Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne Christoph Schattleitner Classic Journalism, Classic Journalists
Journalism offers a broad field of profession. You cannot only separate between topics, resorts and its quality (tabloid, broadsheet), but also various types of journalism. Investigative journalism is often seen as the supreme discipline, because it is probably the most dangerous and effortful. Nevertheless this essay will explain why both types are essential for a democracy and explore the main differences between investigative and routine journalism by showing two examples.
Table of Contents
Routine journalism Investigative journalism Can routine journalism be investigative? Example 1: Answering a question by not answering a question Example 2: When breaking the law is the only way Conclusion and the difference of investigative and daily journalism Bibliography 1 2 2 3 3 4 4
Routine journalism
Defining routine journalism is easy, achieving it is a challenge: Journalisms purpose is to inform citizens. In a democracy we are the ones in power and decide. For doing this we need truly and independent researched information. Or how BBC News Head James Harding (2013) puts it: People are depending on clear information and the opportunity to question those in control. The BBC *or any other media is able to do so] is providing this democratic function. The German sociologist Jrgen Habeas invented the often-cited public sphere model of what classic journalism is and should do. From this perspective, media should prepare citizens to participate in public life by serving information which is in the public interest. (Croteau and Hoynes 2006) Or how Dorothy Byrne who went as a student to West Africa put it: There are really important things in the world that people must know about, and if you dont tell them about them then they wont know and they wont be able to do anything about them. (De Burg 2008, pp. 19) Ideally, you do not have to break the law or have to do a lot of research to find out such important things. That is what mainly daily journalism does: Collecting and editing information and presenting it through media to inform people. Investigative journalism goes beyond.
Investigative journalism
What if there are pieces of information which are in the public interest, but not easily or not at all accessible? Here is where investigative journalism begins to operate. The Oxford dictionary defines investigative as following: Carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover and examine the facts of (an incident, allegation, etc.) so as to establish the truth: If investigating means to discovering the facts to establish the truth, does that mean that routine journalism is not doing that? Of course not. Unfortunately it is hard to define the difference by what the two types are doing, it is more about how much effort and time they put in to do so: According to Editor in chief of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger all journalism is investigative to a greater or lesser extent, but investigative journalism - though it is a bit of a tautology- is that because it requires more, its where the investigative element is more pronounced. (De Burg 2008, pp. 17) The border between routine and investigative journalism is vague. Journalist Jonathan Calvert explains that trenchantly: Some stories you make five calls on, some twenty. When you are making a hundred, thats investigative journalism. A journalist recognises to become investigative when you realise people are lying to you *+, then you have to find different ways of getting hold of the information and it can take longer. In fact, investigative journalism is leaking injustices, which also means an allegation against someone or a group. As a serious medium you have to be very careful, because in allegations against people evidence really matters. (De Burg 2008, pp. 17)
Bibliography
Harding, J. (2013) James Harding speech to staff in BBC News and Current Affairs on 4
December 2013. London: BBC. Online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2013/james-harding.html
Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T. (2001) Journalisms first obligation is to tell the truth, Elements of Journalism, 55:2, pp. 10 Oxford Dictionaries (2013) Definition of investigate. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/investigate?q=investigate Reporters without Borders (2013) Press freedom barometer 2013. http://en.rsf.org/pressfreedom-barometer-journalists-killed.html?annee=2013 Shepard, A. (2012) Investigative Reporting Is Now Endangered. New York: The New York Times. Online: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/13/did-any-good-comeof-watergate/the-journalism-watergate-inspired-is-endangered-now Snowden, E. (2013) Speaking the truth is not a crime. London: The Guardian. Online: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/nsa-files-edward-snowdens-letter-toangela-merkel-live-coverage