Law Lecture 7 - Investigative Journalism

It occurs to me that I am constantly falling behind on the blogging standards! This is never a good thing, and when I think back to what I was doing when I should have been blogging I genuinely can’t remember what it was! Here is my solemn vow to keep on top of the blogging - I promise! So here I am now, classic Saturday filled with doing nothing, however this time I have pizza AND The Shining to accompany me; this blogging will be done in no time. Anyway, enough of that, let’s get started on the notes! Enjoy my “avid” readers.

Investigative Journalism basically means that it is “off the diary”. This term is used by journalists because they will always have a diary with potential stories in it, there has been no set agenda as it will be you setting your own agenda – sort of trying to guess what the people want to know as the story will be in the case of public interest. Apparently we have to be supremely awkward with our questions and really be argumentative when trying to get a story or information out of someone. This kind of journalism is usually dubbed “Gonzo Journalism”, for example people like Lois Theroux and Michael Moore.

Investigative Journalism = “What someone, somewhere doesn't want you to publish” Brian Thornton

When you’re involved in this field of journalism you have to, obviously, steer clear of malice! For example trying to publish something just to get revenge on someone or spite them – so basically don’t pursue a story when your active motive is personal revenge... that sounds simple enough!

When it comes to investigative journalism on the matter of serious public interest, a well known example would be that of Harry Evans; this man created an insight team to expose the drug companies that released a new drug for women because the women who used this drug had their children born with deformities. This definitely falls into the category of serious public interest.

We’ve been advised to watch the YouTube videos about “Who Bombed Birmingham” here’s the link, I’ve watched most of it and definitely recommend it!
Episode 1 - Watch me :)

Miscarriages of Justice: The classic cases of something being “off-agenda” are miscarriages of justice. This is when people have been framed and go to jail for a crime that they haven’t even committed – this leads us to think that what if the Legal System isn’t as fair and accurate as we think? People tend to go along with “if the legal system said that they are guilty, then they must be guilty” people don’t think twice about the possibility that the justice system is actually corrupt, this brings us back to our earlier lessons on law about the media being the watchdogs that keeps all institutions in check. So journalists are pretty much a team of superheroes... I knew I picked this course for a reason. Life win.