INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND ITS IMPACT ON DEMOCRACY

A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF

MSC IN MEDIA SCIENCE

TO

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

BY

SAPTARSHI CHOWDHURY

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROFESSOR DEBANJAN BANERJEE

NSHM KNOWLEDGE CAMPUS, KOLKATA

 Student Declaration

I hereby declare that this Project Report on Investigative journalism and its impact on
democracy

Under the guidance of Professor Debanjan Banerjee

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

For the degree of Msc. Media Science

To

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology

Is a record of my original work. The information and the data given in the report are authentic
to the best of my knowledge and the same has not been submitted for the award of any
degree, diploma or fellowship or published any time before.

Place: Saptarshi Chowdhury

Date: Registration No.

 Certificate

Investigative Journalism and its impact on democracy

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

For the degree of Msc. Media Science

To

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

By

Saptarshi Chowdhury

Under the supervision and guidance and that one part of this report has been submitted for the
award of any other Degree/Diploma/Fellowship or similar

Titles or prizes

Faculty Guide

Signature:

Name:

Qualification: ................................................................

Signature & Seal of the Learning Centre

 Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my mother, Pampa Chowdhury, my friends and faculty

members who cooperated with me and helped me complete the research. I
would also like to thank all who responded to my queries and took out time
from their busy schedule to answer the questions from the dissertation
questionnaire. I am highly grateful to Prof. Debanjan Banerjee for helping me
out with his invaluable suggestion and guiding me through the dissertation.
 INTRODUCTION

Journalism as a whole consists of many parts; it can be divided into different beats such as
sports, entertainment, health, politics, technology etc. Our focus in this research is to gain
insight knowledge about investigative journalism or reporting and its various aspects.

In a vast country such as India, it is important to have a free and fair press that should form
the backbone of our democracy. Ever since the expose of the Bofors scandal, India has been
privy to investigative journalism on a wide scale. It has not only exposed but also disposed of
people in power for their corrupt practices.

Through this research we study the overall perspective of investigative reporting. We will
also throw light on the future of investigative reporting, how drafting of strong laws can
safeguard journalists and the importance of such reporting in a democracy. The research will
have a special reference about investigative reporting in India and its impact on Indian
politics.
Research Questions:

i Give an example of investigative journalism.

ii Do you believe Investigative journalism is important in a democracy?
iii Do you believe investigative reporters have a threat to their life?
iv Do you think media houses should promote freelance investigative reporting?
v Does investigative reporting make any real impact on politics and society?
vi Will social media play an active role in investigation for journalists in the coming
days?
vii Would you like to see more investigative reporting in India?
viii What are the constraints do you think journalists face while investigating?

Research Objectives:

i To analyse the impact of investigative journalism in a normal functioning

democracy.
ii Study the future of investigative journalism.
iii Understand the difficulties faced while conducting an investigative journalism.
 Review of Literature

My research is to understand the overall perspective of investigative journalism. By overall I

mean to describe the impact of investigative reporting on politics, its importance in a
functioning democracy, the problem reporters face and finally what lies ahead in the future
for it.

To gather information about the research I choose to take online help from various news
websites, researches of other scholars and books,

Investigative Journalism is all about gathering the truth. In an unequivocal voice we can say
that it forms the backbone of our Democracy. Media as the Fourth Estate uses investigative
journalism as a tool to fulfil its role of a watchdog over the government.

Data Collection
To conduct the research in a proper manner, focus has been given on primary and secondary
methods of data collection.

For primary methods, I have done a random survey of forty people The sample includes
people from all sectors of life irrespective of their age, sex and job profile.

People aged between 18 and 55 have been targeted for the survey as they are believed to
have the utmost awareness regarding the topic. However the location is restricted to Kolkata
only.

For secondary methods, I have read books, articles, online blogs and research papers on the
topic. It has provided me with intricate details, thus helping me to analyse in detail the
various aspects of my research topic.

The meaning investigative journalism

Media is considered as the fourth estate in a normal functioning democracy. It is the duty of
the press to hold up the views of the common man, criticise the government of the day and
put forth to them the pros and cons of their schemes and activities in an unbiased form. The
press should essentially be the bridge between the civilians and their elected masters.

Investigative journalism is essentially the practice of journalism that exposes the

wrongdoings by individuals or institutions. The main motive of investigative journalism is to
hold the political class accountable.

The media therefore has donned the role of a watchdog for decades and have played a
proactive role in safeguarding civil rights, investigative reporting on the other hand is the tool
of journalism through which the role of a watchdog is fulfilled.

Reporting through ones own initiative, matters of importance to readers, viewers, surfers or
listeners. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to
remain undisclosed. (Steve Weinberg, An investigators guide to documents and
techniques)

The importance of investigative journalism in a democracy

Democracy has been described by various personalities in different perspectives. Kosovos
first female President, Atifete Jahjaga remarked that, Democracy must be built through open
societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When
there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no
accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein perhaps remain the biggest testimony of the above said
words. They became the celebrated investigative reporters after their investigative report on
Watergate scandal became public in The Washington Post and its aftermath was the
resignation of US President Richard Nixon. The journalism during Watergate scandal remains
the best example till date of holding people in power accountable of their actions to safeguard
democracy.

Information is a vital resource to empower a vigilant public that ultimately holds

government accountable through voting and participation. With the ascent of media-centered
politics in contemporary democracies, the media have eclipsed other social institutions as the
main source of information about issues and processes that affect citizens' lives. (Why
Democracy Needs Investigative Journalism by Silvio Waisbord, Department of
Journalism and Mass Media, Rutgers University)

Investigative journalism in Indian Politics

India, the worlds largest democracy with over two thousand political parties has seen the rise
of investigative reporting for quite a long time. In India the need for a watchdog is a
necessity. Out of 168 countries we rank 76 in the global corruption index, 34% of elected
members of Parliament have criminal cases registered against them such as murder, inciting
communal disharmony etc.

In a scenario like this, investigative reporting puts forth the democratic rights of the common
man in front of our elected lawmakers. It strengthens the bridge of communication between
civilians and governments and holds the government of the day accountable for its actions.

In India, watchdog journalism has proved crucial in safeguarding democracy and

accountability. We will look into some of the most famous cases where the country was
stunned by the disclosure of facts as a result of investigative reporting.

Case Studies

Narsimhan Ram while working as the associate editor of The Hindu reported extensively on
the Bofors scandal. His work highlighted the abnormality in Indias military spending,
alleged kickbacks and payoffs to Indian officials to get the deal passed. The story created
ripples in Lutyens Delhi and was one of the main reasons for the downfall of the Rajiv
Gandhi government. The then Minister of state (MoS) for defence, Arun Singh resigned in
protest against the scam, the Rajiv Gandhi government faced stiff opposition before
eventually losing in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. The Bofors scandal remains an epitome of
political corruption in India, N.Rams investigative journalism also served as an example of
the role of press in a democracy.

Prabhat Khabar, a Hindi daily published in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal
exposed the Fodder scam in Bihar in 1992. The animal husbandry department of the Bihar
government swindled off 1500 crore rupees over a period of five years after the Laloo Yadav
government came to power in the 1990s. Prabhat Khabar started following the news since
the very beginning and reported extensively on the scam, raising questions about officials
close to the Bihar chief minister getting implicated in the investigations. The CBI filed a
charge sheet against Laloo Yadav and fifty four persons in the fodder scam, till date the scam
haunts the ex Bihar chief minister. In June, 2016 Laloo Yadav had to appear before a CBI
special court. He has been barred from being a member of parliament and rendered ineligible
for contesting elections for a period of eleven years.
Tehelka was started as a website by Tarun Tejpal and Aniruddha Bahal. One of its most
successful sting operations was operation west end. The sting was conducted by Mathew
Samuel and Aniruddha Bahal on defence officials and the then politician of the NDA
government. Bahal and Samuel posed as officials of a fake British Arms company who was
keen on supplying thermal imagery equipments to the Indian army. Both of them bribed
junior defence officials and the then BJP president, Bangaru Laxman who promised them that
he will make them acquaintances with NSA Brajesh Mishra. They also bribed Samata party
President, Jaya Jaitley who was to get in touch with defence minister George Fernandes. The
sting operation led to the resignations of all the accused and an official enquiry were started
into defence deals where alleged middlemen involvement was suspected.

Another famous sting operation conducted by Tehelka was The Truth: Gujarat 2002. The
sting operation was conducted on members of Hindu right wing organisation Bajrang Dal
and politicians from BJP. Several politicians from BJP admitted to their role in the 2002
Gujarat communal riots. Babu Bajrangi, the Bajrang Dal leader was caught on tape
confessing about how he led a mob to naroda patiya where 91 Muslim men and women were
massacred. The tapes were released just before the 2007 Gujarat state elections. Ashish
Khaitan the reporter, who did the investigation, testified in court and submitted the tapes as
proof.

In all of the above examples we have seen how investigative journalism has hold people in
power accountable and how these investigations over various issues have made the citizens
more informed about their state of democracy.

Irrespective of whether the person persecuted is a Prime Minister or a Chief Minister,

investigative journalism has shown that there is gross misuse and influence of office by men
in power. It has brought out in the open the criminalisation of Indian politics, the nexus
between mafias and politicians, the corrupt public servants etc.

It is of no doubt that journalism shapes public opinion but often nowadays and more so in the
age of social media, news is either fake or they are incomplete. Print media has in the recent
past has got embroiled in the controversies of paid news and television media in India has
inclined towards political patronage. In a market such as this it is hard to find news that is
unbiased, thus the emphasis lies more on investigative journalism to uncover the truth.

Social media and Investigative journalism

In this age of digitisation and social media, journalism has undergone a paradigm shift. A
person now prefers to read an article on his Smartphone rather than reading a newspaper,
similarly a journalist should teach himself the art of using social media for investigating
journalism.

The Columbia journalism review and the International Consortium of Investigative

Journalism speak of methods and functions of using the social media as a tool by reporters.
For e.g. we can look how reporters of ProPublica, an online based investigative news portal
in America has been carrying out their investigations into a matter of medical error. Reporters
of ProPublica have used the questionnaire format on Google docs to create forms with a link
which have been sent to potential sources. ProPublica also created a facebook page to guide
discussion on the topic under constant monitoring of the reporters.

One of the areas where social media can also be helpful is to track an individual, or a story,
on the web. Following newsmakers is a key way of tracking news on social networks.
Individuals provide colour and context to investigative stories. The information on their
Facebook and Twitter accounts about their educational background, family, circle of friends,
professional associations, their likes and dislikes, and even their travel records can add to the
public knowledge of an individuals private activities.

Today people are putting so much information about their private lives on the internet, that it
has encouraged intelligence agencies to monitor social media websites to collect intelligence.
In terrorism-related investigative stories too, it has been often found that terrorists have a
penchant for social media sites. Their postings, pictures and personal information on
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms may provide an important breakthrough
for a story.

An investigative story, even when it is published, often requires some transparent finessing to
establish a sense of trust and credibility in the reporting process that took place especially
with controversial or sensitive topics. Social media tools come in handy here as these are
useful for opening a dialogue about the story after it is published. The Wall Street Journal, for
example, in its recent series on digital privacy, created a Twitter account that provided
information on the topic and answered questions from readers. Because the series of stories
created a lot of discussion and curiosity, this was an innovative way for the journal to help
address readers questions.

It is hard to overlook the fact that any modern media operation today needs to have a social
media element, and journalists need to be far more interactive with the public than ever
before.

International case studies

1) E. Benjamin Skinner, senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative
Journalism at Brandeis University did an excellent piece of reporting in 2015 titled
The Fishing Industrys Cruellest Catch. The report focused on the conditions of the
migrant Indonesian workers face while fishing in waters off New Zealand aboard
Korean boats. Indonesian villagers reported that they were misled into accepting
contracts on vessels that ply the Southern Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea searching for
fish to be sold to giant American chains like Safeway, Walmart and Whole Foods.

Many of the Indonesians thought they were signing on labour conditions on modern
New Zealand-owned vessels. Once aboard, however, they found themselves virtual
prisoners, forced to work long hours for substandard food and beaten or sometimes
sexually assaulted when they tried to resist.

After various deductions were taken from their pay checks, the workers who were
promised $12 an hour ended up getting only about a dollar an hour. Not only was
Skinners story well-written and well-reported, but within months of its appearance,
New Zealand had moved to change its laws and Safeway, Whole Foods, and Walmart
began investigating their supply chains.

2) Sahara Reporters based in New York and edited by Omoyele Sowore, a Nigerian
made an explosive revelation last year. They leaked stories about how Nigerias
Minister for Aviation, Stella Oduah purchased bulletproof BMWs at nearly double
the price, using the funds from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Sahara
Reporters posted receipts of the purchases and documents linking Oduah to the
scheme.

It also located sources who testified that the whereabouts of the cars were unknown
and that they were suspected of being employed for Oduahs private use. Meanwhile,
Sahara Reporters exposed the budgetary constraints the NCAA was operating under
and linked these to several air mishaps, including two crashes resulting in the deaths
of 140 people. In the beginning of 2016 Oduah was fired.
3) One of the most shocking revelations of 2015 was made by reporters Justin Elliott of
ProPublica and Laura Sullivan of NPR. They exposed how half billion dollars raised
by Red Cross for Haiti were spent on practically nothing and only six buildings were
built as part of a housing project.

Investigation has shown that Red Crosss claim of settling 1, 30, 000 people by
building homes are dubious. Red Cross havent disclosed as to what they have done
with the money. The group could have erased its 100 billion dollars deficit with the
donation money.

4) Sarah Maslin Mir of New York Times did an explosive story on the labour conditions
in New Yorks salon industry. Over a period of year while investigating this story she
uncovered the institutionalized racism, health risks and labour exploitation faced by
the manicurists. As soon as the story was published, emergency task force for
investigation was launched both by the Governor and Mayor of New York.

5) Back in the late 1980s the Willowgate investigation in Zimbabwe remains by far the
best example of investigative reporting in the African continent. Geoffrey Nyarota
was the editor of The Chronicle, a paper that was part of the Zimbabwe Newspapers
Group. The newspaper undertook an investigation of irregular deals at the state-
owned Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries, a car assembly plant where cabinet
ministers and senior government officials were using their positions to buy cars
cheaply as they were officially entitled to do but later reselling the vehicles at
exorbitant prices which they were not. The Chronicles investigations were so
embarrassing to government that President Robert Mugabe appointed a judicial
commission of enquiry to investigate the matter. The commissions findings
vindicated the newspapers reports and several ministers resigned in disgrace.
 Constraints of Investigative Journalism

It is very evident that the path to investigative reporting is not a bed of roses. All over the
world, reporters face problems while conducting their investigations. Constraints can be
broadly classified into political, legal and economic. The unavailability of laws and
frameworks in the above mentioned parameters is a huge roadblock in the path of an
investigative reporter.

Political constraints is generally include pressurizing news organizations and reporters that
publish corrupt practices or wrongdoings .wrongdoing are common everywhere. Corrupt
Individuals have been suppressing stories all over the world by lobbying publishers, editors
and intimidating reporters. Investigative stories generally target the corrupt nexus between
politicians, corporate, drug traffickers etc. Over the years reporters covering these beats have
been murdered all over the world, what remains more shocking are murderers not being
convicted in those cases. Examples include the J.Dey murder case in Mumbai; he was
investigating stories related to the Mumbai underworld. A journalist was burnt to death in
Madhya Pradesh because he was allegedly trying to get to the roots of Vyapam Scam.

Legal constraints may come in the form of access to crucial documents. Although in India,
journalists can file an RTI (Right to Information) to extract information regarding their
subject however this is not the case all over the world. Access laws are mainly unavailable in
many parts of the world such as Latin America and Middle East countries. There is however
one thing that reporters face all around the globe, that is a legal framework to protect witness
or sources. Except from developed and first world countries such as USA, France etc such
laws are not implemented properly everywhere. As a result of this many witnesses and
sources have turned hostile in fear of their life, the reason for which many stories have
remained unfinished.

An organization will never encourage a story that harms their business prospects. In India
where most of the top media houses are owned by corporate entities, it is highly unlikely that
they will venture into investigative reporting. Their corporate bosses will not encourage
stories that expose politicians or businessmen because at the end of the day there is a tacit
understanding between power brokers. Countries like India might earn a lot from advertising
revenue but thats not the case everywhere. News organizations that depend on government
funding cannot officially unearth any wrongdoing by members of the political class.

All the above constraints make investigative reporting whole lot difficult all over the globe.
In this age of globalization, media laws were liberalised and media market grew rapidly.
However deregulation and privatization of media markets has not proven to be the "cure-all
for the historical problems of investigative journalism. Deregulation and privatization have
strengthened the limitations that exist on the issues that can be investigated.