Online Journalism Blog

I’ve been asked to write a book chapter on ‘Investigative journalism and blogs’ for the next edition of ‘Investigative Journalism’. If you know of any examples where blogs have been used for investigative journalism, or useful contacts, please let me know.

I would also particularly welcome anyone who is interesting in co-authoring the book chapter via a wiki.

Here’s the summary I wrote for the editor:

This chapter will look at the relationship between investigative journalism and blogs, beginning with a brief history of the technology and its journalistic uses, before exploring three areas where blogs have become important tools in investigative journalism: in sourcing material; in disseminating the results of fieldwork; and as a source of funding. Drawing on literature on the subject and examples in the UK and abroad, the chapter will propose that blogs represent a significant opportunity to revitalise journalism in an industry that has seen investment in serious investigative journalism fall in recent years.

Key points covered in the chapter include:

• The amateur-professional debate: how amateur bloggers perform an important role outside of the commercialised, bureaucratised work processes of professional journalists
• Sources and leads: how regular monitoring of blogs has led to tip-offs, while blogs can provide access to sector expertise (e.g. Human Rights Watch)
• Crowdsourcing: the new skillset for journalists: calling for reader help; managing the crowd
• Transparency: how publishing ‘draft’ work is rebuilding trust, and can lead to fine-tuning, corrections and new avenues from blog readers (Memogate)
• Engagement and enfranchisement: consumers becoming citizen (journalists): (the Florida News-Press)
• Documents: how infinite space online provides an opportunity to make raw material available (BAE Files)
• Fundraising: how journalists are increasingly turning to their audience to fund projects (Back to Iraq)
• Gatewatching: how bloggers watch some of the most powerful businesses in the world: media organisations themselves (e.g. ‘adopt a correspondent’)
• Ethics: new newsgathering techniques raise new ethical issues (digital doorstepping; veracity; anonymity)
• Why UK blogs and investigative journalism are less intertwined than in other countries

The chapter will also note the contribution to be made by other new media technologies, including YouTube (whistleblower), podcasts, wikis, social networking, forums