Laura Dixon

United Kingdom

Senior Editor at Global Investigative Journalism Network

Senior editor @GIJN. Freelance work published by The Times, WaPo, The Atlantic, etc. Back in the UK after some itinerant years reporting from overseas.

Articles

Silencing the Press: The Case of Alsu Kurmasheva and the Growing Threat of ‘Foreign Agent’ Laws

1 week ago | gijn.org | Laura Dixon

Alsu Kurmasheva had a method for counting how many days she had been in Russian detention — even as the hours and the days spent in her cell rolled into each other. “I spent 288 days — 40 Fridays. I counted Fridays because Friday is my favorite day,” she told an audience at the 2025 International Journalism Festival in Perugia. “The first couple of months were brutal. I was still naïve. I was still waiting for that thick metal door with multiple chains and locks to open.
Are you being tailed? Tips for reporters concerned about physical surveillance

Jan 29, 2025 | niemanlab.org | Laura Dixon

It’s a cold winter’s day in the city of London: a chill wind funnels through the skyscrapers, sunlight glints off the windows, city workers pull their scarves up tight. I’m among a group of journalists from the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe, here for an exercise in journalist surveillance — to see if reporters who know they are being followed can spot those who are following them. We are paired up and told to follow a prescribed route from the offices of Bloomberg to a nearby metro station.
Digital Threats: Cyber Investigations Training Course

Jan 29, 2025 | gijn.org | Laura Dixon

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Global Tour of Investigative Podcasts: 2024 Edition

Jan 6, 2025 | gijn.org | Laura Dixon

2024 was dubbed the year of the “podcast election” — so powerful was the format in helping candidates in the US reach new audiences and get out the vote. It will be fascinating to see which investigative podcasts travel to become global hits in 2025. But it was also labeled a “hold on to your hat” type of year, a period in which shows were cut, budgets slashed, and even top talents had to deal with the fallout of losing their backers.
Reporting stories of war in the face of loss: Interview with the editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda - Editor and Publisher

Nov 11, 2024 | editorandpublisher.com | Laura Dixon

Posted Tuesday, November 12, 2024 1:19 pm For years, the journalists of Ukrainska Pravda focused their work on politics and corruption, investigating the yachts and planes of the country’s oligarchs.
GIJN Webinar: How Latin America Connects to Your Story

Jul 9, 2024 | gijn.org | Laura Dixon

In today’s global landscape, tracing the path of illicit money has become a critical skill for reporters. In a GIJN webinar about unraveling the intricate webs of misconduct that start in Latin America but impact communities around the world, four senior investigative journalists spoke about their recent investigations. This session delved into stories about deforestation, drugs, and mining.
Harnessing landrace diversity empowers wheat breeding - Nature

Jun 17, 2024 | nature.com | Shifeng Cheng |Cong Feng |Luzie U. Wingen |Mei Jiang |Xiaoming Wang |Tom O’Hara | +22 more

AbstractHarnessing genetic diversity in major staple crops through the development of new breeding capabilities is essential to ensure food security1. Here we examined the genetic and phenotypic diversity of the A. E. Watkins landrace collection2 of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), a major global cereal, by whole-genome re-sequencing of 827 Watkins landraces and 208 modern cultivars and in-depth field evaluation spanning a decade.
Danube’s Warming Water, Missing US Railroad Safety Data, and Russian Election Anomalies

Mar 28, 2024 | gijn.org | Laura Dixon |Eunice Au

Sometimes missing data can be indicative of a larger, systemic problem. ProPublica scrutinized the number of discrepancies between incidents mentioned in US railroad worker lawsuits and on-the-job injuries and deaths reported to the relevant regulatory authority, which led to the discovery of loopholes in the country’s railroad safety monitoring mechanisms.
Oscars 2024: Celebrating Documentary Film

Mar 10, 2024 | gijn.org | Laura Dixon

This time last year, Alexei Navalny was still alive, and the Daniel Roher film about his life and comeback after a poisoning attempt was awarded the 2023 Academy Award for best documentary feature film. While the Oscars are known for glitz and glamor, recognition here bestows a higher level of prestige and, in many cases, can bring urgent or in-depth reporting to a global audience.
Trump’s Disappearing Donors, Tracking the Mars Rover, and the Ongoing Wars in Gaza and Ukraine

Feb 29, 2024 | gijn.org | Ana Beatriz Assam |Laura Dixon

Two years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Hamas entering its fifth month, and elections all around the world — these are some of the topics that appeared again and again as we curated this week’s column of the best data journalism around the world, which analyzed the period from February 12 – 25.