Importance of Investigative Journalism

Among all the existing possibilities of journalism known and put into practice today, one of the most necessary and respected is what is called «investigative journalism», both for its characteristics as for its involvement with reality.

Define elements to better understand the phenomenon

Journalism is an activity whose main objective is to inform the public. population mass of certain events, facts, occurrences, phenomena that may occur in the society. In the last decades, journalism has grown in an unusual way in all the societies of the world for various reasons among which we can mention the enormous development of communication technologies and increased consumption that made news programs become channels and at the same time choose to be informed permanently.

In this way, numerous forms of journalism have appeared that have to do with much more specific disciplines and a completely defined object of study. In this sense we find investigative journalism, one that could be defined as a way of communicating from the

investigation long-term and conscientious. In general, this type of journalism seeks to expose phenomena that can be observable not in facts but in social processes, and therefore it is a type of journalism that requires greater dedication.

The values ​​that are hidden behind this type of journalism

Unlike what happens with regular journalism, which seeks to expose phenomena in a synthetic and permanent way, the Investigative journalism aims to develop precisely an investigation that can take a long time, even years. This is so because it does not seek to account for current events, but instead seeks to make public more complex phenomena such as drug trafficking, child abuse, corruption, etc. None of them is detectable with the naked eye but involves interviewing many people and collecting huge amounts of data.

The problems and benefits of a different kind of journalism

One of the main problems with investigative journalism is that it is usually not as profitable as regular journalism. This is so since it takes a long time and even the investigations may not be fruitful. Therefore, it does not adapt to the operating rules of our present time where everything flows quickly. However, the achievements are many and it is very common for this type of journalism to denounce situations that are not known and that are made public from then on.

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