Inspired by investigators
An all-star lineup of investigative reporters left the audience inspired in Sydney this week.
As a collection of investigative journalists, “How can investigative Journalism Projects Change the World”, the Walkley Foundation’s Storyology talk hosted by Sydney University was up there with the very best. Some of the best journalistic minds from Australia and around the world sat in one room for an hour and a half, explaining the detailed, intricate and sometimes downright dangerous work that goes into these stories. To put it lightly, it’s a dream lineup for any young journalist looking to glean a bit of extra inspiration before heading out into the newsroom.
An investigative project requires so many elements to work. If even one of those building blocks doesn’t work, a story can fall apart. And the first thing that any story needs according to Carrie Fellner, an investigative journalist working for The Sydney Morning Herald, is to tell the story of not just an event, but the people involved with it.
“If you’re telling a story, people want to know who that person is, and not just what’s happened to them,” Fellner said.
But those people, the most vital sources of information for a story, need to be protected. Sometimes to extreme lengths. Mark Schoofs, the investigations and projects editor at Buzzfeed News in New York, told of how he protects his sources in law enforcement.
“We’ll call 25 other people in that other unit of the FBI or whatever just so we’ve talked to so many people they don’t know who we’ve talked to.”
Shoofs said that with the potential for investigations to make enemies of high profile and powerful figures like US President Donald Trump, it’s becoming more and more difficult to properly protect sources.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult and mistakes from sources and sometimes from the journalists themselves are becoming higher and higher.”
Michael West, founder of his own self-titled news site michaelwest.com, is a seasoned reporter and protector of sources. According to him, somewhat ironically the best way for sources to protect themselves is ironically to get their information out into the public as soon as possible. He tells them:
“Get it out there, get it out there quickly, I’ll make as much noise as I can about it, and that noise will protect you.”
On the other side of that particular coin is the benefit of mass audience participation leading to access to a multitude of potential sources. Gerard Ryle, the director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, says that stories can breed more stories from the audience.
“Your audience is your best potential source…even doing a small story on something can lead to something better.”
Investigative journalism is usually seen as an individual effort, with the need for secrecy meaning that the story must be known by as few people as possible before publication. For Ryle, though, that’s not always the case. In the case of the Panama Papers, journalists from all over the world worked to uncover one of the most wide-reaching cases of corruption in history without this collaboration the story would have been too big for one journalist.
“It’s very important to share and work as a team because if you share your victories it can help you along your journey.”
But what does it take to be an investigative journalist, to dedicate days, months, sometimes years to doggedly pursue a story and tell it in the most effective way possible? According to Channel Seven’s freedom of information editor, Alison Sandy, one of the most important traits is endurance.
“It’s not for the faint hearted, it takes a lot of determination, persistence, also you can’t be deterred easily, you’ve got to have thick skin.”
It’s fantastic that journalists like these are doing so much to keep the world informed and with journalists of this standard as mentors, investigative journalism’s future should be a bright one.
Max Gay is a journalism student at Macleay College. Reporting profile @ Hatch. Twitter: @MaxGay93
Additional reporting by:
