Newsroom Updates

We are pleased to announce Oliver Schröm will join CORRECTIV as the new editor-in-chief.

In 2012, Schröm and senior reporter David Schraven developed the concept for and subsequently founded​​ CORRECTIV. For various reasons, Oliver could not join the initial CORRECTIV team. However, he has always been involved in our project including most recently as chairman of our Board of Trustees.

Oliver is one of the premiere investigative journalists in Germany. After completing his traineeship at local newspaper Heidenheimer Zeitung, he spent time in the United States working at the Center for Investigative Reporting. Oliver then worked producing investigations for German weekly newspaper Die Zeit as well as for ZDF magazine Kennzeichen D. In 2010, he established the investigative team of Stern and managed it before moving to the ARD magazine Panorama. Oliver is known for his work investigating fraud in the German cancer drug industry, an investigation which was performed in cooperation with CORRECTIV.

We are very excited to have such an experienced colleague join our team as the new editor-in-chief.

CORRECTIV is a multi award winning non-profit investigative newsroom in Germany. We focus on long-term investigations into topics that receive too little attention in other media.
Besides journalists, the newsroom includes a data and technology team that builds innovative tools to help journalists investigate.

To grow this team, we are opening a position of a senior full-stack web developer with a focus on Python.

What you will do:

• As a part of the nerds team, you work closely with designers, product managers and developers to build innovative tools
• You are in charge of several Django-based web applications, which include our publishing system, data-driven news apps, and a membership and donation system.
• You make independent technical and architectural decisions, support the newsroom with technical expertise and help us grow our technology team.

Your profile:

• Several years of experience with designing, developing and maintaining complex web applications, ideally in a lead or senior position
• Ability to write clean HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• Experience with the integration of external APIs (e.g. mailchimp, paypal)
• Fluent in English and Python. German is a big plus

What you might have that would be great:

• Experience with Django and Django CMS
• Experience with JavaScript libraries such as React, Riot.js or Vue.js
• Experience with Node.js
• Experience with managing small development teams
• A strong portfolio with personal projects or open source contributions

What we offer:

• Full-time position with competitive salary
• The opportunity to shape the future of journalism in Germany
• A highly motivated team with a nice and cosy office in the heart of Berlin
• The opportunity to lead the brand new CORRECTIV football team from an outsider position into the first series of the Berlin Media League

If this opportunity sounds attractive to you, please send us your application with CV and a link to your portfolio or work examples to: 

nerdjobs@correctiv.org

Please don’t include photos of yourself or information regarding your marital or family status.

CORRECTIV is a multi award winning non-profit investigative newsroom in Germany. We focus on long-term investigations into topics that receive too little attention in other media.

To grow our data and technology team and we are opening several positions:

• Web development
• Data journalism

What we offer:

• The opportunity to shape the future of journalism in Germany
• Full-time positions with competitive salaries
• A highly motivated team with offices in the heart of Berlin and Essen
• The opportunity to lead the brand new CORRECTIV football team from an outsider position into the first series of the Berlin Media League

1. Python web developer (senior)

As a developer at CORRECTIV, you are in charge of the development of the tools behind our data-driven investigations and the further development of our Django-based publishing platform, which also includes a membership and donation system. You make independent technical and architectural decisions, support the newsroom with technical expertise and help us grow our technology team.

Your profile:

• Fluent in English and Python. German is a big plus
• Several years of experience with designing, developing and maintaining complex web applications, ideally in a lead or senior position
• Ability to write clean HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• Experience with the integration of external APIs (e.g. mailchimp, paypal)

What you might have that would be great:

• Experience with Django and Django CMS
• Experience with JavaScript libraries such as React, Riot.js or Vue.js
• Experience with Node.js
• Experience with managing small development teams
• A strong portfolio with personal projects or open source contributions

2. Data journalist (junior and senior)

As a data journalist at CORRECTIV, you work independently on data-driven investigations, from data collection to analysis and publication. You also team up with editors, developers, and graphic designers to work on innovative storytelling projects. On top of that, you contribute to increasing the data literacy in our newsroom through teaching and helping others to deal with data.

Your profile:

• Native or fluent in German
• Professional experience and/or a degree in journalism
• Strong understanding of statistics
• Ability to structure, clean and analyse complex data using spreadsheets
• Experience with data analysis using a script language (R or Python) and experience with interactive data visualization using tools such d3.js or Leaflet

What you might have that would be great:

• Experience with text mining or document analysis
• Project management experience
• A strong portfolio with data visualization, data analysis and technical publications

You are interested in one of the jobs but you are not sure if you have all the skills? Please apply anyway! We can help you learn new things and develop your skills.

Please send your application with CV and a link to your portfolio or work examples to: bewerbung (at) correctiv.org

Please don’t include photos of yourself or information regarding your marital or family status.

We just sealed a long-term strategic partnership with OpenDataCity. We’re very excited, thanks guys!

The programmers, engineers, and visualizers from OpenDataCity complete our work perfectly. When we acquire data, analyze the documents and piece them together, we need a way to transform these huge amounts of raw material – we’re talking about databases with over a million entries – into readable, usable, informative projects.

OpenDataCity can do just that. As a data-journalism agency, the team from ODC has an extensive knowledge of data analysis and visualization strategies. Their most successful projects include the visualization of the data retention of politician Malte Spitz (Germany), the first delay map in real-time of the Deutschen Bahn (for the SZ), a map with data traces of our internet use and the surveillance spots of international intelligence services (Prism), a research data base of political donations in Germany since 1994, as well as the platforms Lobbyplag and Lobbycloud, which make lobby influences in European politics transparent.

Time and time again, OpenDataCity has been honored internationally for its research, publications, and innovative form of online journalism. They have received the Grimme Online Award, the award of the Online-News-Association (ONA), the special silver price at the Lead Awards, and the World Summit Award for „Lobbyplag“. Marco Maas, the head of OpenDataCity, comments: „Financed by a foundation and sustainable, the approach of CORRECTIV is a perfect fit for our vision of journalism.“ The first joint project is set for fall. „The cooperation is long-term“, explains Maas. „We’re not aiming for rush jobs.“

We have known each other personally for a long time. To be able to work together on such an important project makes us happy.

Our offices at Singerstrasse 109 in Berlin are separated by two stories, but connected through a shared internet connection and coffee bar on the ground-floor.

We at CORRECTIV want to practise data journalism. This includes evaluating large amounts of data to help interested citizens make informed political decisions. We’re not looking to share random stories. The purpose of our investigative journalism is to uncover structural problems, misuse of power, mismanagement, or injustice. Our experience has proven that large amounts of data can be a great asset in this.

Visualizations and interactive graphics can illustrate complex issues in a way that is easily understood. Thus, even development plans can come alive, and it becomes possible to discuss upcoming changes in a very concrete and accessible way. Recently, for example, a public referendum took place in Berlin to decide on the future of the popular Tempelhofer airfield. Together with OKLab Berlin, I compiled an analysis of the building plans, a digital 3D-view of the old Berlin airport. Our work was then picked up by the Berliner Morgenpost. Its value was clear: we visualised the building plans in a comprehensible way, while illustrating various pros and cons of the upcoming decision at the same time.

The systematic mapping of power structures between politics and economics was also an important concern of ours. Such data is an important tool for journalistic research, but also builds the foundation of stories that can’t be told in traditional ways. What type of networks exist and how closely are they intertwined? Instead of writing thick books about puppet masters and power abuse, we provide a transparent and easily understandable analysis of issues. Projects such as MachtVZ or Lobbyplag inspired us to create our own network databases.

This type of journalism is something that we at CORRECTIV want to pursue consequently. Journalism that facilitates and empowers direct participation in political decision-making processes. Journalism that illustrates complex issues in a transparent way, for everyone.

For a long time, journalists had to rely on gathering anecdotes to describe issues. After hearing about a problem, they went out, talked to people, and wrote down their observations. Not a very solid foundation for arguments, since someone could always counter, „That’s just one case.“

When we compile and analyse large data sets, we make anecdotes quantifiable. We scrape data from the Internet, request entire databases from government agencies, or simply develop our own directories.

In this way, we can access and compare thousands, even millions of anecdotes with one click. We can expose underlying structures that no one has ever thought of before. The rule behind the individual case. The result is evidence-based journalism that delivers solid proof through data.

When we look at data, we don’t just see a bunch of numbers and figures – behind every entry, every number, lies the story of an individual. We want to tell these stories whenever possible.

Through this, we want to help our readers and users identify the real problem. Are you affected? If yes, how so? And what can you do about it? These are questions that every reader should be able to answer for him- or herself. A great example for this type of research is the project Dollars for Docs from ProPublica. It allowed US citizens to look up how much money their doctor was receiving from large pharmaceutical companies, essentially making it possible to determine how independent their consultations were.

We at CORRECTIV are experts when it comes to freedom of information and freedom of information rights. For years, our staff has fought to make German authorities and administrations more transparent. Now, we’re taking it one step further: we will not only use these access rights journalistically, but show you as citizens how you can obtain important information yourselves.

The work of representatives and public officials can best be judged if it is transparent. Transparency and accountability also considerably reduce the chances of backdoor deals that profit a few, but hurt us all.

Public officials work for a single goal: to serve us citizens. Every piece of information, every document and every record in a public authority belong to those who pay for them: us citizens. Essentially, everything that happens in government offices must be public information. Certain pieces of information can only be kept secret if substantial reasons against full transparency exist.

Everything must be transparent

If information is held back, government agencies and administrations are required to justify their decision in a clear and plausible way. Non-disclosure is only justified if this explanation is conclusive and understandable for everyone. The same also applies to organizations that are financed through tax money. These include privatized utility companies, garbage collection services and scientific institutions whose research is financed through taxes. Abuse of power and government wastefulness can only be revealed – and hopefully be avoided altogether – if information is made public.

Since 2005, Germany has a Freedom of Information Law that guarantees transparency. It is accompanied by a range of other regulations that help citizens gain access to information. However, some authorities still consider information, documents and data their property. We want to change this.

Access rights such as the Freedom of Information Law are not just sources for journalistic research, but a fundamental means to strengthen democracy. If these rights are restricted, it’s a reflection of our principles as a society. If they’re expanded, everyone profits. We have therefore made it our purpose to strengthen and spread information rights in cooperation with other organizations. We want to pave a path for others. The more people claim the information they have a right to access, the sooner transparency will become an everyday thing.

More information for all citizens

In the USA, hundreds of thousands of requests are filed each year based on the Freedom of Information Act. The act, almost 50 years old, isn’t perfect yet, but is surely better used. It is part of a lot of journalist’s daily routine and normal citizens are better informed about their rights. Here in Germany, however, only a couple of thousand requests are filed each year. Mostly by lawyers, for companies.

We want more freedom of information for all citizens. As members of CORRECTIV, it is our mission to help you establish and enforce your rights. If you are looking for information from your local public offices, ask us for help. We’re glad to assist you in any way possible. Together, we can work towards a more transparent world.

Become a member of CORRECTIV here.

We have just agreed on a strategic cooperation with FragDenStaat.de, a platform for information rights. Our joint goal: to help citizens use their lawful right to information more effectively.

How does is work? Well: the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany runs  FragDenStaat.de, a platform for information rights. Thanks to the platform, information requests based on the Freedom of Information Act can be submitted to public authorities and departments much more easily. It supplies request forms and a whole array of information about your rights as a citizen. We can identify problems with your request and eliminate them early on. Because questions and answers are well documented, the governments readiness to provide information is laid open. When necessary, we can enforce pressure so that public offices commit to transparency in the long run. „With our platform, we want to strengthen the subject of information rights in general“, says Stefan Wehrmeyer, Chairman of the Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland and staff member of CORRECTIV.

We will closely incorporate FragDenStaat.de into our program to spread the idea of information freedom. We want to include the platform in our trainings for citizens to help them enforce their right to information. With the aid of best-practice examples, we want to show how meaningful it is to make us of your rights, and what kind of success is made possible. We also want to warn of pitfalls that can occur, and which questions are dead-ends. In this way, we want to help you help yourself in your everyday life. We will give you the support you need to obtain information from your local city hall, whether it concerns road construction, business registrations, or large-scale projects. Government confidentiality is a thing of the past. Today, responsible citizens are taking matters into their own hands to autonomously enforce their right to information.

Our program is continuously growing. We will keep you updated on all our upcoming projects.

Our search for new employees continues, whether male or female. Now we’re looking for someone who has experience in media and graphic design, digital storytelling, and coding.

Our ideal candidate is a web developer with an understanding of modern HTML/CSS and JavaScript (frontend) solutions. Our candidate has experience in managing software projects as a Product Owner, knows what Python-based web-frameworks are, and is confident in implementing these. Our candidate’s first task will be the back- and front-end development of an extensive software project.

We’re looking for our very own Zorro: The task is adventurous, the stakes are high, and the expectations are huge. Our candidate will help build something important. The location is Berlin.

If you’re interested, please send your application including CV and work samples to

bewerbung (at) correctiv.org

CORRECTIV is growing: As of now, fussballdoping.de is an official part of our project. The website investigates long-term developments in the abuse of doping substances and pain medication in soccer.

Daniel Drepper founded the investigative research and reporting platform fussballdoping.de in the spring of 2012. One year later, it was nominated for the Grimme Online Award. As of last year, Drepper is supported by Jonathan Sachse. Since July, both have also been working as reporters for CORRECTIV. Now, fussballdoping.de is officially part of the project as well. The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung released our blog. We are now able run it officially with CORRECTIV.

With the help of CORRECTIV, the reporters will receive more time for their own investigations. Fussballdoping.de is in it for the long run, its research could still take years. For this reason, the platform is a perfect fit for the non-profit structure of CORRECTIV, which isn’t looking to make profits, but wants to uncover fundamental structural problems to change society for the better.

In the past, the platform fussballdoping.de has worked with established media outlets such as Deutschlandfunk, Spiegel-Online or Zeit-Online. The page lives through the participation of its users. Thanks to an encrypted file upload per email and social media, more and more people are getting involved in the project. Fussballdoping.de is also available in English and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Next week, CORRECTIV is going to have a visitor from New York: Christine Souders. She is Associate Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Join us and Christine if you’re interested in studying in New York City. Christine will speak about Columbia’s program, about opportunities and the application process.

The journalism program at Columbia is often seen as the best in the world – and the one with the most prestige. The school has been criticized for years for not adjusting to the digital age quickly enough. This changed over the last few years. Now there are not only the traditional M.A. and M.S. degrees, but also programs in investigative or data journalism as well as a dual-degree in Computer Science.

There is information available on journalism.columbia.edu – but if you want to know more, you should join us on Thursday in CORRECTIV‘s office at Singerstraße 109 in 10179 Berlin-Mitte. Christine will be here to answer your questions from 5 to 7pm. There will also be some Columbia alumni to answer more personal questions about life at the J-School.

If you want to take part in this event, please register until Monday.

[Update, September 23rd at 9.55] The official deadline has passed yesterday and we’re happy about all the people that registered – but we’re still having some space for Thursday. So if you want to join but didn’t have the chance to register, please let me (daniel.drepper (at) correctiv.org) and Diane Nguyen from Columbia (dxn2101 (at) columbia.edu) know by e-mail.

Our next mono-thematic blog starts today: a mafia blog. We want to monitor the activities of organized crime in Italy and document the fight against syndicates. The blog is in Italian and German language.

The mafia has advanced into large parts of the German, Italian, and European economy. Billions are earned through drug smuggling, human trafficking, and money laundering. Our welfare suffers under the direct consequences of these criminal practices, just as entire industries are corrupted by the mafia.

According to renowned investigators, serious business dealings in the building industry are no longer possible without involving organized gangs. The mafia is everywhere. It supplies legions of illegal workers, organizes illegal payoffs and cash flows. In cooperation with the WDR, Spiegel, and Funke Mediengruppe, I was part of a project that documented the influence of the mafia in West Germany — specifically in Cologne and the Ruhr region — as well as Baden-Württemberg.

We want to go beyond episodic reporting. We want to help educate the public about the dangers of the mafia and make sure that its members are perceived as the criminals they are. To date members of the mafia can secretly meet in Germany without fearing any noteworthy prosecution. Membership in the mafia can hardly be prosecuted — as long as the mafia isn’t officially registered as an association. This has to change. Membership in the mafia has to be penalized here in a similar fashion as in Italy.

But this isn’t enough. We want to make sure that the onus of proof is reversed for mafia offenses. Just as in Italy, mobsters in Germany should have to prove that their assets were acquired legally — from taxed earnings — if they want to retain them after prosecution. The mafia will only lose its power if it is stripped of its illegal earnings.

We know that changing laws takes time. That’s why we’re in it for the long run. We want to report as much as possible about the mafia.

This project is the result of a strategic partnership with Cecilia Anesi and Giulio Rubino from the Investigative Reporting Project Italy. Lena Niethammer is
responsible from our side.

Together, we hope to change some things.

We are delighted to announce that we are now a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network. The GIJN is a worldwide network of non-profit organizations that endeavor to advance new forms of investigate journalism. The group connects us with colleagues in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America.

The network fosters a lively exchange. It enables the formation of groups to research individual issues or to establish long-term cooperation. The idea is simple: if the bad guys operate at a global level, we have to conduct cross-border investigations. There’s no room for egotism; we have to work together and help each other. Both data journalism and computer assisted reporting received decisive impulses through the GIJN.

The GIJN is not just hot air. Through the network, we have set up long-term cooperation with IRPI and our colleagues Giulio Rubino and Cecilia Anesi. We work with Nils Mulvad from Denmark and with many other colleagues in the whole world. Every two years everyone comes together at the GIJC – the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. In 2013 we met in Rio de Janeiro. It’s the best conference of its kind. There are workshops which reveal the complexities of international weapons trading. Amazing. Next year we meet in Norway.

David Kaplan is the Executive Director of the GIJN. He is based in Washington. David looks back on a long career in investigative journalism. He was chief investigative correspondent for the weekly U.S. News & World Report and editorial director of the Center for Public Integrity. He also worked as Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Gabriela Manuli supports David as Deputy Director. Originally from Argentina, Gabriela is now based in Europe. She previously worked as a reporter for the Spanish version of the International Center for Journalists.

The GIJN is run by a board of directors which consists of 15 people from member organizations on all continents.

We are delighted to be part of this network.