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Manisha Ganguly

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Manisha Ganguly
Picture of Manisha Ganguly speaking on stage
Born (1995-01-13) 13 January 1995 (age 30)
Kolkata, India
Alma materUniversity of Westminster
OccupationInvestigative journalist
EmployerThe Guardian
Websitemanishaganguly.com

Manisha Ganguly (Bengali: মণীষা গাঙ্গুলী, born 13 January 1995) is an investigations correspondent and the open source intelligence lead at The Guardian.[1][2] She previously worked as investigative documentary producer for BBC News[3] covering conflict and international affairs. She lives in London, United Kingdom.[4]

Early career

[edit]

In 2012, as a teenager in Kolkata, India, Ganguly was one of ten young journalists selected from hundreds of competitors to intern for The Times of India.[3][5]

After the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Ganguly began reporting on violence against women; in a later interview she described being subject to rape and death threats online as a result.[3] She was the founder and editor of Eyezine, the webzine of the feminist counterculture Eye Art Collective which she co-founded in 2013/14. The publication showcased women reporting on violence against women.[6][7][8] In a later interview with Marie Claire, she said that the website was central to documenting the campus rape which sparked the 2014 Jadavpur University protests.[9] Its investigation into subsequent riot police assault against students sparked mass protests and shut down the city,[3] and resulted in more than 100,000 readers in one month for the website.[10] She said that the webzine also came under attack from the state for reporting on human rights abuses in the Kashmir conflict.[3] The collective exhibited their work in Toronto in 2015.[11][12]

Ganguly received a full scholarship to study a Master's in Journalism at the University of Westminster in London, and moved to the United Kingdom. She considers India to be a hostile environment for women in journalism.[3] Her first role in investigative journalism in the UK was for The Daily Telegraph.[13]

Reporting

[edit]

For the BBC, investigative documentaries she has worked on exposed double-tap attacks by Russian planes in Syria and war crimes by Turkish-backed forces in the Syrian civil war,[14][15][16][17] war crimes in Libya,[18][16][19][20] use of cluster munitions in Ukraine,[21] human trafficking in the Middle East,[4][22] uncovered the training of the killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi,[4][16] discovered China's most famous MeToo activist who had been missing,[23] and reported on Covid-19 in the Middle East.[24] In 2022, an investigation Ganguly co-led documented the torture of Russian anti-war prisoners in a Moscow police station and the identities of the officers, who were subsequently sanctioned by the EU.[25][26][27]

Ganguly was interviewed about her investigative reporting on Ukraine by Bellingcat,[28] El Mundo,[29] ARTE,[30] L'Orient Le Jour,[31] and Marie Claire.[3]

For the Guardian and Forbidden Stories, Ganguly was part of an international team that investigated Team Jorge, a group of Israeli contractors led by Tal Hanan which claimed to have meddled in more 30 elections worldwide and Aims, using their software to launch bot armies.[32][33][34] The investigation resulted in the suspension of French broadcaster Rachid M'Barki of BFMTV.[35] For The Guardian, she investigated NTC-Vulkan, which develops a Russian disinformation network and cyberweapons used by the Russian military and intelligence agencies, as a part of the Vulkan Files.[36] Ganguly acquired the Pentagon Leaks from Discord for the Guardian,[37] and reported that half the special forces deployments in Ukraine consisted of UK special forces.[38] As part of the "Costs of the Crown" team, Ganguly investigated the lineage of colonial looting of jewellery in the royal collection owned by Elizabeth II, and the British royal family.[39][40] Ganguly exposed the US and Germany training of Saudi border forces accused of mass killing migrants on the Yemen border.[41] Ganguly has reported on transnational repression of dissidents on European soil, focussing on Saudi Arabia[42] and Iran.[43]

During the Gaza war, Ganguly's Instagram account was restricted by Meta while seeking blood donations for injured journalists.[44] Ganguly led the Guardian's investigation into the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion,[45] reporting that the crater at the blast site required kinetic energy inconsistent with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) aerial bomb, and was also inconsistent with an airstrike, concluding that it was "more likely to be a weapon that failed and released its payload over a wide area." She investigated damage to Gaza's hospitals including by Israeli munitions,[46][47] the Jabaliya refugee camp airstrikes,[48] conducted damage assessment of northern Gaza,[49] and wrote that Israel appeared to be receiving munitions from a US War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel for the war in Gaza.[50][51] Together with Forbidden Stories and ARIJ, Ganguly investigated the deaths of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and revealed that parts of the IDF viewed Hamas-linked journalists as legitimate targets.[52][53][54][55][56]

Ganguly worked with a consortium of investigative journalists to uncover more than 1,000 unmarked graves of deceased migrants and refugees on the borders of Europe.[57][58] The investigation was awarded the European Press Prize Special Award.[59][60][61][62]

Academic work

[edit]

She holds a PhD titled "Future of Investigative Journalism: The Age of Automation, A.I. & Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)" from the University of Westminster, where she has also taught.[63][64] It is the first[65] PhD in OSINT mapping the impact on investigative journalism.[66][67] Ganguly's research also focussed on incidences of PTSD and the mental health impact of looking at graphic violence in OSINT investigations in war zones.[68]

Commentary

[edit]

Ganguly is a vocal proponent of women's representation and diversity in the OSINT space and investigative journalism.[68]

Ganguly has stated that OSINT investigations help confirm ground reality during war and fact-check claims made by state actors.[69][46]

In 2023, following the Twitter takeover by Elon Musk and banning of ElonJet, Ganguly expressed concern for Twitter becoming "an inhospitable platform for the OSINT community".[70] Ganguly also criticised the verification of the account of assassinated journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Musk for Twitter Blue, tweeting: "Jamal Khashoggi deserves better".[71][72] She attributed the new verification rules on X to the disinformation put out by OSINT accounts, and "OSINT grifters".[69]

Recognition and awards

[edit]

Ganguly has won a number of awards for her work including the 2020 George Weidenfeld Special Preis for Courageous Reporting.[16][73] In April 2021, Ganguly was included by Forbes magazine on their annual 30 Under 30 in the media category.[74] International awards include MHP 30 to watch under 30 in 2021[75] and 2020,[76] and Women of the Future Award.[77]

She has won two Amnesty International Media Awards for Best Investigation in 2020 and 2023,[78][79][80] the European Press Prize Special Award in 2024,[81] and shortlisted for the One World Media Award for Coronavirus Reporting.[82] She has been shortlisted for Outstanding Young Journalist at the Asian Media Awards [83] in 2020, and for the Broadcast Awards in 2021,[84] three times for the Press Gazette's British Journalism Award 2024,[85] and twice for the UK Press Awards 2024.[86]

References

[edit]
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  8. ^ Ganguly, Manisha (16 October 2019). "About Eyezine. ABOUT EYE". Medium. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Γράφοντας ως φοιτήτρια για τα γυναικεία δικαιώματα, πυροδότησε διαδηλώσεις που έκαναν μια πόλη να νεκρώσει". iNewsgr.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
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  36. ^ Harding, Luke; Ganguly, Manisha; Sabbagh, Dan (30 March 2023). "'Vulkan files' leak reveals Putin's global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  37. ^ Moore, Hannah; Ganguly, Manisha; Borger, Julian; Atack, Alex; Glasser, Tom; Zygadlo, Rudi; Cassin, Elizabeth (18 April 2023). "The Pentagon leaks: how did US security files end up on Discord? - podcast". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  38. ^ Davies, Harry; Ganguly, Manisha (11 April 2023). "Up to 50 UK special forces present in Ukraine this year, US leak suggests". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  39. ^ Pegg, David; Ganguly, Manisha (6 April 2023). "India archive reveals extent of 'colonial loot' in royal jewellery collection". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  40. ^ "Cost of the crown: what we know so far about British royals' wealth and finances". the Guardian. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  41. ^ Beaumont, Peter; Ganguly, Manisha; Borger, Julian (30 August 2023). "Germany and US trained Saudi forces accused of killing Yemen migrants". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  42. ^ Ganguly, Manisha (8 June 2023). "Threatened Saudi dissident told to live like Edward Snowden by Met police". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  43. ^ Ganguly, Manisha (22 September 2023). "Iranian activists across Europe are targets of threats and harassment". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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