Investigating

Of course all reporting should include investigation. A reporter is actually always investigating even in his/her spare time. You can argue that most citizens are doing the same. As a society, we are curious and we want to find out the truth or at least an acceptable version of it. For example, most of us want to know what will happen with the weather. Will it rain? Will it snow? Will it be windy? Will it be hot? These are all investigative questions and we want the answers.

The problem with investigative reporting and scholastic media is who the students are watching as role models. There are some wonderful investigative reporters in this world, but too many times the marketing of the story gets in the way. Headlines and revealing photographs which sell papers, must-see stories on television newscasts which make us watch, and exclusive radio interviews which make us want to listen seem to cloud the nature of investigative reporting. Unfortunately, students do need to understand that professional journalism is first a business which needs to make money. Reporters could start out with a great investigative piece, but when it reaches the business side of a media outlet things can change. The good news is that students can practice true and accurate investigative journalism on the scholastic level without worrying about the business side of it. However, advisers need to focus on the purity of finding the story which may need to be uncovered and most importantly getting it right.