Paper Trail Media

Last updated

Paper Trail Media is an investigative start-up based in Munich. The editorial team, founded in 2022 by two Pulitzer Prize winners, Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier, works for the news magazine Der Spiegel, ZDF, the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard and the Swiss Tamedia group. [1] With Obermayer and Obermaier as well as the Austrian Christo Buschek, a total of three Pulitzer Prize winners work for Paper Trail Media - more than in any other European media company.

Contents

Well-known employees

Xinjiang Police Files

In 2023, the Paper Trail Media journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, together with the Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Giesen, initiated the Xinjiang Police Files research into the mass internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. [6] These were taken up by, among others, the UN human rights representative Michelle Bachelet in her criticism of the Chinese government. [7]

Vulkan Files

Paper Trail Media coordinated the Vulkan files leak revelations together with Spiegel in 2023 . [8] More than 50 journalists - including from The Washington Post, The Guardian and Le Monde - analyzed top secret data from the Russian company NTC Vulkan, which produces software for hacking attacks and disinformation campaigns for Russian secret services. [9]

Cyprus Confidential

In collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media examined over 3 million documents from Cyprus as part of the Cyprus Confidential investigation about shell companies through which, among other things, covert payments were made to the journalist Hubert Seipel  [ de ], and the oligarch Alexei Mordashov tried to circumvent sanctions from the European Union Union against Russia. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Der Spiegel</i> German weekly news magazine based in Hamburg

Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner, a British army officer, and Rudolf Augstein, a former Wehrmacht radio operator who was recognized in 2000 by the International Press Institute as one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes.

<i>Bild</i> German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG

Bild or Bild-Zeitung is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. Bild is tabloid in style but broadsheet in size. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as "notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and sensationalism" and as having a huge influence on German politicians. Its nearest English-language stylistic and journalistic equivalent is often considered to be the British national newspaper The Sun, the second-highest-selling European tabloid newspaper.

<i>Politiken</i> Danish daily broadsheet newspaper founded in 1884

Politiken is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independent of the party but maintains a liberal stance. It now runs an online newspaper, politiken.dk. The paper's design has won several international awards, and a number of its journalists have won the Cavling Prize.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, typically abbreviated to TBIJ or "the Bureau", is a nonprofit news organisation based in London that was founded in 2010 to pursue "public interest" investigations. The Bureau works with publishers and broadcasters to maximise the impact of its investigations. Since its founding, it has collaborated with Panorama, Newsnight, and File on 4 at the BBC, Channel 4 News and Dispatches, as well as the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sunday Times, among others.

The Deutsche Journalistenschule e.V., the German School of Journalism, is a journalism school in Germany. At the time of its establishment, it was the country's first German journalism school. Today, Deutsche Journalistenschule is considered one of the best schools for journalism in Germany, along with the Henri-Nannen-Schule in Hamburg.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with personnel in Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium and Ireland.

<i>Süddeutsche Zeitung</i> German newspaper published in Munich

The Süddeutsche Zeitung, published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panama Papers</span> 2016 document leak scandal

The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and compiled with similar leaks into a searchable database.

Bastian Obermayer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning German investigative journalist with the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and the reporter who received the Panama Papers from an anonymous source as well as later on the Paradise Papers, together with his colleague Frederik Obermaier. Obermayer is also author of several books, among them the best selling account of the Panama Papers: The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, co-authored by his colleague Frederik Obermaier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederik Obermaier</span> German journalist

Frederik Obermaier is a German investigative journalist for the Munich-based newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and author. Together with his colleague Bastian Obermayer in 2016 he initiated and coordinated the Panama Papers-revelations.

Dilbar is a super-yacht launched on 14 November 2015 at the German Lürssen shipyard and delivered in 2016. She was built as Project Omar. The interior design of Dilbar was designed by Andrew Winch and the exterior by Espen Oeino.

Darmstädter Signal is an independent organization opposing weapons of mass destruction and the primary use of military means to solve conflicts. It was founded in 1983 as a group of officers, soldiers and civil Army employees of the German Bundeswehr. According to its mission statement, the organization respects the German Army's role-defending the country within the existing legal framework, but strives to give critical feedback about the Army's mission and alternative non-military concepts of conflict resolution. The Darmstädter Signal sees the central task of the Bundeswehr in defence of freedom and democracy as basic principles of the country.

The Bahama Leaks are 1.3 million internal files from the company register of the Bahamas. After the release of the Panama Papers in 2016, an unknown source handed over internal data from the national corporate registry of the Bahamas to Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, who analyzed them with the help of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). At the same time, ICIJ, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media partners published detailed reporting before they published an online database of offshore entities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibiza affair</span> 2019 political scandal in Austria

The Ibiza affair, also known as Ibiza-gate, was a political scandal in Austria involving Heinz-Christian Strache, the former vice chancellor of Austria and leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), as well as Johann Gudenus, formerly a deputy leader of the Freedom Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Reichelt</span> German journalist

Julian Reichelt is a German journalist. From February 2017 to October 2021, he was chairman of the editors-in-chief and digital editor-in-chief of Bild, Germany's largest and highest-circulation tabloid.

iStories or Important Stories is an independent Russian website specialising in investigative journalism. The website was founded in 2020 by Russian journalists Roman Anin and Olesya Shmagun. IStories published a number of high-profile investigations. The office of the website is located in Latvia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xinjiang Police Files</span> 2022 leaked documents

The Xinjiang Police Files are leaked documents from the Xinjiang internment camps, forwarded to anthropologist Adrian Zenz from an anonymous source. On May 24, 2022, an international consortium of 14 media groups published information about the files, which consist of over 10 gigabytes of speeches, images, spreadsheets and protocols dating back to 2018.

The Vulkan files are a leaked set of emails, and other documents, implicating the Russian company NTC Vulkan in acts of cybercrime, political interference in foreign affairs through social media, censorship of domestic social media, and espionage, in collusion with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), their armed forces ; and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The files date from 2016 to 2021.

Cyprus Confidential is a journalism project investigating financial services in Cyprus and their role in allowing avoidance of international sanctions, and implementation of Russian state goals. It is conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories. Other media partners included Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the Belarusian Investigative Center, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, CBC, Der Spiegel, the Guardian, Le Monde, Politiken, Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism, Ukraine’s Slidstvo and The Washington Post.

Christo Buschek is an Austrian information technologist, investigative journalist, BuzzFeed employee, and recipient of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting.

References

  1. ↑ Schade, Marvin (3 April 2023). "Obermayer und Obermaier über ihr Start-up: "Wollen versuchen, Enthüllungsjournalismus von der Subventionierung zu befreien" • Medieninsider" [Obermayer and Obermaier about their start-up: "We want to try to free investigative journalism from subsidies"]. Medieninsider (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ↑ MEEDIA, Meedia Redaktion. "Obermaier und Obermayer holen Investigativ-Reporterin Sophia Baumann zu Papertrail Media" [Obermaier and Obermayer bring investigative reporter Sophia Baumann to Papertrail Media]. www.meedia.de (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Maria Christoph und Nora Voit". Willi-Bleicher-Preis (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Hannes Munzinger verlässt als nächster die "Süddeutsche Zeitung"" [Hannes Munzinger is the next to leave the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".]. turi2 (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "Hakan Tanriverdi: "An der Haustür eines Geheimdienstes zu landen, finde ich spannend" - Aktuelle Meldungen - News - newsroom.de" [Hakan Tanriverdi: "I find it exciting to end up at the front door of a secret service" - Current reports - News - newsroom.de]. www.newsroom.de (in German). 30 January 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "2023 IJ4EU Impact Award Winner: The Xinjiang Police Files". European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  7. ↑ United Nations/Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, August 31, 2022.
  8. ↑ Harding, Luke; Ganguly, Manisha; Sabbagh, Dan (30 March 2023). "'Vulkan files' leak reveals Putin's global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Antoniadis, Nikolai; Baumann, Sophia; Buschek, Christo; Christoph, Maria; Diehl, Jörg; Epp, Alexander; Grozev, Christo; Höfner, Roman; Hoppenstedt, Max; Huppertz, Carina; Kollig, Dajana; Kornfeld, Anna-Lena; Lehberger, Roman; Munzinger, Hannes; Obermaier, Frederik; Obermayer, Bastian; Petrov, Fedir; Berlin, Alexandra; Rosenbach, Marcel; Schulz, Thomas; Tanriverdi, Hakan; Wiedmann-Schmidt, Wolf (31 March 2023). "(S+) "Vulkan Files"-Enthüllungen: Wie Putins Cybersoldaten den Krieg ins Internet tragen" ["Vulkan Files" revelations: How Putin’s cyber soldiers are taking the war online]. Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ "What is Cyprus Confidential? The leaks that reveal Russians' way into Europe". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Editorial: The Guardian view on Cyprus Confidential: revelations should be a spur to action". The Guardian. 15 November 2023. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 28 December 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.