Mapping Digital Media: Digital Media and Investigative Reporting

The turmoil afflicting traditional media may well lead to a renaissance for investigative journalism in digital media. Whether or not this happens, however, will probably depend on whether journalists can come to terms with profound shifts in both the ethical and the commercial values of their work. This paper argues that objectivity will be increasingly displaced by transparency as an ethical base for journalism. On the commercial side, ubiquity will have greater value than exclusivity.

The first half of this prediction is already clearly emerging in media such as internet forums, and in the growing prominence of NGOs and “stakeholder media.” The second half depends on monetizing journalism as a service, more than as a product. The core journalistic service is becoming the provision of solutions to audiences increasingly concerned by threats to their prosperity and liberty.

Critical aggregation and the customizing of investigative content for specific audiences within wider networks are two emerging features of this emerging business model. Digital media are not the only forces driving this shift, but they do enable and support it in ways that traditional media are no longer so capable of achieving.