In July 2018, a distressing video showing the murder of two women and two young children began to circulate on social media. The footage shows a group of soldiers leading them down a dusty footpath, blindfolded, forced to the ground, and shot 22 times.
After speculation online, the BBC's new investigative unit, Africa Eye, took it upon themselves to look at the visual clues in the video to find out where the atrocity took place.
Using a variety of freely available tools, staff at the broadcaster and a group of independent open-source analysts online were able to use what they saw to distinguish the exact location, time frame, and identities of the murderers.
In this week's podcast, we speak to:
- Aliaume Leroy, open-source investigative journalist, BBC Africa Eye
- Daniel Adamson, series producer, BBC Africa Eye
They tell us the steps they took to debunk the video using both traditional and more modern digital journalism techniques, and how your news organisation can use open source investigative approaches to produce compelling digital stories.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- Advice from ABC News: how to get started with satellite journalism
- The Cube shows viewers how it debunks misinformation while it is spreading online
- Tip: 10 tools for budding investigative journalists
- Quartz AI Studio launches an open-source platform to help journalists use machine learning
- Tip: How to achieve award-worthy investigative journalism
