In the second half of January, eight news organizations created or opened 13 public repositories on GitHub.
Highlights
ProPublica released rx-inspector-data, the dataset behind their Rx Inspector tool, which for the first time connects generic prescription drugs to the factories that made them. The data links National Drug Code numbers to FDA manufacturing facility records, revealing where drugs were made and the facilities’ inspection histories. ProPublica built the dataset by combining multiple FDA databases, FOIA requests, and even a lawsuit against the FDA to obtain facility location data the agency had kept confidential. It covers the vast majority of generic drugs prescribed in the U.S. By Brandon Roberts.
DW Data published the data and analysis behind their investigation into global arms trade patterns, examining who buys weapons from the world’s five biggest exporters. The analysis uses SIPRI Arms Transfers Database data from 2000–2024. By Rosie Birchard and Gianna-Carina Grün.
CalMatters released data-trucking-schools, a dataset of 231 trucking schools in California compiled from the federal Training Provider Registry, cross-referenced with state licensing records. Their story found at least 184 providers operating as private trucking schools without state bureau approval.
OpenAleph released ftm-translate, a tool for translating FollowTheMoneydocument entities using local machine translation via the Argos or Apertium machine-translation systems.
The Guardian published 2026-maplibre-knowledge-session, materials from an internal knowledge-sharing session on building static and dynamic maps with MapLibre. It’s built on the reusable Svelte components from their amazing immersive graphical story on wildfires.
ABC News Australia released interactive-globey-maplibre, a MapLibre-powered tool for creating interactive globe-based scrollytelling experiences that guide readers through geographic stories as they scroll. It includes both a globe visualization component and a builder interface for creating maps without extensive coding. They also released create-aunty, an “experimental” Vite-based project scaffolding tool for quickly spinning up new interactive projects.
OpenNews started building the SRCCON 2026 website (2026.srccon.org).
Data comes from the Open Journalism Bot, which monitors ~350 news organization GitHub accounts. Follow @openjournalism.bsky.social for real-time alerts.