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Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or a scandal. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report, which often takes the form of an exposé. Most investigative journalism is done by newspapers, wire services and freelance journalists. As part of an investigation, journalists make use of:
Investigations at times can take on the appearance of conspiracy theories. For example, Gary Webb's 1996 San Jose Mercury News exposé linking the CIA to Nicaraguan contras organizing the distribution of cocaine into the United States led to its widespread condemnation by the mainstream media as "groundless speculation of government conspiracies". However today, journalists and researchers alike agree that the reporting was "neither false nor fantastic" and historical consensus is that the basic outline of the story was correct.[1]
In The Reporter's Handbook: An Investigator's Guide to Documents and Techniques, Steve Weinberg defined investigative journalism as:
De Burgh (2000) states that: "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. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is 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 closely connected to publicity."
“ | Undercover reporting was long an accepted practice in American journalism, but in recent years it has largely fallen out of favour. The decline can be traced in part to the transformation of journalism from a profession for cynical, underpaid gumshoe reporters into...a highbrow occupation for opinion-mongers, Sunday talk show yakkers and social climbers. As punditry has replaced muckraking as the profession's highest calling, undercover reporting has been abandoned as too embarrassing and undignified. | ” |
— Ken Silverstein, 2008[2] |