A number of journalists in the National Press Foundation’s 2022 International Trade Fellowship cohort work in countries ranked among the most dangerous by the World Press Freedom index. Matthew Campbell, a reporter and editor for Bloomberg Business Week, and Zat Astha, head of content for Rice Media, spoke about how they do good journalism from Singapore. [Transcript | Video]

4 takeaways:

➀ Open-source information and tools can help reporters almost anywhere. In reporting his 2021 story “Turkmenistan’s Dirty Secret,” Campbell learned “the power of open source.” The story focused on greenhouse gas emissions in Turkmenistan, which is “North Korea-level closed” to the world. Campbell and his reporting partner tapped commercial satellite data and imagery to verify a shocking level of methane emissions there “Even if you are the reclusive, extremely eccentric dictator of Turkmenistan, you can’t shoot down satellites,” Campbell said.

He also recommends all investigative reporters learn to search U.S. court filings because “there’s lots of lawsuits that end up in the U.S. or U.S. prosecutors go after,” which PACER and Westlaw can help you find.

In this case and others, he also relied on LinkedIn Premium. “I spent like two days just searching LinkedIn for anyone who had Turkmenistan in their CV, essentially. I found some of these oil people … who’d been there, then I started working on embassies, diplomats … tried all the exile groups … No one thing ever does the job, but you can eventually build up a mosaic, even in a really repressive place that you can’t visit.”

When contacting anyone in the country, Campbell made sure to take data encryption measures, such as using Signal, to keep his sources safe.

➁ How to get sources to talk. While people in repressive countries are reluctant to speak to journalists, Astha wants reporters to remember why. “The fact that sources don’t want to talk to us means there’s value in the written word … people are still afraid to be quoted, people are still afraid to be identified because they know the power of the spoken word,” he said.

In countries that are very restrictive, Campbell said interviewing diplomats or United Nations staff can be useful because “they’re not bound by the constraints of operating in, say China, or Pakistan, in the same way that locals might be.” Also, look for relevant U.N. reports, which can be surprisingly full of facts unmatched by other open sources.

Campbell also makes it clear to his sources that he is not easily deterred. When writing “Dead In The Water,” which involves an unsolved murder, “I had a moral argument, which was, ‘Look, something terrible happened. I’m trying to bring it to light, and you can help me do that with your identity protected.’”

Another tactic is to let sources know that you’ve spoken to others, and your story will be published with our without their cooperation.

“The tactic I found the most effective over the years, which is a little sharper-elbowed, is just to say, ‘Look, I’m writing this – either your perspective can be reflected or not, but your non-participation has no effect on whether this thing will appear … You will not stop me doing this.’ Once they figure out that everyone else has talked, then they start to get worried that everyone else’s view, or everyone else’s recollection is going to be reflected and theirs isn’t.”

➂ Try telling the human stories. Another tactic is to go through less official routes. Astha pointed to a story Rice published, “Drained and Gaslit: Junior Doctors in Singapore Have Nothing Left To Give.” “The reason why this story is so enticing is because the world of junior doctors in Singapore is so secretive. They cannot speak to press, they have to be anonymous … They are afraid that if they say something, [the Ministry of Health] will find out,” Astha said. “This story is a great example of how we try to talk about a bigger issue that a ministry in Singapore is facing, but without addressing the ministry. What we are focused on instead are the people.”

Rice has taken that approach with many stories. For example, a story Astha reported was inspired by a TikTok he saw.

“When you look at the veneer of Singapore, all visitors see is a very shiny sheen, right? It’s clean, it’s safe, everything seems to be on the up and up, right? What we do is figure out what has gone wrong,” Astha said. “I want a story that gives voice to the voiceless, and God knows there are so many of them in Singapore … every time someone from a less well-off community does something or is suffering, we don’t get to hear them because this sheen covers everything.”

➃ Make your story focused and airtight. “While press freedom here is debatable, I feel like how we get around it is by focusing solely on the stories, and on the people whose stories we want to tell, and if we are very clear and focused on that objective, I think it will be OK,” Astha said. “Of course, that means there’s a bit of censorship going on, but life’s like that in this country. I cannot do anything about it.”

Astha said when he goes on podcasts they always ask if he’s OK. He says he’s sure someone from the government is listening but he’s OK because “I don’t lie.”

“You check and make sure that your stories are airtight. I realized that’s how I manage it,” Astha said. “Do I worry about being jailed or being hauled? I tell my writers, ‘Yes, I do, but if I do, bring the social media person along so that we can do a video of it.’”

Campbell recognizes that as a citizen of a Western country who works for a large, well-resourced international media organization, he enjoys a level of privilege and security others don’t. He said he saves files to Bloomberg’s secure system as much as possible and taps the local knowledge of Bloomberg colleagues when on assignment in other countries to take the proper precautions.

“I don’t want any of this to obviate the real challenges of doing independent reporting, and especially investigative reporting in difficult countries. That’s especially true if you don’t have a major media organization behind you,” he said. “There is absolutely no story worth getting killed over. There might be some stories that are worth going to jail for, but I would struggle to think of any. I think we’re unfortunately living in a bit of a time of democratic backsliding, where this is just the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future, and there’s only so far you can go.”

National Press Foundation’s International Trade Fellowship in Singapore is sponsored by the Hinrich Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.