Paul Bradshaw
@paulbradshaw.bsky.social
Data journalist and course leader, MA Data Journalism at Birmingham City University
A much-needed guide by Ides Debruyne to the business side of teaming up to pursue an investigation www.journalismfund.eu/news/plea-be... - we need more guidance like this
Plea For Better Negotiations in Cross-border Journalism | Journalismfund Europe
BRUSSELS - How and when does a journalist or team of journalists start negotiations with a media company? And how do they not only get their international cross-border investigative journalism publish...
www.journalismfund.eu
October 3, 2025 at 12:35 PM
A much-needed guide by Ides Debruyne to the business side of teaming up to pursue an investigation www.journalismfund.eu/news/plea-be... - we need more guidance like this
How to (not) write about numbers onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/09/30/h...
How to (not) write about numbers
Image by Andy Maguire | CC BY 2.0 If you’ve been working on a story involving data, the temptation can be to throw all the figures you’ve found into the resulting report — but the same …
onlinejournalismblog.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:04 AM
How to (not) write about numbers onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/09/30/h...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
Crime on buses is thankfully pretty uncommon.
But which routes in the West Midlands are the worst affected according to #FOI:
But which routes in the West Midlands are the worst affected according to #FOI:
Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 29/8/2025
A refused or unanswered Freedom of Information request can still be a story. (But there's some successes too...
clairemiller.net
September 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Crime on buses is thankfully pretty uncommon.
But which routes in the West Midlands are the worst affected according to #FOI:
But which routes in the West Midlands are the worst affected according to #FOI:
“Maintain a kill checklist. Try to kill your own finding. Publish what survived.” And many other tips
www.dutchosintguy.com/post/stop-ca...
www.dutchosintguy.com/post/stop-ca...
Stop Calling It OSINT
A field rant about shortcuts, ego, and other creative ways to waste everyone’s timeLet’s just say the quiet part out loud: most of what’s sold as “OSINT” online is cosplay. It’s people screenshotting ...
www.dutchosintguy.com
August 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
“Maintain a kill checklist. Try to kill your own finding. Publish what survived.” And many other tips
www.dutchosintguy.com/post/stop-ca...
www.dutchosintguy.com/post/stop-ca...
“GPT-5, even in ‘Thinking’ and ‘Pro’ modes, was a considerable downgrade when compared with the capabilities demonstrated by GPT o4-mini-high”
www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...
www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...
LLMs vs. Geolocation: GPT-5 performs worse than other AI models - bellingcat
Bellingcat challenged the latest models—Grok, GPT and Gemini—on geolocation tasks, revealing GPT-5 as a clear downgrade.
www.bellingcat.com
August 17, 2025 at 11:09 AM
“GPT-5, even in ‘Thinking’ and ‘Pro’ modes, was a considerable downgrade when compared with the capabilities demonstrated by GPT o4-mini-high”
www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...
www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...
Stop anthropomorphising AI. It’s not “biased” in the way you think.
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/05/07/w...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/05/07/w...
Why I’m no longer saying AI is “biased”
TLDR; Saying “AI has biases” or “biased training data” is preferable to “AI is biased” because it reduces the risk of anthropomorphism and focuses on potential s…
onlinejournalismblog.com
August 6, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Stop anthropomorphising AI. It’s not “biased” in the way you think.
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/05/07/w...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/05/07/w...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
2. Learn about in-depth investigations from journalists @theguardian.com and @theexamination.org
3. Hone your data skills with @paulbradshaw.bsky.social and the power of story-telling from @healthequals.bsky.social
4. Hear the economic case for reducing inequalities from @davefinch.bsky.social
3. Hone your data skills with @paulbradshaw.bsky.social and the power of story-telling from @healthequals.bsky.social
4. Hear the economic case for reducing inequalities from @davefinch.bsky.social
April 11, 2025 at 9:03 AM
2. Learn about in-depth investigations from journalists @theguardian.com and @theexamination.org
3. Hone your data skills with @paulbradshaw.bsky.social and the power of story-telling from @healthequals.bsky.social
4. Hear the economic case for reducing inequalities from @davefinch.bsky.social
3. Hone your data skills with @paulbradshaw.bsky.social and the power of story-telling from @healthequals.bsky.social
4. Hear the economic case for reducing inequalities from @davefinch.bsky.social
A new AI function is being added to Google Sheets that could make most other functions redundant. But is it any good? Here’s what I’ve learned in the first week…
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/04/10/g...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/04/10/g...
Google Sheets has a new AI function — how does it perform on classification tasks?
A new AI function is being added to Google Sheets that could make most other functions redundant. But is it any good? And what can it be used for? Here’s what I’ve learned in the first week… AI has…
onlinejournalismblog.com
April 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
A new AI function is being added to Google Sheets that could make most other functions redundant. But is it any good? Here’s what I’ve learned in the first week…
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/04/10/g...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/04/10/g...
🤐 If you can't get access to public data, or information provided by the authorities is not credible, what do you do, how do you obtain data for a story?
Here are some techniques used by reporters around the world
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/03/25/h...
Here are some techniques used by reporters around the world
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/03/25/h...
How do I get data if my country doesn’t publish any?
Spotlight photo by Paul Green on Unsplash In many countries public data is limited, and access to data is either restricted, or information provided by the authorities is not credible. So how do yo…
onlinejournalismblog.com
April 2, 2025 at 8:36 AM
🤐 If you can't get access to public data, or information provided by the authorities is not credible, what do you do, how do you obtain data for a story?
Here are some techniques used by reporters around the world
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/03/25/h...
Here are some techniques used by reporters around the world
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/03/25/h...
I wonder how much fun the writer/sub had identifying when to use blond vs blonde in this piece. Either way, it’s a great example (replace them all with blanks for a cruel subbing test) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
The blond advantage: fair hair completely changed my life – but is it time to give it up?
When I first dyed my hair, the difference in how I was treated made me assume life got better the more you lightened your look. I have now spent years testing the theory ...
www.theguardian.com
March 18, 2025 at 1:26 PM
I wonder how much fun the writer/sub had identifying when to use blond vs blonde in this piece. Either way, it’s a great example (replace them all with blanks for a cruel subbing test) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
Further important 🐹📈 data journalism from @louisashworth.bsky.social and cartography from @theboysmithy.ft.com about the cost of small caged mammals (scm) in the UK: www.ft.com/content/f1cb...
March 13, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Further important 🐹📈 data journalism from @louisashworth.bsky.social and cartography from @theboysmithy.ft.com about the cost of small caged mammals (scm) in the UK: www.ft.com/content/f1cb...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
Scottish public bodies have been warned not to take #FOI court action they are likely to lose…advice that could probably apply more widely.
FOI stories that mostly avoided this this week...
FOI stories that mostly avoided this this week...
Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/10/2024 – #FOIFriday – Words + Numbers
Post published:October 25, 2024 Post category:Freedom of Information Reading time:8 mins read Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/10/2024 – #FOIFriday Scottish public bodies have been warned not to take court action they are likely to lose…advice that would probably apply to pu...
clairemiller.net
March 13, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Scottish public bodies have been warned not to take #FOI court action they are likely to lose…advice that could probably apply more widely.
FOI stories that mostly avoided this this week...
FOI stories that mostly avoided this this week...
Important reporting by my colleague Alex Homer on police use of a Clearing House-style #FOI unit.
Journalists identified, potential media attention discussed, and forces advised to withdraw previous response
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Journalists identified, potential media attention discussed, and forces advised to withdraw previous response
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Police FOI unit dubbed 'authoritarian censor'
Campaigners voice concern as an investigation shows a police unit blocked requests for information.
www.bbc.co.uk
March 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Important reporting by my colleague Alex Homer on police use of a Clearing House-style #FOI unit.
Journalists identified, potential media attention discussed, and forces advised to withdraw previous response
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Journalists identified, potential media attention discussed, and forces advised to withdraw previous response
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Research: people are “better at rating false news as false than at rating true news as true”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Spotting false news and doubting true news: a systematic review and meta-analysis of news judgements - Nature Human Behaviour
Pfänder and Altay conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of 67 experimental articles, showing that people discern true from false news with ease. When making mistakes, people err on the side of...
www.nature.com
March 6, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Research: people are “better at rating false news as false than at rating true news as true”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
‼️ DEADLINE EXTENSION!
🏆 Sigma Awards 2025
As with previous editions, the award will maintain its no-category rule and will have experts in data journalism from around the world constituting its jury and prize committee.
Deadline: March 7, 2025
More: https://twp.ai/1TaJrR
🏆 Sigma Awards 2025
As with previous editions, the award will maintain its no-category rule and will have experts in data journalism from around the world constituting its jury and prize committee.
Deadline: March 7, 2025
More: https://twp.ai/1TaJrR
Submissions Open for 2025 Sigma Awards, GIJN New Host of Data Journalism Award
GIJN is proud to announce that it is the new administrator for the annual SIGMA data journalism awards, which are now accepting submissions for the 2025 round.
twp.ai
March 4, 2025 at 7:30 AM
‼️ DEADLINE EXTENSION!
🏆 Sigma Awards 2025
As with previous editions, the award will maintain its no-category rule and will have experts in data journalism from around the world constituting its jury and prize committee.
Deadline: March 7, 2025
More: https://twp.ai/1TaJrR
🏆 Sigma Awards 2025
As with previous editions, the award will maintain its no-category rule and will have experts in data journalism from around the world constituting its jury and prize committee.
Deadline: March 7, 2025
More: https://twp.ai/1TaJrR
I’ve put together a crib sheet of 7 techniques for journalists to get better results from genAI tools
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/19/7...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/19/7...
7 prompt design techniques for generative AI every journalist should know
Tools like ChatGPT might seem to speak your language, but they actually speak a language of probability and educated guesswork. You can make yourself better understood — and get more professional r…
onlinejournalismblog.com
February 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I’ve put together a crib sheet of 7 techniques for journalists to get better results from genAI tools
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/19/7...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/19/7...
I’m speaking at this event on AI and inclusive journalism next Wednesday if you fancy tuning/popping in (New Broadcasting House, London)
February 13, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I’m speaking at this event on AI and inclusive journalism next Wednesday if you fancy tuning/popping in (New Broadcasting House, London)
Great piece on the artistic history of Birmingham and where to find the buildings that reflect it
open.substack.com/pub/birmingh...
open.substack.com/pub/birmingh...
Birmingham is not just heavy metal
How the Arts and Crafts movement merged industry with artisan
open.substack.com
February 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Great piece on the artistic history of Birmingham and where to find the buildings that reflect it
open.substack.com/pub/birmingh...
open.substack.com/pub/birmingh...
“The issue might be that the energy it saves in training is offset by its more intensive techniques for answering questions, and by the long answers they produce.”
www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...
DeepSeek might not be such good news for energy after all
New figures show that if the model’s energy-intensive “chain of thought” reasoning gets added to everything, the promise of efficiency gets murky.
www.technologyreview.com
February 4, 2025 at 10:28 AM
“The issue might be that the energy it saves in training is offset by its more intensive techniques for answering questions, and by the long answers they produce.”
www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...
7 vinklene (angles). På norsk!
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/03/d...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/03/d...
De vanligste vinklene journalister bruker når de forteller historier med data
Datadrevet historiefortelling kan deles i syv hovedkategorier ifølge en analyse av 200 artikler. I den første av to poster vil jeg demonstrere de fire mest brukte vinklene i nyhetshistorier, hvorda…
onlinejournalismblog.com
February 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
7 vinklene (angles). På norsk!
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/03/d...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/02/03/d...
Schibsted tells its employees to stay away from DeepSeek www.journalisten.no/frarader-pa-...
Fraråder på det sterkeste bruk av DeepSeek på Schibsted-enheter
– Betydelig risiko.
www.journalisten.no
January 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Schibsted tells its employees to stay away from DeepSeek www.journalisten.no/frarader-pa-...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
We went undercover with @tortoisemedia.bsky.social and exposed the shocking biases of a court expert, whose advice had been pivotal in the removal of children from their mothers’ care
Psychologist’s ‘alarming’ views on domestic abuse throw spotlight on…
Undercover recording reveals Melanie Gill berating ‘completely biased’ judges who have bought into ‘radical feminism’
www.thebureauinvestigates.com
January 30, 2025 at 8:23 AM
We went undercover with @tortoisemedia.bsky.social and exposed the shocking biases of a court expert, whose advice had been pivotal in the removal of children from their mothers’ care
Are your anti/pro-AI arguments about duties, virtues or consequences?
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...
What are we talking about when we say the “ethics” of AI and journalism?
There are three broad paths in ethics. Image by pfly CC BY-SA 2.0 Many people — including me — are quite uncomfortable with generative AI. Most of this discomfort can be traced to the various ethic…
onlinejournalismblog.com
January 27, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Are your anti/pro-AI arguments about duties, virtues or consequences?
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...
onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
Interesting issue.
This is a particularly important lesson for news outlets who use pictures sent with press releases.
From now on you’ll not only need to check you have permission to use the picture from the person who took the photo but also check whether it is AI generated.
This is a particularly important lesson for news outlets who use pictures sent with press releases.
From now on you’ll not only need to check you have permission to use the picture from the person who took the photo but also check whether it is AI generated.
Hi! Quick note: The Onion accidentally posted a stock photo from a vendor with an AI generated image in it. We pulled the post down once we found that out. Our commitment to not using AI is very real. It's in the union contract to disclose it if we ever do. World is a slop minefield and we're sorry.
January 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Interesting issue.
This is a particularly important lesson for news outlets who use pictures sent with press releases.
From now on you’ll not only need to check you have permission to use the picture from the person who took the photo but also check whether it is AI generated.
This is a particularly important lesson for news outlets who use pictures sent with press releases.
From now on you’ll not only need to check you have permission to use the picture from the person who took the photo but also check whether it is AI generated.
Reposted by Paul Bradshaw
I like this from Paul Bradshaw on AI ethics and journalism. As he points out, this is a complex and moving field and we all have different starting points about what ethics we are talking about. onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...
What are we talking about when we say the “ethics” of AI and journalism?
There are three broad paths in ethics. Image by pfly CC BY-SA 2.0 Many people — including me — are quite uncomfortable with generative AI. Most of this discomfort can be traced to the various ethic…
onlinejournalismblog.com
January 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I like this from Paul Bradshaw on AI ethics and journalism. As he points out, this is a complex and moving field and we all have different starting points about what ethics we are talking about. onlinejournalismblog.com/2025/01/24/w...