View source for Investigative journalism

{{Short description|Form of journalism where reporters deeply investigate a single topic}}
{{other uses|Investigative Journalism (disambiguation)}}
{{broader|Watchdog journalism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Journalism sidebar}}
'''Investigative journalism''' is a form of [[journalism]] in which reporters deeply investigate a single or few topics of interest, such as hidden problems & truths, serious crimes, education, [[racial injustice]], [[corruption]] & [[abuse of power]], [[child protection]], social welfare, homelessness or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Practitioners sometimes use the terms "watchdog reporting" or "accountability reporting".

Most investigative journalism has traditionally been conducted by newspapers, [[News agency|wire service]]s, and [[Freelancer|freelance]] journalists. With the decline in income through advertising, many traditional news services have struggled to fund investigative journalism, due to it being very time-consuming and expensive. Journalistic investigations are increasingly carried out by news organizations working together, even internationally (as in the case of the [[Panama Papers]], [[Paradise Papers]] and [[Pandora Papers]]), or by [[Non-profit journalism|nonprofit outlets]] such as [[ProPublica]], which rely on the support of the public and benefactors to fund their work.

== Definitions ==
[[University of Missouri]] journalism professor Steve Weinberg defined investigative journalism as: "Reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers, or listeners."<ref>{{cite book|last=Weinberg|first=Steve|title=The Reporter's Handbook: An Investigator's Guide To Documents and Techniques|year=1996|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-13596-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/reportershandboo0000wein}}</ref> In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed. There are currently university departments for teaching investigative journalism. Conferences are conducted presenting peer-reviewed research into investigative journalism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 September 2023 |title=The Global Media Defence Fund Backs the Largest-Ever Investigative Journalism Conference |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/global-media-defence-fund-backs-largest-ever-investigative-journalism-conference |website=Unesco}}</ref>

British media theorist [[Hugo de Burgh]] (2000) states: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be 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."<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=de Burgh|editor-first=Hugo|title=Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|isbn=978-0-415-19054-1}}</ref>

==History==
Early newspapers in British colonial America were often suppressed by the authorities for their investigative journalism. Examples include ''[[Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick]]'' and Benjamin Franklin's ''[[New England Courant]]''. Journalists who reported on the doings of the British authorities would later contribute to revolutionary sentiment in the run-up to the [[American Revolution]]; one prominent example was the ''[[Boston Gazette]]'', contributed to by [[Samuel Adams]] among others.<ref name=":0" />

American journalism textbooks point out that [[muckraker|muckraking]] standards promoted by ''[[McClure's|McClure's Magazine]]'' around 1902,  "Have become integral to the character of modern investigative journalism."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sloan|first1=W. David|last2=Parcell|first2=Lisa Mullikin|title=American Journalism: History, Principles, Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOItkXKZ-3EC&pg=PA211|year=2002|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-1371-3|pages=211–213}}</ref> Furthermore, the successes of the early muckrakers continued to inspire journalists.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tichi|first=Cecelia|title=Exposés and Excess: Muckraking in America, 1900 / 2000|year=2013|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-0375-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hess|first=Stephen|title=Whatever Happened to the Washington Reporters, 1978–2012|year=2013|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|isbn=978-0-8157-2540-4}}</ref>

The outlook for investigative journalism in the United States was improved by the 1960s with the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] and ''[[New York Times Co. v. Sullivan]]''. The invention of the [[photocopier]] also offered an assistive tool to [[whistleblowers]].<ref name=":0" />

The growth of [[media conglomerate]]s in the U.S. since the 1980s has been accompanied by massive cuts in the budgets for investigative journalism. A 2002 study concluded "that investigative journalism has all but disappeared from the nation's commercial airwaves."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st century|url=https://archive.org/details/problemofmediaus00mcch|url-access=registration|last=McChesney|first=Robert W.|publisher=Monthly Review Press|year=2004|isbn=978-1-58367-105-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/problemofmediaus00mcch/page/81 81]|author-link=Robert W. McChesney}}, citing {{Citation|last1=Just|first1=Marion|title=Investigative Journalism Despite the Odds|date=Nov–Dec 2002|url=http://www.journalism.org/node/231|last2=Levine|last3=Regan|first2=Rosalind|first3=Kathleen|journal=Columbia Journalism Review|pages=103ff|access-date=22 April 2012|archive-date=10 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910095558/http://www.journalism.org/node/231|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Worker-owned<ref>https://lithub.com/fed-up-with-big-legacy-news-here-are-13-independent-worker-owned-outlets-to-support/</ref> and [[nonprofit journalism]] have worked to address the resulting need for in-depth investigations and reporting. One of the largest teams of investigative journalists is the Washington-based [[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] (ICIJ) launched in 1997 by the [[Center for Public Integrity]]<ref name="nyt_2016">{{cite news |last1=Vasilyeva |first1=Natalya |last2=Anderson |first2=Mae |date=3 April 2016 |title=News Group Claims Huge Trove of Data on Offshore Accounts |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/04/03/world/europe/ap-panama-papers.html |access-date=4 April 2016}}</ref> which includes 165 investigative reporters in over 65 countries<ref name="icij_about">{{cite web |title=About the ICIJ |url=http://www.icij.org/about |access-date=10 February 2015 |publisher=The Center for Public Integrity}}</ref> working collaboratively on crime, corruption, and abuse of power at a global level,<ref name="icij_about" /> under [[Gerard Ryle]] as Director.<ref name="ryle">{{cite news |title=Gerard Ryle |publisher=Center for Public Integrity |url=http://www.icij.org/journalists/gerard-ryle}}</ref> Working with major media outlets globally, they have exposed organised crime, international tobacco companies, private military cartels, asbestos companies, climate change lobbyists, details of Iraq and Afghanistan war contracts, and most recently the [[Panama Papers]]<ref name="icij_about" /> and [[Paradise Papers]].<ref name="ICIJ-20171105">{{cite news |author=Fitzgibbon, Will |display-authors=etal |date=5 November 2017 |title=The 1 Percent- Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia Links And Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent – A new leak of confidential records reveals the financial hideaways of iconic brands and power brokers across the political spectrum. |work=[[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/paradise-papers-exposes-donald-trump-russia-links-and-piggy-banks-of-the-wealthiest-1-percent/ |access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Grandoni |first=Dino |date=2017-11-06 |title=Analysis {{!}} The Energy 202: What you need to know about Wilbur Ross and the Paradise Papers |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2017/11/06/the-energy-202-what-you-need-to-know-about-wilbur-ross-and-the-paradise-papers/59ffcbb430fb0468e76540fb/ |access-date=2017-11-06 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Disis |first=Jackie Wattles and Jill |date=2017-11-06 |title=Paradise Papers: What you need to know |work=CNNMoney |url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/05/news/paradise-papers-trump-twitter-facebook/index.html}}</ref>

The Investigative Commons center opened in [[Berlin]], Germany in 2021 and houses the [[European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights]], [[Forensic Architecture]], and [[Bellingcat]].<ref name="oltermann-2021">
{{cite news |last1=Oltermann |first1=Philip |date=27 June 2021 |title=Berlin's no 1 digital detective agency is on the trail of human rights abusers |work=The Guardian |location=London, United Kingdom |url=http://www.theguardian.com/law/2021/jun/27/berlins-no-1-digital-detective-agency-is-on-the-trail-of-human-rights-abusers |access-date=2021-06-28 |issn=0261-3077}}
</ref>

Other associations of investigative journalism outlets include the [[Institute for Nonprofit News]], and the 
Association of Nonprofit News Organizations.<ref>https://alamedapost.com/op-ed/17-organizations-form-alliance-of-nonprofit-news-outlets/</ref>

== Tools ==
An investigative reporter may make use of one or more of these tools, among others, on a single story:

* Analysis of documents, such as [[lawsuit]]s and other [[Legal instrument|legal document]]s, tax records, government reports, regulatory reports, and corporate financial filings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hahn |first=Oliver |title=Digital Investigative Journalism |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2018 |pages=145–146}}</ref>
* Databases of public records.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10 tools for investigative journalists |url=https://ijnet.org/en/story/10-tools-investigative-journalists |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=International Journalists' Network |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofjo0002unse |title=Encyclopedia of Journalism |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2009 |editor-last=Sterling |editor-first=Christopher H. |editor-link=Christopher H. Sterling |volume=2 |pages=788–794 |chapter=Investigative Journalism|isbn=978-0-7619-2957-4 }}</ref>
* Investigation of technical issues, including scrutiny of government and business practices and their effects.
* Research into social and legal issues.
* Subscription research sources such as [[LexisNexis]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=eInvestigator.com |first=Michael Kissiah |date=2022-06-22 |title=LexisNexis Solutions for Law Enforcement and Investigators |url=https://www.einvestigator.com/lexisnexis-investigation-solutions/ |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=Private Investigator and Investigation Resources |language=en-US}}</ref>
* Numerous interviews with on-the-record sources as well as, in some instances, interviews with [[anonymous source]]s (for example whistleblowers).<ref name=":0" />
* Federal or state [[Freedom of information laws by country|Freedom of Information Acts]] to obtain documents and data from government agencies.
* [[OSINT]] (Open-Source Intelligence) databases and tools that contain free and open resources that anybody can use.

==Examples==
*
*[[Ida B. Wells-Barnett]]'s 1892 pamphlet [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14975/14975-h/14975-h.htm ''Southern Horrors''] documented lynching in the United States, exposing in the pages of black-owned newspapers as a campaign of oppression and intimidation against African Americans. A white mob destroyed her newspaper press and office in retaliation for her reporting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Anti-lynching and the White House |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/ida-b-wells-barnett-anti-lynching-and-the-white-house |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=WHHA (en-US) |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Ida Tarbell]]'s 1904 book, ''[[The History of the Standard Oil Company]]'', exposed the nefarious practices and methods of the monopoly of the company, and led to its dismantling.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-06 |title=Ida Tarbell: The Woman Who Took On Standard Oil - Connecticut History {{!}} a CTHumanities Project |url=https://connecticuthistory.org/ida-tarbell-the-woman-who-took-on-standard-oil/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=Connecticut History {{!}} a CTHumanities Project - Stories about the people, traditions, innovations, and events that make up Connecticut's rich history. |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Upton Sinclair]]'s 1905 book ''[[The Jungle]]'' exposed unsanitary conditions in American meatpacking plants, and led to the creation of the [[Food and Drug Administration]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}
*[[Nellie Bly]], a pseudonym used by Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman in the late 19th century, famously feigned insanity as part of her 1887 [[Undercover journalism|undercover investigation]] into and subsequent exposé regarding the inner-workings of the [[The Octagon (Roosevelt Island)|Women's Lunatic Asylum]] in New York City. Published to wide acclaim as a series of articles in the ''[[New York World]]'' which were later compiled and further detailed in her book ''[[Ten Days in a Mad-House]]'', Bly's revelations led to both a grand jury investigation of the asylum and increased funding for the Department of Public Charities and Corrections.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paranick |first=Amber |date=2022-11-08 |title="Behind Asylum Bars:" Nellie Bly Reporting from Blackwell's Island. {{!}} Headlines & Heroes |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/11/nellie-bly-blackwells-island |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref>
*Between 1972 and 1974 Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered and exposed a variety of incriminating information regarding President Richard Nixon's 1968–1972 presidential campaign. The information exposed, prompted Nixon's resignation in 1974 and was then on recognized as the [[Watergate scandal]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elving |first=Ron |date=June 16, 2022 |title=In new edition of classic Watergate expose, Woodward and Bernstein link Nixon, Trump |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105158079/in-new-edition-of-classic-watergate-expose-woodward-and-bernstein-link-nixon-tru |website=NPR}}</ref>
*[[Bill Dedman]]'s 1988 investigation, ''The Color of Money'',<ref>{{cite web |url= http://powerreporting.com/color/ |title= The Color of Money|last=Dedman|first=Bill |website= Power Reporting |date=1989}}</ref> for ''[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]'' on [[racial discrimination]] by [[mortgage loan|mortgage]] lenders in middle-income neighborhoods, received the 1989 [[Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting]] and was an influential early example of computer-assisted reporting or [[database journalism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Bill Dedman of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/bill-dedman |website=www.pulitzer.org |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Brian Deer]]'s British press award-winning investigation for ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' of London into the worldwide [[MMR vaccine controversy]] which revealed that research, published by ''[[The Lancet]]'', associating the children's vaccine with autism was fraudulent.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Godlee | first1=F. |author-link1=Fiona Godlee | last2=Smith | first2=J. | last3=Marcovitch | first3=H. | title=Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent | journal=[[BMJ]]  | volume=342 | issue= jan05 1| date=2011-01-05 | issn=0959-8138 | doi=10.1136/bmj.c7452 | article-number=c7452|url= http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452.full |pmid= 21209060| s2cid=43640126 | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/20/andrew-wakefield-father-anti-vaccine-movement-sticks-his-story-305836.html |title= Andrew Wakefield, Father of the Anti-Vaccine Movement, Responds to the Current Measles Outbreak for the First Time |newspaper= Newsweek |date=10 February 2015 |access-date= 19 February 2015 |location= New York |author= Ziv, Stav}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/feb/02/lancet-retracts-mmr-paper |title= Lancet retracts 'utterly false' MMR paper |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 2 February 2010 |access-date= 14 January 2015 |location= London |author= Boseley, Sarah}}</ref>
*[[John M. Crewdson]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' wrote a 1996 article<ref>{{cite news|author= Crewdson, John |title= Cardiac Arrest at 37,000 Feet |work=Chicago Tribune |date= 1996-06-30 |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/06/30/cardiac-arrest-at-37000-feet/}}</ref> proposing the installment of [[Defibrillation|defibrillators]] on American airliners. Crewdson argued that based on his research and analysis, "Medical kits and defibrillators would be economically justified if they saved just 3 lives each year." Soon after the article's publication, airlines began installing defibrillators on planes, and the devices began to show up in airports and other public spaces. Ten years after installing defibrillators, [[American Airlines]] reported that 80 lives had been saved by the machines.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kovach|first1=Bill|last2=Rosenstiel|first2=Tom|title=Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload|url=https://archive.org/details/blurhowtoknowwha0000kova|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-1-60819-302-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/blurhowtoknowwha0000kova/page/58 58–60]}}</ref>
* [[Hopewell Chin'ono]], the award-winning Zimbabwean journalist who investigated and exposed the Covid-gate scandal in Zimbabwe in June 2020. US$60 million was siphoned to a shadowy company called Drax that is linked to President [[Emmerson Mnangagwa]]. The exposure resulted in the dismissal and arrest of Health Minister Obbidiah Moyo. Hopewell Chin'ono was arrested on flimsy charges in an apparent attempt to silence him.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/zimbabwe-authorities-continue-their-crackdown-on-dissent-with-arrest-of-investigative-journalist-and-activist/ |title=Zimbabwe: Authorities continue their crackdown on dissent with arrest of investigative journalist and activist |last=Muchena |first=Deprose |date=20 July 2020 |work=[[Amnesty International]] |access-date=4 January 2021 |quote="Zimbabwean authorities must stop misusing the criminal justice system to persecute journalists and activists who are simply exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The authorities must stop using the police and courts to silence dissent."}}</ref>
*The [[Boston Globe]]'s Spotlight investigation into sexual abuse in the [[Archdiocese of Boston]], which earned a [[Pulitzer Prize]]<ref>https://newrepublic.com/article/111173/martin-barons-plan-save-washington-post-invest-metro-coverage</ref>

==See also==
*[[Glossary of journalism]]
*[[Preventive journalism]]
*[[Strategic lawsuit against public participation]]

'''Organizations, Publications and People'''

*[[Global Investigative Journalism Network]]
*[[List of American journalism awards#Investigative journalism]]
*[[Rodolfo Walsh]]
*''[[The Hidden Is More Immense]]''

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Update section|date=March 2024|reason=Add some more recent sources than 2010}}
*{{Cite news |title=How to expose corruption, vice and incompetence – by those who have |author=<!--not stated--> |newspaper=The Guardian |date=14 October 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2021/oct/14/laws-changed-around-the-world-why-investigative-journalism-matters}} An article by six investigative journalists on the situation of investigative journalism in the UK.
*{{cite book|editor-last1=Harber|editor-first1=Anton|editor-last2=Renn|editor-first2=Margaret|title=Troublemakers: The Best of South Africa's Investigative Journalism|date=2010|publisher=Jacana Media|location=Auckland Park, South Africa|isbn=978-1-77009-893-0|oclc=794905854}}
*Video of the 2010 Logan Symposium at [[University of California Berkeley]]'s {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100501185406/http://fora.tv/2010/04/17/Logan_Symposium_Consequences_of_Investigative_Reporting "Consequences of Investigative Reporting"]}} panel, in which reporters from the [[Sahara reporters|Sahara Reporters]], the [[Medill Innocence Project]] at [[Northwestern University|Northwestern]], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', ''[[The Las Vegas Review-Journal]]'', and ''[[The El Paso Times]]'' talk about the dangers investigative reporters face; their experiences range from threat to life and limb for reporting on corruption in Africa, to subpoenas aimed at a journalism professor and his students for attempting to bring to light a miscarriage of justice; a Pulitzer Prize winner describes reporting on national security as her sources face internal inquisitions; a veteran reporter in Las Vegas talks about taking on casino moguls and organized crime; while a reporter covering the Mexican border explains how she has survived the violent reality of the undeclared war on our border, April 2010
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWYa7XHMO0 "Current State of Investigative Reporting"], talk by [[Seymour Hersh]] at [[Boston University]], 19 May 2009
*''Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism That Changed the World'', [[John Pilger]], ed. (paperback) 2005.

==External links==
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[[Category:Investigative journalism| ]]
[[Category:Types of journalism]]