NORDIC NETWORK OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS

NORDIG

NORDIG’s journey so far

June 2022

The idea was born

At Dataharvest, the European investigative journalism conference, a conversation took place between our board member Alex Maxia and experienced investigative journalists Nils Hanson and Staffan Dahllöf. Why are there so few Nordic cross-border investigations? Why is there no Nordic network of investigative journalists? – Good questions, many think it’s a good idea but someone needs to start it. Why don’t you start it?, said Nils Hanson.

September 2023

people presenting in front of an audience with a screen in the background

Nordic Investigation by public service televisions

A presentation at GIJC23 in Gothenburg on a Nordic cross-border investigative documentary made by public service companies SVT, DR, NRK and YLE.

Axel Gordh Humlesjö (SVT) said this was one of the first times ever they had worked in this way at a Nordic level. A woman in the audience asked ‘why did it take this long?’. Many people laughed but the answer was that tough the Nordic countries are seen as quite close from the outside, it is still difficult to find ways to collaborate.

February 2024

a view of a street in a Norwegian town with wooden houses and blue sky.

Work starts

Alex Maxia presents the idea of researching the interest of having a Nordic network of investigative journalists to the team within the newly formed Gothenburg Media Hub.

The project becomes one of the key priorities for the organisation during 2024. Board members Alex Maxia and Eden Maclachlan start working on developing the project.

March 2024

Collaboration with Föreningen Grävande Journalister

The project started growing thanks to the collaboration with the national association for investigative journalists in Sweden (Förening för Grävande Jouranlister – FGJ). The association appointed their board member Tobias Andersson Åkerblom to work with developing the project who joins the team.

May 2024

Survey

A draft of a survey was put together and optimised several times and then published on Gothenburg Media Hub’s website in English and Swedish.

June – August 2024

Survey distributed

Thanks to the collaboration with SKUP in Norway, FUG and Gravcentret in Denmark, TYJ in Finland plus FGJ in Sweden it was possible to distribute the survey amongst investigative journalists in four different countries.

We received a total of 72 responses. All except two were in favour of a Nordic network of investigative journalists.

Several respondents said that they would join such a network and even contributed with ideas and suggestions on how such a network could help them in their work.

August 2024

Panel debate on investigative journalism at Frihamnsdagarna

GMH organised a panel debate at Gothenburg’s democracy week – Frihamnsdagarna.

Amongst the topics covered was Nordic collaborations now and in the past with internationally acclaimed Data Journalist Helena Bengtsson who was one of the organisers of NODA (the Nordic Datajournalism conference).

Hans Peterson Hammer is head of investigations at Göteborg Posten and shared his experiences working cross-border in his current role and in previous years and Ulla Sättereie, chair of FGJ talked about the existing contacts between national associations of investigative journalists and visiting each other at their conferences.

The panel was organised and moderated by Alex Maxia.

September 2024

1:1 meetings with professionals

Throughout the summer and particularly in September the team had meetings with several associations in Nordic countries, experienced journalists, editors and organisations.

The meetings were insightful for feedback on what is needed and what already exists when it comes to cross-border collaborations within investigative journalism in the Nordic region.

October 2024

Focus in 2025: organised crime

Based on the analysis made by the team looking at media coverage in the different Nordic countries the decision was taken to set the first focus for the network on organised crime.

In the Nordic countries there has been a growth of gang related crimes, often involving very young people and children. Many of the groups are connected to each other and Sweden plays a key role in this.

The phenomenon is relatively new and there is a societal interest in the topic and a need to build a better understanding with the journalism community in the Nordic region.

November 2024

First Nordic meeting

In November we had our first digital meeting with representatives of organisations in the different countries.

During the meeting the survey results were presented and the people agreed in working together towards building a Nordic network for investigative journalists.

The people present now form the ‘NORDIG Team’ which is leading the shape-forming process and taking joint decisions on the future strategy in building the network.

December 2024

Coordinating group consolidates

In addition to Alex and Eden the team within Gothenburg Media Hub working to coordinate the project grows with Wiktoria Gruca, Janina Wildermuth, Sarah Pilz and Malene Nørby.

The work of the coordination group consists in running administrative tasks such as planning and organising meetings.

The group acts to execute the joint decisions taken during the NORDIG Team meetings. It finds solutions to problems and suggests strategies to further develop the network.

January 2025

New project managers

The main project managers of NORDIG are Wiktoria Gruca (Gothenburg, Sweden) and Janina Wildermuth (Bergen, Norway).

Alex Maxia and Eden Maclachlan are still involved in the coordination of the project but are no longer leading it as they did during 2024.