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It’s been a turbulent time for global politics over the past few weeks. From the assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump in one weekend, to the withdrawal of current President Joe Biden from running for re-election the next, and a historic electoral defeat for the far right in France. Our column resumes after an editorial break, showcasing stories published between July 8 – 21, 2024. In this edition, we also highlight the history of the Paris Olympics, which start today; an investigation into how publicly available location data puts German security at risk; an analysis of the effects of pesticides on US farm workers; and a brief history of Taiwan and China’s relationship through maps.
Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump
Image: Screenshot, Wall Street Journal
A little less than 10 minutes into a campaign rally for former US President Donald Trump in rural Pennsylvania, shots were heard. The Republican candidate was only grazed in the ear and started bleeding, but one person in the audience was killed and two were seriously injured. The shooter, who was just over 120 meters away from the rally stage, was also killed, in an episode that has been considered one of the biggest failures of the US Secret Service in decades. To understand what happened, The Wall Street Journal created a visual timeline of how the assassination attempt unfolded. It is also worth checking out this piece from Al Jazeera recalling all the assassination attempts against former presidents and presidential candidates – including some successful ones, such as Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
Paris Olympics: 1924 vs. 2024
Image: Screenshot, South China Morning Post
Today, Friday the 26th, another edition of the Summer Olympic Games begins, which will be held in Paris for the third time. In the 100 years since the competitions were first held in the French capital in 1924, what has changed? The size and design of the medals, the number of athletes and sports disciplines contested and even the emergence of new countries are some of the most notable changes listed by the South China Morning Post in this visual explainer.
For those who will be in Paris to watch the games or just happen to be on vacation in the City of Lights at the same time as the event, Le Monde has released a guide to traffic in Paris before and during the Games, explaining the different security perimeters that restrict traffic near the competition venues and when these rules come into effect.
Defeat of the Far Right in France
Image: Bloomberg
Just before the sports competitions, France was the scene of another contest with a surprising ending: the French legislative elections. With a bold strategy that included candidates who had not performed well in the first round dropping out in order to consolidate votes for a smaller number of candidates, the New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, managed to win the majority of seats. Just a week earlier, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party had come out on top in the election. In this special, Bloomberg explains how the strategy came about, where the votes for each political ideology came from and how the strengths of these political parties in the National Assembly have changed over the years.
Privacy at Risk from Geolocation
Image: Screenshot, BR
In this bold visual special, BR and netzpolitik.org show that even in a country with strict data privacy rules like Germany, anyone can be vulnerable – even employees of ministries and secret services. The outlets were able to create detailed movement profiles of probably tens of thousands of people who entered and left locations relevant to German national security, as well as their business trips, leisure trips, or even trips to the supermarket. To do this, they used location data from mobile phone apps, which are freely sold on the Internet, and which were offered to one of the team’s journalists as a “free sample” of the material he could obtain with a monthly subscription on a Berlin-based online marketplace. English version here.
Migrant Workers’ Exposure to Harmful Chemicals
Image: Screenshot, Univision
To investigate the effects of pesticides on the health of farmworkers in the US, in addition to interviewing dozens of people who became ill, Univision Noticias conducted an experiment: it placed 10 silicone bracelets, capable of detecting dozens of pesticides, on fieldworkers in three states. In this special, the outlet shows how all the participants in the experiment were exposed to multiple pesticides in their daily lives, a conclusion that scientists also reached, the motivations behind this exposure – such as the fact that most of the workers are immigrants and do not have documentation, agreeing to work even while the fields are being sprayed – and the consequences for these workers of immediate and prolonged exposure to these chemicals.
Complicated Hostage Rescue in Gaza
Image: Screenshot, The New York Times
The New York Times’ visual investigations team has taken a deep dive into one of Israel’s riskiest operations since the start of the war against Hamas: the rescue of four hostages in broad daylight in a densely populated area on June 8. The mission was successful, but it left a trail of destruction and death. According to the newspaper, the operation quickly turned into a firefight, followed by at least 19 Israeli airstrikes. According to Palestinian authorities, 274 people were killed, including 64 children. Israel put the total death toll at about 100. There is no distinction between civilians and military personnel in the reports from both sides. Using satellite imagery, eyewitness accounts and more than 60 videos, the Times revealed that the strikes destroyed or damaged at least 42 buildings — including apartment buildings and a grocery store, which would help explain the high death toll — and traced how Israeli forces shot and killed two teenagers in their home.
Partying in the French Sky
Image: Screenshot, Mediapart
Eleven thousand flights. Almost 11 million kilometers traveled. 272 trips around the Earth. For several weeks, Mediapart and the Mémoire vive collective investigated these impressive figures, achieved by just fifty French private jets between May 2023 and April 2024. Registered in France or by French users abroad, these small aircraft operated for business, but also in private settings, for leisure and vacations by wealthy businessmen or large companies. According to the Federation of Transport and Environment NGOs in France, when compared to the carbon footprint of an average French passenger, these exclusive trips for the super-rich represent up to 14 times the consumption of a conventional plane and 50 times that of a train. Or, according to the report, even worse: the equivalent of four centuries of travel.
How Sci-Fi Worlds Evolved
Image: Screenshot, The Pudding
In this interesting piece, The Pudding takes a look at how the worlds portrayed in science fiction films have changed over the past 70 years. To do so, the reporter analyzed the 200 sci-fi movies and TV shows from each decade with the highest ratings among users on the IMDB platform, from the 1950s to the present day. Among the findings is the fact that science fiction narratives from the past were very different from stories today and were often set in a world similar to the one the viewer lived in, without necessarily being set in the future. On the other hand, today’s science fiction is more likely to portray a world worse than our reality, increasingly focusing on dystopian or post-apocalyptic worlds, and bringing reflections on our own society – almost as a warning of what we can become if we are not careful.
The History of China and Taiwan in Maps
Image: Screenshot, The Economist
The Economist explains, through eight maps, the history of Taiwan, its founding and its changing relationship with mainland China over the centuries. It shows how, from the 16th century and through war after war, the small island in the East China Sea, also known as Formosa, has passed through the hands of the Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese, been a refuge for two distinct dissident groups at different times and became a beacon in the global semiconductor market, by focusing its pro-democracy efforts on domestic reforms rather than territorial ambitions. According to the report, despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s claims that the full reunification of China and Taiwan is inevitable, the island has never effectively been under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Furthermore, the party’s obsession with Taiwan would involve more than just territory: the island has become a free and open society, “proof that Chinese culture is compatible with liberal democracy,” and that is unacceptable.
The Kebaya: Uniting Southeast Asia Through Fashion
Image: Screenshot, The Pudding
The kebaya is an upper garment traditionally worn by women in different countries in Southeast Asia. According to The Straits Times, it is also the perfect symbol of the region’s shared heritage. In this illustrated guide, the Singapore outlet shows how the silhouette of the garment, which is typically made from lightweight fabrics such as cotton or voile, has evolved – from s classic embroidered, long and loose design to more modern, simple and fitted versions – and shows how three Singaporeans, including one from ST’s own team, keep the practice of making and wearing the kebaya alive. According to the report, the making of a garment is a form of “slow fashion”, involving a long process of designing, creating, and adapting details such as embroidery and stitching to fit the wearer.
BONUS: Using AI for Story Ideas
Image: Screenshot, Online Journalism Blog
In this post from his Online Journalism Blog, Paul Bradshaw, who leads the MA in Data Journalism program at Birmingham City University, shares insights from a session he hosted at the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School on using generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to generate story ideas. According to Bradshaw, “Generative AI tools may not be completely reliable, but that doesn’t mean they’re not useful.” Here, he explains how to write prompts for brainstorming ideas, understand systematic problems, explore rules and regulations, and more.
Ana Beatriz Assam is GIJN’s Portuguese editor and a Brazilian journalist. She has worked as a freelance reporter for the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, mainly covering stories featuring data journalism. She also works for the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) as an assistant coordinator of journalism courses.
