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Title

Journalists as investigators and 'quality media' reputation

Author(s)

Burns, Alex;  Saunders, Barry

Abstract

The current ‘future of journalism’ debates focus on the crossover (or lack thereof) of mainstream journalism practices and citizen journalism, the ‘democratisation’ of journalism, and the ‘crisis in innovation’ around the ‘death of newspapers’. This paper analyses a cohort of 20 investigative journalists to understand their skills sets, training and practices, notably where higher order research skills are adapted from intelligence, forensic accounting, computer programming, and law enforcement. We identify areas where different levels of infrastructure and support are necessary within media institutions, and suggest how investigative journalism enhances the reputation of ‘quality media’ outlets.

Publication type

Conference paper

Source

Proceedings of the Communications Policy and Research Forum (CPRF), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 19-20 November 2009, pp. 281-297

Publication year

2009

FOR Code(s)

1502 Banking, Finance and Investment;  1503 Business and Management;  1902 Film, Television and Digital Media;  1903 Journalism and Professional Writing

Keyword(s)

Investigative methods;  Journalism;  Quality media;  Research skills

Publisher

Network Insight Institute

ISBN

9780980434422

Publisher URL

http://www.networkinsight.org/events/cprf09.html

Copyright

Copyright © 2009 Alex Burns and Barry Saunders. Published version of this paper reproduced with the kind permission of the publisher.

Full text

Peer reviewed