MuckrakerThe Muckraker

False Positives

Why are there so few investigative journalists?

I’ve been asking that question alot lately. When I asked on Twitter yesterday, “Anyone know any investigative journalists under 25?”, no names were put forward.

It’s frustrating. I started doing this stuff when I was 15. I had no-one to turn to, no mentors to ask “How do I do this?” or “What should I do next?”; I didn’t know any other muckrakers. I didn’t talk to my friends about it because they didn’t understand. And I didn’t have $70 to join IRE. It was hard. It made me question where the next generation of muckrakers will come from. Who do they turn to when they want to learn the trade? There’s no set career path and very little support. There’s also a serious lack of role models; teenagers in 2012 will not look up to Bernstein and Woodward for reporting they did 40 years ago. Is that why we don’t have more young people saying, “I want to be an investigative reporter when I grow up?”  Read More

Previous Posts


  • Dear Notebook: Day 1

    It’s 11:46pm and I am exhausted. Emotionally drained.

    I’m working on a story about Marie Colvin. The Syrian government insists it had nothing to do with the attack on the house she was staying in. I’m suspicious. A lead came in today via @tweets4peace; she shared some news and I connected the dots, thinking it might be linked to another event. I’m waiting on confirmation from a contact before publishing anything; at the moment, it’s just a reporter’s hunch. I don’t want to spout conspiracy theories with no evidence. Reporters are paranoid. Read More

  • The Muckraker Partners With Farset Labs, Belfast’s Newest ‘Makerspace’

    Earlier this week, I asked for technical help on a story I’m working on: The Wikileaks Files. I need to scrape Wikileaks 251,000 cables to identify sources who have been “outed” (named) in them: whistleblowers, activists, diplomats, etc.

    Reporters are no longer the most important people in the newsroom. Nor are editors. If Watergate happened happened in 2012 instead of 1972, it would be a reporter and a developer exposing it, not two reporters. The application of technology to newsgathering is the most important development to happen in investigative journalism since its birth. Read More

  • Art before ego

    When young people ask me how they can become reporters, I tell them to write. Go report. Dig up a story and publish it. If you do reporting, you’re a reporter. It’s that simple. You don’t need permission to call yourself a journalist.

    They usually look frightened. They expected me to say “First, you have to do A. Then, you’ve got to do B. And then, when you do C, D and E, you will be infinitely qualified to be a journalist”. They want a rite of passage when I’m telling them to just do it. That is the rite of passage. Getting your fingers burnt on the job is the quickest way to learn. Read More

  • On Telling Stories

    “And so what I’m going to do, is sort of go through the whole thing, give it a shape and a context, and I’m just going to try to be really open. That’s my plan. So. Where I’d like to start is at the beginning, which is how I came to make this piece. I’m a monologist. I’m an autobiographical, extemporaneous monologist. I create stories the way that I’m creating this story right now, and tell them to people, out loud, in front of them. I don’t script in any way. I don’t take notes. I don’t write down anything. I tell stories. In front of people. Just like you’re listening to right now.”-Mike Daisey in his first public talk since the NPR scandal broke. Read More

  • Twitter, I really need your help: Wikileaks

    As I wrote last week, I’m working on a story about Wikileaks. A number of confidential sources were named in Wikileaks cables, from activists to whistleblowers to diplomats. Some fear they were harmed when they were ‘outed’. A source told me that US diplomats have not heard any reports on this but can’t be sure. The infrastructure of countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan makes it harder to share information so no checks have been carried out (so I’m told). Read More

  • Stories I’m Working On: Open Editorial Meeting

    Since the charity investigation two years ago, I haven’t really thrown myself into a story. I was afraid to. It’s like falling in love again when the first time broke your heart: terrifying. But I’m doing it.

    When I find a story, I lose myself in it. I become obsessed. I stay up at night. I replay interviews. I can’t sleep. I try to figure it out. There’s always a piece missing. It bugs me. The victims bug me. Read More

  • If you’ve ever wondered why journalism matters…

     

    “I am a first-generation Holocaust survivor. I hold freedom of the press as the dearest of all the freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution. I have been watching with great sadness along many Americans as you have been arrested. I stand with you in solidarity in preserving, honoring and protecting your rights to do your most important job of reporting. May God bless you and keep you.”

    From Josh Stearns (@jcstearns), “Sixteen Thousand People Send Messages to Journalists Arrested During Occupy Protests”

  • Here’s what’s in my notebook.

    Real-time journalism is messy.

    When I’m not minding the mothership at Mediagazer, I like to write stories. Specifically, I like to find out bad things and write about them. That crooked cop accepting pay-offs? Check. The politician bribing the crooked cop? Check. Read More

  • Confirmed: British government opens investigation into Marie Colvin’s death (h/t @AP)

    The AP reports that the British Government has ordered an investigation into the death of war correspondent Marie Colvin to build a war crimes case against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (6th paragraph down).

    I rang the Foreign Office to confirm the story (emails to the AP went unanswered). Read More