Group 7's presentation

3. WATCHDOG JOURNALISM IS…
• Making the affairs of powerful
institutions more transparent to the
public.
• Not only does it monitor
government, but also applies to all
the powerful institutions in society.
• By changing the award from “Local
Reporting” to “Investigative
Reporting”, Pulitzer was putting new
emphasis on the role of the press as
activist, reformer, and exposer.

4. Watchdog
Journalism
means,
“watching over
the powerful few
in society on
behalf of the
many to guard
against tyranny.”

5. “Nine out of ten journalists
believe the press “keeps
political leaders from doing
things they shouldn’t do,””
(Kovach and Rosentiel 143).

6. EXAMPLES OF EARLY INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISM
Spie and
Scout
“Unlike the proclamations and town criers
who provided the information those in
power wanted distributed, these new
periodicals aspired to tell the people what
the government actually did. Though
government often clamped down on these
early printers, as it would so often
throughout the world, they established
investigative reporting as one of the earliest
principles that would set journalism apart
from other means of communication with
the public.”

7. ENDLESS CRITICISMS LOSE MEANING, AND THE
PUBLIC HAS NO BASIS FOR JUDGING GOOD
FROM BAD.

8. 3 TYPES OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Original Investigative Journalism
Interpretative Investigative
Journalism
Reporting on Investigation

9. Watergate was one of the
biggest scandals ever and
Woodward and Bernstein’s
names have bee
remembered for years for
their brilliance in
investigative journalism.
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=1CA6gioR540&feature
=colike

10. THE PENTAGON PAPERS
WERE A MAJOR
SCANDAL IN THE NYT.
http://youtu.be/XwXylIaJ_Lg

11. The risks of this reporting…is
that its value is largely
dependent on the rigor and
skepticism of the reporter
involved.
http://youtu.be/IOgNqHsVGU
Y

12. WATCHDOG BEING WEAKENED
-“Our obligation is not to deliver the
news. Our obligation is to do good
programming.” – Executive
producer of ABC’s 20/20, Victor
Neufeld
How do you feel about this
statement?

13. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO WATCHDOG?
• …too much of the new “investigative” reporting is tabloid
treatment of everyday circumstances.
• Creating news devoted to exposure
• The public may have no way of discerning between gossip and
fact
• Turning watchdog into a form of amusement
• With most local news stations in America now featuring an “I-
team” and prime-time newsmagazines offering the promise of
nightly exposes, we have created a permanent infrastructure of
news devoted to exposure.
• With how the power of watchdog journalism was being weakened
http://youtu.be/EWqdzcP4MTY
by tabloid treatment of everyday circumstances, TV reporter Liz
Leamy coined this phrase, “just add water.”

15. POWER OF WATCHDOG
Because what the investigative journalist discloses may lead to loss of reputation
or change the flow of public events, it carries a greater weight of
responsibility, not only in verification of fact but also in sharing information
about the nature of the sources of that information.
The watchdog is unlike any other role. For all that it is similar to all other
journalism, it requires special skills, a special temperament, a special hunger.
It also requires a serious commitment of resources, a desire to cover serious
concerns, and a press independent of any interest except that of the ultimate
consumer of the news.
The single most important technique in his career is “getting the documents.”
Documents are everything they are just as valuable as sources.

16. Guest Speaker

18. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!
1. It affects you more than any other type of journalism.
2. It is very powerful and very unique but historical. An
individual that pursues this calling must have a, “serious
commitment of resources, a desire to cover serious
concerns, and a press independent of any interest
except that of the ultimate consumer of the news.”
3. If you don’t acknowledge what your leaders are doing
then they are going to take control of your life.
4. Checks and Balances as a fourth estate.