The Best Online Storytelling and Journalism of 2013. In 2012 I posted a round-up of the best online journalism of the year, which grew as others added their favorites. My list focused on journalism that could only be done online, the kind of storytelling that take advantage of the unique opportunities the Internet provides. This tended to be deeply visual reporting that wove together text, audio, images and videos. As I created my 2013 list however, I saw much more data journalism and an increasing use of tools that engaged readers or rethought the basic flow of storytelling for a more participatory audience.
The ghosts of the New York Time’s “Snow Fall” article from 2012 haunted debates about online journalism in 2013 – it even became a verb. Joe Pompeo, the media reporter at Capital New York, defined “snowfalling” this way: “To execute the type of expensive, time-consuming, longform narrative multimedia storytelling that earned the Times’ ambitious ‘Snow Fall’ feature a Pulitzer last month.” The Guardian: NSA Files Decoded Like this:
Icelandic Modern Media Initiative. SKUP - The Norwegian foundation for investigative journalism. Big 4 Audit Firms Play Big Role in Offshore Murk. Global accounting giants are prime architects of the offshore money maze – and supporting characters in an array of offshore scandals For more than a decade, tax gurus at PricewaterhouseCoopers helped Caterpillar Inc., the U.S. heavy equipment maker, move profits produced by its lucrative spare-parts business from the U.S. to a tiny subsidiary in Switzerland.
Little changed except the bookkeeping. Parts were still shipped from suppliers to a warehouse in Morton, Illinois, and then shipped from the warehouse to independent dealers. But the profits were booked by the Swiss subsidiary, which paid corporate taxes of less than 6 percent a year, far lower than Caterpillar’s 29 percent rate in the U.S. By 2008, partners at the “Big 4” accounting firm worried the strategy might be threatened by Caterpillar’s decision to move some managers from Switzerland to the U.S., a shift that would underline the parts business’s small footprint in the mountain-peaked tax haven.
Thomas F. U.S. Offshore players. INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE. NEWS, COMMENTARY & INSIGHT. Consortiumnews | Independent Investigative Journalism Since 1995. Spotlight report: Driven to the Edge. Journalists. TBIJ: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets. Britain Detains the Partner of a Reporter Tied to Leaks. Mr. Greenwald’s partner, David Michael Miranda, 28, is a citizen of Brazil. He had spent the previous week in Berlin visiting Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker who has also been helping to disseminate Mr. Snowden’s leaks, to assist Mr.
Greenwald. Mr. “What’s amazing is this law, called the Terrorism Act, gives them a right to detain and question you about your activities with a terrorist organization or your possible involvement in or knowledge of a terrorism plot,” Mr. London’s Metropolitan Police Service, which had jurisdiction over the case, said in a statement that Mr. The Guardian published a report on Mr. Mr. Mr. A spokesman for the British Foreign Ministry said the episode was a “police matter” and would provide no further comment.
A lawyer for The Guardian in London was working on trying to understand what had happened, as were foreign-affairs officials for Brazil both in that country and in London, Mr. Glenn Greenwald's partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours | World news. The partner of the Guardian journalist who has written a series of stories revealing mass surveillance programmes by the US National Security Agency was held for almost nine hours on Sunday by UK authorities as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on his way home to Rio de Janeiro. David Miranda, who lives with Glenn Greenwald, was returning from a trip to Berlin when he was stopped by officers at 8.05am and informed that he was to be questioned under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The controversial law, which applies only at airports, ports and border areas, allows officers to stop, search, question and detain individuals. The 28-year-old was held for nine hours, the maximum the law allows before officers must release or formally arrest the individual. According to official figures, most examinations under schedule 7 – over 97% – last less than an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours. "David's detention was unlawful and inexcusable. Partner of NSA leaks reporter carried paper with password, says UK.
David Miranda, who was recently detained while carrying British intelligence documents through London's Heathrow Airport, reportedly wrote down the password to one of the encrypted files on a piece of paper seized by police. Miranda, partner of The Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, carried a "piece of paper containing basic instructions for accessing some data, together with a piece of paper that included the password for decrypting one of the encrypted files on the external hard drive," UK Deputy National Security Adviser Oliver Robbins said in a "statement prepared for a High Court hearing," according to the BBC.
Robbins said one file Miranda was carrying included 58,000 "highly classified UK intelligence documents," but it's not clear how many documents were part of the file said to be associated with the password. For his part, Greenwald denied that the password on its own could decrypt a document. Miranda had been traveling to Berlin to visit documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. Indicting the US Government for crimes against humanity – unsealing the evidence. It is opportune that only a couple of weeks after three-times human rights awardee Bradley Manning presented his case against the US Government for war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, details have been released (see video trailer above) of a 15 month investigation by the Guardian and the BBC into torture centres in Iraq, coordinated by US Special Forces commander, James Steele, and former US General Petraeus.
Add in evidence of system-wide torture and massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan as compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (see below) with additional evidence from a number of other sources (also below) and what we have is much more than a dossier but an indictment – unsealed and without need for a grand jury – that could form the basis of charges raised against the US Administration either in the World Court or – deliciously turning the tables – at the military tribunal of Bradley Manning. The game is afoot! Note 1. Note 2. Note 3. Note 4. Note 5. Note 6. A. B. Tracking James Steele, the alleged coordinator of Iraqi torture centres: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #1. James Steele today We have tracked down the man identified by The Guardian and the BBC who they alleged supervised death squads and torture squads, first in El Salvador, then Iraq (under General Petraeus).
James Steele, named in the joint Guardian/BBC investigation, lives in Texas and operates as a counter-insurgency consultant. Significantly he styles himself as ‘Counsellor to US Ambassador for Iraqi Security Forces’. In other words, though not officially employed by the US military he is acting in a private capacity, offering the same services he coordinated when on active service in Iraq. Note: Between now and June and the commencement of the Tribunal of the US Government for War Crimes (which the media is myopically reporting as the Trial of Bradley Manning, the person responsible for reporting these war crimes) we will be providing further details of these crimes and who the perpetrators are. A. B. . * During “Operation Just Cause” in Panama, with operational control of U.S. C. The Iraqi Wolf Brigade & ‘Frago 234′: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #2. The Wolf Brigade together with order Frago 234 (see below) was first exposed over two years ago when Wikileaks began to publish material provided by whistleblower Bradley Manning.
This article merely pulls together that material, given that in less than three months time a trial will commence. The Wolf Brigade – an Iraqi death squad, set up by US Special Forces coordinator James Steele – was the subject of a recent Guardian/BBC investigation: the full 50 minute video of this investigation is provided below. A Wolf Brigade raid at close quarters is shown above. Note 1. Bradley Manning provided information to the public domain in accordance with the guidance issued by the ICRC and subsequently is the victim of a political prosecution by the US Administration in order to deflect any investigation into war crimes he revealed. Julian Assange is similarly persecuted by the US Government and for the same reason. Note 2. The Wolf Brigade Torture and Frago 234 See also.
Guantanamo | Gareth Peirce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks, interviews with former detainees: US war crimes tribunal investigation #3. As part of our series of investigations for a proposed US war crimes tribunal we decided on the matter of Guantanamo Bay to go direct to the experts: Gareth Pierce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks and, of course, the former detainees. Below, we present highlights of the investigations conducted by Andy Worthington, links to the Wikileaks files on Guantanamo and audio interviews with former Guantanamo detainees. Above is a video of a talk (January, 2012) by Gareth Peirce, who has written a book on Guantanamo (‘Dispatches from the dark side: on Torture and the death of justice’) and whose clients include Moazzam Begg and Shakar Aamer. Breaking… Gitmo detainees on now indefinite hunger strike.
The overall picture that emerges from the Wikileaks files, Worthington’s flawless analysis, and Peirce’s observations is of a facility that history will show is of a level that any Nazi (and we use that term here in its true historical context not as a pejorative) would be proud of. A. B. 1. 2. C. Links. Afghanistan atrocities: US war crimes tribunal investigation #4.
Kabul, March 2013 Recently a small but significant demonstration in support of Bradley Manning took place in Afghanistan (see photo above). Via Wikileaks, Manning told the world the truth about what was happening there. Below, as part of our series of investigations for a proposed prosecution of the US for war crimes, we compile the evidence Manning raised (in the Afghan War Diaries) about war crimes in Afghanistan, as well as more recent evidence and extensive links. Incidentally, ask any historian and they will explain that no one – not even the Russians, not the British, not the Tartars, nor the Mongols – ever won a war in Afghanistan. War crimes 11 June, 2007. . Afghan War Logs revealed that the US-led taskforce set out with Afghan special forces to capture or kill a Taliban commander named Qarl Ur-Rahman in a valley near Jalalabad. 17 June, 2007. August 21, 2008. May 5, 2009. September 4, 2009. December 26, 2009.
February 12, 2010 . February 21, 2010. March 11, 2012. Links: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #5. Three years ago, to this week, WikiLeaks posted a 40-minute video showing an attack by US military on unarmed civilians from an Apache helicopter. The attack, which took place in New Baghdad on 12 July, 2007, saw over a dozen people killed. In the aftermath of the attack, US military officials withheld all details, despite several FOIs from Reuters (as well as innocent Iraqi civilians, two of those killed were Reuters journalists, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen).
In February 2010, Bradley Manning, a US private, uploaded the video of the attack to Wikileaks. On April 3, 2010, Wikileaks released the video ,“Collateral Murder” with added subtitles, to the world. “Collateral Murder” has since been seen by millions of people and has caused outrage. The above version of the video is a more recent one and includes Bradley Manning’s voiceover (secretly recorded as part of his testimony a few weeks back at a pre-trial hearing). ‘Dulce et decorum est’ US security contractors & child sex allegations: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #7. US officials were asked to cover up evidence of child abuse by contractors in Afghanistan – leaked diplomatic cables revealed that US officials were complicit.
DynCorp — a defense contracting firm that claimed almost $2 billion per year in revenue from U.S. tax dollars — threw a party for Afghan security recruits, featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment. DynCorp had already faced human trafficking charges (see end of article) before this incident took place. See below for more…. (This report is part of a series of investigations for a proposed US War Crimes Tribunal.
The proposed tribunal could take place in parallel with the so-called trial in June of Bradley Manning, the US soldier being prosecuted for passing on information about US war crimes. Foreign contractors employed to train Afghan policemen took drugs and paid for young “dancing boys” (see video at top of this article) to entertain them in northern Afghanistan. Note.. Iraq War and perverting the course of justice: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #6. The US strategy from the beginning of the second Iraq War has been to deflect criticism and prosecution by blaming others. The war began with a lie: that Saddam Hussein had WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and a BBC documentary showed what everyone suspected – that the US Administration went to great lengths to fool the public into accepting that the war was necessary (the true reason for invasion was, of course, oil).
During the course of the war the US Administration ensured it was not charged for war crimes committed or for torture. And when Wikileaks revealed those war crimes, instead of prosecuting the persons who had committed the crimes the US Government focused on the person who provided the evidence. Meanwhile the Bradley Manning prosecution farce continue with the judge decreeing that publication of court documents is a privilege not a right, which, of course, is contrary to the US Constitution. The attempt to prosecute the US Government What Wikileaks tells us really happened. FRONTLINE - Documentary films and thought-provoking journalism.
Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com. Exposé: America's Investigative Reports. What They Know - Wsj.com. Firedoglake. ProPublica. The Best, Most Damning Reporting of the 9/11 Era. ICIJ: Int'l Consortium of Investigative Journalists | The World’s Best Cross-Border Investigative Team. Global Investigative Journalism Network. The Centre for Investigative Journalism. Investigative Reporters and Editors | Home. Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism | The Center for Public Integrity | Investigative journalism from a nonprofit newsroom.
China-based corporate web behind troubled Africa resource deals. For centuries, wave after wave of colonists and foreign investors have swept through Africa, looking for profits from the continent’s abundant reserves of oil and prized minerals. Many instead left records of corruption and broken promises of shared wealth with Africans. It is against this backdrop that an eager conglomerate has recently been drawing attention and generating headlines throughout Africa. China-Sonangol is part of a global network of companies extracting oil in Angola, buying gold in Zimbabwe, building luxury condominiums in Singapore and developing property in Manhattan. Its executives have met with African heads of state and challenged the global oil and mining giants who’ve been operating on the continent. China Sonangol has shown itself to be innovative and well-connected.
“African elites are using complex offshore structures to cut themselves a personal slice of resource deals with Asian entrepreneurs,” Poultney said. New business model Complicated Corporate Structure. How a Career Con Man Led a Federal Sting That Cost Google $500 Million | Threat Level. Whitaker began thinking of ways to knock years off his sentence. He considered providing the names of the drug users, pushers, and doctors who had patronized his online steroid business. They were mostly easy marks, and Whitaker was quick to take advantage of them. For a while he bottled sterile water in 1-milliliter vials, marketed it as a steroid called Dutchminnie, and sold it for $1,000 a pop.
Not only did clients fall for the scam, they sent back photos showing how they’d bulked up after using the “drug.” But he quickly realized that he could offer the government much more than the names of a few juicers. At one point during a meeting with Whitaker and his lawyer, the Feds asked him how he had grown his online enterprise. Whitaker’s answer was immediate: He had used Google AdWords. If true, this would be a bombshell. The agents seemed skeptical of Whitaker’s claims and spent the next 10 months following up on them. Truthout | Fearless, Independent News and Opinion.