Lowell Bergmann is a ground breaking investigative reporter, a producer/correspondent for the PBS documentary series "
Frontline" in the US and spent 14 years as a producer with CBS's "
60 Minutes".
Bergman shared a
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service with
The New York Times in 2004 for "A Dangerous Business," (which detailed a record of egregious worker safety violations coupled with the systematic violation of environmental laws in the iron sewer and water pipe industry) and is a Professor at the
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Furthermore, he is a co-founder of the
Centre for Investigative Journalism and a consultant at
ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
The story of Bergman's investigation of the tobacco industry for 60 Minutes was chronicled in the 1999 Academy Award-nominated feature film "
The Insider", in which Bergman was portrayed by
Al Pacino (below left).
The Editors Weblog contacted Lowell Bergman - who was an early adopter and advocate of the multimedia model - to discover his views on the key issues facing investigative reporting and its future.
EW:
What do you see in the future for investigative journalism? Do you still see it as having a home at newspapers?LB: Investigative journalism in America has always been done by magazines and in books as well as in newspaper. For many years newspapers were not doing much of it. It was a 'freelance' occupation usually with writers like
I.F. Stone and others who left newspapers because they were too restrictive. Personally, I have been using the web and been 'online' for more than a decade.
But it remains true that it is newspapers and traditional news organizations that produce almost all the new information everyday.
Pure web based operations with a few new exceptions recycle information they get from those organizations. We will see web based sites becoming the providers of more and more news and quality information in the future, but the transition will take time.
EB:
What do you see as the key issue facing your profession?LB: I am not sure it is a 'profession' in the traditional sense. In this country it is open to everyone. It is not licensed. Right now the transformation of the media endangers the collective experience of news people who chose to make gathering, investigating and presenting quality information their life work. That is why
non-profits and educational institutions [Universities] will become more and more important. They do not have the same pressures.
Its a time of transition, a kind of "Middle Age", that will not see a resurgence of real reporting until the economic questions are resolved.EW:
How has new media changed the way you work?
LB: Obviously, the availability of databases, newspaper archives and all sorts of information on the Web makes many things easier. But the old techniques and standards have not been replaced. To do investigative or in depth reporting you have take the time to meet people, and not meet them in a chat room.
Confidentiality on the internet is virtually impossible. It depends on trust. And trust is the weakest link in terms of the reliability of information offered up on the Web by so called 'new media'.
EW:
Do you think there is more pressure from editors with the advent of the 24-hour news culture? Are investigative journalists getting the time and resources necessary? LB: At a certain point you are a stenographer, if you don't have enough time to do the kind of reporting that advances what we know. This is not just true of 'investigative' reporters.
All good reporting involves asking some skeptical questions and not assuming what you are told is true. When I think of 'investigative reporting' I mean reporting in the public interest that looks deeply into a subject or story. Often it involves developing sources or hunting for documents or both and having the time to explore what they mean. At the same time in the best of all world's your editor is happy if you come back and say there is no story, or the story you originally went in pursuit of changed.
So, in answer to your question t
he pressure of a failing economic model by definition means there is less time. Prior to the decline of newspapers, broadcasters in the U.S. freed from the strictures around licensing that once forced them to present programming in the public interest along with operating with the threat of punishment created worldwide news gathering organizations. They had the incentive to do documentaries and present them even if the ratings were far below those of entertainment. That is no longer the case so you have less in depth reporting on the air as well.
EW:
Is the law now having an impact on your profession? Is the law becoming more restrictive for journalists in general, and investigative journalists in particular?LB: Not really. There has been a squeeze on the confidential source privilege, but it appears that Congress and a new President will sign a federal 'shield law'. The issues surrounding what is called national security reporting and/or criminal cases where a prosecutor or defendant has no where else to turn for information are unlikely to be resolved by the legislation. It is more of a question of the attitude/discretion of the prosecutors.
EW:
Do you feel protected by the law? LB: I never expect 'protection'. My sources do.
EW:
How do you think an editor should best manage an investigative reporting team or reporter? LB: Briefly, they should provide insight, encouragement and support, especially when the going gets tough.
EW:
Who are the main competition to newspaper investigative reporters now? What are your thoughts on groups such as ProPublica?This work is non profit. I have even called it 'anti-profit' by its very nature. So ProPublica, I am a consultant, or the Center for Investigative Reporting, I am one of the founders, are non profits working the public interest. Basically, that is what a very good newspaper newsroom does: report stories without fear or favor, and without considering the resources needed to do that.
It is at its root a non-profit activity.
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/09/the_future_of_investigative_journalism_p_1.php&bodytext=<b>Lowell Bergmann</b> is a ground breaking investigative reporter, a producer/correspondent for the PBS documentary series "<b>Frontline</b>" in the US and spent 14 years as a producer with CBS's "<b>60 Minutes</b>". <br /><br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="796" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/images-3.jpeg"><img alt="images-3.jpeg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/images-3-thumb-100x149.jpeg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="149" width="100" /></a></form>Bergman shared a <b>Pulitzer Prize</b> for Public Service with <i>The New York Times</i> in 2004 for "A Dangerous Business," (which detailed a record of egregious worker safety violations coupled with the systematic violation of environmental laws in the iron sewer and water pipe industry) and is a Professor at the <b>UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism</b>. Furthermore, he is a co-founder of the <b>Centre for Investigative Journalism</b> and a consultant at <b>ProPublica</b>, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.<br /><br />The story of Bergman's investigation of the tobacco industry for 60 Minutes was chronicled in the 1999 Academy Award-nominated feature film "<b>The Insider</b>", in which Bergman was portrayed by <b>Al Pacino</b> (below left).<br /><br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="798" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/images-1.jpeg"><img alt="images-1.jpeg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/images-1-thumb-150x99.jpeg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="99" width="150" /></a></form>The Editors Weblog contacted Lowell Bergman - who was an early adopter and advocate of the multimedia model - to discover his views on the key issues facing investigative reporting and its future.<br /><br />EW: <b>What do you see in the future for investigative journalism? Do you still see it as having a home at newspapers?</b><br /><br />LB: Investigative journalism in America has always been done by magazines and in books as well as in newspaper. For many years newspapers were not doing much of it. It was a 'freelance' occupation usually with writers like <b>I.F. Stone</b> and others who left newspapers because they were too restrictive. Personally, I have been using the web and been 'online' for more than a decade.<br /><br />But it remains true that it is newspapers and traditional news organizations that produce almost all the new information everyday.<br /><br />Pure web based operations with a few new exceptions recycle information they get from those organizations. We will see web based sites becoming the providers of more and more news and quality information in the future, but the transition will take time.<br /><br />EB: <b>What do you see as the key issue facing your profession?</b><br /><br />LB: I am not sure it is a 'profession' in the traditional sense. In this country it is open to everyone. It is not licensed. Right now the transformation of the media endangers the collective experience of news people who chose to make gathering, investigating and presenting quality information their life work. That is why <b>non-profits and educational institutions [Universities] will become more and more important.</b> They do not have the same pressures. <b>Its a time of transition, a kind of "Middle Age", that will not see a resurgence of real reporting until the economic questions are resolved.</b><br /><br />EW: <b>How has new media changed the way you work?<br /></b><br />LB: Obviously, the availability of databases, newspaper archives and all sorts of information on the Web makes many things easier. But the old techniques and standards have not been replaced. To do investigative or in depth reporting you have take the time to meet people, and not meet them in a chat room.<br /><br />Confidentiality on the internet is virtually impossible. It depends on trust. And trust is the weakest link in terms of the reliability of information offered up on the Web by so called 'new media'.<br /><br />EW: <b>Do you think there is more pressure from editors with the advent of the 24-hour news culture? Are investigative journalists getting the time and resources necessary? </b><br /><br />LB: At a certain point you are a stenographer, if you don't have enough time to do the kind of reporting that advances what we know. This is not just true of 'investigative' reporters. <br /><br />All good reporting involves asking some skeptical questions and not assuming what you are told is true. When I think of 'investigative reporting' I mean reporting in the public interest that looks deeply into a subject or story. Often it involves developing sources or hunting for documents or both and having the time to explore what they mean. At the same time in the best of all world's your editor is happy if you come back and say there is no story, or the story you originally went in pursuit of changed. <br /><br />So, in answer to your question t<b>he pressure of a failing economic model by definition means there is less time. </b>Prior to the decline of newspapers, broadcasters in the U.S. freed from the strictures around licensing that once forced them to present programming in the public interest along with operating with the threat of punishment created worldwide news gathering organizations. They had the incentive to do documentaries and present them even if the ratings were far below those of entertainment. That is no longer the case so you have less in depth reporting on the air as well.<br /><br />EW: <b>Is the law now having an impact on your profession? Is the law becoming more restrictive for journalists in general, and investigative journalists in particular?</b><br /><br />LB: Not really. There has been a squeeze on the confidential source privilege, but it appears that Congress and a new President will sign a federal 'shield law'. The issues surrounding what is called national security reporting and/or criminal cases where a prosecutor or defendant has no where else to turn for information are unlikely to be resolved by the legislation. It is more of a question of the attitude/discretion of the prosecutors.<br /><br />EW: <b>Do you feel protected by the law? </b><br /><br />LB: I never expect 'protection'. My sources do. <br /><br />EW: <b>How do you think an editor should best manage an investigative reporting team or reporter? </b><br /><br />LB: Briefly, they should provide insight, encouragement and support, especially when the going gets tough.<br /><br />EW: <b>Who are the main competition to newspaper investigative reporters now? What are your thoughts on groups such as ProPublica?</b><br /><br />This work is non profit. I have even called it 'anti-profit' by its very nature. So ProPublica, I am a consultant, or the Center for Investigative Reporting, I am one of the founders, are non profits working the public interest. Basically, that is what a very good newspaper newsroom does: report stories without fear or favor, and without considering the resources needed to do that. <b>It is at its root a non-profit activity.<br /><br /><br /></b><br /> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>&title=The Future of Investigative Journalism Part 2: <b>Pulitzer prize winner Lowell Bergman</b> - "It is at its root a non-profit activity"){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/09/google_releases_open_source_web_browser.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="779" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/chrome_500x358-thumb-300x214.jpg"><img alt="Thumbnail image for chrome_500x358.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2008/09/chrome_500x358-thumb-300x214-thumb-250x178.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="178" width="250" /></a></form><b>Google</b> reports that it is launching <b>Chrome</b>, an open source web browser that will be competing with <b>Internet Explorer</b> and <b>Firefox</b>. Chrome would be "lightweight" and "fast" so as to adapt to modern web applications that rely on multimedia and graphics, reports the <b>European Journalism Centre</b>. <br /><br /><br /> <div><br /></div>&title=<b>Google</b> releases open source Web browser){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/09/getty_images_to_be_available_through_bli.php&bodytext=<b>Getty Images</b> content will now be available through video search engine <b>blinkx</b>, as part of a new deal between the two companies.<br /><br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="772" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/getty.jpg_resized_x_300.jpeg"><img alt="getty.jpg_resized_x_300.jpeg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/getty.jpg_resized_x_300-thumb-250x200.jpeg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="200" width="250" /></a>Advertising revenue will be shared between blinkx and Getty from the conceptual advertising placed around the content.<br /></form><br />The deal has been struck to take advantage of the upcoming US elections, as Getty will provide feeds from the Democrat and Republican National Conventions through blinkx.<br /><br />"We believe our assets deserve wide exposure, and we're always looking for innovative ways to make our digital content easily accessible," said Josh Rucci, senior director of multimedia sales for Getty.<br /><br />The deal follows the UK's ITN's recent partnership with blinkx to make its news videos available through the search engine.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/532248.php">Journalism.co.uk</a><br /><br /> <div><br /></div>&title=<b>Getty Images</b> to be available through <b>blinkx</b>){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_journalists_are_utilising_twitter_thi.php&bodytext=<i>Poynter</i> journalist <b>Steve Myers</b> is using <b>Twitter </b>to cover the Republican and Democrat conventions this election season and he writes today about the various ways users can utilise Twitter to get the inside track on the conventions.<br /><br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="765" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/convention_hall_thumbnail.jpg"><img alt="convention_hall_thumbnail.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/convention_hall_thumbnail-thumb-300x224.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="224" width="300" /></a></form>Myer has created a Twitter account called DNCjournalists (he is the early stages of establishing one for the Republicans, which will be called RNCjournalists), that will aggregate Twitter updates about the Democrats from other journalists at the conventions. <br /><br />He also reports that C-SPAN's Republican and Democratic convention sites will display any Twitter updates (called "tweets") that contain the tags #DNC08 or #RNC08. All Twitter user can participate in the forum.<br /><br />The <b>National Press Club</b> recently announced a Twitter training session and ended up training 29 people, some of whom will tweet from the conventions. <br /><br />Journalists are using Twitter in a variety of ways, some are using it to push their stories and others use the service to comment on what's going on in the news or to seek comments on their work. Plus, they can simply use it to answer the question "What are you doing?" <br /><br />Myers believes that this is one of the most interesting things about Twitter; he says that although the platform and the purpose seem to be quite limited, the service can be used a number of ways. <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=129&aid=148796">Poynter Online</a><br /><br />See also:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_more_new_media_at_poliical_convention.php">US: New media makes an impact at political conventions </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/08/interview_twitsms_exploits_gap_in_the_ma.php">Interview: Twitsms exploits gap in the market after Twitter axe SMS</a><br /> <div><br /></div>&title=US: Journalists are utilising <b>Twitter</b> this election season){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uk_northcliffe_media_titles_redesign_thi.php&bodytext=<a href="http://www.thisisnorthcliffe.co.uk/"><b>Northcliffe Meida</b></a> regional dailies like the <i>Nottingham Evening Post</i>, <i>Lincolnshire Echo</i> and <i>South Wales Evening Post</i> have now joined the 48 titles that revamped their thisis site, as the publisher gets closer to transferring all online content on its "Next Generation" platform, reports <b>Holdthefrontpage.co.uk</b>. <br /><br />"Not only are we upgrading the network to introduce evolutionary design changes and enhanced multimedia content aimed at maximising interaction with end users, but we are also enlarging it to more than 150 sites in total," says <b>Robert Hardie</b>, strategy director of content for Northcliffe Media,<br /> <br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="739" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newkent.jpg"><img alt="newkent.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newkent-thumb-320x166.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="166" width="320" /></a></form>A number of the revamped sites have hyperlocal "sub-sites" which present users with news content covering a particular small town or village. <br /><br />Weeklies from Kent and Sussex joined the redesign. According to Hardie, the "big winners" are users from Kent since they now have 30 sites covering their region, which is a progression for Northcliffe's <form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="741" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newnotts.jpg"><img alt="newnotts.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newnotts-thumb-320x218.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="218" width="320" /></a></form>businesses in Kent and the ones obtained from Trinity Mirror in 2007. <br /><br />The revamped sites have permanent archives to which around 10,000 articles are added each week. <br /><br />In addition, searches have been optimized so search engines can drive more traffic to Northcliffe Media websites.<br /><br />"As journalists get even better at writing SEO (Search Engine Optimization)-targeted headlines and adding specific keywords, the scale of that uplift will continue to grow," Hardie points out. <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/080821newnorth.shtml"><b>Hold The Front Page</b></a><br /> &title=UK: <b>Northcliffe Media</b> titles redesign <b>thisis</b> sites){kind=link}