J-Lab

Reporting by journalists like the BBC's John Sudworth has revealed the scale and severity of the Chinese government's large network of detention camps, in which more than a million Uighurs and other minorities are thought to have been detained, mistreated and abused.

And in the last couple of weeks, in addition to the heavy restrictions already placed on foreign journalists, China's government has adopted a new tactic: labelling independent coverage as "fake news".

In this latest episode of J-Lab – a podcast brought to you by the Civic Journalism Lab at Newcastle University –  we speak to John Sudworth (who had just arrived in Wuhan to report on the latest efforts by international experts investigating the origins of COVID-19). John explains what it's like to be a journalist in China at present, describes the challenges of reporting this story and offers advice to journalists working in countries with authoritarian regimes.

 

This is the latest in a series of episodes that explores the reporting behind some of the biggest news stories of the last 12 months.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner’s exclusive investigative report of January 2020 about a multi-billionaire, a royal prince, phone hacking and murder was jaw-dropping. And it won the Guardian’s investigations correspondent in Washington DC a British Journalism Award in recent months.

In this latest episode of J-Lab – a podcast brought to you by the Civic Journalism Lab at Newcastle University – Stephanie explains more about her reporting of revelations that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos had his phone hacked via a WhatsApp message from Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Aside from being CEO of Amazon, Bezos owns the Washington Post newspaper. His phone was hacked just five months before the newspaper's columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Stephanie also discusses some of the qualities and methods of good investigative reporters.

You can read Stephanie's January 2020 story here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/21/amazon-boss-jeff-bezoss-phone-hacked-by-saudi-crown-prince

In a year that has seen very little live sport, the Telegraph’s chief football writer, Sam Wallace, unearthed a story that rocked the world of football: plans to reduce the size of the top division in England, scrap or modify some of the cup competitions and introduce B teams.

In this episode, Sam gives some insight into how he got hold of these controversial proposals, explains the skills needed to win exclusives like this and offers advice for those seeking to enter a career in sports journalism.

Alexandra Heal is an investigative reporter whose work for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on domestic abuse by police officers won her the Private Eye Paul Foot Award 2020. Alexandra’s reporting has also led to lawyers submitting a nationwide "super-complaint" with police regulators.

In this episode, Alexandra explains how her research and reporting discovered close to 90 women with terrible stories of domestic abuse by police forces and the shocking indifference, sometimes even collusion, of fellow officers.

You can read her original story here: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-05-01/police-perpetrators-domestic-violence

Vox pops are much maligned, seen by some as the lowest form of journalism. Just filler at the end of a news package on TV or radio bulletins. A tick box exercise to include different voices. But over the last 10 years, the Guardian’s John Harris and John Domokos have discovered that vox pops, done thoughtfully, given time and conducted with an open mind can unearth significant perspectives that escape the notice of opinion polls, think tanks or political advisers.

Their award-winning Anywhere But Westminster short films of chance encounters on Britain’s streets have highlighted the real issues facing communities, given voice to people who rarely make the news, and brought their lives, concerns and struggles to the attention of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

In this episode, John Harris speaks to Ian Wylie about the origins of the series, recalls some of the key conversations recorded and offers advice for journalists on the importance of showing what's actually going on, rather than trying to predict what is going to happen.

Nick Martin of Sky News was one of the first journalists to report the coronavirus crisis inside care homes. His reporting was eventually praised by health secretary Matt Hancock, who promised to increase access to testing and send more PPE to care homes.

In this episode of the J-Lab podcast, Nick – who began his career on the Whitley Bay Guardan, Newcastle Chronicle, Journal and Sunderland Echo – explains the background to his reporting and how the tragic story unfolded.

You can watch Nick's reports here:

https://news.sky.com/video/care-home-nurse-we-havent-even-got-to-our-worst-point-11972092

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVeRwX5v9U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL4UsvwOa8g

This podcast is brought to you by the Civic Journalism Lab, supported by Newcastle University.

It was one of the biggest news stories of the year: an important insight into our country’s handling of the coronavirus and a slightly bizarre tale of politics and power in a pandemic.

The flouting of lockdown rules had already cost a government scientist and Scotland's chief medical officer their jobs. So when the prime minister’s controversial chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, drove his family the 270 miles from London to Durham – when his wife had coronavirus symptoms and strict “stay at home” guidance were in place – well, that was a big deal.

The story was broken by Daily Mirror political editor Pippa Crerar and Guardian reporter Matt Weaver. Both Newcastle University graduates, Pippa and Matt teamed up after realising they were both pursuing tips that Cummings had travelled to the north east.

The journalists spent seven weeks working on the story and Cummings' actions and refusal to apologise dealt a blow to trust in the government, and it impacted on people's willingness to follow lockdown rules and guidelines, according to recent research.

In this episode of the J-Lab podcast, Pippa Crerar discusses the story with Ian Wylie.

You can read the Daily Mirror news story here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dominic-cummings-investigated-police-after-22072579

In this episode, we focus on how journalists are meeting the challenges of reporting the coronavirus crisis. We talk to Nico Piro, a foreign correspondent for Italian TV station TG3, about how he is using mobile journalism skills — learned while reporting conflicts in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, the ebola epidemic of 2015 and refugee crises in Greece and in France — to now report the impact of Covid-19 at home, in Rome. And Stefanie Murray, director of the Centre for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, tells us about some of the ways news organisations are collaborating together to help their audiences get the vital news and information they need... and to ensure that good and responsible journalism survives this crisis.

Official Secrets is the name of a film released at the end of last year, which tells the true story of Katharine Gun, a GCHQ whistleblower who leaked information to the Observer newspaper about a dirty tricks campaign by US and UK intelligence agencies as they tried to justify invading Iraq. On this episode, we speak with Yvonne Ridley, the journalist who received those secret documents.

The J-Lab podcast is produced by the Civic Journalism Lab, a forum for professional, student and community journalists in the north east of England to meet, learn and collaborate. It’s supported by Newcastle University and can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/CivicJLab

Unlike broadcasters, the UK press – in print or online – has no state regulator like Ofcom requiring it to be impartial. There are many implications to this – and the press must balance this freedom to probe, investigate and criticize with a responsibility to report accurately, ethically, fairly and sensitively.

In some people's eyes, there is little to distinguish fake news from flawed journalism. In a "post truth" world; so can we depend on mainstream news organisations to give us the fact-based journalism we need?

In 2014, Sir Alan Moses was the unanimous choice of an independent selection panel tasked with appointing the first chair of Ipso, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, the largest independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK.

The J-Lab podcast is produced by the Civic Journalism Lab, a forum for professional, student and community journalists in the north east of England to meet, learn and collaborate. It’s supported by Newcastle University and can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CivicJLab