Tweet
Register | Login | Sign up to our newsletter
Wannabe Hacks
 
  • Advice
    • Getting started
    • How to guides
    • Production
    • Reporting
    • Tools
    • Writing
  • Comment
    • Debate
    • Expert Insight
  • Finding a job
    • Applications
    • CVs
    • Interviews
    • Work experience
  • Guest posts
  • Industries
    • Digital and online
    • Magazine
    • Newspaper
    • Photojournalism
    • Radio
    • Television
  • Routes into journalism
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Postgraduate course
    • Freelancing
    • Shifts
    • Short course and NCTJ
    • Training schemes
    • Undergraduate course
    • Work experience and interning
    • Student media
  • How to guides
  • Podcast
  • Video
11. October, 2011 Newspaper, Reporting
This article has 6 comments

Investigative Journalism: The scoop is dead

by Natalie Clarkson

Newspapers have been running investigations since their birth. It lies at the heart of journalism and to some extent is what journalism is all about. However, like a lot of practices, investigative journalism is having to find a whole new way of operating. 

In days gone by, journalists would hide every piece of information they discovered during an investigation. They would work their hardest to make sure no one found out what they knew or what they were looking into, often even hiding it from their editors. Then, once they had found out the juiciest information, it would be published as an exclusive report and the journalist would be congratulated on their scoop.

Last week at news:rewired, one of the sessions was on collaboration in investigative journalism. A lot was said about the uses of working with other organisations and publications when working on an investigation.

Something I found particularly interesting was what Paul Lewis, Special Projects Editor at The Guardian, said about the death of the scoop. He said: “The scoop is gone so forget it. We’re about advancing forward piece by piece now. What’s more important is that the truth gets out – not who put it out or how. It’s a really exciting time.”

And I have to say, I couldn’t agree more. It’s a really exciting time to be going into journalism. Investigations are becoming more and more open, with Paul Lewis saying his team will even be tweeting about everything they are investigating from now on. They want everyone to be involved in the investigation process, with readers sharing what they know and giving new leads to The Guardian journalists.

And for me, this move is very exciting. Journalism, to me, is about getting that story. Finding the truth that someone is trying to hide. Though, I have to admit that there’s a part of me that is slightly disappointed the scoop is dead. It would have been exciting to go sneaking around, investigating behind everyone’s back and eventually getting my name on an exclusive report. Even Simon Perry of the Ventnor Blog admitted during the session that getting the scoop was fun.

That said, the move to more open investigating is almost certainly going to be a positive one. With more collaboration between publications and their readers, investigating will become easier for journalists and I guess the hope is that the story will develop quicker and the truth will become evident.

One amazing example of how collaboration has worked in recent investigative reporting is The Guardian’s coverage of the UK Riots in August. Paul Lewis spent five days travelling the country, following where the riots spread. He tweeted the whole time, getting information from people in the areas about what was happening and the best places to go. Following this, the Reading the Riots study being carried out by The Guardian has been set up, which again is based upon a collaboration from readers as well as reporters and researchers.

It’s an exciting time for journalism and I think as a generation of journalists, we can teach a lot to those who’ve been doing the job for a while. We are used to using Twitter and Facebook and other social networks that more mature journalists may be unfamiliar with. And all of these will be helpful for arranging collaborations and getting people involved in investigations.

So give up your desire for the scoop. The scoop is dead. Collaboration is the future.

Related posts:

  1. The Guardian’s £500 Investigative course – is it worth it? | a storify On Sunday I had an interesting discussion on Twitter about...
  2. Tom Farmery: investigative journalism deserves more recognition Tom is a recent graduate of the University of Lincoln’s...
  3. Jamie Thunder: Simon Kelner at the HOLCC inquiry into investigative journalism Jamie graduated from City University’s Investigative Journalism MA and is...
  4. Newspapers dead? No, no, we’re sexy and alluring Guess what? WE’RE PURVEYORS OF SEXY! So don your black-framed Ray...
  5. Over my dead body: paying for the news The last session I attended at the Open Weekend was...
2 comments
  Livefyre
  • Get Livefyre
  • FAQ
Sign in
+ Follow
Post comment
 
Link
Newest | Oldest
mlbaxter27
mlbaxter27 5pts

Personally I find the lack of hard-hitting scoops these days rather sad.

I do like your point about collaboration and revealing bits of information as things go along, but for me coverage of the riots isn't really an investigation, more an attempt to add context to a very public event.I think a hard-hitting scoop is unbeatable in its ability to unveil scandals or foul play of big institutions. The fact that information is released all at once prevents the big PR companies they hire from having the chance to respond to allegations in piecemeal. This often then leads to blanket media coverage as all the press jump on the story and then scramble to find out more details or their own.Yes, collaboration is good for softer topics, but such open investigations of bigger, more scandalous goings-on just don't hit hard and fast enough for me.

Natalie Clarkson
Natalie Clarkson 5pts

@mlbaxter27 Yeah, I agree that open investigations could change things with reporting, it'll definitely be interesting to watch @paullewis and his team at The Guardian to see how open they are in their investigations and how much it changes the way they reveal information they have discovered.

Trackbacks

  1. El fin de la chiva « Daniel Pardo's Blog says:
    November 10, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    [...] que olvídela. Lo más importante es que la verdad sea publicada: no quién la publique o cómo”, dijo alguna vez el aterrizado editor de investigaciones de The Guardian, Paul [...]

  2. Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? — Tech News and Analysis says:
    January 30, 2012 at 11:03 PM

    [...] on Twitter or what a basketball star says about themselves or their career. In other words, we need less of a focus on “scoops” that are three sentences long and have a half-life of five …, and more smart analysis. So the reality is that all of those reporting jobs have gotten a lot [...]

  3. Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? – - Tech News AggregatorTech News Aggregator says:
    January 30, 2012 at 11:05 PM

    [...] on Twitter or what a basketball star says about themselves or their career. In other words, we need less of a focus on “scoops” that are three sentences long and have a half-life of five minutes, and more smart analysis. So the reality is that all of those reporting jobs have gotten a lot [...]

  4. Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? | Apple Related says:
    January 31, 2012 at 7:11 AM

    [...] on Twitter or what a basketball star says about themselves or their career. In other words, we need less of a focus on “scoops” that are three sentences long and have a half-life of five …, and more smart analysis. So the reality is that all of those reporting jobs have gotten a lot [...]

Register  |  Login

@wannabehacks

Podcasts


Recommended

“Embrace the fear” and other lessons from my time in student media
6 / 12 / 2012 1 comment

After finishing my stint in student media, I couldn’t help but look

Read more

Student media and a degree: getting the balance
22 / 11 / 2012 28 comments

The time is 5.09am, and the birds are twittering outside my window.

Read more

Receiving feedback and learning from criticism
12 / 11 / 2012 1 comment

I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened that email.

Read more


Comments


  • Andy Hamilton Bet on 4 reasons why you should start a business

    Thank you for stimulating my brain with this bright and observant post. http://www.oddsbetting.co.uk/odds-history/Darts/Andy-Hamilton
    Posted May 14, 2013
  • nicki_ on Applying for the Journalism Diversity Fund

    Is there any chance ex-international students could apply?
    Posted May 10, 2013
 
About

Wannabe Hacks is a living, breathing journalism resource. All our content is produced by aspiring journalists. Our aim is to offer an insight into the different routes into journalism, provide in-depth commentary about the big issues and stimulate discussion around what matters to you.

Current Editors: George Berridge, Natasha Clark, Liam Corcoran, Jenni Graham and Caroline Mortimer.

Categories

  • Finding a job
  • Comment
  • How to guides
  • Advice
  • Guest posts
  • Routes into journalism
  • Industries
Follow

  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Like us on Facebook
  • RSS feeds

Website designed & developed by push.play | go back to the top

Copyright 2012 Wannabe Hacks
More about us | Contact us | Wannabe Hacks in the news | Community Guidelines | Advertising