Examples include Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick and Benjamin Franklin's New England Courant.

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.' History Įarly newspapers in British colonial America were often suppressed by the authorities for their investigative journalism. īritish media theorist Hugo de Burgh (2000) states that: 'An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. Conferences are conducted presenting peer-reviewed research into investigative journalism. There are currently university departments for teaching investigative journalism. University of Missouri journalism professor Steve Weinberg defined investigative journalism as: 'Reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers, or listeners.' In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed. Journalistic investigations are increasingly carried out by news organizations working together, even internationally (as in the case of the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers), or by organizations such as ProPublica, which have not operated previously as news publishers and which rely on the support of the public and benefactors to fund their work. With the decline in income through advertising, many traditional news services have struggled to fund investigative journalism, due to it being very time-consuming and expensive.

Most investigative journalism has traditionally been conducted by newspapers, wire services, and freelance journalists. Practitioners sometimes use the terms 'watchdog reporting' or 'accountability reporting'. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. For broader coverage of this topic, see Watchdog journalism.

Instal New York Mysteries: The Outbreak