Investigative journalism is petrifying. From the outside it
seems that every aspect of it is riddled with danger and hard work; everything
is against you. The very nature of investigative journalism is you’re
attempting to find out something that someone doesn’t want you to know. You can
be sued, shunned, arrested, defamed or hurt and yet somehow this all makes it
feel more glamorous. Investigative journalism appeals to peoples’ sense of
righteousness. It is the outsider’s method of combatting the injustices of the
world and that’s what makes it great. There is a definite power fantasy that
goes along with people’s desire to be investigative journalists; it allows someone
to put their social conscience above everything else. People want to change the
world; they want to be a martyr for their cause and this gives them their
means.
As much as I see the attraction I don’t think I could ever
be an investigative journalist. As I said it is petrifying. I think I’m too non-confrontational which
makes me shit scared of pissing anyone off. It also begs the question of
whether one person has the right to decide what should be known by the public.
Lies and secrets aren’t necessarily bad things (that said they frequently aren’t
good things), they can be to protect or help people and exposing them could be
harmful. Anyway I’m really just making excuses for my inability to ask the hard
questions and it’s all the nature of the beast so long live investigative
journalism.
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