In a time when data leaks are both more prevalent and more complex than ever, how can journalists navigate the ethical, technical, and security challenges of leak-based reporting? From source protection in an era of surveillance to verifying authenticity in the face of AI-generated disinformation, panelists Mark McGann, Paul Radu, and Sandrine Rinaud offer concrete strategies to equip journalists with the tools they need to navigate leaks with integrity, rigor, and security. The webinar was moderated by Robert Libetti.
Robert Libetti is a journalist and filmmaker who was part of the 2025 Nieman class at Harvard. He created and led the visual investigations and documentary team at the Wall Street Journal. He’s directed investigations on everything from Russia’s Wagner Group and the war in Ukraine to Tesla autopilot crashes, the January 6th Capitol riot and Amazon’s use of unsafe factories in Bangladesh.
His work has been nominated for 6 Emmys, a duPont-Columbia Award and a Peabody Award. He has won two Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, and was part of a team that won the 2021 IRE Philip Meyer Award for Investigative Journalism.
Mark MacGann has thirty years’ experience at the nexus of business and government, having served in global senior executive and management roles for some of the world’s most successful corporations (Uber, NYSE, VEON, Nokia). Until recently, he served as a United Nations Commissioner for Sustainable Development.
In early 2022, he embarked on a life-changing journey with some of the world’s most experienced investigative journalists, and since then he has been known as the whistleblower behind the Uber Files. He is currently working on a number of writing and academic projects, continues to advocate for greater transparency in lobbying, and stronger social protection for millions of so-called platform, or gig workers.
While a fellow at the Public Interest Tech Lab, housed at the Shorenstein Center, MacGann is researching the intersection of technology, labor practices, and regulatory frameworks within the gig economy, and exploring potential policy reforms to ensure fair labor practices and enhanced accountability within the tech industry. This comprehensive study will provide valuable insights for policymakers, industry leaders, and academics alike, contributing to the ongoing discourse on creating a more equitable and transparent gig economy.
Paul Radu is Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at OCCRP. He founded the organization in 2007 with Drew Sullivan. He leads OCCRP’s major investigative projects, scopes regional expansion, and develops new strategies and technology to expose organized crime and corruption across borders.
Paul initiated and led the award-winning Russian, Azerbaijani, and Troika Laundromat investigations, and coined the term “laundromat” to define large scale, all-purpose financial fraud vehicles that are used to launder billions of dollars. He is a co-creator of Investigative Dashboard — a research desk that sifts through datasets to help journalists trace people, companies, and assets — and the Visual Investigative Scenarios software, a tool that lets reporters sketch out the people, institutions, and connections in criminal networks so people can easily follow complex investigations. He is also a co-founder of RISE Project, a platform for investigative reporters in Romania.
Sandrine Rigaud is a French investigative journalist and filmmaker who was part of the
2025 Nieman class at Harvard. She most recently served as editor-in-chief of
Forbidden Stories, a global network of journalists pursuing the work of silenced journalists. She has coordinated many cross-border investigations including “
The Pegasus Project,” a leak-based international project that revealed how governments spied on journalists, opposition politicians, activists, lawyers and others using Pegasus spyware, and “
The Cartel Project,” in which reporters around the world continued the work of slain Mexican journalists. The investigations she has led have won multiple honors including George Polk awards, the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the European Press Prize and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize. She is the co-author of “
Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy” and has directed feature-length investigative documentaries for French television. In 2024, the documentary she co-produced about the Pegasus Project won the Outstanding Investigative Documentary Emmy. In her investigations, she has handled numerous leaks and sensitive sources, coordinating teams across countries while ensuring the highest standards of security and ethical journalism.
