An introduction to investigative reporting for journalism students at Malaysia's Universiti Tungku Abdul Rahman

1. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
WORKSHOP FOR U.T.A.R. Malaysia
Feb 2012

2. DEFINITION
In-depth reporting, based on extensive
primary investigation and
documentation, which digs beyond publicly
available information and exposes information
of public interest which is not in the public
eye.
ESSENTIAL
Primary sources
Documentary evidence
Multiple sources

3. DEFINITION
“Investigative journalism is critical and thorough journalism.”
Dutch Association for Investigative Journalism
Critical means that journalism is not merely passing on „news‟
that already exist. It implies news, which would not be
available without any journalistic intervention. This can be
done by creating new facts, but also through re-interpretation
or correlation of facts already at hand.
Thorough means that one makes an own substantial
effort, either in quantitative terms (much time spent in
research, many sources consulted) or in qualitative terms
(sharp questions formulated, new approaches used), or a
combination of both.
EU’s Journalism Fund

4. THE TRAILS
PAPER TRAIL
HUMAN TRAIL
ELECTRONIC TRAIL
FIELD TRAILS
Source: PCIJ

5. INFORMATION OF PUBLIC
INTEREST BUT NOT IN THE PUBLIC
EYE
 Covert government policies (US rendition policy;
domestic eavesdropping)
 Human rights abuses (My Lai massacre, Abu Ghraib
scandal)
 Hidden linkages between corporations and public
officials/institutions, leading to conflicts of interest (Eg
pharmaceutical industries influencing distribution policies)
 The money trail. Hidden sources of funding (fossil fuel
industry funding attacks on climate science)

6. INFORMATION OF PUBLIC
INTEREST BUT NOT IN THE PUBLIC
EYE
 Pollution by powerful mining companies
 Police reports
 Trials held „in-camera‟
 Internal company reports
 Audits (financial, environmental)
 Surveillance reports

7. WHY IS IT NEEDED?
o Increases transparency
 Exposes hidden linkages and trails
 Demands accountability from authorities and
powerholders
 Watchdog role: can help to ensure that public institutions
and individuals adhere to human
rights, transparency, due process, fairness and justice.
 Key role in strengthening society‟s institutions:
government, judiciary, security services, big business, by
forcing transparency

8. TYPES OF INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTS
 Documentation of pollution by powerful resource
companies
 Miscarriages of Justice:
- exposure of wrongful convictions (eg “The Thin
Blue Line”, documentary by Errol Morris; Amanda
Knox 2011 acquittal, Birmingham 4)
 Exposure of systemic abuses
 Spotlights organised crime

9. TYPES OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS
THREE CATEGORIES IDENTIFIED BY EU‟s
JOURNALISM FUND:
 Uncover scandals. Aimed at detecting violations of
laws, rules or norms of decency, by organisations or
individuals.
 Review of policies or functioning of
government, businesses and other organisations.
 Draw attention to social, economic, political and
cultural trends. Aimed at detecting changes in society.
Source: EU Journalism Fund

10. PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS
www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Investigative-Reporting
INSURANCE RORTS:
2011 Paige St. John of Sarasota Herald-Tribune
 For her examination of weaknesses in the murky property-insurance system
vital to Florida homeowners, providing handy data to assess insurer reliability
and stirring regulatory action.
POLICE CORRUPTION:
2010 Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of Philadelphia Daily News
 For their resourceful reporting that exposed a rogue police narcotics squad,
resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of criminal cases tainted
by the scandal.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
2009 David Barstow of The New York Times
 For his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as
radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its
case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to
companies that benefited from policies they defended.

11. IMPACTS
IR can result in:
 Resignations of leaders
 Change of governments
 Policy overhauls
 Acquittals of wrongly-convicted prisoners
 Redressal of injustice (eg compensation to victims)
 Instigate public debate
 Focus attention on neglected issues eg indigenous health
 Change in Laws

12. TOOLS
 Public databases
 Surveys
 Shareholder listings
 Company records (illustrating relationships and parent
companies)
 Whistleblowers / „deep throats‟
 Freedom of Information acts

13. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IR AND
GENERAL REPORTING
General Investigative
 Goes “off-agenda”
 Follows the news agenda, ie  Initiated by journalist/media
scheduled court organisation, regardless of prevailing
hearings, press news climate
conferences, company  Long research period, with dedicated
announcements, report reporter or “investigative unit” team
launches  May require surveillance methods
 Fast and short, little time for like hidden cameras, off-record
deep research interviewing, concealed identities
 Beholden to 24-hour news  Independent of 24-hour news cycle
cycle  Requires extensive documentary
 Any reporter on duty can proof
cover  It‟s a process
 Report often just needs direct
quotes

14. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IR AND
GENERAL REPORTING
Investigative Reporting IS NOT: Investigative Reporting IS:
 Watchdog journalism
 Daily reporting
 Leak journalism
 Exposing how laws and
 Single source reporting regulations are violated
 Misuse of information
 Paparazzi journalism  Holding the powerful
accountable
**Please see UNESCO
Manual for Investigative
Journalists (online)
Source: „Digging Deeper‟ by Sheila Coronel of Stabile
Centre for Investigative Journalism at Columbia
University

15. QUOTES
“Investigative journalism is skeptical and keen to bring information
that someone wants to be kept secret, into the public light.”
European Union’s Journalism Fund
“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 may be available… 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 it is closely
connected to publicity.”
UK media theorist Hugo de Burgh
"We should hold public officials to the highest possible standard.”
Seymour Hersh

16. GOAL
“In the service of the Public Interest, our purpose is to
uncover corruption, injustice, maladministration and lies.
As a duty to readers and viewers, as well as self-protection
in a hostile legal environment, investigative journalism
seeks above all to tell the documented truth in depth
and without fear or favour.
It is to provide a voice for those without one and to hold
the powerful to account. It's to comfort the afflicted and
afflict the comfortable. ”
EU Journalism Fund

17. CELEBRATED SAMPLES OF IR
Eric Lichtblau & James Risen Bush Let US Spy on Callers without
Courts, in New York Times 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html
Story Behind the NYT Wiretapping Story
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2008/03/the_edu
cation_of_a_911_reporter.html
Bill Dedman The Color of Money in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1988 http://powerreporting.com/color/
Seymour Hersh Torture at Abu Ghraib in The New Yorker 2004
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact
Seymour Hersh My Lai Massacre (Lieutenant Accused of Murdering
109 Civilians) in St Louis-Post Dispatch 1969
http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-200.htm

18. RESOURCES
European Union Journalism Fund
www.journalismfund.eu
Philippine Center For Investigative Journalism
www.pcij.org
The Pulitzer Prizes
www.pulitzer.org
UNESCO Manual: Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for
Investigative Journalists
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001930/193078e.pdf