Investigative Journalism - A Two Edged Sword Towards Corruption And Unethical Practice

By Author: Ann Philip
Total Articles: 91
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Investigative journalism is a branch of journalism that gives immense opportunity to expose unethical practices and immoral behaviors of individuals, companies and government departments. During the investigative process one can go deep into the issue or concern of public interest and come out with real causes or original culprits behind it.

Investigative journalism has long been regarded as one of the most challenging and rewarding branches of media business. Now people sit in front of cable television for long hours to know exactly what happened, when happened, how happened and who is behind that? Earlier they have to wait for news papers. Today cable TV makes it possible to know information or incidents happening in each nook and corner of the country within seconds. Investigative journalism is an interesting and a fascinating job that reveals secret or find the exact reason behind the issues or incidents that are kept uncovered for a long time.

What are the qualities of a good investigative journalist? As a person working for a cable TV channel or a daily newspaper, he should have a passion and curiosity to ...
... find and report news of public interest. As reporting information that has great news value is a challenging job, he should be flexible. Logical thinking and self-discipline skills help him to face difficult situations. Among other skills, the most important one is the broad knowledge about the subject together with some good research skills. Going forward, determination, courage and patience will help him in achieving his goals.

Henry Demarest Lloyd is considered as the first American investigative journalist. In early 1880 he published as series of articles on corruption in business and politics. Some of his articles are ‘The Story of the Great Monopoly’, ‘The Political Economy Of Seventy-Three Million Dollars’ and a couple of notable essays in the Atlantic monthly. Investigative journalism got a boost after works from journalists like Demarest Lloyd received huge public attention.

The lady who became a famous investigative journalist in her teens is Nellie Bly. She became a pioneer in investigative journalism field when she was eighteen years old. Bly from Pittsburg is famous for writing first hand tales of the lives of ordinary people. She exposed the horrors of child labor in a Pittsburgh factory. She also wrote an article on low wages and unsafe working conditions of the workers of a factory in Pittsburgh. Most of us know that investigative journalism can bring bad fortune when we write articles that cause harm to a factory or a high influence person. The same thing happened to Nellie Bly. In response to Bly's stories, companies threatened to stop buying advertising space in the paper causing the editor to bring an end to the series. Incidents similar to this can happen to journalists working for Cable TV’s News channels. However, the young editor Bly’s destiny takes another turn. She was appointed as an editor of NEWYORK WORLD. There, she was able to establish a name for herself by writing about poverty and housing and labor conditions existing in New York. Her articles on violence in New York's insane asylum on Blackwell's Island received worldwide attention.

Investigative journalism is a two edged sword that brings news stories that people likes to hear, while at the same time proving to be highly intrusive in innocent people's lives. The power of media is increasing day after day, as they have new technologies to bring sensational news to public without much delay. Now, people all over the world can watch news on different television news channels connected with service from providers like Cox Cable without wasting much time. Though there can be a negative side to investigative journalism, it remains as a necessary part of reporting that the people all around the world is waiting to hear.

As a freelancer,Ann likes to write about different types of journalism and its pros and cons. She is interested in watching sensational stories on her home television powered by COX Cable.