Investigative Journalism

The Fourth

Emergency Service

The Fourth Emergency Service

Investigative Journalism

A recent YouGov survey revealed that a

significant proportion of the public did

not understand what investigative

journalism entailed. They said: “The public

doesn’t really know what investigative

journalism is but they know a good scoop

when they see one.”

Aspects

Moral

Confidential

Protects society from corruption

Reveals wrongdoing

Protects the weak or vulnerable

Tells the truth

Legal espionage

Uses similar tactics to spies – but no

longer hacks into phones – not a

News of the World type of operation any

more.

Mulcaire

Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970)[1][2] is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer.

Mulcaire was closely linked to the News International phone hacking scandal. In January 2007 he was found guilty of illegally intercepting phone messages from Clarence House and imprisoned for six months after having pleaded guilty; his co-conspirator News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months.[3]

Mulcaire

Renewed controversy over the phone hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the Worldin July 2011.[4] He publicly apologized to those affected by his activities.[5] As of August 2012, the Met, using documents obtained from raiding Mulcaire's office, had identified 4,744 potential victims of phone hacking by News of the World.[6]

Since police renewed investigations in 2011, 90 people have been arrested and 16 formally charged with crimes, including Mulcaire, in conjunction with illegal acquisition of confidential information.

So how can we?

How can a journalist get a scoop about

government corruption – for example?

It is done by whistleblowers who do not

trust the police or perhaps social

services.

It is another way to get to the truth.

They may pass documents.

Does not stand up

A story does not stand up if there is no

specific evidence – just a rumour or

conspiracy theory.

So for example – if someone says that a

care home is maltreating its elderly

residents, the journalist could not take

that as being a story that stand’s up. They

would get a camera or microphone into

the home and record malpractice.

Risky but moral

The reporter would get a job as staff and

take many days or even weeks to work

there until they found who was being

cruel to the elderly folk.

Then tell CQC to inspect and

simultaneously reveal the malpractice in

the newspapers.

They might also tell the police.

Good relations with police

Good investigative journalists have a first

class relationship with police.

Police ask them to help out to get the

answers to puzzles that need to be

resolved before the police have enough

evidence to charge the guilty.

Top Ten – in 2012

1 – Nick Davies (The Guardian)

“Not only for his work on phone-hacking but for, more generally, giving investigative journalism a good name. His work repudiates the popular view that investigative journalists are interested only in celebrities and gossip.”

2 – Claire Newell (The Daily Telegraph)

“Her work exposing FIFA for Insight in particular was top drawer”

3 – David Leigh (The Guardian)

“He’s been performing at a high level for a long time and he hasn’t lost any of his appetite”

Top Ten

4 – Jonathan Calvert (The Sunday Times)

“His scoops are endless, and he effects enormous changes in public behaviour through his exposure of scandals”

5 – Heather Brooke (Freelance)

“Worked well [in the] fight in the High Court in 2008 to force the release of the MPs’ expenses details”

6 – David Rose (Mail on Sunday)

“Brilliant and dedicated, exposing miscarriages of justice, frauds in the climate change lobby, middle east politicking etc.”

Top Ten

7 – Paul Lewis (The Guardian)

“One of the best proponents of data journalism... has had some great scoops, from Police undercover officers having affairs (and children) on their missions, to revealing how Ian Tomlinson really died”

8 – Mazher Mahmood (The Sunday Times)

“Brilliant scoops and stings, whatever one’s slight feelings about the occasional entrapment”

Top Ten

9 –Andrew Norfolk (The Times)

“For his heroic work in pursuing the story of on street sex grooming and trafficking in Northern cities”

10 – Stephen Grey (Thomson Reuters)

“One of his major coups was to secure flight data for the CIA’s network of jets that were used to transport rendition victims. That data... helped blow the entire thing out of the water and expose how widespread it was”

Mark Conrad & David Hencke

Exaro News Mark Conrad – Exaro and Guardian

David Hencke – Journalist of the Year 2013

Trust these two journalists

I have worked with both of these men

and I can assure you that if you do have a

story to tell but don’t want your name

plastered all over the papers, then these

people will ensure total confidentiality –

while finding out what you need to know.

They are not private detectives – so they

will want to print the scoop.

Exaro - Current Investigations

Defending Kenneth Clarke MP against

false accusations of sexual misconduct.

Finding the hidden special branch file on

Cyril Smith’s activities with children.

Finding out what certain pop stars,

ministers, MPs and MI5 officers were

doing in the Elm Guest House in

Richmond

In the last three months...

Tracing the activities of MPs who were

taking young boys to Amsterdam.

Investigating activities connected to the

Haute La Garenne Children’s Home in

Jersey

Discovering the hidden store of files on

the cover-up of the Saudi Arabian arms

bribery scandal

Do you need help?

Do you have a secret concern that you

would like resolving but the police or

other institutions won’t look at?

Then investigative journalism could be the

answer.

Please feel free to talk to me in private

and I will advise you how to contact these

journalists without anyone else knowing

that you have done so.

Thank you – any

questions?