Investigative Journalism

Essay # 58103

Communication > Journalism
Political Science > U.S.

An analysis of the centrality of investigative journalism to the maintenance of democracy.

2,965 words () | 9 sources | MLA | 2003

Paper Summary:

This paper seeks to analyze the role of investigative journalism in the protection of democratic systems of government. The focus of the paper is the efforts investigative journalists undertook to expose the truth behind President Bush's 16-word claim and the White House's link to the CIA agent identity leak.

From the Paper:

"The field of investigative journalism is based upon a number of important principles which require that the journalist act both as a reporter and as a criminal investigator. These principles are themselves, in turn guided by the fact that the ultimate aim of investigative journalism is to expose the truth hidden from the public. As Clark R. Molenhoff writes in Investigative Reporting, "the survival of American democracy is to a large degree contingent upon whether the American people understand the problems of their society" (2). To understand these problems, they first have to learn the truth about these problems and how they negatively influence society as a whole and all of its members in specific."