Poynter: MSNBC narrative slideshow garners 78m page views

After researching the strange story of a very wealthy, elderly American heiress,  veteran MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman decided to experiment with the presentation of his article. Rather than turn in a few thousand words of copy as usual, Dedman put together almost 50 photographs in a slideshow and accompanied them with captions.

The result, The Clarks: an American story of wealth, scandal and mystery, is not groundbreaking in its approach to storytelling, but the response to the story is a powerful testament to the power of visual reportage.

Dedman reported that he received 500 email from readers about the story, more than any other story he has written, and it has had around 78 million page views, more than any other story on MSNBC.com.

Poynter’s Steve Myers has an interview with Dedman on the story at this link…

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Investigative news organisation shares its reporting recipe

Taking the ’show your process’ ethos seriously, the US-based non-profit investigative outlet ProPublica has released a recipe for one of its recent investigations, which examined how states oversaw the misconduct of medical professionals.

ProPublica was created two years ago to pursue stories that would spur change. As part of this mission, we make our finished work and its underlying data available to all. Other news organizations are free to republish stories posted on our site. Reporters across the country have used the data we have compiled on the stimulus to do local versions of these stories. And whenever possible, we post source documents for readers to view.

Now we are taking this principle a step further, giving away the recipe for what has been one of our most powerful reporting efforts to date. We are doing this because we believe there are many ways to prompt change through journalism.

Full post at this link…

Recipe at this link…

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British Journalism Review: Calls for libel law reform are misguided

Investigative journalist Bruce Page assesses calls for libel law reform and finds that they might be misguided, in his view.

“Journalism is intended to be harmful and journalists who don’t like risk should go elsewhere.”

One of the problems is that journalism spends too much time on “insubstantial doomsday scenarios” and not enough developing knowledge to expose “self-defamatory” claims, in science for example.

Making it easier for nervous people to publish accusations isn’t going to change any of that. Lawsuit economics still give excessive advantage to wealth and power. Introducing no-win-no-fee litigation has reduced that old abuse – and brought some fresh ones into play. Let’s reform them. But the law itself isn’t broke. Don’t fix it.

Full post at this link…

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Nieman Journalism Lab: Iceland’s journalism haven proposal passes first stage

Nieman Journalism Lab has some more details on the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) – and a link to a rough translation of the proposal for a collection of laws to ensure better protection of journalists’ sources and protect publishers against libel tourism.

The IMMI proposal has passed its first discussion in parliament and will now move to the committee stage before a second discussion and final vote.

Full post at this link…

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BBC News: Wikileaks and Icelandic MPs propose ‘haven’ for investigative journalism

Whistleblowing website Wikileaks and some Icelandic MPs have launched the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) – a proposal calling on the country’s government to adopt laws to better protect journalists and their sources, which has the potential to create a haven for investigative journalists in the country.

The proposal will be filed with the Icelandic parliament on 16 February.

Such changes could encourage more journalists and media businesses to move to Iceland, Wikileaks editor Julian Assange, tells BBC News. The IMMI also wants to challenge so-called “libel tourism” and change libel laws that threaten publishers, internet hosts and sites like Wikileaks that act as a “conduit” between source and journalist. Wikileaks has recently been involved in a fundraising drive to support the site, which has previously had to be taken down because of lack of funding.

Full story at this link…

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Heather Brooke on how British journalists avoid accountability by not naming sources

British journalism was under attack from two fronts this week. Satoshi Kanazawa, evolutionary psychologist at the London school of Economics accused the UK press of making things up. And on Charlie Brooker’s satirical TV show Newswipe Heather Brooke, investigative journalist and freedom of information campaigner, lambasts UK journalists for not always attributing official sources and therefore avoiding accountability. [Update: watch the video and read Brooke's comment to understand the difference between protecting confidential sources and not naming official spokespeople...]

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China Media Project/Singapore Straits Times: The state of investigative journalism in China

“It may not quite be the Fourth Estate as in the Western press but a form of ‘watchdog journalism’ exists in China,” says this interesting piece looking at the growth of and challenges to investigative journalism in China.

The article takes a look at those organisations carrying out investigations, the help/hindrance of the internet, whether investigative journalists are chasing the right stories and what price they might pay for their work.

Full story at this link…

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Guardian launches crowdsourced investigation into Tony Blair’s finances

Part crowdsourcing, part competition, the Guardian is asking readers to help them analyse financial structures set up by the former prime minister Tony Blair, which involve artificial partnerships.

The new project is similar to that run by the newspaper during the MPs expenses scandal, when readers where asked to look through and flag up points of interest on expenses claim forms.

This time there’s a competition element too: readers are asked to trawl through relevant documents and make comments and annotations. Featured contributions will be credited and readers will have the chance to win an origial cartoon by Steve Bell (deadline is 6 December).

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New Statesman: Seymour Hersh on scoops and sources

World-renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has been interviewed by the News Statesman. A few highlights:

Do you ever worry that your phone is bugged?

Some people I only talk to in their home or their office, but I arrange the calls here. To bug me legally they’d have to get a warrant; once you have something illegally you can’t use it very much. If the 9/11 attacks taught us one thing, it’s that the agencies collect lots of wonderful stuff they don’t share with anybody.

You rely a lot on unnamed sources. Is that a dangerous technique, or an invaluable one?

Look at the serious press in the UK, France, America: every single day there are unnamed sources. But I believe people in my profession should be held to an extremely high standard. I welcome the fact that people can sue me.

Full story at this link…

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Huffington Post: Early signs of success for citizen journalism investigation

The Huffington Post claims that one of its first investigative projects shows evidence of a ‘new alliance between professional reporters and citizens who have a high interest or expertise in a particular topic’:

“Several weeks ago, as one of our first investigative projects, we set out to explore how insurance companies decide which claims to approve or deny. Regulators, lawmakers and policy makers seem to be in the dark about that important aspect of the health care system, since insurance companies generally are not required to disclose their rules, methods or records about claims. Investigative Fund reporter Danielle Ivory wrote about this lack of available data and invited citizen journalists to help us investigate. Hundreds of people volunteered. And they’ve already helped us extend and deepen our journalism. Many have volunteered personal tales about their dealings with insurers. Others are health professionals and insurance insiders with direct experience in the claims process.”

Full post at this link…

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