A New Era Of Investigative Journalism
As newspapers are beginning to shut down the world over, people have begun seriously considering the impact of a world without them. While many of the services provided by newspapers are replicated by bloggers and other new media entities, there is one service which is all but nonexistent in web-based news - investigative journalism.
News without investigative journalism is a dangerous prospect: investigation keeps people honest. If news came exclusively from bloggers whose verification procedures often involve nothing more than a quick web search, it would be a very simple operation to keep information from the public.
Seth Godin wrote an interesting post commenting that investigative journalism only makes up a fraction of the cost of producing a newspaper, and could be supported in the absense of the rest of the product. He suggests that it might be government funded as a public good, or as a not-for-profit entity.
Both of these suggestions trouble me greatly. Government funded media can easily turn into propaganda. I can’t think of a situation where I would consider it acceptable for a government to control, or have any influence in, the news. Even if started with the best of intentions, censoring the news would likely prove too tempting an offer to pass up in some situations - even the most honest of people have something to hide.
Not-for-profit news is a less threatening suggestion, but I see that it faces two problems. Firstly, it would forever be at the mercy of philanthropists or donors. While there may be no shortage of money for such a valuable service, I see any system dependent on others’ generosity unstable, and this in particular is far too important a service to leave up to chance.
On top of this, people can go to great lengths to cover up stories. For investigators to uncover them, no expense must be spared in their research. Profit-making enterprises have an enormous advantage in this area, as they must succeed in breaking news in order to maintain their existense. It is the single most important aspect of their production: new advertisers can be found, but if nobody’s reading, the paper goes under. Not-for-profit newspapers would continue to be supported regardless, as philanthropists and donors would consider them important, reducing their burden to produce valuable news.
It looks as though newspapers don’t have long left, but someone must find a way to make a profit from investigative journalism. Alternative methods of funding compromise its efficacy, and nothing in news is so important as effective investigation.
