The survival of investigative journalism
- Halley Ching
- Apr 24, 2020
- 2 min read
In the late 1960s, investigative journalism flourished and took a significant space to the historical investigative reports such as the leaking of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate Scandal (NHK Online, 2009).
Investigative Journalism Manual (2018), investigative journalism is defined as a form of journalism, which the reporters go for in-depth investigation for a single story that may uncover corruption, review government policies that draw attention to social, economic, political or cultural trends.
An investigative journalist is difficult to survive. This is because of the limitations and the dilemmas they faced. They have the higher risk of overstepping legal boundaries such as the criminal sanctions when conducting research, civil law consequences when conducting research and the liability for the publication of illegally obtained private and confidential documents (Solmecke, C. 2014).
The investigative journalists will face ethic problems as well. Here is a situation from the movie, Venom: if you are an investigative journalist, your editor may ask you to interview a founder of a company. After you have done the research, you realise that the founder did many unethical things without anyone’s knowledge. At the same time, your wife is the lawyer of the company. One night, you accidentally see the email received by your wife, it is the private and confidential document of the company, and the title of the document is the topic you are investigating, will you open and read? At this phase, you might face the dilemma, you will have to choose between your job and your family.
Being an investigative journalist is not an easy job. It might take you months and years to investigate and report on a single topic. It is also very dangerous to you to carry out the investigation quietly, you must always be alert and careful of your personal safety.
The full detail of Panama Papers:
References:
Investigative Journalism Manual. (2018). Chapter 1: How to define investigative journalism? Retrieved on October 15, 2018 from http://www.investigative-manual.org/en/chapters/who-is-that-investigative-journalist/1-how-to-define-investigative-journalism/
NHK Online. (2009). A social history of investigative reporting (1). Retrieved on October15, 2018 from https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/summary/200902/01.html
Solmecke, C. 2014. The rules and limits on investigative journalism. Retrieved on October 15, 2018 from https://www.wbs-law.de/eng/freedom-of-expression-and-press/rules-limits-investigative-journalism-52630/
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