OSINT, accountability, and the future of human rights reporting

The Human Rights Center Investigations Lab at UC Berkeley has become one of the world’s most influential engines of open-source reporting, blending journalism, law, technology, and ethics to document abuses that would otherwise remain hidden, supporting the work of organisations such as the Center for Investigative Reporting, Reuters, Associated Press, New York Times, The War Horse, and others. This interview brings Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Investigations Program and Co-Faculty Director of the Human Rights Center, into conversation with Manisha Ganguly, Visual Forensics Lead at The Guardian, award-winning investigative journalist, and one of the pioneers of OSINT reporting.
This conversation will explore four urgent and timely themes:
> Reporting on authoritarianism. Alexa will discuss the Lab’s cutting-edge reporting and how OSINT enables us to document human-rights violations in places designed to evade scrutiny — from uncovering conditions inside El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison to breaking new ground on third-country removals, a rapidly developing investigation drawing strong media attention.
> The power of multidisciplinary investigations. The Investigations Lab pioneered a model in which technologists, lawyers, researchers, and journalists work side by side to investigate misconduct — including potential illegal or criminal actions by the Trump administration. Alexa will break down how multidisciplinary OSINT teams operate, what verification standards look like in practice, and why this model is increasingly essential for accountability reporting worldwide.
> Teaching and scaling open-source reporting. As demand for OSINT surges, the Lab has played a central role in training journalists and human-rights researchers across the globe. Alexa will share lessons from recent partnerships, the urgent skills gaps newsrooms are facing, and insights tied to the forthcoming edition of Digital Witness, the field’s leading guide to open-source investigations. Manisha will reflect on how newsrooms can sustain and expand visual forensics teams and workflows.
> Gender and OSINT: new ethical standards. The Lab is launching new guidelines on the ethical use of open-source methods to investigate sexual and gender-based violence — a rapidly growing but highly sensitive area of reporting. Alexa will explain why this guidance was created, what ethical risks journalists must navigate, and how these standards can support more responsible and survivor-centered investigations.
As conflicts intensify and authoritarianism expands, lack of access becomes a key problem with dynamic multi disciplinary OSINT reporting being a key solution. Alexa Koenig's decade of contributions to the field have helped shape it in its current form, and the conversation with Manisha Ganguly offers festival audiences an unparalleled view into the future of open-source investigations, combining newsroom realities with human-rights rigor.