Starting in 2013, the nonprofit International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) began releasing a blockbuster series of stories, based on a massive leak of 2.5 million privately-held business records. The files detailed more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing the hidden dealings of politicians and billionaires in more than 170 countries and territories.
The scope of the investigation was as extraordinary as the leak itself. In what is likely the largest collaboration in journalism history, the project ultimately involved 112 journalists from 42 media partners in 58 countries. Here is the Asia end of the huge project, with journalists from the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and ICIJ's headquarters talking about how they worked with secret data that has caused official investigations and reforms worldwide.
War is deception, as the Chinese general Sun Tzu said—and it’s left to investigative journalists to strip away the deceit. Who’s really commanding the battle, and what do they get out of it? Who’s funding and arming them? What back-door dealings are underway while the country is in turmoil? Amid the violence and chaos, it takes a cool head and a strong gut to make sense of it all, and unpick the details that are truly history-making.
We have three journalists who have years of experience in doing just that, from insurgent armies and martial law to open warfare, and they will explain on how to nail down what’s truly important.