The story is a terabyte of corporate paper meeting a consortium of newsrooms, then meeting national politics.
The public ending is mixed: some leaders gone, a firm closed, many files still only journalism.
Beats
- A source, a German desk
John Doe contacts Süddeutsche Zeitung. Obermayer and Obermaier receive a cache that is too large for one paper. ICIJ is invited in.
- A year under embargo
More than a hundred outlets search a shared archive. Local reporters read local names. The embargo holds until 3 April 2016.
- Sunday, 3 April
Coordinated stories land worldwide. Iceland's prime minister faces a camera. English papers lead on famous names and on Cameron's family file.
- Courts and resignations
Gunnlaugsson resigns. Pakistan's Supreme Court later disqualifies Sharif. Tax agencies open audits. Results do not form one dock.
- A firm closes, a method repeats
Mossack Fonseca shuts in 2018. ICIJ reuses the consortium model on later leaks. John Doe stays unnamed.
The Panama Papers are a publication event with a mixed legal map — the opposite of a single courtroom ending.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.