Lighthouse Reports
@lighthousereports.com
Radically collaborative journalism. Working with the world’s leading media on deeply reported, public interest investigations. http://bit.ly/LHR-newsletter
Exposed: Big Food’s 239 lawsuits against life-saving policies Our investigation, #BigFood vs The People reveals how food giants use tobacco-style legal tactics to challenge public health regulations around the world. www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...
Britain will use AI to assess ages of asylum seekers in a world-first, with other countries likely to follow suit But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable
Asylum by Algorithm
The UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.
lighthousereports.com
“People are looking to their own backyards a bit more. The whole point of local news is that you can make local politics decipherable and comprehensible to people on the street and you can make them feel like they know what's actually going on.”, Lothian-McLean, Mill Media
Lessons from Local News w/ M. Lothian-McLean, J. Mori & P. Prasanna
From the UK to India and the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke with journalists who are making it work.
lighthousereports.com
Most European citizens will likely never have heard of VFS Global. But across much of Africa, Asia + the Middle East, the visa giant has become notorious Our investigation finds VFS has made huge profits by exploiting people with 'weak' passports
The Visa Empire: Borders as a Business
Outsourcing giant VFS Global has made huge profits by exploiting people around the world whose ‘weak’ passports require them to apply for visas to travel
lighthousereports.com
Every year, bad diets kill millions of people and cost trillions of $. The world’s largest food companies say they want to be part of the solution. But behind closed doors, companies lobby governments to derail public health laws.
Big Food vs The People - Colombia
Lifting the veil on the unhealthy food lobby in Colombia
lighthousereports.com
In October 2025, the RSF seized El Fasher, killing thousands in days in one of the deadliest massacres of Sudan’s civil war. For a new documentary, Lighthouse and @aljazeera.com Fault lines traveled to Uganda to hear survivors’ stories. www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...
No Exit from El Fasher
“No Exit from El Fasher” is an intimate look at the survival of civilians who lived through an unimaginable monthslong siege and final dayslong assault on the Sudanese city of El Fasher in North Darfu...
lighthousereports.com
“When readers don't like a story or they have a problem with it, or they're just sort of skeptical, they tend to click on the byline. The most important innovation in this new bio was our ethics statement. So even just stating it up front had a huge impact.”, Ed Lee, former NYT Trust Editor.
How can the media win back our trust?
Trust in traditional media is in crisis. This is what media leaders are doing about it.
lighthousereports.com
“There are a lot of things we don't see because they have not been submitted or that we might not be able to appreciate because people have not known how to articulate the value of their work.” Patrick Boehler, founder of Gazzetta.
Rethinking journalism awards
Everyone loves to win awards. But what does it mean to reward good journalism?
lighthousereports.com
“We’re like memory workers. It’s a way to rehumanize those who were killed and also to stop, pay attention and give an event its full meaning.” Sabrina Slipchencko, Digital Reporter, Lighthouse Reports.
How to report on Sudan
Using OSINT and on-the-ground reporting to uncover atrocities in Sudan
lighthousereports.com
Lobbyists for the Tony Blair Institute privately urged the EU to support and join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, an initiative which started life as a council to oversee Gaza & sprawled since into a rival to the UN
It's not often we get to report on hopeful news Alaa Hamoudi won in the EU's top court against Frontex! This opens doors for many survivors of Frontex pushbacks. @bdeeb.bsky.social tells how he reported on Alaa's case back in 2020 with @bellingcat.com. And how this evidence ended up in court.
“And it ended up me being in this place. And I was with a fake name, with a fake haircut, and funny looking glasses and a camera in my watch, walking around all these Nazis and neo-Nazis.”
“And of course, the more they're talking, the more I'm like, oh, my God, that's really amazing. But at the same time, I need to focus on the discussion and stay in that character.” Listen to the new #Backlight episode here: www.lighthousereports.com/how-to-becom...
How to become an undercover reporter
You’ve seen it in movies, but what does undercover reporting actually look like in real life?
lighthousereports.com
Are you an early-career professional who is passionate about investigative journalism? Are you constantly curious about new ways of doing journalism and making it reach critical audiences? You might just be the fellow we are looking for.
“The homecoming was but an exceptional experience. I had lost hope that I would be able to to visit Syria again.” This month on #Backlight, we speak to Syrian journalists Bashar Deeb and Mais Katt about their first investigation in a newly free Syria. Listen to the episode here:
What is the role of accountability journalism in post-Assad Syria?
For the first episode of the season, we speak with Syrian journalists Bashar and Mais about their first investigation in a newly free Syria.
lighthousereports.com
🧵REVEALED: Afghan troops who served alongside US and UK forces continue to be tortured and killed by the Taliban as Western nations weaken protections for their former allies.
Hunted by the Taliban
While the US and others roll back protections for Afghans, new evidence shows the scale of ongoing reprisal killings, belying the Taliban’s claim of an amnesty for former soldiers.
lighthousereports.com
🧵What’s the biggest lie the surveillance industry tells? That they only sell to legal clients. That there are red lines. But what do these companies say when they think nobody is watching? We went undercover to find out
Revealed: How Tony Blair is lobbying on behalf of tech billionaire Larry Ellison We expose former PM’s unprecedented influence over the UK govt & how this is shaped by the interests of his Institute’s largest donor & one of the world’s richest men www.newstatesman.com/politics/202... Thread
Inside the Tony Blair Institute
Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?
newstatesman.com
La policía francesa provocó decenas de ahogamientos al interceptar violentamente pequeñas embarcaciones que intentaban llegar al territorio de ultramar de Mayotte. Nueva investigación coordinada por @lighthousereports.com www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...
“They hit us and watched us drown”
French police cause dozens of drownings with violent tactics against small boats trying to reach overseas territory Mayotte. Similar tactics are being proposed for the Channel.
lighthousereports.com
REVEALED: French police have caused dozens of drownings by violently intercepting small boats trying to reach overseas territory Mayotte. Similar tactics are being proposed for the Channel, to try to stop people from reaching the UK.
At just a few days old, little Mohammad Ghbeis was detained inside the ICU in Damascus, his first days were marked by detention, not nurture. He was quickly moved from the ICU to an orphanage, and later to SOS Children Villages. All while his mother remained behind bars for 3 years
When Assad’s security state collapsed, locked doors opened, spilling decades of secrets. Among them: 100s of stolen children, hidden in orphanages & used to blackmail parents. We’ve done the deepest dive yet into this cruel system. Here’s what we found 🧵 www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...
Syria’s Stolen Children
Under the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. Families still have few answers from the new government or the international charity that kept it...
lighthousereports.com
A critical EU security database with biometric info on 1.7m people is in chronic disarray, exclusive docs from @lighthousereports.com and @bloomberg.com show www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Cybersecurity Flaws Plagued EU Border Control System, Audit Shows
An information-sharing system used by EU border forces to flag illegal immigrants and suspected criminals in real time was rife with software and security vulnerabilities, according to emails and conf...
bloomberg.com
Honoured that our investigation Poison PR won the Environmental Reporting prize at @oneworldmedia.bsky.social last week, and to see key collaborator Cynthia Gichiri shortlisted as Journalist of the Year for her amazing work with Africa Uncensored.
One World Media@oneworldmedia.bsky.social · last yr.🎥One World Media Awards 2025-Environmental Report Winner🎉 Poison PR exposes how the U.S. pesticide risks globally. It follows two Kenyan farm workers who developed Parkison’s after exposure. 📺Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11_... #OWMAwards #Documentary #Pesticides
Most reporting on AI examines worst-case systems deployed under the guise of efficiency. But what would a good faith effort at Ethical AI look like? For two years, we’ve been looking over the shoulder of a city trying to do things differently.
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.
It’s always nice when the govt is forced to release docs/info that show they were hiding the truth from you before Evidence disclosed in court this week reveals what was going on behind the scenes as 100s of Afghan commandos were being wrongly denied relocation to the UK 🧵
Proud that our investigation with @lighthousereports.com is a finalist for this prestigious award - alongside other amazing, mostly consortium-led projects. A testament to the power of collaboration
Global Investigative Journalism Network@gijn.org · last yr.Turkey’s EU-Funded Deportation Machine This collaborative cross-border project showed how the European Union has effectively, and secretly, outsourced its migrant deportation system to an inhumane removals network in Turkey. https://twp.ai/9PStok
This is somewhat concerning in light of the fact that Jenkins oversaw the rejection of resettlement applications from Afghan commandos who served alongside the SAS, many of whom were present during night raids where alleged unlawful killings by Brit troops took place www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Senior general Sir Gwyn Jenkins appointed new Royal Navy chief
King Charles approved Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins to take over the role as First Sea Lord from Adm Sir Ben Key.
bbc.co.uk
Lighthouse Reports@lighthousereports.com · last yr.The new findings also reveal the veto process was overseen by Gwyn Jenkins – an ex senior SF officer who previously failed to report alleged UK war crimes to military police Numerous Afghan Triples who were denied relocation to the UK have told us they witnessed unlawful killings by British troops