My Career in Media: Becoming an Investigative Journalist

This essay outlines the career path of an investigative journalist, emphasizing the role's significance in uncovering hidden truths. It differentiates investigative journalism from traditional methods, highlighting its reliance on independent research and the time-consuming nature of investigations. The essay discusses essential skills like courage, curiosity, and ethical conduct, along with the need for a journalism or communication degree. It covers salary expectations, the importance of experience, and the impact of technology. The essay also mentions prominent figures in investigative journalism and addresses the challenges, ethical considerations, and the growing demand for this profession in the media landscape.

My dream career in media is to be an investigative journalist. Investigative journalism has the
charm of being the real media person who brings out the undisclosed facts in front of the
public. An investigative journalist delves deep into a topic and unravels the truth behind the
same which has been hidden deliberately by people in authoritative positions or by accident
due to the chaotic mass of facts and figures.
Investigative journalism is very different from the traditional or conventional journalism.
The traditional method relies on data provided by the government agencies, NGOs, etc.,
whereas Investigative journalism relies on data uncovered by the initiatives of the journalist.
This kind of journalism might take months or years to unearth a single topic or a subject. It is
far more challenging than the normal route of journalism since it might involve uncovering of
corruption in government or corporate houses, and is also attracting attention towards
political, cultural, economic or social trends (Chua 2015).
The average salary of an investigative journalist in the USA is approx $ 38,569 per annum.
However, the salary in this field does not go up according to skill level, but the increase in
salary is based on experience and place of work (ZipRecruiter 2019).
The main thing that a investigative journalist needs is courage. However, curiosity is also
another major characteristic for a journalist and like any other profession one needs to be
passionate about the profession. But in investigative journalism, the first point of action is to
ask the right questions at the right place. A journalist in this field needs to be flexible in their
methods and procedures. General knowledge is an essential part of this profession since one
needs to know the basics to delve deeper into the other more intricate issues. A reporter in
this field needs to have a strong sense of personal ethics and a sense of discretion to keep
their work and lives of people involved away from risk (Meeks 2018).
The investigative journalism needs a Bachelor’s degree in journalism or communication.
However, in the last couple of years, there has been an increase in the number of investigative
journalism courses offered by certain universities. But, the universities in the UK and USA
are more frequent in developing courses on investigative journalism compared to the
universities in Australia. Overall, till date, only a handful of universities offer the course on
the same across the globe. Fortunately, this course depends more on the person, rather than
the course. Personally, I believe that a good knowledge of journalism and personal attributes
are the main factors in becoming an investigative journalist (Study.com 2018).

Generally, an investigative journalist has a degree in journalism with ample training in
writing skills, visual and digital ways of recording and the experience is more possible with
the smaller newspaper or audiovisual media stations rather than the corporate giants. The
process takes time since all the media groups does not always prefer to offer investigation to
the freshers and some years of experience and skills, pave the way for the desired field.
However, this also depends on the individual and the skills and expertise exhibited by the
individual .
Due to increased awareness among the general public to understand and get informed,
journalism with an aspect of the investigation is gradually becoming popular. Global
Investigative Journalism Network, provides a list of organizations based on regions, which
provide support for investigative journalism for the interest of the general public. The need
for investigative journalism is becoming more with time and thus most of the media houses
have journalists who are dealing with independent investigations but they might not be
necessarily be labelled as the investigative journalist. But the essence lies in the fact that how
fast one can create a credible position in the field and then eventually be labelled as an
investigative journalist, unless one has obtained the specific degree in the field.
Disruption is an ongoing process in this field where the journalists are continuously deterred
from revealing the truth behind major controversial topics. However, the need for
investigative journalism is on the rise than it was about a decade ago. Due to the constant
need and pressure from the public, the media houses are open to more investigation for
unravelling the truth behind many aspects of politics, social and corporate (Rudin & Ibbotson
2013).
The profession is based on strong personal ethics and persistence. It does not have much to
change based on the change in governmental or social changes. But technology is a useful
tool in the hands of journalists and any advancement in technology for this specific
profession would always be welcome (Hume & Abbott 2017).
In this profession, the name that is currently in the news for investigation is of Eliot Higgins.
A person who has become famous in a span of 7 years and has been responsible for some of
the biggest stories of recent times. He has worked on the shooting down of the Malaysian
Airlines in Ukraine to the poisoning of Yulia Skripal and Sergei in the United Kingdom.
However, this profession has other big names who are famous for their investigative skills

and courage. The names that immediately crop up in the mind are Jon Stewart, Diane Sawyer,
Bob Woodward, just to name a few (Academy 2015).
A person planning to build a career in investigative journalism should remember that the
profession is not a typical 9 to 5 job and demands attention at any time of the day. One must
have the courage to ask direct questions and it is certainly not as glamorous as the movies
claim it to be. There is a possibility that the practitioners shall get demotivated easily, but one
needs to hold strong. To get to one right clue, there might be 10 wrong clues, at one point in
time, one may feel dejected, but that doesn’t end the scope of investigation. Thus the
practitioner needs to be mentally strong, persistent, passionate and cautious. The investigation
does not mean risking the lives of others and self at all bends of life (Moskovitz 2016).
References
Academy, NYF 2015, Top 12 Most Influential Journalists Of Today, viewed 29 March 2019,
<https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/top-12-influential-journalists-today/>.
Chua, YT 2015, 'Investigative Journalism as Academic Research Output?: That Will be the
Day', Asia Pacific Media Educator, vol 25, no. 1, pp. 13-20.
Hume, E & Abbott, S 2017, 'The Future of Investigative Journalism: Global, Networked and
Collaborative', Descriptive, Global Investigative Journalism Network, Adessium Foundation.
Meeks, BN 2018, ‘Twelve Step Program’ for Becoming an Investigative Reporter, viewed 29
March 2019, <https://medium.com/@BrockMeeks/twelve-step-program-for-becoming-an-
investigative-reporter-f408002f17ee>.
Moskovitz, D 2016, 14 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became an Investigative Reporter,
viewed 29 March 2019, <https://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/a54095/investigative-
reporter-career/>.
Rudin, R & Ibbotson, T 2013, 'Researching and recording information', in Introduction to
Journalism: Essential techniques and background knowledge, 2013th edn, Focal Press,
London.
Study.com 2018, Become an Investigative Journalist: Education and Career Roadmap,
viewed 29 March 2019,
<https://study.com/articles/Become_an_Investigative_Journalist_Education_and_Career_Roa
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ZipRecruiter 2019, Average Salary of Investigative Journalist Jobs, viewed 29 March 2019,
<https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Investigative-Journalist-Salary>.