This month, it hit home more than ever before that bloggers that practice investigative journalism really are a special breed of folks. True, quality investigating requires an unbiased viewpoint, and it demands a dedication and perseverance that is very rare today.
And, while “professional” investigative news staff make a living from simply investigating, most online investigative journalist bloggers actually have an extensive background in specific field – which is also their primary day job.
The Cons of Investigative Blogging
There are pros and cons to this. When you’re working all day as an electrical engineer, and you spend all evening researching technology scams – obviously you bring more to the table than an investigative journalist whose background is in writing or communications. And these days, it’s almost required that investigative researchers have some kind of extensive background training in the field that they are investigating, otherwise they get steamrolled by anyone out there who has more knowledge than the journalist, and would like to pull the wool over their eyes.
Another drawback to conducting investigations during off-hours is that sometimes there are organizations that refuse to recognize you as media. This is rapidly changing, as more and more investigative bloggers prove their mettle – however, this doesn’t change the fact that a stigma still remains if you are not being sent a paycheck from one media organization or another, then you aren’t “legit.” Does receiving a Google revenue check from blog proceeds that exceed the salary of most journalists count? Probably not.
Case in point – the report from David Axe of Wired (one of the best investigative blogging sites on the net today) covering the coast guard denying Danger Room access to testing documentation because “blogs don’t yet count as media.” This is ridiculous, as Danger Room as scooped some of the biggest news stories long before mainstream media has even gotten out of bed. This is the nature of journalism today.
Does Investigative Journalism Online Mark the End of Journalism?
Despite what old-school journalists may tell you – the trend toward citizen journalism doesn’t represent the destruction media as we know it. What it represents is a new breed of journalism, where most of the folks doing the investigating have a more intricate background and understanding of the particular topic at hand. Additionally, they usually bring a certain “passion” to what they do – because clearly they aren’t doing it for the money.
CNN recognized the potential of this untapped “free” resource when they established iReport, an area of CNN that lets citizen journalists write (or record, in the case of video) a news story as it is occurring. This is a perfect example of a marriage between major media and citizen journalism. It is also clearly a win-win. The citizen journalist, if they are good, get notoriety and recognition for the high-quality investigative work (CNN makes note of top submissions with a “badge”) – and CNN gets volumes and volumes of free news content for absolutely free. Now what corporate entity doesn’t appreciate the word “free”?
Don’t Sell Out
The running joke about independent bloggers is that their income comes from “Google Adsense.” This presents a whole other aspect of blogging that requires you to remain viable while doing your work. No – Adsense is not the only way that you can receive a paycheck. There are many solutions you can use to earn more income than you wold if you sold out and started working exclusively for major media. I will cover those in future posts, so check back often.
