Defining the term:
Wikipedia says:
"Investigative journalism is when reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, sometimes involving crime, political corruption , or some other scandal , but also looking into systemic problems in government, business and other sectors."
Wikipedia goes on to quote Hugo De Burgh, author of the classic text, Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice: "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."
Some peole say all journalism is investigative in nature -- but that's an exaggeration. Loads of reporting comes from rewritten press releases or info that's otherwise spoon-fed to the writer. And sometimes this is not really a problem -- the newest charity auction by the local elementary school is news, the grand-opening of a neighborhood business can be news, all of which can just as well come from a press release.
But with an investigative project, a tenacious reporter will take the press releases from their local Congressional representatives about US Department of Defense contracts being awarded in Oregon, make a few phone calls -- okay, a lot of phone calls -- to find out who's getting those contracts and for what. And then track down experts, reports and background information about the fact that Oregon has no military bases, yet has apparently become a vortex for war dollars. Some of those dollars have been spent on experiments using primates with microchips embedded in their brains, with the goal of finding out whether pain receptors in soldiers can be short-circuited by remote control. And voila -- details of the studies, conducted at the University of Oregon, are all hiding in plain sight right on a UO website.
A group of citizen journalists at KBOO Community Radio put this project together two years ago, producing a five-part radio news series and a 30-minute documentary entitled "Oregon's War Economy." And it all started with a fistfull of press releases.
YES, YOU CAN DO THIS!
Resources:
Net Tour of the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting
– a superfantastic resource – THIS IS REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHERE INFO COMES FROM.
Being a better watchdog - the Net Tour allows you to click on links to jump to each section
Making effective use of the Internet
(Telephone directories, search engines and the Invisible Web)
Finding and cultivating sources
(Listservs and source finders)
The public's right to records
(FOI help)
Paper trails, documents and data you need
(Public records and data, GIS help)
Investigating government
(Federal and local)
Investigating businesses and nonprofits
(Essential data)
Help on your beat and other links for journalists
(Where to go next)
Continuing your training
(Opportunities from IRE and NICAR)
Investigative Reporters and Editors has more How-to Information, a database library, plus a Listserv.
Portland, Oregon-area reporters organization:
Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Open Records Blog, info on where records are and how to get into them.
Open Oregon, an open media coalition, lists laws on info access and info on filing Freedom of Information Act Requests.
Radio Investigative Projects Audio:
Examples of radio and television investigative reports are also offered by IRE.
Here's a special radio and television investigative project by broadcast networks around the country looking at improper spying on US citizens by the Bush Administration – mainstream but COOL!
This text Search for a listing of investigative (and other) reports by NPR investigative reporter Daniel Zwerdling; look for Military Mental Health stories as well as Abuse of Immigrant Detainees stories (his reporting on detainee abuse has won Daniel national awards). In the search field type: Zwerdling.
Here's a round-up of recently published or aired investigative reports.
Here's a nationwide roundup using all media that’s even better.
NOW GO OUT AND GET STARTED!
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