Investigative Journalism

Investigative is the most challenging field of journalism. It requires a lot of courage to become an investigative journalist.


It is a lot tougher than normal reporting as it requires an in depth research of the subject matter often involving crime, political corruption and scandal. An investigative journalist requires a curious, inquisitive, skeptical, resourceful and alert mind. He should be aware about the law and order to avoid any kind of charges or accusation.

Dangers involved

Many times, a journalist may get charged for breaking the law, if he is not careful about these things.
There have been a lot of cases of the journalist being convicted for secret filming or working somewhere on false identity for the purpose of investigation. A journalist’s purpose may be only to report something crucial to the people but, if he is not smart enough to save himself from all the constraints, he can’t be a good investigator.

De Burgh (2000) states that: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity."

This stream of journalism requires a lot of passion because it always requires the journalist to get the in-depth detail about a matter. Everyday thousands of cases erupt around us which require research and which need to be reported to the masses. A lot of illegal and under the table things keep happening all around us all the time. Journalism requires more and more people with pokey nose who are curious, courageous and have the enthusiasm to aware the masses about everything that’s happening all around us but is hidden from the surface.