Paper Trail Media

Paper Trail Media is an investigative start-up based in Munich. The editorial team, founded in 2022 by two Pulitzer Prize winners, Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier, works for the news magazine Der Spiegel, ZDF, the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard and the Swiss Tamedia group. With Obermayer and Obermaier as well as the Austrian Christo Buschek, a total of three Pulitzer Prize winners work for Paper Trail Media.

Well-known employees

Xinjiang Police Files

In 2023, the Paper Trail Media journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, together with the Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Giesen, initiated the Xinjiang Police Files research into the mass internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. These were taken up by, among others, the UN human rights representative Michelle Bachelet in her criticism of the Chinese government.

Vulkan Files

Paper Trail Media coordinated the Vulkan files leak revelations together with Spiegel in 2023. More than 50 journalists - including from The Washington Post, The Guardian and Le Monde - analyzed top secret data from the Russian company NTC Vulkan, which produces software for hacking attacks and disinformation campaigns for Russian secret services.

Cyprus Confidential

In collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media examined over 3 million documents from Cyprus as part of the Cyprus Confidential investigation about shell companies through which, among other things, covert payments were made to the journalist Hubert Seipel [de], and the oligarch Alexei Mordashov tried to circumvent sanctions from the European Union against Russia.

Other projects

The team has also been involved with Deforestation_Inc., the 'StoryKillers' project, and Russian Asset Tracker.

Awards

The work and the reporters of paper trail media have received numerous awards, including:

References

  1. ↑ Schade, Marvin (3 April 2023). "Obermayer und Obermaier über ihr Start-up: "Wollen versuchen, Enthüllungsjournalismus von der Subventionierung zu befreien" • Medieninsider" [Obermayer and Obermaier about their start-up: "We want to try to free investigative journalism from subsidies"]. Medieninsider (in German). Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ↑ MEEDIA, Meedia Redaktion. "Obermaier und Obermayer holen Investigativ-Reporterin Sophia Baumann zu Papertrail Media" [Obermaier and Obermayer bring investigative reporter Sophia Baumann to Papertrail Media]. www.meedia.de (in German). Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Maria Christoph und Nora Voit". Willi-Bleicher-Preis (in German). Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Hannes Munzinger verlässt als nächster die "Süddeutsche Zeitung"" [Hannes Munzinger is the next to leave the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".]. turi2 (in German). Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "Hakan Tanriverdi: "An der Haustür eines Geheimdienstes zu landen, finde ich spannend" - Aktuelle Meldungen - News - newsroom.de" [Hakan Tanriverdi: "I find it exciting to end up at the front door of a secret service" - Current reports - News - newsroom.de]. www.newsroom.de (in German). 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "2023 IJ4EU Impact Award Winner: The Xinjiang Police Files". European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. 5 April 2023. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  7. ↑ United Nations/Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, August 31, 2022.
  8. ↑ 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 April 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Antoniadis, Nikolai; Baumann, Sophia; Buschek, Christo; Christoph, Maria; Diehl, Jörg; Epp, Alexander; Grozev, Christo; Höfner, Roman; Hoppenstedt, Max; Huppertz, Carina; Kollig, Dajana; Kornfeld, Anna-Lena; Lehberger, Roman; Munzinger, Hannes; Obermaier, Frederik; Obermayer, Bastian; Petrov, Fedir; Berlin, Alexandra; Rosenbach, Marcel; Schulz, Thomas; Tanriverdi, Hakan; Wiedmann-Schmidt, Wolf (31 March 2023). "(S+) "Vulkan Files"-Enthüllungen: Wie Putins Cybersoldaten den Krieg ins Internet tragen" ["Vulkan Files" revelations: How Putin’s cyber soldiers are taking the war online]. Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ "What is Cyprus Confidential? The leaks that reveal Russians' way into Europe". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB). Archived from the original on 2023-12-31. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Editorial: The Guardian view on Cyprus Confidential: revelations should be a spur to action". The Guardian. 15 November 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "Paper Trail Media – The Directory of European Journalism Networks". journalismdirectory.org. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  13. ↑ ""The Gaza Project" erhält Auszeichnung für innovative Medienprojekte - Otto Brenner Preis 2024" ["The Gaza Project" Receives Award for Innovative Media Projects – Otto Brenner Prize 2024]. www.otto-brenner-preis.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-12-17. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  14. 1 2 "Rainer-Reichert-Preis zum Tag der Pressefreiheit - der Journalistenpreis des BJV zum Tag der Pressefreiheit | BJV" [Rainer Reichert Prize for World Press Freedom Day – the BJV journalism award for World Press Freedom Day | BJV]. Archived from the original on 2024-12-08. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  15. ↑ "2023 IJ4EU Impact Award Winner: The Xinjiang Police Files". European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. 2023-04-05. Archived from the original on 2024-09-16. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  16. ↑ "IJ4EU Impact Award 2025 Winners". European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. 2025-09-27. Archived from the original on 2026-07-25. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  17. ↑ "SABEW Unveils 29th annual BIB Awards Recipients". SABEW. 2024-03-25. Archived from the original on 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  18. ↑ "Preisträger & Nominierungen 2023 - Deutscher Journalistenpreis" [2023 Winners & Nominees – German Journalism Award]. www.djp.de. Archived from the original on 2024-12-17. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  19. ↑ "TRACE International | Press". www.traceinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2024-07-02. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  20. ↑ "Spotlighting the Best in European Journalism: The 2025 European Press Prize Winners". iMEdD. 2025-05-28. Archived from the original on 2026-07-25. Retrieved 2026-06-27.