Black Waters: An Account of an Experimental Hybrid Project

Journalists, anthropologists, a sociologist and a natural scientist came together in the Black Waters project to look into the causes and social consequences of environmental damage along the Danube. The project was run by the Center for Media, Data and Society in partnership with Atlatszo and Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, and funded by Open Society Initiative for Europe.

One of the teams was investigating the role of the state in managing environmental damage in the Danube Delta, Romania, specifically poaching of severely endangered sturgeon. The other team was uncovering the context of toxic waste mixing at the red mud reservoirs in Almásfüzitő, a small settlement in Hungary.

The article of Alexandra Czeglédi, Research Assistant in the project, shows how journalists and academics came to forge a collaborative investigative process.