Topic
Supply chains
We’ve been on the supply chain beat long before the pandemic and food crisis disrupted global commerce. From medical supplies and plastics, to clothing and seafood, we’ve uncovered the tangled webs of corporate corruption, forced labour, and more.
📰 11 features
🏆 9 awards and nominations
Recent partners
Supply Chains / Exhibit
‘Objective‘: A multidisciplinary modern slavery project
Featuring the testimonies of survivors and their journeys
through formal support, ‘Objective‘ (profiled in Stylist Magazine) attempts to shed light on the reality of the new restrictions in UK asylum and immigration legislation, while envisioning a path towards a more equitable future for those who have survived modern slavery.
Co-created by photojournalist Amy Romer, director of After Exploitation Maya Esslemont, and Global Reporting Centre Fellow Emma Barnes-Lewis; with support from Professor Andrew Crane of the University of Bath. The project team also hosted a trauma-informed workshop with survivors and published an op-ed in Open Democracy.
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supply chains / story
Months after residents sound the alarm, Pennsylvania ‘cracks’ down on Shell plant
Shell to pay $10 million to Pennsylvania for exceeding emissions limits during the troubled start-up of its massive new plastics plant. The new ethane ‘cracker’ officially switched on last November. The cracker plant had a series of malfunctions this spring, as residents and activists pressed the Department of Environmental Protection to step in. Published in partnership with NBC News.
Photo illustration: Leila Register for NBC News / Katarina Sabados for Global Reporting Centre Supply Chains / story
The new steel?
This feature story gets a first-hand account from people who see the economic opportunity of a new plastics complex — as well as those who “fear a return to a toxic past for a product the world needs less of.”
Written by Hannah Rappleye with the Investigative Unit at NBC News.
Photo: Hannah Rappleye / NBC News Supply Chains / Explainer
The house that plastic built
Our world is flooded with cheap subsidized plastic. How did we get here? A look back at the history of a now-indispensable industry.
This was an honourable mention for the DPA for Best Science & Technology Storytelling.
Animation: Esther Cheung
Supply Chains / short doc
How a ‘carbon cage’ blocks climate mitigation
Associate Professor Kate Ervine with a short doc for Scientific American exploring how climate action is stopped by carbon dependence. Co-produced by Duy Linh Tu with support from the Hidden Costs Academic-Journalism Collaboration Grant.
Photo: documentary Still / Scientific American
Supply Chains / Article series
Inside the factories that make your clothes
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented levels of poverty, indebtedness and exploitative conditions in the garment industry, according to the findings of a joint Toronto Star/Global Reporting Centre investigation in collaboration with researchers from the University of Sheffield.
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Supply Chains / Investigation
Medical supply chains
An investigation into the global breakdown of medical supply chains during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with AP News and the PBS series FRONTLINE.
This investigation led to an award-winning documentary, an interactive explainer, an article series, and curricular resources developed by the Pulitzer Center.
Workers carry boxes at Oklahoma’s Strategic National Stockpile warehouse in Oklahoma City. Photo: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki Supply Chains / Documentary
America’s medical supply crisis
Produced by the Global Reporting Centre, the PBS series FRONTLINE, and Associated Press, this documentary is a joint investigation examining the failures and unheeded warnings of a system at risk.
Winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, the top investigative journalism prize in North America.
AP reporter Juliet Linderman, interviewing Dr. Wayne Breining from Northwell Health. Supply Chains / Interactive
Explainer
Masks, tests, syringes, and ventilators — these were just some of the supplies that were in short supply during the height of the pandemic. What went wrong?
Nominated for the DPA for best digital design.
Supply Chains / Series
Deadly shortages
A series of stories from the Associated Press in partnership with the GRC on the medical supply crisis in the United States.
Photo: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Supply Chains / resources
Educational guide
Curricular resources (for middle school and older) developed by the Pulitzer Center that include a lesson plan and viewing guide for the documentary.
Supply Chains / podcast
On China’s new silk road
Dozens of countries have invited China to build roads, railways, ports, 5G networks, and more. How is China’s global ambition seen around the world and what impact are its investments having on the ground?
A nine-episode podcast available now.
Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Supply Chains / Articles
November 15 2023
So thieves nabbed your catalytic converter. Here’s where it ended up
The pollution control devices contain valuable metals, making them a hot commodity for recycling. Some beneficiaries of the thefts look the other way. By Walt Bogdanich, Isak Hüllert, and Eli Tan, supported in part by the Hidden Costs Academic-Journalism Collaboration Grant. Read the story here.
September 20 2022
China’s capture of Ghana’s fishing industry threatening food security
Ghanian journalist Kwabena Adu Koranteng and researcher Alassane Samba look at how Chinese proliferation in Ghana’s fishing industry is threatening food security in the region. This story is a result of the Hidden Costs Academic-Journalism Collaboration Grant. Read the story here.
June 4 2022
To fight illegal fishing in the Galapagos, Ecuador turns to new technology
CBC’s Chris Arsenault and UBC researcher Philippe Le Billon teamed up to investigate how Ecuador is combating illegal fishing in their biodiverse waters. This story is a result of the Hidden Costs Academic-Journalism Collaboration Grant. Read the story here.
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Supply Chains / series
The fish you (don’t know you) eat
Twenty-five percent of fish caught in the ocean don’t land on our plates. They’re churned into fishmeal, which is used to feed farmed fish. But what are the true costs of this process?
Students of the Global Reporting Program travelled to China, Peru and West Africa—key locations in the global fishmeal industry—to find out.
Winner of the DPA for best editorial package.
Supply Chains / Podcast
America’s digital dumping ground
What happens to your old electronics? They might not end up where you expect. In this podcast we trace the global trail of America’s electronic castoffs. Published in partnership with the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal.