# What Happened to the True Investigative Reporters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 4, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019 "2018-03-04T18:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fair\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6de8d8/32.png) [@Fair\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Firm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/1 "2018-03-04T18:38:06Z")
This question could have worded several different ways. I guess I’m not understanding not seeing or hearing of straight shooting investigative reporters giving straight reports of Washington events, deeds and misdeeds in a non-prejudicial, straight forward manner. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/2 "2018-03-04T18:53:01Z")
They still exist, but nowadays I can see that a lot of what the investigators report is not maintained constantly in the public eye by most of the media, unlike nothing burgers such as the Benghazi “conspiracy”. Good examples can be found with the Pulitzer price winners of investigative reporting: [http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/206](http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/206) > [@](#): > > 2016 > Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune > > For a stellar example of collaborative reporting by two news organizations that revealed escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals and laid the blame at the door of state officials. > [@](#): > > 2015 > Eric Lipton of The New York Times > > For reporting that showed how the influence of lobbyists can sway congressional leaders and state attorneys general, slanting justice toward the wealthy and connected. > [@](#): > > 2014 > Chris Hamby of The Center for Public Integrity, Washington, DC > > For his reports on how some lawyers and doctors rigged a system to deny benefits to coal miners stricken with black lung disease, resulting in remedial legislative efforts. > [@](#): > > 2009 > David Barstow of The New York Times > > For his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/3 "2018-03-04T19:19:19Z")
> [@Fair\_Firm](#): > > This question could have worded several different ways. I guess I’m not understanding not seeing or hearing of straight shooting investigative reporters giving straight reports of Washington events, deeds and misdeeds in a non-prejudicial, straight forward manner. Do you consider the DC reportage from PBS Newshour found wanting? Certainly recommended viewing, no? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/4 "2018-03-04T19:25:56Z")
If the recent work by the NY Times and Washington Post isn’t investigative reporting, I don’t know what is. They are far from the only examples today. I don’t know why non-prejudicial is a requirement. If your ox is being gored, you will consider the reporting highly prejudicial, whether you were a fan of the Vietnam War during the time if the Pentagon Papers of a fan of Trump today. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/5 "2018-03-05T00:49:21Z")
One reason I still subscribe to my local newspaper is that they still run major investigative stories once in a while. About a year ago they ran a huge series on kids in juvenile detention being drugged with inappropriate medications intended for psychotic adults. It got a lot of attention. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/6 "2018-03-05T04:57:26Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > One reason I still subscribe to my local newspaper is that they still run major investigative stories once in a while. About a year ago they ran a huge series on kids in juvenile detention being drugged with inappropriate medications intended for psychotic adults. It got a lot of attention. I pay an inordinate amount for home delivery of the NY Times in California, but the recent reports made me feel it was well worth it. Alas, the local group that bought the Mercury News does some investigative reporting, but not like it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/7 "2018-03-05T05:48:14Z")
[ProPublica.org](https://www.propublica.org) also supports investigative journalism by funding journalists to pursue in-depth stories and providing a network of investigative contacts worldwide, often in conjunction with other major news organizations like _The Washington Post_, _The New York Times_, ABC News, and Al Jazeera. They’ve actually done some of the best investigative journalism on the impact of the Afghanistan invasion, extralegal DEA operations in Mexico, and the impacts of income inequality in the United States including how municipal governments exploit the poor through citations for minor or non-existent crimes. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/8 "2018-03-05T08:15:46Z")
Two more excellent investigative print/online sources: [The Columbia Jounalism Review](https://www.cjr.org/) [The Washington Monthly](https://washingtonmonthly.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/9 "2018-03-05T16:22:42Z")
I think budgets have gotten so tight they cannot afford to have a reporter working on a story for several weeks or to pay expenses like travel. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/10 "2018-03-05T17:26:42Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think budgets have gotten so tight they cannot afford to have a reporter working on a story for several weeks or to pay expenses like travel. Reporters work on a story for several weeks all the time. They can actually work on more than one story at a time and submit shorter stories while working on longer investigative stories. Also, travel is what foreign correspondents do all the time. Which isn’t to say budgets aren’t tight. But it seems to me that they’ve never been particularly generous in journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/11 "2018-03-06T16:12:22Z")
I still enjoy Frontline, plus on occasion reading stories from those two major newspapers mentioned. I miss what Diane Sawyer’s used to do, busting Food Lion on selling rotting meat, and changing expiration dates on products. IIRC, I think they used baking soda along with chorine to clean it up. Food Lion filed suit against the ABC program, not on the grounds that they found the piece inaccurate, but they accused the show of fraud by signing up as Food Lion employees, and using hidden cameras. Food Lion won its multimillion dollar suit against ABC, at least initially, but IIRC think it eventually got overturned. It’s been a long time ago, so not sure how it all ended up. I think it was her show that did the expose on faith healing televangelists too. One televangelist got shut down completely, another took a break, but is still going strong. Would like to see somebody do some piece on the prosperity televangelists. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/12 "2018-03-06T17:35:58Z")
Do you subscribe to a newspaper? Likely not. They are disappearing. So, who then will _pay_ the Investigative reporters? Who will stand behind them with teams of lawyers? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/13 "2018-03-06T18:55:59Z")
I may be wrong, but I don’t think most newspapers in general ever paid a lot for investigative reporting to begin with - just the big boys like the Times and Post? So the question for me becomes, how expensive/extensive/in danger is non-national level investigative reporting as well? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/14 "2018-03-06T20:15:52Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I may be wrong, but I don’t think most newspapers in general ever paid a lot for investigative reporting to begin with - just the big boys like the Times and Post? > > So the question for me becomes, how expensive/extensive/in danger is non-national level investigative reporting as well? Wehn I worked for the old LA Herald Examiner, we had some high paid ones. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/15 "2018-03-06T21:37:27Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I may be wrong, but I don’t think most newspapers in general ever paid a lot for investigative reporting to begin with - just the big boys like the Times and Post? > > So the question for me becomes, how expensive/extensive/in danger is non-national level investigative reporting as well? In fact, most major papers supported reporters in doing in-depth investigative reporting, often allow8ng beat reporters a sabatical to work a promising story, which also allowed younger reporters to get experience covering beats. With declining subscription readership, most second tier papers have moved to curtailing even covering beats like courhouse or local politics in favor of public interest stories requiring coverage less fact-checking, and using news from wire services to cover major stories. However, a large amount of political corruption occurs at the local and state level and is only covered by metropolitan news organizations unless there is some connection to a larger story. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/16 "2018-03-07T03:12:53Z")
One of the biggest barriers is budget. It costs a lot for investigative reporting. I used to write some pieces in China for web based news 15 years ago. It was a couple of hundred dollars per piece, and even though I put in a decent amount of hours, I didn’t put in a stupid amount of time. Most folks now read news for free. Or use https to get around firewalls. I finally decided that while I didn’t need to pay for a NY Times subscription, I wanted to do my bit to make sure they remain staffed. And there are not a lot of news organizations that can staff much for investigative journalism these days. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/17 "2018-03-07T05:31:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Do you subscribe to a newspaper? Likely not. They are disappearing. So, who then will _pay_ the Investigative reporters? Who will stand behind them with teams of lawyers? Today when people subscribe to newspapers like the New York Times or the Washington Post, they often subscribe to the online versions. The New York Times has 3.5 million subscribers. They’re not doing too poorly. Even newspapers that don’t charge for online subscriptions make money as newspapers have always done: by ads. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/18 "2018-03-07T21:25:26Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I may be wrong, but I don’t think most newspapers in general ever paid a lot for investigative reporting to begin with - just the big boys like the Times and Post? > > So the question for me becomes, how expensive/extensive/in danger is non-national level investigative reporting as well? Every local newspaper I’ve ever subscribed to has done investigative reporting. Of local stories the big boys are too big to cover. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-true-investigative-reporters/810019/19 "2018-03-08T01:35:11Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > I still enjoy Frontline, … I second this. I watched the Frontline episodes “Bitter Rivals” regarding the schism between Iran and Saudi Arabia last week and asked the same question as the OP (meaning, ‘why there is not more reporting like this?’). I think the fact that you have to try (e.g. go a little out of your way) to find such reporting means it’s too much effort for most people. I think most people are lucky to catch their local evening news (where “reporting” amounts to what they can squeeze into 30 minutes), much less seek-out specific, detailed reporting.