Backlight

The antidote to news fatigue might be closer to home than you think. This episode dives into the strategies local outlets use to build connection with their communities and deliver journalism that truly resonates. From the UK to India and the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke to the journalists who are making it work. Interviewees: Moya Lothian-McLean, Managing Editor at Mill Media Juliana Mori, Co-found...

Trust in the media is at an all-time low. So what’s going wrong? Who’s actually fixing it? And what can we learn from alternative news models emerging around the world? To tackle these questions, Beatriz and Tessa speak with Ed Lee, who led the New York Times Trust Team, independent journalist Joi Lee and Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle News. Hosts: Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Tessa Pang Sound editing...

Everyone loves to win awards. But what does it mean to reward good journalism?  In the latest Backlight episode, Beatriz and Tessa speak to Jennifer Athanasiou-Prins, executive director of the European Press Prize, and Patrick Boehler, founder of the Gazzetta research lab, about The influence of awards on journalism The pitfalls of award categories  How awards can be reimagined to value journalism...

People in Sudan are facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Telling stories about what is happening on the ground has never been more urgent, or more challenging. In the context of our latest investigation exposing ethnically motivated atrocities against civilians by the Sudanese Armed Forces, Beatriz and Tessa speak to Lighthouse editor Aziz Alnour and digital reporter Sabrina Slipchenko ab...

Reporting live from the world’s biggest investigative journalism conference in Malaysia last year, Tessa and Beatriz bring you a crash course on how to make an investigative podcast. Covering everything from identifying a good story, to constructing an intriguing narrative, and building good characters.  We take you inside The Global Investigative Journalism Conference with some behind-the-scenes...

You’ve seen it in movies, but what does undercover reporting actually look like in real life? In this episode of Backlight, we go behind the scenes of two undercover investigations and explain everything you need to know: from how to build your cover identity to what planning an undercover operation really looks like.  Beatriz and Tessa talk to their Lighthouse colleagues, Crofton Black and Emmanu...

What is the role of accountability journalism in post-Assad Syria? We explore this question with Syrian journalists Lighthouse digital investigator Bashar Deeb and investigative journalist Mais Katt, who talk about their first investigation in a newly free Syria. Under the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. A major international charity kne...

We've put together a highlights reel featuring some of our favorite episodes from Seasons 2 and 3 of Backlight. This special short episode was created in anticipation of the 2025 iMEdD Conference in Athens - a global gathering of journalists, media professionals, and academics. Episodes mentioned: What journalists can learn from content creators Don’t leave AI reporting to the experts How to f...

How can journalists make sure their stories reach the people they’re about? This month on Backlight, we talk to journalists who are rethinking how and who they report for.  Part 1: Beatriz and Tessa speak with Cynthia Gichiri, a multimedia journalist at Africa Uncensored, who took a story about the health dangers of pesticides on the road through rural Kenya to get it to the farmers most at risk....

From recording the scale of war damage in Gaza, to tracking environmental crime in Brazil, remote sensing technology has become an invaluable tool for journalists around the world. This month on Backlight we’re speaking to two journalists, Lu Min Lwin and Lucelle Bonzo, who spent months working alongside the Lighthouse team to investigate the biggest re-greening program in the Philippines. Using r...

What would journalism look like if it wasn’t written for an editor, but for your best friend over dinner? In this Backlight episode, we dive into how news content creator-journalists are redefining the way stories are told and what traditional journalists can learn from them. On this episode, we hear from news content creators Johanna Rüdiger , Johnny Harris , and Adam Cole (Howtown) about how the...

This month we’re sharing tips and tools to help you become an expert in financial investigations. From digging around corporate records, to tracking down public funding, money trails reporting is key to exposing wrongdoing.  We speak with Margot Gibbs , senior reporter at Lighthouse, and Giacomo Zandonini , an independent investigative journalist, who share how following the money has strengthened...

Many European economies are in decline, struggling with job shortages in critical sectors. At the same time, these same countries are locking qualified migrants out of work.  Our 18 month long investigation sought to find out why this is the case, the cost of this discrimination and what can be done to fix it.  Beatriz and Tessa are joined by two Justin’s from the investigation – reporter Justin Y...

This month, we discuss how journalists can investigate the ways AI is shaping the world around us and push for accountability from the companies and governments responsible for its use. We talk to AI reporter Karen Hao and Lighthouse reporter Gabriel Geiger who share insider tips on how to get started into AI reporting and how to incorporate it into your beat. Investigations mentioned in this epis...

In this episode we take you behind the scenes of our latest U.S.-Mexico border investigation, Drownings and Deterrence in the Rio Grande.  This episode is a collaboration with The Border Chronicle.  More women and children are drowning trying to reach the US as Texas and Mexico militarize the border. In collaboration with the Washington Post and El Universal, our team requested records of drowning...

This episode we talk to reporters Tomas Statius and Elena DeBre about getting sources to talk. We cover: How to cultivate sources Three techniques on getting sources to talk Tips for new reporters We talk about all this in the context of two of our latest investigations – the False Promises of Biometrics , that relied solely on source-based evidence to uncover a string of failed mega-deals that be...

This month we discuss the hidden toll journalism can take on your mental health and share tips for staying grounded in high-pressure environments. We talk to open-source investigator Bashar Deeb about coping with traumatic content and Juliana Ruhfus , the Director of the DART Center for Journalism Trauma Europe about how to protect your sources’ wellbeing. -- Investigations mentioned in this episo...

This episode, we dive into the essential fuel that allows cross-border investigative journalism to happen —money. Beatriz and Tessa first chat with Timothy Large from the International Press Institute who’s responsible for a scheme that gives more than 4m euro in grant funding, about how to nail a pitch application.  Later, we hear from freelance journalist and recent European Press Prize winner A...

2024 is the year of elections! For public interest journalism, it's prime time to get vote-shifting findings in front of people when they’re paying the most attention to politics. So with the European elections looming this weekend we chatted to Director Klaas Van Dijken and Food Systems Lead Reporter Thin Lei Win about their eye-opening investigations on two hot issues this EU election – EU b...

Journalism conferences can be an exclusive and costly space. So last month, Beatriz took her microphone to Perugia, Italy to give you some sneak peaks of the biggest trends coming out of the International Journalism Conference. This episode features three interviews she did in Perugia discussing; What truly collaborative investigations between global north and south partners look like, with Andrés...

This episode, we dive into the skills and techniques used in open-source reporting (yes it’s more than just stalking people on social media!). Beatriz and Tessa are joined by two of our open-source reporters Jack Sapoch and Monica Camacho. We talk about their roles in the context of a recent investigation that reconstructed the unseen events which saw 40 people suffocate to death in a migrant dete...

Fellowship applications are now open! This month we’re bringing you a bonus episode with one of our recent fellows Jonathan Moens. We speak about his experience at Lighthouse, his biggest takeaways and his tips for applying. Lighthouse is currently hiring a part-time Data, OSINT and Reporting fellow for 6 months. Applications close April 8. -- Hosts: Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Tessa Pang Sound Desi...

Hello and welcome back to Backlight! In this episode, we talk to our investigations editor May Bulman, and social affairs correspondent from The Independent, Holly Bancroft about the exciting impact of their investigation into the Afghan commandos left behind by the British government. It’s both a deep-dive into the investigation, and an inside look at the impact-driven strategy that compelled the...

In this episode, we’ll give you an overview of what you can expect from us this year as well as reflect on some highlights from Season 1. And here are the links to the episodes mentioned in this one: Europe’s Black Sites - May Bulman Unmasking Europe’s Shadow Armies - Nicole Vogele Suspicion Machines - Eva Constantaras -- Hosts: Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Tessa Pang Sound Design: Spoovio - Audiovis...

Following the West’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last August, thousands of people who served alongside European governments found themselves abandoned. At Lighthouse, a series of investigations uncovered how people working in roles linked to European governments, who were eligible for evacuation, are still living in fear under the Taliban. We verified the identities and documents of dozens...