Giannina Segnini Picado (born 1970) is a Costa Rican journalist recognized for having uncovered two political scandals that led to convictions of former presidents – the ICE-Alcatel [es] and Caja-Fischel [es] cases. She has become a distinguished figure in Latin America for her work in investigative and data journalism.
Segnini began working at the newspaper La Nación in 1994, creating its Research and Data Intelligence Unit, a multidisciplinary team that combined work with databases and street reporting. She served as its director until 2014.[1] In 2004, together with Ernesto Rivera and Mauricio Herrera Ulloa, she published a series of articles that revealed cases of corruption of former presidents Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (1990–1994) and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998–2002).[5][6][7] Both received multi-year prison sentences, although Calderón's was conditionally enforced, while Rodriguez's appeals led to his acquittal.
Within the newspaper, she wrote about leaked diplomatic cables related to Costa Rica and investigated irregular handling of money from the Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica, the abandonment of children by parents subsidized by the state, undeclared properties of ministers, and illegal political campaign contributions.[7][8]
Less than two weeks after the 2014 general election, La Nación did not publish the results of a commissioned survey, as reported by Semanario Universidad [es].[9]La Nación justified the decision in an editorial the following day, arguing that "in the special circumstances of this election, we would contribute little to the civic process and much to malicious speculation."[10]
After the first electoral round, Segnini resigned, stating "a series of editorial decisions of this newspaper, based on reasons that I consider foreign to journalism, prevent me from continuing to work for this company."[11] Along with her team, she developed and contributed greatly to the ICIJ interactive application for the Offshore Leaks project, as well as participating in ICIJ's Panama Papers project.[2][7]
2012 Pío Víquez National Award for her journalistic career in Costa Rica[1]
2013 Latin American Prize for Investigative Journalism (third place) from Transparency International[13]
2013 Recognition of Excellence from the Gabo Foundation [es] for her "exceptional contribution to the advancement of journalism, developing and adapting the potential of new technologies at the service of reporting and the promotion of data journalism in Latin America"[6][14]
^ abcArce Vargas, Juan José (8 February 2013). "Giannina Segnini Picado Premio Nacional de Periodismo" [Giannina Segnini Picado Wins National Journalism Award]. Primera Plana (in Spanish). Colegio de Periodistas de Costa Rica. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
^Rivera, Ernesto (27 January 2014). "La Nación suspendió encuesta de UNIMER" [La Nación Suspends UNIMER Survey]. Semanario Universidad (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
^"Encuestas" [Surveys]. La Nación (in Spanish). 28 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
^Segnini, Giannina (6 February 2014). "Gracias por lo bailado" [Thanks For the Dance]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 January 2020.
