A team from ARIJ participated in an advanced training that took place on the sidelines of the SKUP Investigative Journalism Conference held at the end of April, 2023. The training focused on verifying visual content, geolocation techniques, and investigative tools for exposing corruption. It also included the use of new online search tools, modern patterns in presenting investigative reports, and advanced lessons in Excel and SQL programs.

Members of the ARIJ team included Senior Coach Ethar Al-Azam and Workshops Coordinator Lina Hadid.

The conference addressed several topics, including following the money and using open sources to find evidence of war crimes, digital security, and more. It also included discussion sessions that addressed the impact of politicians spreading fake information on social media and the security threats that journalists face as a result of tracking suspicious financial transactions or debunking the authorities’ narrative about the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of the conference, the winner of this year’s SKUP award was announced, which was the Norwegian magazine Aftenposten, for its data investigation on children in Norway revealing the Norwegian government’s failure to deal with the most vulnerable groups.

The SKUP award is considered one of the highest awards granted in the field of investigative journalism in Norway.