Journal 3 The State of Investigative Reporting

Declan Schweitzer

Intro To Journalism

Heather Chaplin

9.31.10

Journal 3 Investigative Journalism

After reading the chapter in our book that talks about investigative journalism and its different forms I found myself feeling very curious about these forms in the news today. I was particularly curious to see if the author’s worry that “too much of the new investigative reporting is tabloid treatment of everyday circumstances.” (151) Was a legitimate one. What I found was an interesting array of different types of investigative stories that although they did not represent an embodiment the notion of the “watchdog” to the fullest extent, were for the most part relevant and important bites of investigative news.

Most of the stories that fell into the general category of investigative were also part of the subcategory noted by our book as “Reporting on Investigation”. While I understand the significance of this role I was more curious to learn about what today’s original investigative and interpretive investigation reporting looks like. Thus I only read one or two stories about currently happening or recently concluded investigations. What I did find interesting about the reports on investigations was that many of them including THIS report were concerned with overseas issues and politics. I found this to be strange because I figured it would be more difficult to get information about investigations overseas but it also occurred to me that perhaps it is even more difficult to conduct original investigative reports overseas so instead news follows the available line of facts from investigations already underway. The fact that many reports were about scandals overseas made me think that perhaps the worries of Kovachs and Rosenstiel are legitimate.

I was again dismayed that top dog publications are indeed abandoning their post watchdogs that will help us “free and self-governing” when I read THIS article in the Guardian. While the paper claims to have legal reasons for cancelling the investigation, I couldn’t help but think that the paper has another motive for keeping this out of the public eye; Especially because it is the type of investigative story that Kovach and Rosensteil suggest are the most important type of investigative reporting. Another discouraging example was THIS investigative article about confiscated fraudulent art pieces that while it was an interesting report lacked a sense of urgency that investigative reporting seems to have when it’s topics are of importance.

As a sort of saving grace, I stumbled upon THIS story yesterday which although it is debatably a piece of original investigative reporting it has the idea of the watchdog in mind unmistakably. This type of expose is one that allows citizens to glean facts and make judgments while being engaged by the material they are reading. I was also reassured by one of the blogs we regularly keep with will called “Politifact.com” which is the most efficient way of playing the watchdog role I have seen yet. Its method allows you to get all the info you want about a variety of topics and people and does little story telling. It is a concise and to the point look at political statements you might question when reading an article or hearing them on the news.

Ultimately I think that the fear of true investigation journalism becoming a relic of the past is a legitimate one. Partly because news conglomerates have secret agenda’s that keep certain stories from running or ideas from circulating. However, there is a valiant effort being made by non-profit and independent organizations like politifact.com and propublica.com. Also I think that if people become more skeptical of big news groups and they lose readership, they will have to recommit themselves to the truth the full truth, by revitalizing the world of serious original investigative reporting and the resurrect themselves as the watchdogs of power.