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The Year in Review with Visual Investigations A thread highlighting the 2020 work of our growing @nytimes team ↓
In January, Iran denied it had shot down a civilian jet near Tehran, killing all 176 onboard. Then, we obtained, analyzed and published incontrovertible video evidence debunking that lie. Within 32 hours, Iran admitted it had made a “disastrous mistake.” https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000006911696/iran-crash.html
In February, VI talked to Chinese citizens about how they’re dodging the coronavirus censorship by creating a digital archive of deleted posts outside the “Great Fire Wall” http://nyti.ms/2SQCzMk and looked at China’s expansive Covid-19 propaganda system https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000007024807/china-coronavirus-propaganda.html.
Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic was one of our main coverage lines. In collaboration with @MarshallProj, the VI team also showed how ICE became a domestic and global spreader of the virus. http://nyti.ms/2Ze45Xh
In March, an extrajudicial black site for refugees and migrants in Greece was exposed, set up in response to Turkey weaponizing migrants and refugees at the border. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/world/europe/greece-migrants-secret-site.html
In April, rumors were swirling about King Jong-un’s health and location. Experts showed how to track North Korea’s secretive leader. That includes looking at residences, motorcades, flights and state broadcasts. https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000007099211/kim-jong-un-surveillance-intelligence.html
In May, we reconstructed, minute-by-minute, how George Floyd was killed in police custody, using security footage, witness videos, officials documents and scanner audio. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007159353/george-floyd-arrest-death-video.html & https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/george-floyd-body-cam-full-video.html
Police violence in the U.S. was, along with Covid-19, our other major coverage line this year. We investigated police conduct in several deadly incidents, including Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, and David McAtee. https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/visual-investigations-police-misconduct
In June, VI continued to investigate police conduct, this time in Philadelphia, where SWAT teams turned a racial justice protest march into chaos. It lead to the city council banning the use of “less lethal” munitions during demonstrations. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007174941/philadelphia-tear-gas-george-floyd-protests.html
In July, VI revealed that several Chinese companies are using Uighur labor from a contentious government program to produce P.P.E. during the pandemic. Some of that equipment was tracked to the U.S. and other countries. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/world/asia/china-mask-forced-labor.html
In August, we analyzed the Beirut explosion, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion-footage.html, including M/V Rhosus, the ailing cargo ship that brought the explosive material responsible for the blast into Lebanon years earlier. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/world/middleeast/lebanon-explosion-ship.html
That same month, protests in Belarus swelled as videos of security officers brutally repressing demonstrators were widely shared. We took a closer look at it. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/world/europe/belarus-crackdown-protests-minsk.html
Also in August, we tracked movements during and leading up to the fatal shootings during protests in Kenosha https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-shooting-video.html and Portland https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/video/portland-protests-shooting-investigation.html.
In September, the VI team reconstructed the critical last minutes of the fatal shootings of David McAtee (by the police and National Guardsman in Kentucky) https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007175316/the-david-mcatee-shooting-did-aggressive-policing-lead-to-a-fatal-outcome.html and Ahmaud Arbery (by white armed residents in Georgia) https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007142853/ahmaud-arbery-video-911-georgia.html.
In October, President Trump praised the killing of Michael Reinoehl, suspected of fatally shooting a far-right protester, as “retribution.” Our VI team found that officers may have shot without warning or seeing a gun. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007384938/michael-reinoehl-police-shooting.html
In November, we took a closer look at how the police officers sometimes let armed groups showing up at racial justice protests operate freely. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007424380/police-black-lives-matter-protests.html
In December, the VI team showed how Iran is moving a key facility at Natanz to a nuclear site underground. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/world/natanz-nuclear-facility-iran.html
You can watch and read all of our 2020 (and previous years) work at https://www.nytimes.com/visual-investigations. Please do reach out if you think a photo, video or incident in the new year needs a visual investigation.
Oh, one more thing: Visual Investigations are collaborative in their nature. Our team is a part of the @nytimes Video Department with fantastic colleagues including..
... @malachybrowne, @ckoettl, @babimarcolini, @DrewJordan_NYT, @NatalieReneau, @arielle_designs, @muyixiao, @tiefenthaeler, @CoraEngelbrecht, @heytherehaley, @whitney_hurst, @bottidavid, @markscheffler, @dim109, @evanchill, @robinnyc7, @ndgauss, @_stella_cooper, @ntabrizy...
... @therealDahliak, @sskerrr, @rarecanary, @jonah_kessel, Aaron Byrd, Amy Chih-Hsin Lee, Abeer Pamuk, @shaneisland, @YousurAlhlou, Ben Laffin, @davehorn, @nappyco, @ajchavar, @zaynman, @francescab, @Tina_Kelso, @Poorpotatoface, Sean Alfano, @ArmanTabatabai...
...and many others from desks across the @nytimes newsroom and overseas bureaus, including Graphics ( @LaurenLeatherby, @singhvianjali, @Rich_Harris, @SarahAlmukhtar, @ianordoli)...
...International ( @MatinaStevis, @PatrickKingsley, @jamesglanz, @hwaida_saad, @carlottagall, @austinramzy, @gillianwong, @adriennecarter, @panphil, @Abihabib, @declanwalsh, @ATHigginsNYT, Oleg Matsnev, @antontroian, @INechepurenko)...
...National ( @juliebosman, @ByMikeBaker, @PatriciaMazzei, @NeilMacFarquhar) and At War’s @johnismay. That’s just our newsroom, bureaus and correspondents...
Our work has been strengthened by many contributions and info-sharing from outside the newsroom too, including, including Storyful ( @Joey_Galvin, @samueloakford), Bellingcat ( @gianfiorella, @N_Waters89), UC Berkeley Human Rights Center ( @stephaniercroft, @john_ortilla...
...Sang-Min Kim, Danil Cuffe), Uyghur Human Rights Project ( @AndersonEliseM, @Mustafacan_Aksu), Middlebury Institute of International Studies ( @ArmsControlWonk), The Marshall Project ( @emilykassie), Amnesty International ( @samdubberley , @WritesRights)...
@john_marquee, @katiegnelson, @mikeshumfilms, @Andycap007, @policelawprof, @heriza, James Wasserman, @obretix, @NMogilewski, Derek Knowles, @rohinihaar, Zack Pletcher, Jashon Spencer, @btdecker, @HamptonStall, @fab_hinz, @RALee85, and many others. THANK YOU!
(Since I tagged the wrong @heytherehaIey, this is my chance to also give a shoutout to @AbraxasSpa, @AricToler, @wammezz, @CalibreObscura.)
