Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism uses sustained, original research to uncover information of public interest that individuals or institutions have concealed.

Freedom of information laws: Laws that give people a right to request records from public authorities, subject to exemptions. Records requests can expose official decisions and evidence hidden from public view.
Watergate scandal: A political scandal arising from the 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters and its cover-up. Washington Post reporting helped reveal the cover-up and its links to President Nixon’s administration.
Ida B. Wells: A Black American journalist and anti-lynching campaigner who used reporting to document racial violence. Her sustained investigation challenged fabricated accounts of lynching and exposed its scale.
Beat reporting: Regular coverage of a specific institution, topic, or geographic area by a journalist. Beat reporting builds access and expertise, while investigations add sustained original inquiry into concealed facts.
Freedom of the press: The principle and legal protection that allow media to publish information and criticism without undue government interference. Press freedom helps protect reporting that challenges powerful institutions.
Source protection: Legal and professional practices that protect confidential sources from identification or retaliation. Confidential sources may provide evidence unavailable through public records.
Pentagon Papers: A classified U.S. government study of decision-making in the Vietnam War, leaked and published in 1971. Publication exposed a gap between private government assessments and public claims about the war.
Nellie Bly: An American journalist known for undercover reporting, including an 1887 investigation of conditions in an asylum. Her firsthand account turned hidden institutional conditions into a public controversy.
Advocacy journalism: Journalism that openly advances a particular cause or viewpoint. Investigative reporting may have consequences for a cause, but its findings must be evidence-led.
Public accountability: The obligation of people and institutions exercising power to explain their actions and answer for them. Exposing concealed conduct can force officials and organizations to account for their decisions.

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