Investigative Journalism

Investigative Journalism, the investigation and reporting in newspapers and magazines of matters of importance to the public that some persons or organizations may wish to keep secret and unpublished. Investigative journalists try to expose scandal, whether it involves misconduct by politicians, financiers, criminals, or judges.

In the late 19th century, the new British and American mass media (see Journalism) featured many scandals. W. T. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, for example, exposed the trade in under-age prostitutes. In his clashes with the authorities (he was prosecuted for procuring a prostitute), he may be said to have laid the foundations of modern investigative journalism.

In the 20th century, the term “investigative journalism” became attached to a type of reporting regarded as important for the upkeep of democracy. In the United States, in the early 1970s, Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post, took the defining decision to publish material relating to the Watergate scandal. Two young reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, had investigated a break-in at Democratic Party offices in the Watergate building, Washington D.C. They uncovered a trail of complicity that eventually led to the incumbent Republican president, Richard Nixon, and ultimately forced his resignation.

In Britain, Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981, similarly did much to develop investigative journalism. He created the paper’s Insight Team, which produced investigative pieces that were lengthy, expensive in research time, and carried out by journalists working in groups. These pieces provided ground-breaking treatment of such varied subjects as the affairs of the financier Robert Maxwell, the Soviet double-agent Kim Philby, and the insurance dealer Emil Savundra. In 1972 Evans conducted an investigation into thalidomide, a drug that caused more than 450 children to be born with limb deformities. Lawsuits brought by the families involved were making little progress. Evans campaigned for the manufacturer to pay proper compensation, and won the right to publish despite the then English laws of contempt of court (see Contempt: Prejudice to Judicial Proceedings). Evans took the view that the law had failed the children and ought not to be allowed to suppress the facts.

Investigative journalists’ targets frequently invoke the law. Even in the United States, where freedom of speech is a constitutional right, legal injunctions in 1971 banned publication on national security grounds of the Pentagon Papers (a collection of government documents on the Vietnam War), although the Supreme Court eventually reversed the decision. In Britain, investigative journalism has frequently involved clashes between the media and courts. Evans fought a long legal battle in 1974 to publish the memoirs of the government minister Richard Crossman, which the government said breached official secrecy (see Official Secrets Act). The investigative Granada Television programme World in Action clashed with the libel courts over its allegations in 1973 of payments made by the architect John Poulson to politicians. In the 1980s journalists at the Observer newspaper and elsewhere fought an international battle against government injunctions banning publication of the memoirs of the Cold War secret-service official Peter Wright. The Guardian newspaper and World in Action also exposed and forced the resignation of the Conservative ministers Tim Smith, Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield; Neil Hamilton, MP for Tatton; and Jonathan Aitken, MP for Thanet South, all on the grounds of financial irregularities. This was despite being faced with multi-million-pound libel suits in 1997. Aitken was later jailed for 18 months in June 1999 for perverting the course of justice and for perjury during his libel case.

There are few privacy laws in Britain, unlike in France where, as a result, there is little investigative journalism. But the laws of libel, confidence, and official secrecy mean that investigative journalism aimed at the rich and powerful is a legally risky occupation. Investigative journalists are open to accusations of defamation, and must not only be sure of their facts but also be able to prove them in court. Investigative journalism can also involve personal risk: in Ireland, for example, Veronica Guerin, a journalist who had been investigating drug gangs, was shot dead in 1996.