The Future of Investigative Journalism

Backpack, citizen, and multimedia journalists are just three of the many reasons investigative journalism has nearly become extinct. Cutbacks and other loss of resources have forced newsrooms to downsize and in most cases, true investigative journalism is the sacrifice.

Kevin Cullen works for the Boston Globe and won a Pulitzer in 2003 for the work he did breaking the story of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. The Harvard University Gazette reports he joined a panel of other journalists on campus back in August of 2006 to discuss the future of investigative journalism. According to him, that future is bleak.

"Investigative reporting is a high and lofty title for people who get the time and resources to get the story," Cullen said on the panel. "I'm one of the luckiest people in American journalism because increasingly that luxury is taken away from us." He’s lucky, because he is allowed to continue a form of public enlightenment that has virtually vanished.

Print newsrooms from the New York Times to the Herald-Dispatch have endured cutback after cutback. However, they seem to be the only form of media that can still generate investigative work.

"The only place we see it [investigative journalism] is in the print media and I don't know if we'll see it five or 10 years down the road," Cullen said, "and that scares the hell out of me." This is probably because for print stories, phone or E-mail interviews are usually sufficient. In television, interviews have to be done on camera, often creating the difficult task of physically getting to the interview location – or persuading the interviewee to be on camera. Often times, the phone or E-mail interview is easier for the person who is being interviewed, and when that person is very far away it would be impossible otherwise.

Cutbacks in television newsrooms seem to be a lot worse than in print. Reporters are now forced to become one-man-bands, shooting and editing their own stories, or face the loss of their job. In many cases, that same one-man-band is also responsible for putting their stories on the web and doing multiple versions of the story for different newscasts. With so many things to be done and fewer resources everyday for which to do them, taking two or three days off at a time to put together a well thought out, investigative piece has become impossible.

Aside from the rare chance that local television reporters are given time to complete comprehensive, investigative stores, I see from personal experience in television newsrooms they often rely on their network. Local affiliates of national news organizations have access to works of the network, and in most cases the network has the manpower to produce quasi-investigative pieces.

A new trend the world of journalism is seeing is privately run investigative units. For example, Joe Bergantino has made being an investigative journalist his life. He said when he saw the downfall of his life’s passion, beginning with television news, he developed his own way to do the work he loves.

With a lot of hard work and a lot of begging for funding, Bergantino and Maggie Mulvihill founded the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University. The Center is a new, rare breed of investigative journalism that may truly be the future for the craft.

On the Center’s Web site this principal is stated: “NECIR-BU intends to distribute its projects to the broadest possible audience with a coordinated, multimedia, multi-platform distribution using a variety of storytelling styles afforded by new technologies.” That is exactly what the team is doing. While the way the Center’s journalists get their work out to the people may seem a little unconventional – it is the future.

Bergantino and Mulivhill have formed unique partnerships with their local media. Once a story is completed, it is generated in many different mediums. Bergantino reports on camera for television stories, then shares his story with a local television station, which invites him on set. On air, the station says he is a part of their “i-Team”. The story may then be used by other affiliates of that station across the country if desired. Mulivhill transforms the piece into a print story and it is then offered to a local newspaper, which runs the piece.

In years past, news organizations would not have used stories completed outside their walls but now it is not seen as taboo – especially when the organization used, like the New England Center for Investigative Reporting is so highly accredited.

At the 2010 West Virginia Broadcaster’s Association convention, Bergantino offered advice to local news organizations hoping to continue investigative journalism at their station. He said there is always a way to advance a hard news story into something that qualifies as investigative. The problem though, is finding time and manpower from a station that relies on day of stories.