Investigative Journalism - Report Example

Investigative Journalism Investigative journalism, as the itself suggests, is a branch of journalism in which the reporters are required to investigate and examine the facts and statements produced and available for any incident that takes place, that they are writing about. It is a form of closely analysing and investigating an event that occurs, mostly in politics, crime scenes or topics related to the same. Since the olden days, this form of journalism has been carried out in order to research more into certain issues of interest. Some of the important scandals and incidents that have been covered through this form of journalism in history include the Watergate scandal and the Helen Jewitt Trials. More regarding the same has been discussed in this paper. Keywords: investigative journalism, scandal, information. Investigative Journalism Analysing documents and facts require a different kind of expertise; not something that most reporters and journalists may be engaged in doing. Such finding of facts and closely examining them, in the past, gave way to a new branch of journalism altogether known as investigative journalism. Newspapers, services on the internet as well as freelance journalists carry out the practice of investigative journalism in the modern day and age. This is based on researching and making reports regarding incidents and happenings with a view to make the public understand important events better. Today, this form of journalism has become very important and many universities are even teaching the same as a course. This is because in the rapidly growing and developing world that we live in, corruption and illegal activities are widespread to a very vast extent. In the field of crime and politics, investigative journalism has been used the maximum in order to uncover the truth about what exactly happened and the exactitude of facts presented for cases that affect many people and society. According to De Burgh (2009), ““An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media is available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity.” Thus, an investigative journalist might spend a number of months reading, researching and trying to understand and know more about the topic that he has been investigating and writing about. That is why, they are also referred to as watch dogs because they keep their eyes and ears open at all times in order to unearth absolutely any kind of information that they might need in order to write about the particular events that they have been searching for. An investigative journalist needs to have certain qualities of courage, fearlessness towards dangerous situations that he might be thrust into due to uncovering the truth about certain events, commitment towards his work, and the power to let people remain in anonymity if they wish to, after delivering certain kinds of information. Presently, investigative journalism can be seen through the famous Julian Assange’s Wikileaks, through which he aims to uncover the truth about governments and economies all around the world, curb corruption and other illegal happenings and provide to the public all the information that they need to know about whatever is happening to the people in power and how they are sweeping secrets under the rug. (Lloyd, John) Various sources have been known to provide information to the renowned website which are then scanned for proof and typed out after research by other qualified investigative journalists, after which the information is presented to the public. In history, the first ever piece written with respect to investigative journalism was the criminal case about Helen Jewett’s Trial. As the murder of the young woman took place in a rather sinister manner, the media took advantage of the situation and turned it into a story worth of press frenzy. There were many reports all over describing the events that took place, providing a description of the life of the prostitute, giving opinions on how the criminal was to face charges, etc. It was the New York Herald that provided the most amount of information through investigating the entire scenario and claiming the piece to be one of the first forms of investigative journalism, written by James Gordon Bennett Sr. He was the only writer that took the article and facts a step higher, accused and posed questions towards the killer, Robinson, and tried to post an inquisitive light on his guilt and resentment. The writer went a little too far in trying to portray all his facts correctly, by even providing details about the sexual encounters of Jewett and the kind of life she had lived. Even though such information might have been a little too much for the public, it was nonetheless, a part of the investigation that was carried out by the writer with his full dedication. (Helen Jewett) During the 19th and 20th centuries, when investigative journalism was initially started, it was known as muckraking. The reason for carrying out this exercise was to address issues that were pertaining within society and needed reforms through a better thought process involving the public, for example issues regarding child labour. For example, Rachael Carson’s book titled ‘Silent Spring’ brought out the inadequacies in the chemical industry and Ralph Nader’s ‘Unsafe at any Speed’ pertaining to the defects and reforms that were made in the automobile sector in the US. When written about in a sensationalist manner, these articles and pieces were termed as offsets of investigative journalism, which basically helped to cause a frenzy among the public with stark information that people were not aware of earlier, which made a more persuasive and greater impact on them leading them to think about implementing ways of making the situation better for those that fell prey to the issues being talked about. (Myers, Alison) In the modern times, as discussed above, there have been a number of scandals that have caught the attention of the public only because of the media and its way of carrying out investigative journalism. For example, the Watergate Scandal has been known to be perhaps one of the best examples of investigative journalism in history because of the kind of information that the media was able to unearth and share with the world. Journalists for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the reporters that had uncovered the entire story and had brought to light all the information regarding the corruption that had taken place during Nixon’s period. However, the credit goes entirely to the editor at the time, Ben Bradlee, because of the risk that he undertook in order to make available in print all this information to the general public. Most governmental agencies and officers do not like to talk about or share information regarding the scandals and outrages that take place within politics, criminal investigations or the government itself, and that is why, investigative journalists are required in order to uncover the truth and make it available to the rest of the public waiting to know what is happening behind the scenes. Therefore, in today’s world, this profession has come up a great deal, especially with all that is happening in the global economies today. People are becoming more aware of things with the help of the internet and thus it is the duty of the governments to let them know what is happening. Scandals and scams are widespread everywhere in the world, and it is the job of investigative journalists to find out the motives and people behind carrying out such activities that are causing havoc and disturbance within society. However, unfortunately, since that is not an option anymore, investigative journalists have taken it up to share and help people understand the kind of wrongs that are going on without them even being aware. References Helen Jewett in Antebellum American Culture. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources: http://www.shmoop.com/antebellum/helen-jewett.html (2009). Journalism and Investigative Journalism Retrieved April 15, 2011 from Articlesbase.com: http://www.articlesbase.com/journalism-articles/journalism-and-investigative-journalism-750905.html Lloyd, John. (2011) The New Power of the Press. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cd68f606-19e0-11e0-b921-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ANX4MXk3 Myers, Alison. (2008) A Brief History of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.helium.com/items/1054042-a-brief-history-of-investigative-journalism Read More