(essay)

Investigative journalism is systematic, in-depth research or reporting that involves the disclosure of secrets or mysteries. It usually disseminates information about violations of the rights or freedoms of citizens in the mass media. UNESCO defines the term as follows: “Investigative journalism involves the publication of facts and stories that have been deliberately concealed by some officials or accidentally lost in the chaotic mass of information and events, making them difficult to perceive correctly. Such activities require the use of a huge number of sources and documents, both secret and public.”

If you look at the stories that have won the highest awards in the field of investigative journalism, it becomes obvious how much effort and work was put into the result and how wide the topics covered are: detailed tracking of stolen public funds, in-depth analysis of abuse of power, deterioration of the healthcare system, etc.

“Remember: whatever they tell you, they are not telling you everything. Whatever it is about, it is about money,” is a quote by Winston Churchill that is perfectly suited to understanding the subject of investigations. Indeed, almost always, when gathering information, a journalist is faced with incomplete information, and in most cases, investigations are directly related to money, or more specifically, corruption.

Investigative journalists, when defining the features of an investigation that distinguish it from other genres, note: hard work and resource intensity, time, human effort and money spent on conducting an investigation. Investigations can sometimes require months of observation, waiting for documents, searching for the right sources of information, all of which can be done by several people, and cost a lot of money.

1. Randall, in his book ‘The Universal Journalist’, identifies three functional features that distinguish investigative journalism from other genres:
2. Conducting an initial investigation, establishing such interconnections in the material that no one had noticed before.
3. Finding out that the chosen topic, according to certain assumptions, may be related to dubious affairs or negligence, but there is no evidence yet. But if the topic is important to readers, it is worth pursuing.
4. Investigative journalism begins where day-to-day work ends. Obtaining information that someone is not interested in disclosing, but which is of public interest, is its goal.

It should be remembered that investigative journalism inevitably entails certain risks and dangers. Investigators are often exposed to the risk of civil, administrative or criminal prosecution, as well as non-legal risks: physical violence, psychological pressure, loss of employment, discredit, loss of investigation results and evidence.