Reporting and breaking the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers investigations required a centralized platform that made it possible for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ to collaborate while exploring tens of millions of files. As successful as these probes proved, the platform failed to make a searchable database that connected data stored in individual reporters’ computers.
Supported by a 2017-18 Magic Grant with additional funding provided by FRONTLINE at PBS, ICIJ is in the process of constructing its Datashare platform, which, for the first time, will allow journalists across borders to collaboratively and discreetly mine information contained in their respective documents.