org, Henrik about Scoop and I about cross-border reporting in Europe and Journalismfund.eu.

Looting the Sea I: The Black Market in Bluefin Tuna

Looting the Sea I is an award-winning investigation focused on the prized Eastern Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, a sushi delicacy served in restaurants worldwide. For seven months, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists deployed a team of 12 reporters to investigate the bluefin trade. The project found that the demise of the bluefin was directly linked to years of widespread fraud, negligence, and lack of oversight that spanned the entire bluefin supply chain — from fishing fleets and tuna ranches to distributors. The investigation included a 26-minute documentary co-produced between ICIJ and London-based tve that aired on BBC World News and numerous reprints and quotes as described in my Journalisten.dk blog. Read about the impact of the story.

Dangerous suspicion

Farlige mistanker - Har ansete dommere i Sachsen holdt hånden over bordelejere? Det spørgsmål er kogt op i Tyskland til en ophedet debat – ikke mindst blandt journalister og forskellige medier.

Macabre trade in human tissue

Makaber handel med ligdele - Hud, sener, bånd, væv – alt kan bruges af medicinalindustrien. Især i USA er der et blomstrende marked. Nogle gange er vejen fra død krop til en potentielt hjælpende operation ikke fuldt lovligt – og nogle gange ovenikøbet dybt sårende for de pårørende.

Blogging: In praise of Bulgarian journalists

After our meeting in Brussels in May 2010 analysing and writing stories about the new EU farmsubsidy data, I was so happy about how Bulgarian journalists had used the data, I blogged about the Bulgarian follow up stories.

Blogging: Cross-border effort revealed fraud with EU-money

Early May, a bare old industry building turned meeting place in Brussels. Four large tables, about 20-30 journalists and programmers, all staring on their open labtops. Sometimes they talk, pointing to each others screens, often they just work. Loads of coffee, for lunch there are pretty dry sandwiches.

The journalists share fresh data about the beneficiaries of the € 50+ billion annual EU farmsubsidies. They are digging for stories. And they succeed. The most prominent story this day is the one about a Bulgarian minister granting hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Euros in subsidies to his wife and daughter for just that year.

Slipping through the net

In 2009 I analysed the access to information about beneficiaries of EUs fishsubsidies. The subsidies are criticised from various sides, but in large parts of the EU they are hard to access, so decent reporting is difficult.

In spite of the excellent attempt to introduce more openness in the EU by then Commissioner Siim Kallas, transparency did not really improve when it came to fishsubsidies. On the contrary: As data were not held centrally anymore, it was often even more difficult to get them.