Investing in investigation

Investigative journalism seems have been continually put on the back burner in the world of newspapers in favour of retrieving pill bottles out of Lindsay Lohan's bin or documenting exactly what Cheryl Cole doesn't eat.  

News is totally dominated by the here and now, and so it should be.  The entire basis of news is to inform the reader of what is going on.  The manhandling of some prepubescent creature at the launch of their autobiography at the ripe old age of sixteen sits comfortably next to the horror of Afghanistan in which out eyes are challenged to scan the torturous scenes of LA and Gaza simultaneously.  Instant news is what our greedy minds desire but we are lacking is the funding for journalists to delve deep into the back scenes to dig out the stories that do not want to be found, where the absence of publicists is palpable.

However, this finally seems to be changing as The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been given a grant of £2m by the Potter charity foundation.   

Helen Petter, a former Sunday Times journalist, and her husband David who run up the foundation  said "Our goal in helping establish this project is to support investigative journalism of the highest ethical standards and to search for sustainable models for its long-term future."

The fund was headed by Stephen Grey who has been named the acting editor for the bureau, joins writers and campaigners such as Heather Brooke and Nick Davies, of News of the World fame.

The bureau will work with the Centre for Investigative Journalism in the City to use modern technology and resources for investigative reasons but understand that there is no substitute for first hand investigation which they will promote.  the bureau will not be its own publication but will lurk in the undergrowth unearthing the gritty details and selling them onto the newspapers.  Not quite Capote but this is certainly what is needed to get this type of journalism back in the newspapers. 

Nick Davies told The Press Gazette:

"The world is full of extraordinary stories which never get written, because the mainstream media no longer have the resources or the will to do the kind of work which they used to.

"The idea is for reporters to be given the support to go and research good important stories.

"This matters because we all need to know what is happening around us, particularly when powerful people may be trying to conceal it."

The magazine also quotes Seymour Hersh: "The world of serious journalism is in crisis, with the collapse of economies, loss of jobs, and sharp reduction of advertising budgets. The impact on expensive and sometimes unpredictable investigative reporting has been immediate, and devastating."

It may only be £2 million, but hell it is still a start, perhaps we can dig really deep and discover what Cheryl Cole actually eats, that would at least sell the papers until the new stories and unearthed.