The excerpts from "All the President's Men" and "The Girls in the Balcony" are two outstanding examples of journalism shaped by in-depth reporting. As the intro to the reading of "All the President's Men" notes, it "is the top book all people interested in journalism should read" according to a survey of journalism professors and teachers, while the excerpt from "The Girls in the Balcony" shares an inside perspective on the challenges of being a woman in one of the "golden ages" of journalism.
Both of these pieces are characterized by the amount of research and "boots on the ground" reporting done by Woodward, Bernstein and Robertson. However, this sort of reporting is challenged today by financial pressures and the 24-hour news cycle.
Reaction to this has included the establishment of alternative journalism organizations such as ProPublica.org. You can read about it here.
Based on the two readings (and ProPublica's "about us" statement) discuss what you think is the role of investigative journalism today. Also, provide a recent example of something you consider to be solid investigative journalism and explain why you think it exemplifies strong reporting.
Chapters 11 and 12 present two significant examples of investigative journalism. Woodward and Bernstein uncovered one of the biggest cases of corruption ever within the United States. Their work eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon and had a lasting impact on journalism. Robertson’s work, “The Girls in the Balcony,” identified the adversity women faced in trying to work in the male dominated field of journalism. In both instances, a great deal of time was devoted into compiling sources and data into a cohesive work. As Dr. H mentions, this in-depth investigative style of reporting is much rarer today due to financial concerns and a demand for faster news production because of 24-hour news cycles.
ReplyDeleteBased on the three readings, I think that the role of investigative journalism is the same as it always has been, however this role has been minimized due to the concerns Dr. H mentions. In turn, this has necessitated the formation of alternative journalism organizations like ProPublica. I think that the primary role of investigative journalism is to uncover the truth about inequality, abuses of power, and illegal activity. This is accomplished through extensive research, including source and fact finding. As the name implies, investigative journalists are essentially detectives digging for information. I think that ProPublica is accurate in stating that they represent a “moral force” (ProPublica, n.d.). Investigative journalism operates as a moral watchdog, reaffirming societal values that have not been upheld. In addition, investigative journalism provides checks and balances of power, which operate to make sure no one is above the law regardless of their position. This is evident in the work of Woodward and Bernstein.
Although it is debatable, I personally think that Wikileaks, founded by Julian Assange, can be considered a recent example of good investigative journalism. I say that this is debatable because on one hand, the material that this site releases follows many of the criteria I listed for investigative journalism. On the other hand, the site primarily publishes classified documents and there is very little reporting involved. In addition, there is also the question of legality. Despite these negatives, I think that its significance cannot be understated. By releasing many of these documents, Wikileaks has exposed injustices, abuses of power, and corruption. Wikileaks has required countries and organizations to be accountable for their actions, rather than be protected by classified information. I think that in this sense, Wikileaks operates as a moral watchdog and therefore should be considered investigative journalism.
I’m glad you said Wikileaks is a debatable example of good investigative journalism because I’m going to debate with you on this. Wikileaks merely publishes clips, information etc. that they receive from anonymous sources. This means it is lacking the two biggies of journalism: an article and reputable sources. Anonymous sources are pretty much a big no-no because how do we know they are credible? Anonymous sources also decrease the credibility of Wikileaks itself. If you visit the website (http://wikileaks.org/) you’ll notice that they have blurbs of what Wikileaks has released to the public on their site. When you click on the seeming headline, you are taken to the released documents, not an article. There aren’t any quotes except for the site quoting its creator, Julian Assange. Recently, Wikileaks was in the news for the video it uploaded and entitled “Collateral Murder”. The title of the video is a problem already because it seems to be defining what is seen in the video. Headlines in real journalism are not supposed to be leading like this one is.
DeleteThis makes me wary of calling Wikileaks a good example of investigative journalism in and of itself. I think that it may be a good place for journalists to start and then create an actual article or series of articles. It’s kind of like Wikipedia, you go there to get some facts, but you can’t site it as a reputable source. You have to find other sources to back up the concepts you found on the Wikipedia page.
Sabrina, I agree with every you say. The fact that Wikileaks lacks reliable sources and doesn't include actual articles, definitely diminishes it as a good example of investigative journalism in our world today. I had really strong ambivalent feelings when I decided to use it as my example. It breaks many of the rules of traditional investigative journalism. It is definitely a far cry from the work of Woodward and Bernstein, and Robertson.
DeleteAfter reconsidering my blog post, I think that I would add that the role of investigative journalism is definitely changing with new technologies. Therefore, I still think that it is possible that Wikileaks may be a new and different manifestation of investigative journalism in a increasingly digital world. Technology has definitely had a significant impact on journalism. I think the line of who or what can be considered a journalist or journalism is becoming increasingly ambiguous. I think that Wikileaks adds to this ambiguity. It may be possible that investigative journalism is changing altogether due to the technologies of the modern world.
Steven, I see how you could make your point by saying that the role of investigative journalism is changing with the invention of new technologies. I agree with you when you say that technology has impacted journalism heavily and that who or what can be considered a journalist or journalism is becoming increasingly ambiguous. We are reading about examples in Chapters 11 and 12 that have articles and reputable sources but are from the past, before this technology was invented. So, I still agree with Sabrina when she states that she is wary of calling Wikileaks a good example. I don't think that investigative journalism has been changed enough to have Wikileaks count as an example yet. I look forward to talking about this on Monday.
DeleteIn today’s media-driven society, issues of investigation are prevalent and continue to grow with increasing technology. Investigative journalism is an area of journalism that we do not hear about too often in the news, but nonetheless, the pieces that are produced as a direct result of investigative work are both important and are, for the most part, of good quality. Even though we do not see an ample amount of these stories in newspapers or magazines, one place where you can find instances of investigative journalism is on television. This is one subunit of journalism that produces some investigative pieces on serious and also less serious issues ranging anywhere from drug raids or scandals to unfaithful spouses. Any type of journalism that investigates a particular subject matter is bound to produce results that either shock or inform the general public and this is what I believe is the ultimate goal to achieve regarding information that is leaked.
ReplyDeleteAccording to mediashift.com, a recent example of investigative journalism was a story run by ABCNews.com's “The Blotter,” a blog which “published a story about a teenaged congressional page receiving inappropriate text messages from Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), eventually leading to his resignation” (http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/04/examples-of-online-investigative-journalism116.html). “The Blotter” discovered the inappropriate text messages and decided to investigate further by digging into the background of the congressional page, finding out useful information surrounding this case and then chose to expose the state representative for his wrongful words and actions. This is a prime example of investigative journalism through the use of online sources such as blogs, news media and text messaging. ABCNews.com exemplified strong, investigative reporting by first educating themselves about the issue at hand and then took the necessary steps to complete their thorough investigation and publish a quality report. This is one area of journalism that does not fail to inform and also entertain the public, depending on the issue, and is indeed something that in journalism, we should see more of.
The role of investigative journalism is extremely important for the media today, which ProPublica’s website articulates: “producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them”. It is extremely important that journalism exercises its role at watchdog over the government in order for the public to realize what is really happening around them. This is clearly exemplified by the Woodward and Bernstein piece about the then president and exposing the truth. Investigative journalism is vital to counteracting the media’s tendency to become a lapdog of the government. The public gets their information through the media, which gives the media a lot of responsibility to be truthful. While investigative journalism is vital in today’s media, it is often compromised by financial restrictions and the lengthy time commitment. Although investigative journalism is rather time consuming, it has much potential to pay off as is clear with Woodward and Bernstein. The catch is that not all leads will culminate in an actual article because the story may not be there. In this day of instant gratification, investigative journalism takes the back burner.
ReplyDeleteA great example of investigative journalism is actually written by Sheri Fink, who works for ProPublica. The article is called “The Deadly Choices at Memorial” (http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2010-Investigative-Reporting-Group2) and it is about the life and death decisions doctors made at a hospital that was cut off by Hurricane Katrina. The piece won Fink a Pulitzer Prize, and deservedly so. Fink provides such imagery that the reader feels as if they are there, and she recounts the events step by step. She went through every moment and every heart-wrenching detail, illuminating the difficulty of the situation.
Propublica strives to keep investigative journalism alive in an age where many news sources consider it a luxury. On Propublica’s “about” page, they write, “we stay with issues so long as there is more to be told, or there are more people to reach.” Many news sources find this sort of dedicated reporting to be simply impossible due to financial restraints and today’s need for immediacy in news. This could be seen when CNN recently closed its investigative journalism department, to which John Oliver of the Jon Stewart show said, “Wait what, CNN, the worldwide leader in news, has eliminated its investigative news department?” Like music or art programs in schools with financial burdens, investigative journalism is typically the first department to go. However, investigative journalism’s role is still the same as it has always been, it has just been stifled as of late. This role, according to Propublica, is to “… stimulate positive change… uncover unsavory practices in order to stimulate reform… adhering to the strictest standards of journalistic impartiality…” focusing primarily on the “strong exploiting or oppressing the weak, or when they are abusing the public trust.” Our reading “All the President’s Men” is a detailed and ongoing look into the Watergate scandal and had wide impact in that it led in part to Nixon’s resignation. It is considered one of the greatest works of investigative journalism, though the practice is now carried on by only a few, Propublica among them.
ReplyDeleteA good recent example of investigative journalism is Propublica’s ongoing look into “Dollars for Doctors,” in which the large sums of money given by drugmakers to doctors is examined. Propublica shows the prevalence of this trend – “[22] doctors have made more than $500,000 since 2009 giving talks and consulting for drugmakers… and half of the top earners are from a single specialty: psychiatry.” – and why this issue is so important: billed as educational speakers, “[they] are little more than highly credentialed pitchmen who typically use the drug companies’ slides and talking points to sell rather than educate.” Our country is already under scrutiny for its over-prescription of medication as opposed to treatment compared to other countries. The investigation is still ongoing, but has already created a stir in some medical schools, who have begun to educate on the matter and have tightened rules of faculty’s acceptance of drug company money. This sort of positive change speaks to the intention of investigative journalism. Furthermore, Propublica allows one to search in its database to discover if their own physician has accepted drug company money.
Matt, I think that your example from ProPublica is really strong. I think that one of the most important functions of investigative journalism, as you state, is to point out abuses of power and oppression of the weak so that they can be corrected. In your example, doctors and drug companies are abusing their power in order to make a profit. It seems that when money is involved, and there is an opportunity to make a profit, some drug companies and doctors are willing to push the sale of prescription drugs to those who may not need them. This definitely increases the tendency for our country to be over medicated.
DeleteThis example illustrates why, even though the role of investigative journalism may be minimized in the modern news world, it serves a vital role in our society. This type of journalism is a way to uncover the misdoings of people, organizations, and governments in order to promote positive societal change. Perhaps ProPublica's work will lead to positive reform within the pharmaceutical industry, and all doctors will be banned from taking any money from drug companies or face stiff penalties.
Investigative Journalism is definitely a type of journalistic style that is present in today’s news world. Arguably, there has been a sufficient rise in this style in the past 10 years, as we have seen and read about celebrity and political scandals, as well as corporate evils. I think the main purpose of this style of journalism gets to the core purpose of journalism, to inform readers and viewers and to access the truth. I happen to think that investigative reports draw more attention from viewers specifically for these reasons. As we have previously discussed in class, people want information fast and no longer ask the question why but would rather be told why something occurs.
ReplyDeleteI cannot help but think of CBS 2’s segment called Shame On You. This segment was very popular in the early 2000s. This segment would investigate local cafes and eateries’ foods nutritional information. This program came to my hometown and investigated a once, local café, and tested the calorie content claims by the café. The café proclaimed itself a “healthy eatery” and one of their popular items was a brownie muffin which the store advertised as having 0 grams of fat. CBS 2 did their research and had the muffin as well as other items for the café tested in a laboratory. They found that the café’s claims were way off. The café lost almost all their business after the report and eventually closed down for good.
However as a more recent example of investigative journalism here on campus, I would think is John Parry’s Grizzly article exposing the health reports from Upper Wismer. This is an example of investigative reporting by a student as he clearly conducted interviews with personnel as well as looked at public records of previous health inspections. What the article revealed was quite shocking to nearly the entire campus and created a lot of buzz. From a student’s perspective, many of my peers were nervous to eat in upper after the Grizzly published said article. Although these examples may not be considered hard-hitting reports, they certainly involved a lot of investigation.
Sydney, I really like your example of John Parry's Grizzly article exposing the health violations that Wismer has. He did conduct many interviews and looked at the health reports that Ursinus received. On a local level, this example was very important and impacted the campus greatly. My friends and even myself are wary of eating in upper after reading that article.
DeleteAlso, I'v never heard of Shame On You, but it does definitely qualify as investigative journalism. That's crazy that they were able to prove that the claims were way off. Sad they lost their business though.
Is investigative journalism always this influential?
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ReplyDeleteBack in the day, investigative journalism was a prosperous and appealing occupation to a generation of Americans. The content discussed in chapters 11 and 12 of "Key Readings in Journalism" were these types of investigative journalism stories. In the excerpt from "All the President's Men," Woodward and Bernstein achieve glory for covering one of the most controversial stories of American politics history, the Watergate Scandal. In the article "The Girls in the Balcony," equal treatment of women in The New York Times staff is fought for.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories occurred decades ago when journalists would follow the trails of such controversial stories and report about them in newspapers in order to keep the American people informed. The journalists that covered these stories were big time reporters working for various publications.
In today's age, the power of print journalism has most certainly dimished. Most newspapers are slowly going bankrupt in the wake of the boom of the Internet and the technologies that go alongside with it. However I do believe that investigative journalism has not been hindered at all by this transition. If anything, investigative journalism is more powerful than ever. With media such as video and audio, reporters can improve the power of their stories drastically and share it on a mass scale more easily than ever before. The Internet spreads information so quickly and on such a massive scale that most people are informed better now than ever before.
The downside of the Internet age is that the recognition of those reporters actually uncovering the details of big story is pretty much zero. Once a story is posted online, it quickly gets recycled and replicated by tons of other news providers very quickly.
An example of modern investigative journalism is the website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is a group that covers controversial stories often dealing with government, politics, the military, etc. These stories often expose sensitive information to the public, often including some sort of audio or video to go along with it. These stories are posted on the Internet for all to see thanks to heavy investigation.
Hey Keith.
DeleteI had never heard of WikiLeaks before today, and I really enjoyed poking around the site. This is a great example of not only investigative journalism, but the evolving news space at large.
The rise of blogs and social networks have changed what is considered informative reading, and how we receive those stories. WikiLeaks combines these elements with a blog layout/writing style, and reporting that is handled by the masses.
This paints a good picture for news survival in the digital age. Thanks for the link!
According to ProPublica’s mission statement, they seek to “expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by the government, business, and other institutions, using moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing.” In a time when the news is watched more for entertainment, than for information, investigative journalism has not met the recent demands that cable television has. Investigative journalism has become a luxury, because most news organizations lack reporters with the time and resources to consider themselves investigative reporters, because this type of reporting requires of its reporters to run a beat on that single beat, rather than switching beats and producing more for the news organization.
ReplyDeleteI believe the role of investigative journalism right now is an important and tough role to fill today. As I have mentioned, investigative reporters are expected to do research on just on beat, making it less likely that they will write investigative pieces for the organization they write for. The job of an investigative reporter is to report to the public important news, even if they are not prepared to hear what will be reported. For example, Sara Ganim, who served as whistle blower in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal made public what had been going on for years through an investigative piece that was published in Harrisburg’s Patriot News. While the readers of this paper may not have wanted to learn that there was some type of scandal going on at their beloved Penn State, it also served critical in the eventual investigation that would lead to the indictment of Jerry Sandusky.
After reading both articles and the propublica's "about us" I believe that the goals of investigative journalism remain the same. It seems that it tends to focus on issues of high important a such as social and political injustices, government scandal or concerns, and high profile cases and causes. These are things that people want to know and need to know every grain of information and detail possible. Where getting spoken words from as many people as possible who are in the know is a must. As Dr. Hettinga has stated, investigative journalism is challenged. We do not often find this type of journalism nowadays and it is sad, because I feel that often this is what people need. I for one enjoy knowing as much information on a subject as possible, and because there is a lack of this it's probably a reason why I do not enjoy news as much as I could; I never feel informed enough.
ReplyDeleteI honestly could not think of an example on my own, so I just looked what propublica had on their website. I found an article titled, "Gone Without a Case: Elderly Deaths Rarely Investigated". http://www.propublica.org/article/gone-without-a-case-suspicious-elder-deaths-rarely-investigated
This article discusses how many deaths of elderly people are often misdiagnosed, and if it weren't for concerned family members and Good Samaritans the real cause of death would most likely never have been found. When it comes to elderly people coroners are seldom doing their job by looking into the deaths, which can cause mistreatment and murder of the elderly to go unrecognized
For me, I think the role of investigative journalism today is to bring awareness to society of unequal happenings of the state- whether that be the government, organization, etc. I think investigative reporting also includes your desired interest and passion to the topic/event that requires reporting. For example, Woodward and Bernstein were skeptical and interested in the people who partook in the Watergate scandal. They thought this was an act of cheating and corruption in the government which people ought to hear and learn from. The other example is Robertson, being a woman herself, who had a passionate interest in the inequality and discrimination of women in the journalistic workforce and in general. She believed that the acts of discrimination and the solutions chosen were unfair and demeaning to women. Therefore, Robertson believed to make these unequal acts more vocal and talk about them to her time’s era. She used her journalistic talents as a way in fighting for the cause and for what she believes in.
ReplyDeleteI think investigative reporting ought to be more recognized in any era, time. I think investigative reporting is like an evaluation of our society. Are our actions all in check? Are we stable? What does society need to improve on?
Your investigative journalist parameters are interesting since they contrast with so strongly with Herbert Gans' take. According to Gans, the premier writer for a story will be selected based not on what they know, but what they do not. Asserting one's self into a story can lead to the usual suspects of slantedness, one side of the coin-edness, and implication.
DeleteYou highlight some interesting differences. The best investigative journalism is likely performed by someone who is passionate and determined, who is fueled by intrigue. News suggests levels of societal acceptability, so I'm not sure I agree that investigative journalism keeps out actions in check per-se. It questions, rather, why things are "checked," calling into question the belief systems erected by normal news formats. As you said, this kind of writing is ideal for any period of time.
Based on the two readings I think the role of investigative journalism today is to uncover the truth about crimes that seem to go unnoticed by the public even though they should be informed about it. In the first article Personal History by Katherine Graham, this gave me insight to investigative journalism as a means to inform the public of things that higher ups do not want people to know about. It also showed how sometimes the costs of these investigative stories are high, for example in this article Graham talked about how the Times ended a relationship with a law firm which they had for 75 years because of the story.
ReplyDeleteIn the second reading about by Ida Tarbell A History of Standard Oil Company starts off with how she was able to gather the information that was needed to help in her investigation against the governments beliefs about oil companies. This article showed me how the journalist has to gather information from all over and use all the connections you have.
In the Penn State / Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that was started by crime reporter Sara Ganim cost Penn States their football program and tarnished their reputation, for the public’s knowledge and justice. Ganim started off with finding information about not digging Jerry Sandusky until something’s did not add up. Then the court cases happened and people had been relieved of their status, and had everybody involved come out.
From both of the reading I found that it is a common theme in investigative journalism is for the journalist to be investigating higher ups in the business world, being the people that are in charge of things. Also all these cases along with other famous cases seem often go to court over the information that was dug up. Finally they both share the fact that with investigate journalism the story stays around it doesn’t just end after one article.
Investigative journalism is definitely present in today’s media and actually one of the most entertaining and interesting types of journalism there is. In chapters 11 and 12 we read about two instances where investigative journalism played a gigantic role in breaking a story or giving a story a voice, when it hadn’t previously had one. In the excerpt from “All the President’s Men” we read about how investigative journalism exposed a scandal which eventually caused the impeachment of the president of the United States. In the excerpt we read from “The Girls in the balcony” we read about how investigative journalism gave women journalist a voice when they couldn’t even sit in the news room, or go to lunch with the male journalist. In the 60’s women in journalism were very harshly discriminated against, and this type of investigative journalism gave them a voice speaking to their trials and tribulations during that time period.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading chapters 11 and 12 I began to start thinking of examples of investigative journalism seen in media today. The first story I thought of was the Manti Te’o case. I know we’ve talked about it a lot and class with the myth, and victim and hero perspective, but I looking back at the actual article, a lot of investigative journalism was used to break the story. In the Deadspin article which broke the story, the author included a lot of investigative research which was done by reporters to break the story. For the example, the author spoke about calling the university in which Te’o’s girlfriend supposedly attended and investigated there. They also researched social medias, which later resulted in them finding out the picture of Te’o’s girlfriend was fake. This Te’o story was arguably the biggest sports story of 2012, and investigative journalism is responsible for breaking it, and giving the story a voice.
After reading both chapters 11 and 12, both these articles provided unique perspectives of investigative journalism. In the first article, Woodward and Bernstein had to go through a great deal to finally break the Water Gate scandal, and get the information out to the public. In the second article, Robertson described how difficult it was for women to try and work in the journalism world, when it was very male dominated. The interesting point that I took away from this reading was how important the timing aspect of this type of reporting is, and the amount of research that goes into the news. Usually the biggest stories that break take a while to do so, after months or years of investigating an issue. I think the primary role of investigative journalism is to report on a certain issue that many people may care about, while making sure that every single fact is correct. Investigative journalism is something that is very newsworthy and informative for the public to understand, but journalists must remember to make these stories relevant. Keeping people informed with the latest details on an issue is crucial, but the sources and research done must be credible and trustworthy.
ReplyDeleteA recent example of investigative journalism that was recently brought up in the news was the selection of the new Pope, and his previous accusations of the dirty war. According to ABC News, and their report on this issue they said Pope Francis, “played a central role in the torture and murder of dissidents by blessing torture chambers and absolving troops of their sins after they had thrown dozens of bound and drugged dissidents from a plane into the Rio de la Plata.” (Gutman, 2013) With the Pope just recently being selected a few days before this story came out, journalists had to work quickly and efficiently to try and gather information about this issue. Also, relating back to my point earlier, since the Pope was just selected, this story is very relevant and the public around the world is going to be interested in this story. Being efficient, but also making sure all the facts are correct is difficult to do, but that is one of the most important aspects of investigative journalism today.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/pope-faces-accusations-argentinas-dirty-war/story?id=18745535
I think the article you picked is a good example of investigative journalism, and the place it holds in the world today. As I have noted in my blog post above, the job of an investigative journalist is to report the news meticulously, being sure to stay objective throughout.
DeleteInvestigative journalism does not take into account the feelings of those reading, because the primary cause of the article is to report the news, regardless of how others feel. I believe the article about the Pope is a great example, because it discusses a widely controversial topic, and not to mention the large amount of Catholics there are in the world. These problems help to credit investigative journalism, because such a topic must be reported with subjectivity, being sure not to offend those reading.