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 MacGann, Paul Radu, and Sandrine Rigaud will offer concrete strategies to equip journalists with the tools they need to navigate leaks with integrity, rigor, and security. The webinar will be moderated by Robert Libetti and is co-sponsored by The Journalist’s Resource.
Moderator:
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.
Panelists:
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.
He is also the co-founder of Floodlight — a platform to turn investigative reporting into fiction film and video games.
Paul is an Ashoka Global Fellow and has held a number of other fellowships, including the Milena Jesenska Press Fellowship, the Rosalyn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, the Knight International Journalism Fellowship with the International Center for Journalists as well as a 2009-2010 Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowship. He is a board member for the Global Investigative Journalism Network, a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a member of the jury for the global Sigma Data Journalism Awards, and a member of the Allard Prize advisory board.
Paul is a winner of the Daniel Pearl Award, the Global Shining Light Award, the European Press Prize, and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was part of the Panama Papers team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism. He has also authored or contributed to handbooks and digital guides such as “Against Corruption: a collection of essays,” “The Data Journalism Handbook,” and “Follow the Money — A Digital Guide to Tracking Corruption.”
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.
