Based on the cross-sector systems framework resources explored and developed via the SHIFT INSTITUTE, the System Shift Lab pursues ‘systems journalism’ through a range of outlets. This journalism methodology was developed through INSURGE INTELLIGENCE – a crowdfunded media platform for powerful, adversarial and inspiring investigative journalism across all areas of global systems (covering politics, climate, racism, war, economics, food, water, tech and beyond through a unique holistic lens).

INSURGE INTELLIGENCE was launched by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed in 2014 to expose existing systems of power and their failures, while highlighting concrete change opportunities for mass audiences.

Why journalism? Collective intelligence is meaningless without a ‘collective’. Our goal is to find ways to distribute methods, research, and best practices in collective intelligence, which will support and facilitate whole-systems understanding and approaches, to as wide an audience as possible.

We will also provide strategic communications support to people and organisations to amplify the reach and impact of their work.

Our journalism approach has been crafted based on over 20 years of breaking exclusive global headlines on the biggest issues of the day across national security, environment, energy, business, economics, conflict, terrorism, foreign policy and beyond.

We call it ‘systems journalism’, as it leverages a range of systems-based frameworks to seek out, track and uncover the big picture stories behind the headlines. Our approach is to translate complex information across multiple systems, join the dots and make it accessible to mass audiences through different mediums - long form, short comment, film and podcasts.

We have broken stories in major media worldwide (The Guardian, VICE, Independent on Sunday, The Independent, The Scotsman, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Quartz, New York Observer, The New Statesman, Prospect, Le Monde diplomatique, Raw Story, New Internationalist, Huffington Post UK, Al-Arabiya English, AlterNet, The Ecologist, and Asia Time).

Exclusive stories broken by INSURGE have been covered by USA Today, Global Post, The Guardian, Salon, The Independent, Washington Post, The Metro, The Week, Daily Star, News Corp's news.com.au, Forward, Forbes, Business Insider, Think Progress, Clean Technica, Discovery News, Channel 4 News, Columbia Journalism Review, Gigaom, Ha’aretz, El-Horizonte (Mexico broadsheet), Contra Magazine (Germany), Rubikon News (Germany), Rebelion (Spain), Delo (Slovenia broadsheet), EnviroNews, Der Standard (Austria broadsheet) Al-Jazeera English, Future Zone, Science Post (France), and the German national press including Die Welt, News.de, General Anzeiger, FOCUS Online, WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung), Hamburger Abendblatt, Ostthuringer Zeitung, Junge Welt, German TV news channel n-TV, and Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten.

We have also produced a feature-length documentary film, The Crisis of Civilization, which has won several film festival awards and been viewed online by 700,000 people, and co-produced several other documentary feature films including Grasp The Nettle and Honey at the Top. We leverage this experience and bring it to use at the Lab.