Investigative Journalism as Research Journalism: A thought on Investigative Journalism Methodology

 Journalists doing what they know best in Naivasha following the PCEA Dagoreti-Hells Gate tragedy

 The word investigation is commonly used as a synonym to the word ‘research’. Actually the term ‘research’ simply means ‘to investigate’ or to ‘explore’. As a process research aims at arriving at dependable solutions as well as information to problems or about phenomena through a systematic plan of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. 

Investigative journalism is thus research journalism, meaning, it is a kind of journalism that is anchored on research – on empirical observation or evidence of an issue to arrive at an objective conclusion. While exploring issues through research an investigative journalist seeks to expose that which is hidden for the common good. Like a researcher an investigative journalist follows a well thought process in looking for data, and in the interpretation or analysis of the data, where data for journalists is simply information.

Q: Should an investigative journalist make the conclusions for his audience or should he only make the facts bare for the audience to make their conclusions?

Investigative journalism parts ways with conventional news reporting on how the journalist gets his information. In most cases, if not all, a conventional news reporter is provided with the materials. An investigative journalist looks for the material through their own initiative, the more the reason it is referred to as enterprise journalism. 

In investigative journalism the ‘why’ of conventional journalism is approached as the ‘how.’ In other words investigative journalists probe further not just on the question of ‘what caused a certain phenomena’ but more deeply ‘what was the manner in which it unfolded.’

 

Investigative journalists are mainly qualitative researchers. Qualitative researchers rely majorly on descriptive modes of explaining phenomena. Unlike quantitative research that is based on numbers or what we may call quantities, to qualitative researchers, culture and behavior of humans is the key to inquiry. But that maybe is the key to the wide field of journalism; that even when we are talking about numbers, we should not stop at the numbers but try to investigate the meaning of those numbers to the way of life of a people (culture). For instance it is not enough to just report that Kenya’s economy is on a downward trend by 1 % but explain what is causing it and how that aspect is being felt by a cross section of citizens. 

Does a methodology for investigative journalism exist? 

In research, a methodology is understood as the method(s) of data acquisition and analysis. But perhaps the best way to look at it is to see a methodology as a step-by-step of the moving towards an unknown destiny – in our case the issue we want to unravel. Looking at it holistically then it should start with the first minute a researcher develops an interest in a certain issue. What this means then is that if at all a methodology for investigative journalism exists then it is anchored on the tenets of research.

But here lies the problem: research as we have come to understand it, especially within academic circles, is too strict. One has to follow the rules of academia to the latter. Yet journalism as we practice it is a walk-in-walk out enterprise; you don’t need to elaborate strictly on a piece of paper for instance about your problem statement as is required in research documents before you can conduct a journalistic interview. You will only need to have at the back of your mind what you hope to achieve at the end of the interview. Well, imagine you are doing a live interview with a politician on women and politics, and you start by saying “Mheshimiwa, welcome to the studio. The problem statement of this interview is…in the past women have not been active in Kenya’s political arena…bla bla bla… We don’t do this. We go straight to the point and leave the rest to academicians. 

However some guidelines as a process and methods for investigative journalism surely exist. And since journalism is an art that is perfected more through experience than formal schooling I wish to borrow largely from my experience: 

1. Topic Selection: Like in research a good investigative story starts with a good selection of its topic. The topic is then narrowed down to an angle which is manageable within meaningful resources which include but are not limited to time and finances. It is important that an investigative journalist picks on a topic that interests him. Interest is the oil that will propel their engine even when the times ahead get tough.    
2. Need: In topic selection the journalist ought to ask how important the investigation is within a given context. Yes, it may be unlikely that someone will scoop you for an investigative piece, but what if the times have 'scooped' your story’s relevance. In some instances this is analyzed as ‘the size of the beast.’ So we ask is the beast you want to shoot down worth the struggle. In research perhaps we will ask of what relevance is the study, or what new knowledge/information do you bring forth.
3. Objectivity: In topic selection this can be analyzed as the independence of the journalist to the subject(s) both as a field of investigation and as characters for investigation. For instance how free will you be investigating the alleged murder of a family member by people who happen to be his former business associates and who are your neighbors. But you can objectively do investigative pieces on business-related cases of murder out of the fact you lost a family member through the same. If anything you will be more sensitive to such issues having gone through this kind of experience – what some people refer to as the broken leg syndrome.
4. Case Study: Picking a case study is about specifics. Who specifically do you consider as the one who will give the best response that will best explain what you want to expose? Where is the person and is reaching them within your reasonable means?
5. Expert Thoughts: With time I have come to learn that a good story is composed of good case study interviews, well recorded actualities for radio, a good photo for news paper and a catchy video for T.V. None of these should be exaggerated. Then expert thought is also important - in most cases for the sake of filling in the gaps and contributing to that aspect of new information. Unless on very technical issues I suggest that experts must not be limited to the Doctors and Engineers. Some people among us have come to hold expert opinion in certain fields that we cannot ignore them even if they have no formal titles.
6. Right of Reply: Story telling in journalism is about conflict of opinion if not of ideas. And if there is any field where opinion contradicts then it is in investigative journalism. As we endeavor to cover some stories we will almost see a list of people who may be implicated in the long run even before we go to the field. It is important to start thinking of how we will have them respond to allegations leveled against them.
7. The Hypothesis: A hypothesis is a guess or an assumption, an explanation we tentatively give to certain issues. An investigative journalist should have a tentative guess on an issue of interest which they should then pursue to prove or disapprove. For instance if one is investigating corruption in terms of C.D.F misuse, the hypothesis can be that the C.D.F.C, the committee that manages the fund is stealing through poor contracting mechanisms. Then you investigate who could the involved contractors be and how are they involved.
8. The Investigation: There are different ways of getting information on an issue. Some issues for investigation may mean that we insert ourselves as participant researchers before we can have any tangible results. However journalism is an oral field. You must get someone talking to tell you the story, if not you narrating. This is the reason good interviewing skills are important for any investigative journalist. It doesn’t matter whether you use a questionnaire as a means of getting first information, a voice will be necessary for an insert or so. Good questions get themselves good answers and the contrary is true. I have great conviction that in investigative journalism open ended questions are the best. The responses to such make the story or the narrative flow.
9. Packaging: Good interviews will remain on tape or paper if the investigative journalist is not skilled enough to expertly pick the best parts of their interviews that best tell the story. Start packaging as the process of data collection goes on to avoid the stress of sieving all at the end. I mean even as you interview you will identify who among your interviewees spoke well etc. Identify them early enough.
10. The power of Description: The core of investigative journalism ought to be good story telling techniques and this is about describing issues so that we can see them even when we are blind folded.
11. Ethical considerations: Although in investigative journalism we always ruffle feathers, this should not be a license to break rules of journalism especially on the right to privacy. We should think of the FAIR principle: FACTS, ACCURACY, IMPARTIALITY and RELIABILITY as well as RESPONSIBILITY. Our stories ought to be dependable in terms of the facts we give as these facts should be able to stand the test of time. Even when we have to ruffle feathers, we should be mindful of the impact such stories have to indirect characters in the stories like family members of an individual a story implicates.
12. AND AS THEY SAY NO STORY IS WORTHY DYING FOR. Observe your safety, we need you to investigate and tell more stories tomorrow. Among the Ibo of Nigeria I am told an adage goes that we always stand in the compound of a man who was seen as a coward to point to the tomb of a man was seen as a hero during his days. The role of the story teller is so important in our times we cannot afford to celebrate the loss of any in the name of investigative journalism.

Online Reference Materials:

·         Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists. UNSECO. 2010.

·         CBA Editorial Guidelines. UNESCO. 2010.

·         The Media We Want: The Kenya Media Vulnerabilities Study. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 2010.

Texts:

• Kombo, D.K. and Tromp, D.L.A. (2006). Proposal and Thesis Writing: An Introduction. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.