Jake Godin

Jake Godin

Visual investigations Correspondent

Jake Godin is a visual investigations journalist at Scripps News. In partnership with the open-source reporting team at Bellingcat, he investigates stories around the world using a mix of satellite imagery, open source video and photos from social media, and other media.

Recent Work
A Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy reached Eastern Ghouta for the first time in three months.
Syrian Arab Red CrescentWorld

In Syria, Aid Might Take Months ... If It Comes At All

Members of 5th Special Forces Group (A) conducting 50. Cal Weapons training during counter ISIS operations at Al Tanf, Syria.
U.S. Department of DefenseWorld

The US Really Doesn't Have A Lot Of Options In Syria

Strava's heatmap makes military bases pretty easy to find.
StravaU.S.

How A Fitness Tracker Subverted The World's Most Powerful Militaries

The U.S. has laid out it's new strategy in Syria, and it sounds a bit like nation-building.
Newsy / Andrew LawlerU.S.

Is The US Nation Building In Syria?

Newsy analyzed footage and slogans from dozens of Iranian protest videos to better understand why people were demonstrating.
Newsy / Andrew LawlerWorld

What We Can Learn From Listening To Iran's Protest Slogans

Starting in late December, protests have swept through Iran for more than a week.
Newsy / Andrew LawlerWorld

Geography Of Iran Protests Reveals An Unprecedented Uprising

Chinese service members participate in a military parade in Djibouti City.
U.S. Air National Guard / Tech. Sgt. Joseph HarwoodWorld

A Base In Tiny Djibouti Shows China's Grand Global Ambitions

The Mobile Library gives displaced children in Syria a chance to read books
Dari Sustainable DevelopmentWorld

Library On Wheels Brings Books To Kids In War-torn Syria

The U.S. decided to delay its ban on outdated cluster munitions in November.
Newsy / Andrew LawlerU.S.

100 Nations Have Banned Cluster Bombs. So Why Won't The US?

Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
Sharron Ward / Campaign to Stop Killer RobotsPolitics

The Campaign To Ban Killer Robots Before They Become A Reality

A U.S. Army Special Forces weapons sergeant inspects a Nigerien service member's weapon.
AFRICOM / Spc. Zayid BallesterosWorld

As Terrorist Threat Grows In West Africa, Expect US Presence To Grow

A view of the State Department seal on the podium before the Romanian president and U.S. secretary of state meet.
Getty Images / Drew AngererPolitics

Trump's State Department Has Quite A Few Positions Left To Fill

President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with members of his Cabinet.
Getty Images / Win McNameeU.S.

Trump Wants To Ax The Diversity Visa Program, So What Is It?

Shots from "24," "The Princess Diaries" and "Scandal"
NewsyWorld

How (And Why) Do Movies And TV Make Up Fake Countries?

Multinational service members participate in the opening ceremonies of Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger.
U.S. Army / Spc. Zayid BallesterosWorld

Pentagon Defends Response After 4 US Troops Killed In Niger

Ivy Mike experimental thermonuclear device is detonated over Bikini Atoll in 1952
U.S. Department of EnergyWorld

When Nations Go Nuclear, They Gain More Than Just The Bomb

A family carries a television and their belongings from their house as they evacuated in Bali, Indonesia.
Getty Images / Ulet IfansastiScience and Health

Climate Change Will Create More Refugees And Mass Migration

YouTube's new machine learning software has taken down thousands of Syrian conflict videos.
Evan Thomas / NewsyWorld

YouTube Videos Show Evidence Of War Atrocities — Until They're Deleted

A satellite image from NASA shows the browning of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma.
NASAU.S.

Satellite Images Show Hurricane Irma's Caribbean Destruction

The fortress of Città di San Marino, viewed from the side of Torre Guaita on Monte Titano
Max_Ryazanov / CC BY SA 3.0World

How To Survive As A Nation When You're Smaller Than New York City

US President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport.
Getty Images / Joe RaedlePolitics

Trump Is About To Take A 17-Day Vacation; Let's Put That Into Context

A youth waves Egyptian flags from a lamp post in Tahrir Square on February 1, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt.
Getty Images / Peter MacdiarmidWorld

What A Flag Can Tell You About Its Country

An Islamic State sign in the northwestern Iraq town of Ba'aj, June 20, 2017, near the Iraq-Syria border.
Getty Images / Martyn AimWorld

Terror Attacks Worldwide Are Down For Second Straight Year

Men watch a news conference of Russian president Vladimir Putin on TVs in a store June 24, 2002 in Moscow.
Getty Imgaes / Oleg NikishinWorld

How State Media Became A Weapon Of Information Warfare

A member of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) patrols in the border town of Jarablus, August 31, 2016, Syria.
Getty Images / Defne KaradenizWorld

The US And Russia Have Agreed To Implement A Cease-Fire In Syria

Workers unload medical supplies to fight the Ebola epidemic from a USAID cargo flight on August 24, 2014 in Harbel, Liberia.
Getty Images / John MooreU.S.

Why Trump's Budget Cuts To US Soft Power Matter

An F/A-18F Super Hornet fires a Sidewinder AIM-9M missile during an exercise.
U.S. Department of DefenseU.S.

It's Really Rare For One Fighter Jet To Take Down Another: Here's Why

An image of Cameroon with its name in French on an old map.
Newsy / Andrew LawlerWorld

C'est La Violence: Cameroon Is Fighting Over Language

A photo released by ISIS showing a man loading a homemade mortar.
ISISWorld

ISIS Drones And The 'Industrial Revolution Of Terrorism'

A man stands in the ruins of a building destroyed during fighting between Iraqi forces and ISIS.
Getty Images / Carl CourtWorld

After ISIS Falls, What Happens To Its 'Digital Caliphate'?