The Future Of Investigative Journalism

The Future of Investigative Journalism: Report (HL 256) concludes that news organizations, regulators and relevant legal bodies need to make important changes if the future of investigative journalism is to be assured. The Committee recommends that media organizations introduce an audit trail to track and record their decisions: firstly, to commence an investigation, and secondly to publish a story. Legal clarity and consistency is also required. Guidelines should be published by the prosecuting authorities to help media outlets decide whether conducting an investigation or publishing a story could lead to prosecution. The Committee further suggests that funding models need to be flexible and creative. Fines for breaches of regulatory codes could be allocated to a special fund reserved for the financing of investigative journalism or training. All Public Relations practitioners should abide by a clear code of behavior, potentially overseen by a t

This look at careless journalism—from hilarious mistakes to egregious ethical lapses—is “chock-full of amusing historical anecdotes” (Publishers Weekly). Winner of the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism We regret the error: it’s a phrase that appears in newspapers almost daily, the standard notice that something went terribly wrong in the reporting, editing, or printing of an article. From Craig Silverman, the proprietor of www.RegretTheError.com, one of the Internet’s most popular media-related websites, comes a collection of funny, shocking, and sometimes disturbing journalistic slip-ups and corrections. On display are all types of media inaccuracy—from typos to “fuzzy math” to “obiticide” (printing the obituary of a person very much alive and well) to complete and utter ethical lapses. While some of the errors can be laugh-out-loud funny, the book also serves as a sobering journey through the history of media mistakes (including the outrageous hoaxes that dominated newspapers during the circulation wars of the nineteenth century) and a serious muckraking investigation of contemporary journalism’s lack of accountability to the public. Regret the Error shines a spotlight on the media’s carelessness and the sometimes tragic and calamitous consequences of weak or non-existent fact checking. “Mixing humorous corrections taken from large and small newspapers alike, Silverman gives historical context to the current problems . . . and then proposes solutions for busy newsrooms.” —Variety

"Investigative Journalism means the unveiling of matters that are concealed either deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally, behind a chaotic mass of facts and circumstances - and the analysis and exposure of all relevant facts to the public. In this way investigative journalism crucially contributes to freedom of expression and freedom of information, which are at the heart of UNESCO's mandate. The role media can play as a watchdog is indispensable for democracy and it is for this reason that UNESCO fully supports initiatives to strengthen investigative journalism throughout the world. I believe this publication makes a significant contribution to promoting investigative journalism and I hope it will be a valuable resource for journalists and media professionals, as well as for journalism trainers and educators." -- Jānis Kārklinš, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO, Preface, page 1.

Theoretically grounded and using quantitative data spanning more than 50 years together with qualitative research, this book examines investigative journalism’s role in liberal democracies in the past and in the digital age. In its ideal form, investigative reporting provides a check on power in society and therefore can strengthen democratic accountability. The capacity is important to address now because the political and economic environment for journalism has changed substantially in recent decades. In particular, the commercialization of the Internet has disrupted the business model of traditional media outlets and the ways news content is gathered and disseminated. Despite these disruptions, this book’s central aim is to demonstrate using empirical research that investigative journalism is not in fact in decline in developed economies, as is often feared.

A healthy democracy requires vigorous, uncompromising investigative journalism. But today the free press faces a daunting set of challenges: in the face of harsh criticism from powerful politicians and the threat of lawsuits from wealthy individuals, media institutions are confronted by an uncertain financial future and stymied by a judicial philosophy that takes a narrow view of the protections that the Constitution affords reporters. In Journalism Under Fire, Stephen Gillers proposes a bold set of legal and policy changes that can overcome these obstacles to protect and support the work of journalists. Gillers argues that law and public policy must strengthen the freedom of the press, including protection for news gathering and confidential sources. He analyzes the First Amendment’s Press Clause, drawing on older Supreme Court cases and recent dissenting opinions to argue for greater press freedom than the Supreme Court is today willing to recognize. Beyond the First Amendment, Journalism Under Fire advocates policies that facilitate and support the free press as a public good. Gillers proposes legislation to create a publicly funded National Endowment for Investigative Reporting, modeled on the national endowments for the arts and for the humanities; improvements to the Freedom of Information Act; and a national anti-SLAPP law, a statute to protect media organizations from frivolous lawsuits, to help journalists and the press defend themselves in court. Gillers weaves together questions of journalistic practice, law, and policy into a program that can ensure a future for investigative reporting and its role in our democracy.

Investigative journalism holds democracies and individuals accountable to the public. But important stories are going untold as news outlets shy away from the expense of watchdog reporting. Computational journalism, using digital records and data-mining algorithms, promises to lower the cost and increase demand among readers, James Hamilton shows.

In the face of the continuously changing challenges of the digital age, it is difficult for quality news journalism to survive on any significant scale if a means for adequately funding it is not available. This new study, a follow-up to 2007’s The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies, includes a comparative analysis of possible alternative business models that may save the future of the quality news business across the developed, intermediate, and developing worlds. Its detailed evaluation encompasses also the different ways in which wider key issues are affecting the prospects for quality news as a core ingredient of effectively working democracies. It focuses on the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Kenya, and selected parts of the Arab World, providing a comprehensive cross-cultural survey of different approaches to addressing these various issues. To keep the study firmly rooted in the "real world" the contributors include distinguished practitioners as well as experienced academics.