33. Open-Source Journalism: Innovations and Ethical Challenges

Open-source journalism or open data journalism is a method of reporting that utilises publicly available data to enhance reports. To make a report conform to facts, journalists must rely on information—via private or internal sources—which otherwise would be hard to source. But in the age of open data and online platforms, reporters can use multiple avenues to look for information that can be used as evidence in their work. For instance, the information available via advanced Google searches, archives, annual reports, open data, or self-disclosed information. With the breakthrough of big data, outlets like BBC, Bellingcat, New York Times have been utilising this reporting style to backup evidence standards. These outlets have used and reported on issues related to human rights violations in South Asia on countries such as Myanmar and China. How they utilise data is something that South Asian media is still grasping. As we move towards this new breed of reporting, it's important to analyse how to best use this information for reporting accuracy and maintaining the privacy standards. It's essential to understand what information can be used for reporting while respecting the privacy standards online. With no concept of ‘gatekeepers’ on the internet it's important to understand the difference between false and real evidence. Online platforms and databases harbour all sorts of information—some of which many a times could be private. Any research based on data, that has no clarity on where it was sourced from, could potentially backfire. In short covering leaks or sensitive data could lead to more questions than answers. In this chapter, we will learn what open-source journalism means, what tools we can use, and some examples and things to be mindful of while using this method.