Open-Source Investigations Becoming Standard in Modern Newsrooms

by | Dec 15, 2022 | News

On December 7, Nieman Reports published a comprehensive piece on the concept of open-source investigations (OSI). Maxim Edwards, the writer of the piece, began by clarifying that OSI is not simply information obtained through social media, but rather “any information that can be publicly accessed by others, including but not limited to online sources.”

Essentially, public information sources including local newspapers, satellite imagery on Google Earth, and images shared on TripAdvisor are fair game. “What it doesn’t include,” explained Edwards, “are two mainstays of traditional investigative journalism — non-public document leaks or closed-source reporting, otherwise known as shoe-leather reporting and interviews.”

The comprehensive article went on to detail how OSI has become more integrated into modern journalistic practice as a standard reporting technique.

“Over the past few years, newsrooms have started integrating open-source methods into their coverage and building their own OSI teams. That’s in part to verify social media posts, and in part to report on places where it is simply too dangerous for journalists to venture — areas on or behind the frontlines — where open-source imagery allows a glimpse into military movements and potential war crimes.”

Edwards conjectured that the increased usage of open-source investigations over closed-source investigations may be due to a shift in the generational ratio; younger journalists have grown up with the Internet and its publicly available information at their fingertips.

With increased availability and diversity of open sources, several newsrooms now have dedicated open-source teams, “like The New York Times’ visual investigations unit, which in April used satellite imagery to debunk Moscow’s claims that bodies had been placed on the streets of Bucha after Russian troops had withdrawn from the Ukrainian town.”

However, Edwards warned that “open-source sleuthing will not — and should not — fully replace traditional reporting. In fact, some of the finest investigative journalism on Russia’s invasion has come from the union of the two genres.”

 

More from The Edge

The Rise of Misogynoir Fascism

Pascism or Fatriarchy? We are fully in the throes of the 2024 Presidential Election. Kamala Harris says the present right-wing assault on our democracy must be stemmed. And Trump spits out authoritarian barbs and lies. A rising fascism is often named as our largest...

Rocking The Forest: Rockstadt Extreme Fest Pummels Romania

Nestled beneath lush pine forests of the Carpathian Mountains in the quaint Transylvanian town of Rasnov, Rockstadt Extreme Fest unleashed its tenth annual independent music festival, their website boasting, “The largest and most monumental heavy metal festival in...

Radicalize the Promise of Kamala

My purpose: to claim all possibilities for radicalizing Kamala Harris’s campaign to demand a ceasefire and not one more bomb, while making sure that Trump does not win. And to recognize how unique it is to see this band of warriors organizing around Harris as her...

No[n]Sense: Administrative Responses to Campus Protests

What happened on campus at University of Texas at Dallas on May 1, 2024 — and in its aftermath — makes no sense to me whatsoever. On that day, colleagues, students, community members and others were shackled and jailed. And while they were released within 24 hours,...

Op-Ed: Educators Are Not the Enemy

by Monica J. Casper, Meghan Eagen, Amy E. Farrell, Katherine Felter, Grace E. Howard, E. Goldblatt Hyatt, Erika Robb Larkins, Monica R. McLemore, Kyle J. Morgan, Kayti Protos, Stephanie Troutman Robbins, William Paul Simmons, Joseph Stramondo, Megan Thiele Strong,...

Anyone But Trump: Hoping, Fighting, and Voting Together

Before I start, let me say the world is messy right now. It is messy to think. It is messy to write. But I continue in defiance, with hope for our liberation. It is July 4. What better time to wonder about the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement that openly...

An Anticolonial Fight in the U.S. Heartland? No, But…

We focus on the fights. The left explodes in anger when someone from the right insults gender diversity or fails to criticize a racist statement. Understandably. The right stews in rage as the left scoffs at conservatives, speaking as if all are racist and homophobic....

For Patty Zimmermann, with Revolutionary Love

These words were written for a late-April weekend memorializing Patty Zimmermann, who was Editor-at-Large for The Edge, Director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Professor of Screen Studies at Ithaca College, and a fierce friend and ally.  ...