If you do not go further than googling readily available information about your source or object of your reporting, you may be missing out on some important context.
BBC’s online investigation specialist and trainer, Paur Myers shared some great tips at two webinars hosted by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN). His advice was summed up in this article that covers anything from browsing through online archives to searching for images and identifying people. For example, if you are looking up Paul Myers, type his name with quotation marks like "Paul Myers’" to find an exact match. If you are looking for a specific piece of information on a particular website, use site: before typing in the website name, like site:journalism.co.uk plus your search term to find exactly what you are looking for.
Identifying people on the internet can be tricky so always look for information related to that person, such as the names of their relatives, their interests and hobbies, contact information and connected places.
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