Investigative journalism is where journalists decide their own agenda, rather than telling the news according to the public agenda.
A few reasons for the practise of investigative journalism would be due to miscarriages of justice, and to expose corruption – both in people’s tribunals and political manipulation.
With miscarriages of justice, it typically refers to when people are sent to jail for the wrong reasons – they are usually framed by the ones who did the crime. If the justice system is corrupt, then journalists are the only hope in exposing the truth – The Fourth Estate.
‘J’Accuse’ (‘I accuse you’) has become a common expression of accusation against the powerful. This is due to how Emile Zola, a writer, published an open letter in regards to how the government was corrupt (anti-Semitism) due to the arrest of Alfred Dreyfus. Zola outlined the judicial errors and lack of evidence, but he was accused of libel. This was then spread around widely and is well known. This is a great example of investigative journalism.
Another example, one in which the University of Winchester is taking part in, is the Innocence Project. The point of it is to help free potentially innocent people who have been wrongfully imprisoned.
The case of Veronica Guerin is important when discussing the exposure of corruption. She was a journalist who exposed drug lords. Guerin continued to expose and even confront the wrong-doers, but was then murdered.
With the exposure of political manipulation, we can consider the Watergate scandal. This is a famous political scandal which resulted in Richard Nixon’s resignation. It involved the abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice. The press then ganged up on the situation and it led to an investigation, and was therefore successful.
The evidence gap is the grey area in some cases where the evidence doesn’t add up, which leads to miscarriages of justice. The solving of this could be the penultimate step to getting innocent people out of jail.
Protection of sources – this is the key professional duty of the journalist. We have the ‘moral imperative to guarentee anonymity’ to our sources. It is also stated in the Journalist’s Code of Conduct – we must take the identity of our sources to the grave. This may even result in contempt of court.
Subterfuge – You should usually always identify yourself as a journalist and that anything you record could be published. If you have to be deceitful, then it should only be completely in the public’s interest.
With ‘off the record’ information, you should respect the background briefing and not publish, as you should protect your sources. Anything otherwise is good to publish.
If there is consent in recording, then everything may be quoted or broadcast. However, you must not secretly or discreetly record anything – consent should be explicit.
Examples of investigative journalism
A BBC undercover journalist posed as a policeman for 18 months, uncovering the harsh racist behaviour that takes place in the police force.
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