Investigative Journalism that Changed the World – Some Topics to Inspire March 10, 2021

1 The definition and role of investigative journalism

2 The impact of social media, clickbait and influencers on investigative journalism ● decline of investigative journalist standards ● decline in the role of print publications (newspapers) 3 Explore influential pieces of investigative journalism – What did they reveal? What if they had not been written? What impact did they have? Here are some examples to consider: ● Martha Gelhorn – Dachau ● Edward R Murrow – The Menace of McCarthyism ● Jessica Mitford – The American Way of Death ● Woodward and Bernstein – Watergate ● Eric Schlosser – Fast Food Nation ● Linda Melvern – Rwandan Genocide ● Seymour M. Hersch – The Massacre at My Lai ● John Pilger – Year Zero – the Silent Death of Cambodia ● Max du Preez and Jacques Pauw – Exposing Apartheid’s Death Squads ● Philip Knightley – The Thalidomide Scandal ● Jo Wilding – Eyewitness in Falluja ● Justin Elliott and Laura Sulivan – How the Red Cross raised half a billion dollars for Haiti and only built 6 homes ● Brian Deer – MMR vaccine controversy ● Ida B Wells-Barnett – Southern Horror (lynching) ● Megha Rajagopalan – Built to Last (Xinjiang detention camps) ● Michael Moore

4 Investigative Journalism Awards ● The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting ● Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting ● Investigative Reporters and Editors Award

5 Providing a safe haven: ● The Trace (investigative journalism on gun violence) ● Mother Jones ● Propublica ● The Marshall Project (investigative journalism on criminal justice) ● Longreads

6 Portrayal of investigative journalism in movies and television

7 The face-to-face approach ● 60 Minutes ● Fox News ● CNN ● Fifth Estate

8 The investigative process – ethics and accountability