Investigative Journalism is dying is a misconception. In the digital age, the gloomy tale for news media is their inability to gain the public trust as misinformation and fake news and misinformation confuses the news media consumers on what is real and what is not. Given this scenario, evidence based investigative reporting has helped media owners in re-establishing their media outlets as credible and quality media outlets in the digital age. At a time when competition for attention is fierce, by offering unique in -depth stories of public interest the media houses are playing an important role in strengthening the democratic health of the country.
Yes, media outlets face many challenges in bringing out investigative stories. Journalists risk fines or even imprisonment by doing their jobs, reporting on stories in the public interest. And their sources, the whistle-blowers, face similar or worse fates. Despite all these, Investigative Journalism is in better shape than other forms of journalism because of its value to corporate branding and/or the public interest.
Andrea Carson, Associate Professor at La Trobe University in her book Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age mentions that the watchdog role of journalism – investigative reporting – is adapting to its austere media environment. According to her, it is enduring, even thriving, in the digital age. Nepali Investigative Journalists, the writer talked to echoed Carson and mentioned that despite economic, security and professional challenges, Investigative Journalism in Nepal has flourished in the last two decades. Interestingly, though most of the Nepali media houses do not have dedicated investigative journalist or the investigative bureau, the passion of these journalism to probe into the issues of public interest has kept Investigative Journalism alive and emergent.
Investigative journalism is dead, is a myth. I heard the statement that investigative journalism is dying when I was working in a newsroom of an English daily as the media houses were not committed to provide the required resources for lengthy probes into individual’s and institutional corrupt doings. Many of my colleagues were convinced with the statement mainly as i) the media houses could not go against the advertisers’ interest, ii) the digital revolution preferred more breaking news than time consuming in-depth news. However, when people were discussing about the death of Investigative Journalism, I could still feel it breathe. My feelings then soon turned out to be true. The digital platforms turned out to be a wonderful addition to the investigative reporting and today I can confidently argue that investigative journalism is thriving than ever before.
Digital Era a Boon to Investigative Journalism
Let me explain the reasons why investigative journalism is growing with the digital revolution. Carson’s nine-year study of investigative journalism in liberal democracies showed that journalists and their outlets undertake investigative reporting for different reasons such as to increase revenues, purely ideological objective with a commitment to be the ‘fourth estate’ and a mix of the two. The digital age is a renaissance period for investigative reporting mainly because of the avenues it has opened for collaboration and scaling up investigations to national and transnational levels. The expose of the Panama Papers collaborating 400 Investigative Journalists would not have been possible without digital revolution. The series of stories on global tax avoidance led to the government’s recovery of US$1.2 billon through lost taxes and penalties.
In the local context, the journalists I talked to explained the power of social media to help muckrake the hidden information. They informed that social media has become a good platform to collaborate and share knowledge regardless of geographical boundary to expose wrongdoing for the public good. There is no doubt that social media offers journalists a global playing field for it enables sharing stories beyond boundaries and also helps in collecting information. The investigative journalists in Nepal mentioned that the social media revolution has actually given birth to a democratic movement that stresses key principles of journalism transparency, accuracy, honesty and giving voice to voiceless. As people can contribute to the content and express their opinions many issues that barely come out can be known through social media.
At a time when many newspapers in Nepal are closing down after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, and news room cuts not only in Nepal but around the world, one of the hopeful aspect is that the digital technologies can help journalists cover stories that would otherwise be too expensive or time-consuming to cover, or almost impossible to find. Social media thus, is a fast and cheap way to find information, produce and disseminate news across the globe.
Challenges Persists but Passion Keeps its Value
The recent interaction with investigative journalists in Nepal pointed out three major challenges on doing investigative journalism in Nepal: i) Resources, ii) Professionalism and iii) Security Issues: Physical and Psychological.
Most of the journalists in Nepal are working on salary basis and for them untimely payment and lack of financial incentives are the major challenges for bringing out investigative piece. Despite of this fact, the journalist mentioned that their passion to muckrake the issue when they hear or see it has helped in the growth of investigative journalism in Nepal.
The interaction with the journalists working in different online and mainstream newspapers revealed that none of the mainstream media outlets and online in Nepal do not have separate investigative bureau or dedicated investigative reporter. The discussion resulted to an interesting finding that though the audiences’ and advertisers’ interest is what determines the demand and supply side of muckraking, investigative journalists are found to be producing investigative stories related mostly to their news beat due to their own desire to muckrake the issue. Despite limited resources, Nepali journalists have produced vibrant investigative pieces on the issues of corruption and irregularities with their own effort. Some of the such examples are the Wide Body Scam of Nepal Airlines Corporation, Sudan and Tara Gaon Scam, Nepal Oil Corporation Scam, Money Laundering and Tax Haven Scam among others.
The major objective of journalism is to serve public interest and thus there is no structured knowledge that directly applies to the journalists. However, based on the interaction with the journalists, academic qualification and training, and the nexus between different interest groups and media is considered as the major barriers towards professionalism of investigative journalism in Nepal. Most of the Nepali journalists have entered into the profession due to passion rather than having an academic degree and or training in journalism. There are some institutions in Nepal such as Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal (CIJN), Media Foundation, Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and Nepal Press Institute (NPI) which are contributing to produce investigative journalists through training, workshops, conferences and seminars. It is interesting that most of the journalists in Nepal learnt the tools and techniques of investigative journalism more by practice backed by self-motivation than any training and incentives.
In addition to the issues mentioned above, security issues are one of the most important factors influencing investigative journalism as it limits journalists’ ability to probe into certain matters. In an increasingly market- driven environment, journalists opined that it is more difficult for them to probe into a certain issue and publish an investigative report. Additionally, the threats they receive while exposing wrongdoings makes journalism a risky profession. The security issues most of the journalists faces are i) Psychological fears and ii) Physical attacks and threats. Similarly, other security issues are physical attacks, verbal and email threats, phone calls and SMS, public threats through social media.
Prospects of Investigative Journalism in Nepal
A report published on “The Conversation (2016)” reveals that digital tools are changing the ways in which journalists seek, find, and share their stories to the audience in Nepal. Interview participants had a common voice that for investigative journalism to sustain and grow in Nepal, access to information systems should be strengthened, archiving systems should be developed and fact checking mechanisms should be institutionalized so that the investigative journalists are equipped with the necessary resources. In addition, the interview participants argued that it is important for the media houses to generate funds on its own and also stressed the need of non -profit organizations for investigative reporting.
Investigative journalism in Nepal has not yet reached a stage of maturity and practice mainly because the investigative work in Nepali media undergoes political, professional, financial and security obstacles. The muckraking of the stories in Nepali media is based on the mandate of the media houses and availability of resources because of which the supply of investigative stories depends on the environment created by the media houses. Insufficient funds, lack of professionalism and lack of safety assurance have negatively affected the practice of investigative journalism in Nepal. Despite these major challenges, if Nepali media adopt a truly dedicated muckraking approach, backed by modern information technology that includes data journalism and online social media, Nepali investigative journalism can form a better journalism landscape.
In addition, different factors such as removal of deadline pressure, non-existence of corporate interference and government control and self-sustainability of media houses decreasing the reliability of advertisers puts Nepali media in a strong position to upsurge investigative reports both in terms of quality and quantity. It is discussed that as investigative stories devote their attention to various social problems and uncover them, there is also a need to trace the causes of those problems and find ways to overcome them. This can be done by documenting good practices, publishing follow-up stories and impact stories. Investigative stories not only establish the existence of social problems but also provide possible solutions to hold people in authority accountable. Hence, Investigative Journalism is not dying.
