MEDIA HAT
Our monthly column with tools and resources for journalists
FEATURE
Nine years after Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated, the acquittal in the trial of the businessman accused of involvement in her murder has confronted Malta with a question that goes far beyond a criminal case: What protects journalists when their reporting threatens powerful interests, and what happens when the judicial system fails to bring those responsible to justice?
NEWS
Our takeaways from GIJN’s Investigative Journalism Week 2026
We attended the IJ Week 2026, and have summarized the main takeaways we see as key points for journalists and newsrooms around the world.
JOURNALISM
A Europe-wide FOI guide –and a network
ALL STORIES
Investigative journalist and guide author, Alexander Fanta, speaks with iMEdD about “Access Europe: A Journalist’s Guide to Making Cross-Border FOI Requests” published by Arena for Journalism in Europe and his hope that it will lead to a network of journalists that help each other out.
DATA
STORIES
Tools, news and practices from the data journalism community, useful for everyone
How far away is the nearest school? We used secondary schools across rural Greece as a case study to map distances to an essential service and demonstrate how isodistances can be calculated and visualized on a map.
Climate data often come up in the newscycle during major weather events. Copernicus data can be analyzed using a few lines of Python code, without installing software or downloading files to your computer.
A detailed guide in using QGIS, from downloading to analysing data.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) data is a "treasure trove" hiding in plain sight for any journalistic mapping project. We present how one can retrieve and process OpenStreetMap data using Python or QGIS.
PRESS FORWARD
Features and analyses about the present and future of journalism
Amid another increase in the murders of Mexican journalists in the summer of 2026, reporters across Mexico speak to iMEdD about navigating pressure from drug cartels and public officials, persistent impunity and, in some parts of the country, “zones of silence.”
Journalism is searching for new ways to hold readers’ attention. Can games built from investigative reporting keep audiences engaged?
Journalists worldwide navigate internet shutdowns, using risky workarounds to report news, exposing censorship, infrastructure failures, and personal, professional costs.
The nexus point where AI slop and propaganda meet is journalism’s latest challenge. When institutions are posting deepfakes of regular citizens and journalists themselves are being targeted, how can the public know what is real?
We met with Erin Reilly, founding director of the Texas Immersive Institute, to discuss what immersive storytelling can offer journalism.
Τhree women who run Afghan newsrooms explain the challenges of practicing journalism under Taliban rule, managing editorial work remotely, and the ongoing struggle to keep their outlets operating.
With artificial intelligence tools having overwhelmed work routines and even our daily lives, Menna El-Assady, computer science professor and head of the Interactive Visualization & Intelligence Augmentation Lab of ETH Zurich, explains what we should avoid, what are the real questions and how we can understand what really happens inside AI models.
As Georgia has dropped to 135th place in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index amid unprecedented hostility towards journalists, iMEdD spoke with representatives of four independent media outlets about the challenges facing journalism in the country: imprisonments, attacks, "foreign agent" laws, and the struggle for survival.
EDITOR’S
PICKS
Curated stories and reports from the iMEdD journalism team.
1
Feature
A visual essay of U.S. local newsrooms: humor and survival
Photographer Ann Hermes has spent six years capturing the fading world of U.S. local news. She spoke with us about the current state and the future of local journalism.
2
Interview
Eliot Higgins: Algorithms, spies and Trump in the mix
The founder of the investigative platform Bellingcat speaks about algorithms and democracy in the 21st century, the world of intelligence services, and how investigative journalism is funded in the era of Trump.
3
Feature
Gaza’s storyline: the coverage and the silence
With the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas being a reality, five journalists and media professionals share their perspectives on covering a war that has resulted in the highest number of journalist casualties in history. They assess the experience of the last two years and comment on the prospect of the next day –which has yet to come.
4
Interview
Surveillance capitalism, counterintelligence for civil society, and journalism: a conversation with Citizen Lab’s founder
The founder and director of the University of Toronto’s renowned Citizen Lab sat down with iMEdD in Athens to talk about the crisis he perceives in liberal democracy and the future of digital spyware.
UNPACKING THE STORY
A video series about investigations that shed light into systemic problems and social injustices
OPINIONS
Showcasing insights that challenge perspectives
