Entry Category:

 New Approaches: Current News

Title 1 (ex. FRONTLINE):

 Newsy

Title 2 (ex. Ebola Outbreak: A Virtual Journey):

 Newsy+Bellingcat

Running Time:

 22:04

Production Company:

 Newsy

Date content was originally made available for viewing (must be 2019):

 June 19, 2019

Original URL (if applicable):

·       Who Shot Down MH17? These Are The Rebels Linked To The Massacre

·       Video Evidence Sheds Light On Executions Near Turkey-Syria Border  

·       'Non-Lethal' Crackdown On Protests Turns Deadly In Iraq

·       We Found More Active Duty Military In Leaked Neo-Nazi Forum

·       A Shot From Police Killed A Protester In Colombia. Here's How We Know.

Essay:

To the judges of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards:

Newsy and the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat have partnered on a project driven by cutting edge open-source reporting. This newsroom collaboration pairs Newsy’s creative visual storytelling and reporting with Bellingcat’s innovative approach to open-source analysis.

For the Newsy+Bellingcat series, we work together to utilize satellite imagery, social media and online tools to shed light on international conflict and extremism — from showing how tear gas canisters have killed protesters in Iraq to finding white supremacists in the ranks of the U.S. military.

With this series, Newsy and Bellingcat are at the forefront in creating a blueprint for a new kind of investigative visual journalism that only a select few outlets have even attempted. There is so much public skepticism today around how we journalists source our information, and so there’s huge value in being able to pull together publicly available evidence and data and actually show our viewers not only what we know but how we know it. In this partnership, we cover both in a highly visual way.

Newsy producer Jake Godin works with Bellingcat’s investigators to identify and co-report stories for the video series, while Newsy’s Jennifer Smart serves as the video editor and animator. Story ideas for the series have come from both Newsy and Bellingcat.

Recent reports from the Newsy+Bellingcat series revealed:

• several American active-duty servicemen active in the Iron March forum, an online gathering place for violent neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Reporters culled through thousands of messages and usernames from the leaked neo-Nazi forum and used a variety of digital detective tools and records searches to connect the usernames to active duty military personnel.
• the identities of the Russian-backed soldiers linked to the downing of the MH17 airliner in Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Both the video from this series and the full report from Bellingcat have been referenced by the Joint Investigation Team at The Hague as it seeks the criminal prosecution of the separatists.
• the presence of a Turkish-backed rebel group at the site where a Kurdish political leader was killed in Syria. This report connected the dots between extrajudicial killings near the Turkey-Syria border. Newsy and Bellingcat spent 50+ hours over the course of a few weeks examining satellite imagery and dozens of videos posted to social media among rebel networks.
• photos and video evidence that showed an unexpected source of protester casualties in Iraq: tear gas canisters fired directly into crowds. Reporters sorted through dozens of videos and photos uploaded online to uncover this information.

The Newsy+Bellingcat series airs on Newsy’s cable channel and is available on-demand on Newsy’s over-the-top streaming platforms and online at newsy.com and bellingcat.com. 

We hope you will strongly consider this work for the New Appraoches award. 

Jake Godin, Reporter, Newsy Documentaries 

Jennifer Smart, Video Editor, Newsy Documentaries 

Zach Toombs, Executive Producer, Newsy Documentaries