The Free(lance)dom to Investigate
Like Jen Willis, today I attended an investigative business journalism seminar organized by the Reynolds Center. Unlike Jen, though, I don't feel as pessimistic about the potential for freelance journalists to do investigative work. Nor do I feel staff writers should lament, at least not for the long term. What I took away more than anything else was the emphasis by Alec Klein and Gary Cohn that quality investigative work often arises from beat reporting. To take that point a bit further, I'd argue that quality investigative work often comes out of everyday reporting, everyday life, everyday focus on and attention to the subjects we cover. It comes from paying attention when we work on even seemingly mundane stories. Yes, it also takes tenacity, and time, and diligence to complete a serious, significant project, and I think Klein and Cohn would likely say the best work is done when given a reporter's complete attention. Nevertheless, when we as freelancers, as well as staff writers tied to a beat, learn of stories we think desperately need to be covered, we should cover them. As Cohn suggested, steal an hour or two. Don't have an hour? Steal twenty minutes.
Perhaps it's problematic to think of investigative journalism only as long-form, intricate work that produces Pulitzer Prizes or reveals the shenanigans behind historic corporate mergers. What would happen, though, if we took investigative angles to each story we produced? What if we took just a few of the tips offered today even to the basest beat story? What if we just spent a few more minutes to ask one more question? What if we just sought out one more source?
What I'm really trying to say here -- and this underscores many of my other opinions about journalism -- is, simply, do the work that you care about, let the work that matters move you and pour your heart into it. Just do it to the extent that you're capable of, take it as far as you can go. And I really mean that. If you want to cover a subject, any subject, take your coverage of it as far as you're comfortable going. Once you get to that limit of your comfort, think about it, think about how far you want to take it. Can you commit to taking it further? Either you can or you can't. You'll either make that additional call, or you won't.
I can readily admit that there are a number of investigative pieces I've wanted to do and haven't. I still have notes from some I approached as a business writer and alt-weekly editor that I'm not quite ready to abandon. For even longer I've wanted to develop a career as an investigative journalist and often felt I've just skirted that desire. Yet, the other side of that coin is that I've incorporated investigative approaches into my day to day approach as a journalist. I realized during today's conference, too, that some of the tips mentioned I'd learned before, from past editors, teachers, previous seminars and from experience. However, many of the tips were still new to me, and those few that weren't were refreshed with this seminar. Yet I know my familiarity with some concepts came from doing, from experimenting, from giving myself just a few more moments on a piece, from taking part of a slow afternoon to scour recent bankruptcy filings, from trusting that my readers actually might want to know more if only I offered it to them and therefore digging just a little more deeply. I've found ways to look at the deeper nuances of stories. I've explored the context in which breaking news occurs.
It comes down to a question of identity. Sometimes I think all journalists are investigative journalists. What differentiates journalists from reporters is the ability and willingness to look behind an event or situation and tell its underlying story, not just announce its existence.
