SOLUTIONS / INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS
Agentic OSINT for Investigative Journalists
Nexus is an agentic OSINT platform that investigative journalists use to research offshore structures, corporate networks, public records and digital footprints from lawful open sources. Reporters choose an investigative Skill or describe the story question in plain language; Nexus discovers evidence, links cited findings to their sources, maps connections in a relationship graph and keeps editorial judgment with the journalist. Encrypted notes and source-backed reports help protect sensitive material and document how each fact was established.
Follow the money, the network and the digital trail behind a story using lawful open sources. Nexus helps reporters trace structures, verify material and document every finding while keeping notes and working hypotheses protected.
Challenges
Challenges for Investigative Journalists
Following opaque money trails
Offshore entities, nominee directors and layered companies are built to obscure who benefits. No single record settles ownership, so reporters must assemble evidence from registries, leaks and public reporting while keeping inference separate from proof.
Verifying before publishing
Every published claim has to survive editorial and legal review. Images, videos, quotes and profiles need provenance and context; a resemblance or a matching username is not evidence of identity.
Protecting sources and lines of inquiry
Reporting on powerful subjects demands that notes, working hypotheses and source material stay confidential, and that a documented record exists of how each finding was reached.
Small teams, cross-border stories
Newsroom budgets rarely stretch to a suite of specialist databases, yet stories that cross jurisdictions and languages still demand broad, defensible research on a deadline.
Workflow
The Nexus workflow for Investigative Journalists
- 01
Frame the story question
Open a case for the investigation and define the subject, the claim you need to test, the jurisdictions involved and the period that matters. A clear objective keeps the research focused and defensible.
- 02
Choose a Skill or describe the lead
Start with a focused Skill such as Offshore Structure Research or News and Adverse-Media Timeline, or describe the lead in the case conversation and let Nexus plan the research. Follow-up questions extend the same case.
- 03
Discover the evidence
Nexus searches supported public sources, from offshore records and company registries to news archives, public profiles, images and videos, and returns findings with each one linked to its original source.
- 04
Review findings critically
Open the evidence detail behind any citation to check the original source, its publication context and its date. Nexus separates supported findings, possible matches, contradictions and information gaps, so a same-name candidate is never mistaken for the subject.
- 05
Map the network
Add people, companies, intermediaries and domains from the evidence to a relationship graph and explore how the actors in the story connect. Similarity alone is never treated as proof of association.
- 06
Build the story file
Keep analysis in investigation notes, encrypted end to end on the Agency plan, ask follow-up questions and prepare a BLUF brief or export selected records to a structured PDF for editorial review.
Skill Library
Skills used in this workflow
The investigative Skills these cases draw on most. Every Skill states the question it answers, what the investigator receives and what it cannot establish.
Outcomes
Outcomes for Investigative Journalists
- Offshore and corporate structures traced from public records
- Source-linked findings ready for editorial and legal review
- Images, videos and profiles checked for provenance and context
- Relationship graphs that show who connects to whom
- Encrypted notes that keep hypotheses and analysis confidential
- A documented record of how each finding was established
Related OSINT concepts
Frequently asked questions
What is agentic OSINT for investigative journalism?
Agentic OSINT for investigative journalism is open-source research in which an AI agent plans and carries out multi-step investigation workflows — source discovery, evidence retrieval, relationship analysis and reporting — against a story question, while cited findings link to retained source records and the journalist reviews, directs and decides. Nexus applies this model to offshore records, company registries, news archives, public profiles and media, so a reporter can move from a lead to evidence-backed understanding without losing sight of what each claim rests on.
What offshore and corporate records can journalists research in Nexus?
Nexus includes Offshore Structure Research, which explores public offshore-record references — including the ICIJ Offshore Leaks database — to entities, officers, intermediaries and addresses, alongside UK Company Registry and US Public Filings for official company records. Cross-Entity Correlation then assesses relationships across those people and organizations, distinguishing direct evidence from inference. Inclusion in an offshore dataset is never treated as proof of wrongdoing, beneficial ownership or current control, and a reporter should corroborate every link before publication.
How does Nexus help journalists verify images, videos and profiles?
Nexus offers Public Image Matching to investigate exact and visually similar appearances of an image and the pages that contain it, Video and Transcript Intelligence to find public videos and examine available transcripts with timestamps, and Public Profile Discovery to find public profiles potentially associated with a person or username. Every result opens to an evidence detail with its source and publication context, and Nexus marks possible matches separately from supported findings, because image similarity or a reused handle does not establish identity.
Is it lawful and ethical for journalists to use Nexus?
Nexus researches lawfully accessible public sources and authorized records, and it does not access private accounts, mailboxes or restricted systems. Investigative journalists remain responsible for editorial and ethical judgment: what to pursue, what serves the public interest and what to publish. Nexus supports that judgment by keeping cited findings linked to their sources, separating allegations from established events, recording information gaps and never presenting a match as proof of identity or wrongdoing, so a story rests on evidence the newsroom and its lawyers can inspect.
How does Nexus protect a reporter's notes and working material?
Agency notes and their attachments are encrypted end to end; this protection does not extend to all case content or exported reports. Nexus is operated by Next Sight in Slovenia (EU). Save relevant findings in the case and export selected records to a structured PDF when needed. Include available custody entries where enabled, review the output and handle shared copies according to your newsroom’s source-protection requirements.
Which Nexus plan fits a freelance reporter or a small newsroom?
Nexus has two self-serve plans. Pro includes 43 of the 47 investigative Skills, including Offshore Structure Research, UK Company Registry, News and Adverse-Media Timeline and Public Image Matching, and suits most investigative desks. Agency adds Cross-Entity Correlation, the other Agency-only Skills and end-to-end encrypted investigation notes for teams working on sensitive, multi-actor stories.