Hello!

My name is Olaya Argüeso, and I am an investigative journalist specializing in cross-border reporting. I served as editor-in-chief at CORRECTIV, leading international investigations since 2019. In this role, I contributed to groundbreaking projects such as The CumEx Files and Grand Theft Europe, which uncovered multi-billion-euro tax fraud schemes across Europe and were acknowledged with several awards.

As editor-in-chief, I led and coordinated numerous international and cross-border investigations. This experience has given me first-hand insight into the challenges and most common issues that arise during such collaborations, as well as the most effective approaches to organizing these efforts successfully. As the only member of the editorial leadership team with a background in data journalism, I also supported data-driven investigations, offering advice on story focus and optimizing workflows between the data team and the newsroom. Later, I further developed my project management skills through formal training.

From 2022 to 2024, I designed, developed, and led CORRECTIV.Europe, a network for local European journalists to collaborate on cross-border investigations. This was a project especially dear to me, as it aimed to democratize access to international collaborative stories. CORRECTIV.Europe was therefore conceived as a platform offering ready-to-use data-driven stories to local journalists across the continent. The goal was to serve as the investigative desk that many local newsrooms cannot afford. At the same time, the project established a space where local reporters could connect with colleagues interested in doing cross-border reporting.

Under my supervision, this pioneering project supporting local journalism in Europe secured unprecedented funding from one of Europe’s leading players in non-profit journalism, which translated into the project being wholly self-financed within its second year. It also attracted the interest of several European foundations, drawn by its innovative focus on honoring the role of local journalism in sustaining democracy by building a project designed to serve this community. The attention paid to acknowledging the specific challenges faced by local media professionals in certain European regions was also consistently praised.

Before joining CORRECTIV, I spent more than ten years at Cadena SER, Spain’s top radio network, heading the Economy desk. A short period in public relations reaffirmed my passion for journalism, prompting me to move into data journalism and ultimately enroll in Columbia University’s Lede Program. The skills I acquired there enabled me to comfortably bridge the gap between editorial and data teams and to efficiently organize their workflows.

In addition to my work as a journalism practitioner, I have extensive experience as a journalism trainer. For two years, I was the academic coordinator for Spain’s pioneering master’s degree in investigative reporting, data journalism, and visualization, where I was also a member of the teaching staff. The program is known for producing leading data and investigative reporters, including ICIJ members.

I’ve shared my knowledge on data journalism, cross-border collaborations and investigative reporting through training and mentorships with organizations such as El País, Agencia EFE, Journalismfund Europe, Transitions, and the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism. More recently, I was selected as an AI Spotlight Coaching Grantee by the Pulitzer Center to train European journalists on how to do accountability reporting on artificial intelligence.

I am fluent in Spanish, English and German.