Vers Beton, Lighthouse and OPEN receive international recognition for research reporting

TAGS: CentrumpolicesSocietyArticle

January 18, 2024 1:28 PM

Vers Beton, Lighthouse Reports and OPEN Rotterdam are in third place for the 'Philip Meyer Award'. This is a shared third spot with WIRED. The award recognizes the best use of social science research methods in journalism.OPEN Rotterdam has been collaborating with the online magazine Vers Beton in the field of investigative journalism since 2019. Social problems are being identified, with Vers Beton writing the longreads and OPEN making the video reports. From the youth care jungle and social real estate in the city to the Rotterdam Act and the use of algorithms to detect social assistance fraud, the research for which we are now receiving international recognition.“I emphasize that there has been no discrimination when using algorithms in the municipality of Rotterdam,” alderman Richard Moti told the city council in 2021. But the “risk assessment model” for detecting social assistance fraud did select a specific group of people to control social assistance benefits, Vers Beton, OPEN Rotterdam and Lighthouse Reports found. After nearly a year and a half of negotiations, the reporters from OPEN Rotterdam and Vers Beton received the underlying computer code that was used to mark the residents of Rotterdam, allowing them to be cut off from services and even targeted for raids. The Philip Meyer Award jury noted “how rarely news organizations get access to these often code lines and how important it is to hold governments accountable for their actions”.