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Use: Media and civil investigations

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is there evidence of media or civil society making use of open company data?

Feedback on draft Global Data Barometer Indicators

You are looking at a draft indicator to be included in the expert survey of the Global Data Barometer. Between now and May 10th we are inviting your feedback on this indicator and the elements it contains. You can provide your feedback by (a) completing the feedback form below; or (b) adding in-line annotations.

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You can share your feedback on the Use: Media and civil investigations indicator here, or make use of Hypothes.is annotations

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Media use of data
    • No evidence of media using this data
    • There are isolated cases of civil society, journalists, media using this kind of data, though the source may not be open data
      Supporting questions: If these cases do not use open data, can you identify where the data is coming from?
    • There are number of cases of civil society, journalists and media using this kind of open data from the country
    • There are regular cases of many different civil society organisations, journalists and media sources using this kind of open data from the country

Elements

  • At least one of the examples cited is making use of beneficial ownership data (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) of examples using beneficial ownership data

    If Partially or Yes: If possible, please briefly describe how beneficial ownership data is being used

Extent

  • There is evidence that these uses are having meaningful positive impacts
    • No
    • Partially
      Supporting questions: Please briefly describe the evidence of impact
    • Yes
      Supporting questions: Please briefly describe the evidence of impact

Definitions and Identification

Media and civil society may use company data in a variety of ways, including through:

  • Reports and data visualisations using company data to show the health of the economy;
  • Investigative stories that look at the ownership or structure of a particular company;
  • Using company ownership data as part of wider investigations into public procurement, extractives industries, or other high-risk sectors;
  • Investigative reports that reveal the companies owned or controlled by a specific individual;
  • Reports on compliance with company ownership transparency requirements using data to show the scale of the issue.

This question is primarily asking for your expert judgement, as someone familiar with recent media reporting, data journalism and civil society reporting about the country. In some cases, reporting may have been carried out outside the country, but using data from the country. This can be included in your analysis.

To give the highest scores, the justification should include at least three examples that indicate use of data from at least two different journalists or media publications.

In many cases, particularly where data availability is poor, we anticipate there may be stories using traditional investigation techniques and company documents to report on company ownership. These cases can be noted as examples of report, but without the use of open data.

Consider recent media stories that might involve issues of company ownership: such as major corporate mergers, scandals around transfer of public funds, or investigations into the ownership structure of particular industries.

Starting points

  • Sources:
    • Identify any media outlets involved in producing regular data journalism, and search for stories discussing company ownership.
    • MediaCloud.org can be used to search national media collections for many countries
  • Search:
    • 'data journalism company ownership [country]'
    • [scandal or major news story] + [register name / beneficial ownership]
      • E.g. 'COVID-19 Procurement Scandal Companies House'
  • Consult:
    • Individuals or organisations advocating for company ownership transparency to ask if they are aware of media reporting that made use of open data;
    • Data journalists to ask if they are aware of stories focussing on company data

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Is this a recent news story. Only stories from the study period should be included in your assessment.
  • Are there details or visualisations that indicate the story is based upon the open data identified in earlier questions? (e.g. search for name of the source)
  • Does the reporting make use of beneficial ownership data?

National and sub-national considerations

Examples that only cover a sub-national unit (e.g. particular state or territory) can be included in the research for this question.

Data from company registers and beneficial ownership disclosure has been widely used by investigative civil society and media including to report on corporate activities.

Further details will be added here once all use indicators are drafted.