IJNet

How can journalists file freedom of information requests? Are there any ethical challenges to accessing government information? What can journalists in closed, non-democratic societies do to access information and hold those in power accountable?

Each year, International Women’s Day recognizes the achievements women have made in all areas of life, from science to the arts and even to journalism.

To observe this date, we’ve gathered some of IJNet’s posts that highlight women’s role in the global journalism landscape. Whether it’s the latest data on women’s representation in the news media to stories that highlight exceptional women journalists, we have you covered:

New study reports women remain grossly underrepresented in global media 

The 2015 Global Media Monitoring Project report shows that progress for women in news media has virtually ground to a halt. 

Q&A with Arzu Geybulla: 'Women deserve to have a voice as much as men do'

After attending an OSCE summit in Vienna, Azerbaijani journalist Arzu Geybulla explains what can be done to combat online abuse of female reporters. 

Q&A with Zaina Erhaim: Teaching citizen journalists to survive in Syria

For Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim, safety is never guaranteed. She recently spoke with IJNet about how she reports on the violence of her country and teaches fellow citizens to do the same.

Advice for female journalists facing harassment on the job

In a recent survey of 1,000 female journalists, 65 percent said they've faced harassment at work. Here are some ways to handle it.

Journalist of the month: Nicole Froio

We featured Brazilian journalist and editor Nicole Froio, a freelancer based in Rio de Janeiro. Froio writes about human rights, with a special focus on feminism and gender politics.

Advice for women entrepreneurs seeking funding for their media startups

Founders of accelerators, venture capital funds and angel investing networks offered tips for early entrepreneurs at IWMF's Cracking the Code conference.

Five tips for creating a more gender-balanced newsroom

Pointers for news organizations seeking greater gender balance in the workplace and in their storytelling.

Ever wondered what beats journalists were covering in the 19th and 20th centuries? Now you can find out, thanks to a new interactive map built by Georgia Tech’s Research Institute and the University of Georgia’s eHistory initiative.

According to Slate, the map tracks keywords throughout the Library of Congress’ historical newspaper database and creates a visualization of the most frequent terms and keywords that appear.

"The frequency graph on each search is similar to Google’s Ngram, but more reflective of actual usage, since books take years to go into print and reappear years later in multiple editions," said Claudio Saunt, a historian at the University of Georgia.

To mark its five-year anniversary, Agência Pública, a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet in Brazil, announced the launch of Casa Pública, a new cultural center, and the Map of Independent Journalism (pictured above).

Casa Pública will act as a platform to facilitate new independent journalism projects across Brazil and Latin America as a whole. The Map of Independent Journalism will be a survey of these independent projects, with 70 of them currently showcased on its site.

“In these five years, Agência Pública has persistently covered violations of Brazilians’ rights,” the organization said in a release. “Now, from Casa Pública, it plans to incubate new independent journalism initiatives and promote the exchange of experiences between professionals from around the world who are interested in investigative journalism and human rights.”

How can journalists tell stories of tragedy and crisis — stories that undoubtedly need to be told — without subjecting themselves to psychological burden?

It’s a question that has become increasingly pertinent as psychologists have gained a better understanding of the significant mental health risks that come with viewing violence and traumatic imagery as part of one’s occupation.

For Russell Lewis, @npr’s Southern Bureau Chief, coordinating large-scale disaster coverage is just another part of the job. As part of NPR’s Go Team, Lewis helps journalists get basic supplies and rotates reporters to help them avoid crisis-coverage burnout. He recently shared his tips on protecting one’s psychological well-being with Current.org.

@quartz’ first mobile app looks unlike pretty much any news app you can think of — because technically, it’s a news app that functions like a chat app.

Launched on Thursday, the app allows users to literally chat with the news by sending headlines to the user much like one would send a text message to a friend. These messages occasionally contain gifs and other engaging goodies. Next to each message bubble is an arrow icon that you can click to read the full story. To get the next headline, you can simply reply with “next” or “anything else?” If you have questions about a news story’s specifics, you can ask those of the app as well.

Matt Webb, a technologist who has written extensively about conversational user interfaces, told Wired that this is likely where the future of news apps — and apps in general — is headed.

Reporters are the first responders of the journalism industry. What they write can have a tremendous impact on public opinion and thought — particularly when it comes to reporting on the complex topic of mental illness.

“The media influence, to a perverse degree, public opinion and public policies, both of which have the potential to improve the care and the lives of people with conditions like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and brain diseases,” wrote André Picard, health reporter at The Globe and Mail.

To establish a code of standards for journalists, the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma recently released the Mindset Media Guide. The guide includes pointers on interviewing individuals with mental illness, an overlook of mental health stigma and other best practices.

To read the English-language guide, click here. The guide is also available in French.

Data journalism is one of the most thriving niches of contemporary journalism. Many of IJNet’s own articles discuss some of today’s biggest data journalism trends, tools and resources.

But how do you do data journalism — especially if you’ve never touched a dataset before in your life?

DataBasic.io, a new suite of web tools, aims to solve this problem for newcomers. Currently comprised of three tools — WordCounter, WTFcsv and SameDiff — DataBasic introduces key concepts of working with data.