In 2018, the Global Reporting Centre received a $2.5 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for ‘Hidden Costs of Global Supply Chains,’ a multi-year project bringing together researchers, journalists, students, and media broadcasters to investigate “corruption, labour abuses and environmental impact hidden within global supply chains.” [8] The organization has also partnered with the Center for Investigative Reporting to report on a digital dumping ground in China.[9] In 2016, the Global Reporting Centre received funding from the Aga Khan Foundation to profile efforts to wipe out Rh Disease and explore it as a public health issue.[10] The resulting story by Jennifer Yang was published in the Toronto Star.[11]
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Reporting Centre partnered with the Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE to investigate the medical supply crisis as part of its work on global supply chains. That investigation led to a documentary, a series of articles, and an interactive explainer.[12] The Pulitzer Center also created educational resources based on the documentary.[13] From 2021 to 2023, the Global Reporting Centre continued its reporting on supply chains, partnering with NBC News to produce a series about plastic production in Appalachia.[14][15][16][17] Shell agreed to pay $10 million for exceeding emissions limits during the launch of its Petrochemicals Complex in Beaver County, PA, weeks after NBC News and The Global Reporting Centre questioned Shell and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as part of its investigation.[18][19][20][21]
The Global Reporting Centre has also supported cross-sector collaboration between academics and journalists by providing grants and other support under the ‘Hidden Costs of Global Supply Chains’ project,[22] including funding projects like The Carbon Cage, a collaboration between journalist Duy Linh Tu and Saint Mary’s University associate professor Kate Ervine, published by Scientific American. The Carbon Cage won the 2023 Telly Award in Virtual Art Direction.[23] The Global Reporting Centre also funded a partnership between Toronto Star reporter Robert Cribb and Genevieve LeBaron, former University of Sheffield professor and current professor and director of the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. That collaboration led to a 10-month investigation into how COVID-19 was impacting garment workers in South Asian and African countries; it garnered global coverage from the BBC, Reuters, and The New York Times.[24][25][26]
The Global Reporting Centre has also developed media guides, including a guide for “empowerment journalism,"[27] which provides practical advice and best practices for community-engaged reporting.[28] This reporting method was used in the production of Turning Points,[29] a series of documentary shorts produced in partnership with PBS NewsHour that “explores alcohol use, addiction, resilience and healing” in Indigenous communities in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.[30][31][32]
Mark of Excellence Award for Collaborative Journalism (2022 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards)[56]
In 2023, the GRC was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s Bill Good Award, which recognizes “a B.C. individual or organization that makes a significant contribution to journalism in the province, or addresses a community’s needs and benefits via journalism.”[57]