Global Reporting
Global Reporting
RECENT UPDATES
Media Defence Resource Hub
Tipsheets, training and more on on freedom of expression around the world.
Companies House (UK)
Database for tracking financial and money laundering investigations.
Sugar Trail
Use Companies House API key to research a company in-depth.
Impact Tracker
Created by Impact Architects, this tool can assist news organizations in measuring impact and document and track real world change.
Africa Data Hub Climate Observer
A tool to help journalists and academics reporting and researching climate change in Africa. Temperature, rainfall data and more.
GLOBAL REPORTING TOOLS
The World Bank
Free and open access to global development data.
Reported.ly
From First Look Media, global news delivered entirely through social media.
News-Decoder
Site helps young readers make sense of global news.
GIJN: Afghanistan: How to Help Journalists and Others at Risk
A detailed guide in an effort to help journalists and others. Here you will find a list of organizations to contact, digital safety tips, and other resources.
BBC News Timeliner
Dig into British history.
Al Jazeera: Live Feed
Coverage of the uprising in Egypt.
Email Hunter
Searches for emails on a specific domain, such as suntimes.com, etc.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
In collaboration with the Financial Times, a database tracking money distributed through the EU’s Structural Funds.
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Drone War Database
The Base Trip
All the information you need while traveling including visa requirements, currency, electricity, communication info and more.
Dart Center Europe Reporting on Sexual Violence in Conflict
The guidelines support journalists in reporting sexual violence in conflict zones. They cover practical issues like consent, (secondary) trauma, interviewing survivors, and associated risks. Based on eight key principles, the website and PDF guide reporters from research, interviewing, and writing to the publication process.
The Open Notebook: How to Report International Stories Ethically
Muckrack: Guide for Journalists Covering Protests
GeoSearchTool
Type in an address or location with a time frame and find videos uploaded from that area. Great for fact-checking locations and crowdsourcing.
GIJN Reporting Tips and Tools
Data journalism resources from around the world.
Reporters Without Borders: 2022 World Press Freedom Index
Rankings of 180 different countries on independence across the world.
Climate TRACE
Independent greenhouse gas emissions tracking. Explore the map and download the data.
Trading Economics
Provides accurate information for 196 countries including historical data and forecasts for more than 20 million economic indicators, exchange rates, stock market indexes, government bond yields and commodity prices. Our data is based on official sources, not third party data providers, and our facts are regularly checked for inconsistencies.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Open Corporates
Database of global companies.
Offshore Leaks Database
From the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
UN Comtrade Database
Tracks exports and imports by country and product.
Project Drawdown
A nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “Drawdown”— the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.
The Other Wave Newsletter
An insider’s look at what it takes to transform Canadian media.
WebPlanet: Big Index of Global Newspapers (2020)
Hoover Institution
Think tank at Stanford University includes a library, op-eds, news, publications and other resources on public policy.
Everybody In: A Journalist’s Guide To Inclusive Reporting For Journalism Students
A “thought-provoking and practical guide to help you make sure your reporting includes your whole audience. With introductions by respected journalists setting out their personal experiences of difference – from race, gender and class to sexuality, age and regionalism.” An e-book that charges you.
Quote This Woman+
A curated database of verified women+ experts based or affiliated with South and Southern African for journalists to access and use as their sources. The database consists of experts from all industries and has been used both locally and internationally.
Foreign Policy
Global magazine of economics, politics and ideas.
Media Defence Resource Hub
Tipsheets, training and more on on freedom of expression around the world.
GIJN: Tipsheet for Investigating US Influence Around the World
Dozens of databases you can search to find how the US impacts other countries economically, politically, immigration, etc.
ICFJ: Offshore Leaks
Find out who’s behind more than 785,000 offshore companies, foundations and trusts from the Panama Papers, the Offshore Leaks, the Bahamas Leaks and the Paradise Papers investigations. Search by country or jurisdiction.
Global Brand Database
Perform a trademark search by text or image in brand data from multiple national and international sources, including trademarks, appellations of origin and official emblems.
World Politics Review
Site claims it “covers foreign policy and affairs with a contextual analysis around those key trends and events. WPR is nonpartisan, nonideological with articles covering diplomacy, military affairs, energy, economics and other subjects that make geopolitics tick.”
Verification Junkie
This tool from Josh Stearns centralizes several social media verification tools in one place. Great for reporting and fact-checking international stories on deadline.
Population Reference Bureau
World health, environment, population and other issues.
Google Crisis Map
Defaults to the most recent crisis.
Open Newswire
A consolidated RSS feed of freely republishable news articles written by professional journalists from around the world. Articles are written in over 80 languages and are available to be used under Creative Commons licenses. The idea is that editors and journalists around the world can use this as a newswire if they aren’t otherwise able to afford a subscription to the likes of Reuters or AP.
UN Comm Trade Database
Free access to detailed global trade data. UN Comtrade is a repository of official international trade statistics and relevant analytical tables. All data is accessible through API.
Journalism.co.uk: Key Tips for Reporting from the Middle East
Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States
Companies House (UK)
Database for tracking financial and money laundering investigations.
Sugar Trail
Use Companies House API key to research a company in-depth.
Google Translate
Enter a block of text and it will translate to the language of your choice.
IJNet.org
The International Journalists’ Network site is rich with resources, including a blog, videos and job listings.
Center for International Media Ethics
Chicago-based organization has a goal supporting journalists in “maintaining high ethical standards that contribute to the media’s consolidation as a fourth power in their country’s governance.”
UN.org
Has reports with individual country statistics on many topics.
C4ADs Wildlife Dashboard
Showcases trends in wildlife seizures worldwide from 2013 to the present. As of today, the C4ADS Wildlife Seizure Dashboard includes data on 5,362 seizures spanning 112 jurisdictions for five frequently-trafficked wildlife categories: elephant ivory, leopard, pangolin, rhino horn, and tiger.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Informed Opinions
Experts based in Canada
The Open Notebook: Find and Publish Stories About Global Disease Outbreaks
The Open Notebook: Reporting Without Phone or Internet Access
Faktisk
Fact-checking collaboration between Norwegian news organizations.
CrossCheck
French fact-check org that’s part of First Draft News.
StopFake.org
Verify and refute disinformation and propaganda about events in Ukraine being circulated in the media.
Finding the Truth Among Fakes
Fact-checking guide from Al Jazeera.
Docs Online Viewer
Chrome plug-in that lets you view and document right in your browser.
Save My News
Built by Ben Welsh of the LA Times, you can save your online content with this desktop app through the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine).
Companies House
Database of companies in the UK.
Poynter: Starter Storytelling Tools for New Journalists
NationMaster.com
Has reports with individual country statistics on many topics.
International Center for Journalists
Many free resources, guidebooks, news and tips.
Pew Global Attitudes Project
Public opinion surveys from around the world.
A Data Journalism Expert’s Personal Toolkit
Teleport: Coordinate Your Remote Teams
Great for editors on foreign desks to track where correspondents are.
IJNET: Environmental Reporters Face Disinformation Threats in China’s Restrictive Political Climate
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
News on corruption and organized crime by a global network of investigative journalists across six continents
Soch Fact Check
Fact checking website from Pakistan, launched in 2020, only IFCN signatory, and fighting to gain traction in environment rife with information disorder.
OCCRP Aleph
OCCRP Aleph is an investigative data platform that helps reporters follow the money. Search across data and documents from previous investigations, official sources, and scraped databases. Aleph is more than just a document search engine: it also imports structured data from spreadsheets and databases, enabling journalists to explore detailed data about persons of interest, companies, financial transactions, and more. Reporters and researchers can upload their own files to private investigations, extract text, sketch a diagram to summarize their investigative findings, and cross-reference persons of interest and companies.
Incubator for Media Education and Development Lab
Site includes tools and open datasets on issues around the world.
GIJN: Annual Transparency Index – Increased Violence Globally
Foreign Assistance
The U.S. government’s flagship website for making U.S. foreign assistance data available to the public. It serves as the central resource for budgetary and financial data produced by U.S. government agencies that manage foreign assistance portfolios. Data downloadable as spreadsheets.
U.S. Department of Justice:Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) EFILE
Disclosures from foreign agent principals. Search by country, name, etc.
UN Comtrade Database
Free access to global trade data
Lobbying Disclosure
The Secretary of the Senate is required to make all reports filed under the LDA, as amended, available to the public over the Internet. Database is searchable and data downloadable.
SAM.gov
Look up government contracts in a country.
Excess Military Defense Articles Database
Track the sale of excess military equipment.
Import Genius
Search global import/export records from US Customs at the bill of lading level for 8 million businesses.
Access to Archival Databases
National Archives records back to the 1970s.
Global Environment Climate Tracker
PBS Frontline: Private Companies That Make America’s War in Iraq Run
InfoNile: Sucked Dry – Foreign Land Deals Threaten to Impair River Nile, Displace Millions
InfoNile: The Pandemic Poachers
An in-depth look at the poaching trade in West Africa.
PMiJ
Everything you need to know about cross-border journalism, how to support a multi disciplinary team, templates for planning and tips and tricks on risk management.
LittleSis.org
A grassroots watchdog network connecting the dots between the world’s most powerful people and organizations.Its free database is a who-knows-who at the heights of business and government.
FirstDraft News Reporting Tools
Social newsgathering, verification, law/ethics. A great collection of resources.
ForeignPolicy.com: Worldwide Links
Users have instant access to the best the Web has to offer on global affairs, governments, think tanks, libraries and multilateral institutions.
Medium: Dressed for Excess: Gear for Covering Riots, Protests, Etc.
The Globalist
Articles, facts and book quotes of the day are browsable by countries and regions, and by globalization topics such as children, development, markets, religion, technology, etc.
Data.World: 25 Datasets on Religion
World Population Review: Religion by Country
Fundar
More public records from Mexico.
Mexico Federal Public Records
More public records from Mexico.
BBC: Iran Government and How It Works
Spiritual magazine for people in their 20s and 30s.
BBC: Middle East
A helpful structural chart.
World Tourism News
A helpful structural chart.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
BBC Country Profiles
Guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories. Lists key institutions and contacts. Great place to start when researching the basics of a country.
List of Newspapers
Claims to be “the largest directory of newspapers around the
world.” It provides links to more than 25,000 newspapers in 201 countries
and territories.
Global Forum for Media Development
GFMD is the biggest global community of media development and journalism support organisations. Through collaboration, coordination, and collective action our network creates, promotes, and delivers policies and programs to sustain journalism as a public good.
The European Union Institutions on #Mastodon
News Media Coalition
An “international organisation and network focusing on the specific threat to legitimate editorial, press and publishing freedoms from the controls placed on news-gathering and news-distribution practices by the organizers of major news events.”
Multimap
Online maps to everywhere.
Transparency International
Site says it is run by “global non-governmental organization devoted to combating corruption. Its mission is to create change toward a world free of corruption.”
NY Times: Primer on the Eurozone Crisis
Great FAQ list on how Europe’s economy impacts the U.S.
GRA Research Hotlinks
More than 100 links on global economic, political and business research.
Foreign Policy Blogs
A great bookmark for anyone covering foreign affairs.
Aneki.com
Rankings and statistics on hundreds of topics and countries. The cleanest country, the country with the most mobile phones per capita, etc.
El Diario Alternativo
Digital daily from Colombia dedicated to investigative journalism on corruption, drug trafficking, human rights.
Rappler
Social news network that exposes corruption around the world.
Wildeye: Track Wildlife Crime in East Africa
MyNewsDesk.com
Press release share site that includes a network feature for journalists who want to receive news items exclusively from chosen companies.
Reporting in Indigenous Communities
Storify collection of tools from the IRE national convention seminars.
Poynter: 7 Tips for Conducting Better Interviews with Scientists
Committee to Project Journalists: Journalist Security Guide
.PDF guide book to covering news in a dangerous, changing world.
Committee to Protect Journalists
This site offers “comprehensive regional overviews and reports on press freedom conditions in more than 100 countries,” plus case histories of attacks against journalists, information on “dangerous assignments,” and links to other human rights and press freedom sites.
Council on Foreign Relations
Links, stories, updates, etc. Helps with breaking down complex international issues.
RAND Corporation International Affairs Research
Federally funded documents center has a variety of links, reports and resources on global issues.
Europeana
A collection of cultural collections from European countries. Provides access to four million digital items categorized in broad topics such as Text, Images, Video, and Sound. Text. Searchable in various languages.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
“One of the world’s largest and most reliable sources of comparable statistics and economic and social data.”
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Research on global safety, cybersecurity, etc.
International Center for Journalists
Resources for Covering Uprising in Egypt
Several helpful tools and links from Sree Sreenivasan.
Macedonia Times
Keeping journalists around the world informed about South East Europe with daily news, focus on corruption, human rights and major events.
Impact Tracker
Created by Impact Architects, this tool can assist news organizations in measuring impact and document and track real world change.
Egypt: A Complete Guide to the 2011 Revolution
Curation of dozens of resources.
Africa Data Hub Climate Observer
A tool to help journalists and academics reporting and researching climate change in Africa. Temperature, rainfall data and more.
Library of Congress Country Studies
This site “contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army.”
SearchSystems.net
State-by-state public records and phone book information as well as a good international information section. Search by state or country!
Foreign Policy Magazine
Foreign affairs publication.
ComeBackAlive.com
Provides background for travelers going abroad, focusing on dangerous places.
MediaLens.org
A good blog-like site for global news, trends and criticism.
River Bend: Iraq Blog
Search through past stories.
US Department of Education Civil Rights Data
Tracks demographics data from US public schools in the US.
Humanitarian Data Exchange
Over 20,000 open-source datasets on topics such as education, natural disasters, etc.
GIJN Tipsheet: Essential Steps for Journalists in Emergency Situations
WorldStatesmen.org
Though this site is run by a hobbyist, it features complete lists of the heads of state and government for every country and colony in the world over the past 300 years. It also has pocket histories of each country/colony, images of each country and colony’s flags, and in many cases links to constitutions, national anthems, and so on. Also updated fairly regularly. Again, double-check the information you find on this site, but it appears to be very, very helpful.
BBC News Country Profiles
Features include an overview, historical timelines and links to the media from each country. Also some audio of newsmaking moments.
CountryReports.org
Stats on most nations. A great resource.
World Press Institute
WPI’s main goal is to promote a free press. The organization brings 10 journalists a year to the U.S. for four months of intensive briefings and interviews across the country. Applications can be found at the Web site.
Trint.com
Audio transcription tool.
World Statesmen
Run by a hobbyist (so double-check information), this site lists of the heads of state and government for every country and colony in the world over the past 300 years. It also features pocket histories of each country/colony, images of each country and colony’s flags, and some links to constitutions, national anthems, etc.
SunOasis.com: Global Media Job Openings
A great site for writers, editors and copy editors. Internships, media resources and more.
Blood and Honey
Photojournalist Ron Haviv went to Yugoslavia in 1991, intrigued by the nascent independence movement in one of the last countries still intact after the Cold War.
International Committee of the Red Cross
Maps, facts and figures, reports, news releases and publications on more than 50 countries the committee is active.
Health Systems Facts
Health Systems Facts provides data and statistics related to healthcare systems and policy in the US and several OECD nations. Fact items are curated from impeccable sources and include full citations and links to the source materials in order to facilitate further research.
CountryWatch.com: Web Site to the World
Free country information on people, history, economy, agriculture, energy, metals and environment; but you get more for a fee.
Global Health Reporting
Information on HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and more.
Globalpolicy.org
Features some links and opinions on Iraq, the war and the United States.
Asia-Pacific Network
The site offers news headlines relating to events, links to regional media, country profiles, and various movements and groups.
University of Texas Latin America Journalism Page
Dozens of helpful links and resources.
Oanda.com Travel Language Converter
This site provides handy cheat sheets for language and money converters for travel.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Look up international development data.
GIJN: Five Ways to Stay Online During a Government Internet Shutdown
Experts in privacy and security offer advice to circumvent these shutdowns.
Worldwide Words
Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British perspective. Fun with pop culture catch phrases.
UT Latin American Network: Journalism in Latin America
Latin American Journalism Handbook
International Journalists’ Network
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Provides in-depth resources on global affairs.
British Sociological Association
Experts, research, publications, schedule of events around the world.
Library of Congress: Guide to Russian Business Resources
ConvoTrack
A tool for tracking how social media is referencing a Web site. You can see what people on Twitter, Reddit, Digg and other online media are saying about your site.
BackTweets.com
Similar to ConvoTrack, this site tracks how social media is referencing a Web site. You can see what people on Twitter, Reddit, Digg and other online media are saying about your site.
MSN: Top Web News Gaffes
A few examples of publishing too soon.
Food in Every Country
Look up ethnic dishes by country.
International Center for Journalists
Many free resources, guidebooks, news and tips.
The Taliban Detained Me for Doing My Job. I Can Never Go Back.
Foreign Policy columnist Lynne O’Donnell on a harrowing return to Kabul, almost one year after the United States left Afghanistan.
Related
Return to Global Reporting Tools | Reporting Tools | General Research