Modern Investigative Journalism

For the first time, investigative journalism professors can begin their work in the field equipped with a full-fledged teaching guide.

‍“The Modern Investigative Journalism curriculum” goes beyond what to teach: it helps beginning instructors in the field to see how to teach it, by describing typical questions that students will ask (along with the answers), along with classroom exercises and take-home assignments that instruct through creative discussion and experience. Hypotheses, timelines, source maps, master files, interview techniques, advanced searching and basic data analysis are all included.

Yet this curriculum goes beyond the expected in several ways: It includes chapters on the history of investigative journalism, on the social, financial and enterprise value that it creates, on ethics, on presentation skills, and on finding and cataloguing open sources. Practioners who have never taught, and academics who have never conducted a journalistic investigation, will be the first beneficiaries of this book, which fills the gaps in their experience. Even experienced trainers will find new approaches to their material, particularly if, like many leaders in the field, they already use Story-Based Inquiry, the core of the new curriculum, as their basic teaching text.