Investigative journalism
Encyclopedia : I : IN : INV : Investigative journalism
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The investigation will often require an extensive number of interviews and travel; other instances might call for the reporter to make use of activities such as surveillance techniques, tedious analysis of documents, investigations of the performance of any kind of equipment involved in an accident, patent medicine, scientific analysis, social and legal issues, and the like. In short, investigative journalism requires a lot of scrutiny of details, fact-finding, and physical effort. An investigative journalist must have an analytical and incisive mind with strong self-motivation to carry on when all doors are closed, when facts are being covered up or falsified and so on.
Some of the means reporters can use for their fact-finding:
- studying neglected sources, such as archives, phone records, address books, tax records and license records
- anonymous sources (for example whistleblowers)
- going undercover
Examples
- Black Like Me
- *In 1959, John Howard Griffin, a caucasian, changed the color of his skin and traveled in the U.S.'s Deep South as an African-American, later writing a series of articles for Sepia magazine and then his famous book.
- Thalidomide
- *The 'Insight' team of The Sunday Times achieved great renown in the 1960s for its exposure of public health scandals, most notably Thalidomide.
- *Paul Foot used his columns in The Daily Mirror and Private Eye to expose miscarriages of justice.
- Watergate
- * The Washington Post's investigation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
- The Iron Fist
- *Alexenia Dimitrova of the 24 Hours Daily (Sofia, Bulgaria) investigated the American and Bulgarian governments secret Cold War files.
- Revelation$, about Clearstream, which has been called the "biggest financial scandal in Luxembourg" and was discovered by ex-Clearstream banker Ernest Backes who co-authored a book about it with French journalist Denis Robert.
Professional references
In The Reporter's Handbook: An Investigator's Guide to Documents and Techniques, Steve Weinberg defined investigative journalism as:- Reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers or listeners. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed.
See also
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