1. Flight MH17 Searching for the Truth Power Reporting 2015 Wits University, Johannesburg David Crawford CORRECT!V

2. MH17 Where is the public interest?

3. When should we investigate? When we have something important to say When the story requires intensive research

4. Our investigative goals Know everything Get all the files Know everything Get all the files

5. Things to find Dutch investigation report Satellite images

6. Things to find Photos Art Animation 

7. Things to find A story 

8. Where to look

9. Be confident We have the right to interview people and view documents

10. We don’t beg for access We force it German foreign ministry Projected questions

11. First find the easy information Web-based information Russian social media Press conferences

12. First the easy information Ask your colleagues to suggest sources

13. Analyse news stories Bellingcat

14. Other sources Commercial registries

15. How to find secret files?

16. Collect whole sets of documents

17. Russian soldiers in social media Download it fast

19. Look for absurd sources CORRECT!V goes to court sues for documents

20. Files rarely tell the whole story Find other sources

21. Human sources

22. “Yes people” and “No people“ Lots of people can say „no“ press officers

23. “Yes people” and “No people“ Only a few people can say „yes“ Rupert Smid

24. Avoid „no“ people German Ministry of Defence

25. Help the „yes“ people Rupert Smid

26. Don’t offer protection Just protect the source if necessary I meet with an informant. He knows everything about Russian warfare.

27. How to identify potential sources? Read your competition

28. Voluntary sources NGOs

29. Unwilling partners Government officials Companies

30. Beware of volunteers Especially other journalists

31. How do you gain trust?

32. Never ask a question If the answer is easy to find elsewhere

33. A „No“ is hard to change into a „Yes“ Avoid asking questions that will lead to a „No“

34. Plan interviews Plan three meetings with key sources

35. Plan interviews How to get there When to go 

36. East Ukraine is a war zone 

37. Plan interviews Fill your notebook first Ask hard questions last 

38. Plan interviews Ask interview partners to suggest new sources 

39. I demand from sources Reliable answers to every question Complete access to documents

40. Communicate your goals We have a project

41. What separates good stories from outstanding stories? Unwilling sources

42. We can force sources to talk So no concessions

43. We can force sources to talk Don’t give your source a veto

44. We can force sources to talk Lawsuit demanding documents Ambassador, Christof Weil, in Kiev

45. Have patience

46. Interview partners might hide Wait them out

47. How reliable is my source?

48. Check the reliability? Compare details with documents and info from other sources

49. Check the reliability? Is the source willing to answer questions completely

50. Check the reliability? Look for new sources

51. Finally Factcheck everything Including your own pet theories

52. Take the next step David Crawford david.crawford@corrective.org Thanks