Missing data may indicate a larger systemic problem. ProPublica scrutinized a number of discrepancies between incidents cited in U.S. railroad worker lawsuits and on-the-job injuries and fatalities reported to relevant regulatory authorities, which led to This led to the discovery of a loophole. A curated list of the most interesting data journalism from March 11 to 24 includes the effects of a warming Danube, anomalies in voter data from Russia's recent elections, cocaine seizures in Latin America, and this year's Sigma Award winners are also featured. .
US Railroad Safety Data is Missing
ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, previously reported that the U.S. railroad industry goes to great lengths to claim its safety record is better than it actually is. In this recent study, journalists examined more than 5,000 federal lawsuits filed against six major freight railroads over the past 15 years and compared them to an online railroad injury database maintained by the Federal Railroad Administration. did. They found numerous injuries and at least two deaths that had not been reported to regulators. A pattern has emerged in missing persons cases. A worker's death or injury could be claimed to be due to a “personal health condition” or it could be claimed to be an invisible soft tissue injury that “could have occurred off-duty.” There is also gender.
Danube River warming
The Danube River, which flows through 10 European countries, has been steadily warming over the past 50 years, according to data analysis by Atroteam, a Hungarian-based video and data journalism department. Journalists analyzed temperature data from 34 stations on the Danube and found that the average annual temperature on the Danube has increased from 8.5 to 11.5 degrees Celsius (47 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit) in 1965 to 11.4 to 14.2 degrees Celsius. degrees (52 to 57.5 degrees Fahrenheit). The researchers also investigated how rising temperatures along the river could affect the operation of major power plants. This story is available in English and Hungarian.
Quenching Spain's thirst: desalination plants
Winter and early spring typically fill up reservoirs and aquifers, replenishing them in preparation for the dry, lean days of summer. However, in February, 75% of the population living in urban areas in Spain's Catalonia region was hydrated, and water levels in reservoirs were at their lowest since at least 1988, according to this report from El Diario newspaper. It is said that there is. takes Spain's thirst for water as a springboard to explore the history of desalination projects across the country and the problems that have plagued various plants. Spain is a pioneer in this technology, and reporters looked at different regions, including Catalonia, to chart their dependence on desalinated water, as well as areas where investments have stalled or projects have failed to bear fruit. We are investigating what went wrong. Multi-page projects include maps, charts, graphics, contracts, and satellite imagery. To complement this story, Spanish media Datadista takes a closer look at the water, charting data that shows how reservoirs in the south and east of the country are already at alarmingly low water levels.
red sea ship
Since November, Yemen's Houthi rebels have targeted global shipping vessels near the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern tip of the Red Sea, a “chokepoint for global maritime trade.” However, there is an alternative route to the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. This article by Bloomberg analyzes the details of around 10,000 commercial ships that were sailing near the tip of the Red Sea and South Africa between December 1, 2023 and March 10, 2023, along the coast of Yemen. Tankers and cargo ships attempting to do so remain risky and aging, with more ships now sailing with insurance that makes them untraceable. High-risk vessels accounted for 8% of Red Sea sailings, up from 3.5% a year ago. On the other hand, only 0.8% of ships sailed the long-distance route around the Cape of Good Hope. “All reputable owners are avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal,” one source said.
Gender pay gap in Latin America
Is the wage gap between men and women smaller in countries where women have a higher level of education? Also, which salaries are closer for men and women in Guyana and Guatemala? La Data Cuenta, an independent data journalism medium Hassel Fallas decided to dig into the numbers from the United Nations World Human Development Index and the average per capita income by gender. He found that across the region, on average, women earn $40 less for every $100 a man earns. He said, “Inequalities transcend national borders and impact the economy and women's independence across the region.” However, there are notable differences across Latin America. Visit our interactive platform to dig into national data and compare different countries. In Spanish and English.
Analyzing Russia's election anomalies
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin won 87.3% of the vote in an election criticized as neither free nor fair, extending his rule over the country for another six years. The Kremlin's election commission reported a record turnout of 77.5%. However, when the independent Russian news site Meduza examined the data released by the commission for each polling station, it found that there were some peculiarities in the data. It reported that statistical anomalies, such as deviations from the standard bell-shaped curve and highly abnormal turnout and vote totals, were “evidence of tampering.” See similar data analysis by exiled independent media outlet iStories. This underlines the anomaly of “fast voting”, giving the example of a polling station where for seven hours he achieved an average turnout of 700 people per hour.
Comparing cocaine seizures and murder rates
This report from InSight Crime has two charts side by side. One shows the cocaine seized in Ecuador in tonnes, a number that has risen sharply since 2019, and the other shows the murder rate, which has seen the exact same dizzying increase since 2019. This report, a detailed analysis of cocaine seizures across Latin America, uses data from national police departments, drug enforcement teams, the Ministry of Defence, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to analyze cocaine supply The chain and the scale of drug seizures across the continent. InSight Crime monitors reports of cocaine seizures daily and has filed Freedom of Information requests requesting data from all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Who owns and rents Brussels?
“Brussels has a rent problem,” write the authors of this article about housing in the Belgian capital. More than half (54%) of the city's one million residents are tenants, with waiting periods for public housing “fluctuating between 10 and 16 years” and rents soaring. Tenants are becoming progressively poorer, while owners are “getting richer by withdrawing pensions” from their real estate portfolios, the team at independent cooperative media Medor reported. Their study builds on data work conducted by Hugo Peleliu, a researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Bruxelles, which provides a never-before-seen picture of the city's owner-renter composition. It is said that it has become clear. They looked at how rents have risen over time, mapped out where homeowners, renters and council housing tenants live, and charted the age of the housing stock and We delved into energy efficiency. (This he published on March 7th, but he changed the data parameters to include this.)
Analyzing supporters of German political parties
Support for Germany's far-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has increased in recent years. According to a report by the German news site Zeit Online, about 8 million people answered in a survey that they wanted to vote for the AfD, including those who identify as “centrist” or “centre-right” within the party. This includes many nationals. political spectrum. Zeit's data journalists analyzed a dataset of 10,000 people twice a year collected by the German Electoral Institute and the Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences to uncover the composition and likely motivations of the AfD's potential voters. (including information from interviews) were analyzed.
Russian media mentions
How often do the names of major politicians appear in the Russian media? And are they mentioned positively or negatively? Ukrainian data agency Texti says: To find out, we monitored the content of Russian media from April 2022 to February 2024. It managed to identify patterns among the 10 most commonly mentioned Russian or foreign leaders. US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were the two most mentioned foreign politicians, although they were mostly featured in a negative context.
Bonus: Sigma Award 2024 Winner
Congratulations to the 10 latest Sigma Award winners, selected from a total of 638 entries from 332 organizations in 80 countries and territories. This list includes three of his articles previously featured in his Top 10 Data Journalism Projects of 2023, chosen by GIJN editors. His work includes an investigation into the demolition and remodeling of mosques in China, details on the algorithms that determine risk scores for welfare programs in the Netherlands, and detailed data analysis on extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh.
GIJN's top 10 data journalism list is handpicked every two weeks. Please send us your suggestions.
laura dixon I am the deputy editor of GIJN and a freelance journalist from the UK. She has reported from Colombia, the United States, and Mexico; her work It has been published in The Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has received fellowships from her IWMF and Pulitzer Centers.
Eunice O I am a Global Team Manager at GIJN based in Budapest, Hungary. Previously, he was a correspondent for The Straits Times in Singapore and a journalist for the New Straits Times in Malaysia. She has also written for The Sun, Malaysian Today and Madam Chair.