CIJ Recommends 2024: Good Reads, Listens and Things to Watch
Each year we select the books, articles, podcasts, films, TV dramas and documentaries that we liked the most. Here is the 2024 lineup – in case you get bored of playing charades.
Books
The Great Post Office Scandal. By Nick Wallis.
The book recounts how thousands of subpostmasters were accused of theft and false accounting on the back of evidence from Horizon, the flawed computer system designed by Fujitsu, and how a group of them, led by Alan Bates, took their fight to the High Court.
The Poison Line: Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal. By Cara McGoogan, #CIJSummer Conference speaker.
The shocking true story of the infected blood scandal: the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, which saw people infected with HIV by a revolutionary medical treatment and a cover-up from governments and the multi-billion-dollar plasma industry.
Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War. by Frances Stonor Saunders, #CIJLogan Symposium speaker.
During the Cold War, writers and artists were faced with a huge challenge. In the Soviet world, they were expected to turn out works that glorified militancy, struggle and relentless optimism. In the West, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy’s most cherished possession. But such freedom could carry a cost. This book documents the extraordinary energy of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West became instruments – whether they knew it or not, whether they liked it or not – of America’s secret service.
Paul Foot: A Life in Politics. By Margaret Renn.
#CIJSummer Conference speaker Margaret Renn knew Paul Foot, one of the most influential investigative reporters of his generation.
In this, the first biography of Paul Foot, Margaret Renn traces Foot’s personal, political and professional trajectories, placing his life and works within the long arc of postwar Britain. Drawing on extensive interviews with those close to him, and utilising her unparalleled knowledge of his prodigious output, the book brings the many different faces of Paul Foot together into a single portrait. Watch Margeret talk about Paul Foot at #CIJSummer Conference 2024.
Billion Dollar Whale. By Tom Wright and #CIJLogan Symposium speaker Bradley Hope.
The epic story of how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history.
Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power. By #CIJLogan Symposium speaker Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck.
The explosive untold story of how Mohammed bin Salman and his entourage grabbed power in the Middle East and acquired a network of Western allies – including well-known US bankers, Hollywood figures, and politicians – all eager to help the charming and crafty crown prince.
Information Security Essentials: a Guide for Reporters, Editors, and Newsroom Leaders. By Susan E. McGregor.
This book is an essential guide to protecting news writers, sources, and organisations in the digital era.
AI Snake Oil. By Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor.
Confused about the hype around AI? Worried about misinformation and misunderstanding? In AI Snake Oil, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor shine a light on misleading claims about the capabilities of AI and the serious harms it is already causing in how it’s being built, marketed, and used.
Long Reads
Chortle chortle, scribble scribble: inside the Old Bailey with Britain’s last court reporters. By Sophie Elmhirst for The Guardian. 11 July 2024.
The cases heard at the Old Bailey offer a vivid, often grim portrait of England and Wales today. What happens when there is no one left to tell these stories?
There are hardly any specialised court reporters left in the UK. Yet, the next big scoop may be right there – before everyone’s eyes.
65 Doctors, Nurses, and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza. By Feroze Sidhwa for the New York Times.
Doctor Feroze Sidwha, who spent a few weeks last spring working in Gaza, collaborated with The New York Times to poll 65 volunteer health care workers about their experiences in the besieged region since October 7.
Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers. By Charlotte Higgins for The Guardian. 30 July 2024.
When Putin invaded, a historian in Kyiv saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger so he set out to save as much of it as he could.
Russia uses civilians as ‘target practice’ for killer drones. By Christopher Miller, Sam Joiner and Irene de la Torre Arenas for the Financial Times.
Southern Ukrainian city of Kherson hit more than 9,500 times as Moscow attempts to drive out residents
The Upsetter offers a style of crime and corruption reporting different from the drive-by journalism of most mainstream outlets. It is independent of media organisations, law firms, private investigators, NGOs, think tanks, law enforcement and regulators to bring unvarnished news about how they all play ‘the game’. It’s a (paid for) Substack by the #CIJSummer conference speaker, award-winning journalist Michael Gillard.
Deadly prices: Alarming gaps in availability of innovative drugs across the EU. By Investigate Europe journalists. Investigations published throughout 2024.
Where you live shouldn’t determine access to life-saving drugs, however Investigate Europe research reveals how several EU countries do not have direct access to a number of critical medicines.
Radio and Podcasts
The Great Post Office Trial. BBC.
An investigation of the largest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history. It’s the story of how the Post Office systematically persecuted honest people, and how a small band of victims fought back in the face of impossible odds. By Nick Wallis.
Yusuf and the Whale. BBC.
Yemen. 2023. In one of the poorest countries in the world, with civil war raging, life isn’t exactly easy, and most days the fishermen return with barely enough to live off, let alone to sell. But fisherman’s son Yusuf is an eternal optimist, and dreamer, who keeps the community’s spirits high with tales of whales and his dreams of the Gulf’s glorious past. Plus, he’s secretly in love with his best friend. But when disaster strikes, and Yusuf’s optimism is tested to the limit, he ends up at sea in the strangest of scenarios.
The Gift. Series 2. BBC.
Home test DNA kits were intended as tools to discover one’s roots. They are often given as fun gifts. But sometimes they lead to unintended and upsetting revelations. In series two of this popular podcast, people around the world use DNA kits as a tool to find out the truth about their families.
Films, Documentaries and TV Series
Films:
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. 2022
Artist Nan Goldin was prescribed OxyContin for pain relief and very soon found herself addicted. This led to her founding the advocacy group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now, or Pain, to challenge the Sackler family’s ‘reputation laundering’ through their large donations to galleries and museums. A look at OxyContin from a different perspective.
Scoop. 2024
A dramatic retelling of the process of securing and filming the 2019 BBC television interview of Prince Andrew by presenter and journalist Emily Maitlis and the production team at the BBC Two news and current affairs programme Newsnight.
She Said. 2022
The film follows The New York Times investigation that exposed Harvey Weinstein’s history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women.
Now available on most streaming platforms.
Dramas:
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
The ITV drama that brought the Post Office scandal to wider attention and put it firmly on the political agenda.
Say Nothing
A riveting account of events during the Northern Irish Troubles, based on the book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Documentaries:
Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom
Directed by CIJ alumna Geshbeen Mohammad. Geshbeen was nominated for the 2024 British Academy Television Craft Awards in the Director: Factual category.
Africa Eye: Nigeria’s Miracle Baby Scammers.
Africa Eye went undercover to expose the fertility scammers targeting Nigerian women and fuelling an underground trade in black market babies. Women with fertility issues in Nigeria are being tricked into parting with hundreds of dollars, duped into believing they’re pregnant, and delivering babies that are often trafficked.
A documentary by CIJ Protecting Sources event speakers Mark Perkins, BBC Africa Eye editor, and filmmaker Peter Murimi.
NEW! The Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics
The Kyiv Independent’s journalists Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko followed a group of Ukrainian military medics as they journeyed from the heat of battle in war-torn Ukraine to the serene forests of Sweden for a short mental health retreat.
For the first time since 2022, these medics have a chance to process the trauma they have experienced – grappling with the loss of brothers-in-arms, surviving Russian captivity, and the weight of guilt over soldiers they couldn’t save. This documentary film is about them.
The Leasehold Trap
This BBC investigation asks whether some property management companies are engaging in sharp practice and overcharging. From a family home damaged by a leaking roof to a flat where the service charge is higher than the mortgage payments, are leaseholders getting a fair deal?
Want More?
CIJ Summer Conference 2024 videos
CIJ Logan Symposium 2024 videos