Internet Revolutionizes Investigative Reporting

The barriers into entering the world of journalism are the lowest they have ever been, said panelists of “The Future of Investigative Journalism,” a discussion of professional journalists held on April 23 at NYU’s Kaufman Management Center.

            “A shift is taking place that is democratizing in a sense. The Internet allows everyone access that used to be only available to the major news media,” said Tom Casciato, director of News and Public Affairs at ThirteenWNET.            

The Internet is paving the way for citizen journalism to become a venue for investigative reporting, said Ted Conover, distinguished writer in residence at NYU.

            Blogs are becoming a new source of news. During the presidential campaign of 2008, The Huffington Post launched the blog Off the Bus, which was introduced as a Web site for citizen journalists to post articles on the presidential race. With blogs such as this, people no longer have to be plugged into any established news organization in order to investigate and write a story, said Conover. 

Investigative journalism is also taking advantage of non-profit services. ProPublica is one such non-profit organization that funds investigative reporting on issues of major importance. Network news stations and major print organs can partner with ProPublica in order to publish the investigative report free of charge, according to Stephen Engelberg, the managing editor of ProPublica. Because traditional news organs are worried about running out of money, ProPublica provides a free alternative to inform the public of major issues.

No longer is it about who publishes the story but rather what changes come from the news, said Engelberg. ProPublica provides a new model for reaching a mass audience with the speed of information.

“New media doesn’t have to mean new values,” said Casciato. Even with changing mediums of communication, investigative journalism is still held to the same high standards as in the past.

UN Reporters Share Undecided Views on New Administration

The new buzzword within the United Nations since US President Barack Obama took office is “multilateral.” Multilateral cooperation is the defining feature of new US relations with the UN, according to statements made by Susan Rice, the newly appointed US ambassador to the UN.

“President Obama’s view is clear, that our security and well-being can best be advanced in cooperation and in partnership with other nations. And there is no more important forum, for that effective cooperation, than the United Nations,” said Rice in a statement to the UN on January 29, 2009.

Yet on a recent visit, numerous United Nations reporters said they have an overall undecided view on the new US relations with the UN under the Obama administration.

With the backdrop of the Security Council screen and the 15 flags of the nations involved with the Security Council, UN reporters stand behind a metal pole in front of a wooden podium and microphone. Reporters gather here for monthly meetings regarding relations in the Middle East and weekly meetings on security issues around the world, recently including the situation in Darfur and Sri Lanka.  

            Over 250 correspondents have office space at the UN. In the midst of the changing administration, UN reporters said in interviews that they see the day-to-day changes and hear the conversations around the shifting US relations with the UN.

            “Obama wants to make the UN more prominent,” said Matthew Lee, a UN blogger for Inner City Press. “At the same time, the UN may be overly optimistic.”

One of Lee’s observations is that Ambassador Rice has not been very accessible to reporters. She often takes only three questions during press engagements, according to Lee.

            The irony lies in that former UN Ambassador John Bolton under the Bush administration often attended UN meetings but had an anti-UN reputation, said Lee. Now under the new administration, Rice supports multilateral US cooperation with the UN, but she has started off as being less accessible to the press, said Lee.

            Other UN reporters believe it is too early to tell about definitive changes in the UN, even with Rice’s initial inaccessibility to the press.

“If people aren’t around, it doesn’t mean they aren’t informed,” The New York Times' reporter Neil MacFarquhar said. Rice has not been here long enough for anyone to make conclusions about US relations with the UN under the new Obama administration, he said. A change in mood is evident under Ambassador Rice, whose stance on the UN differs from the anti-UN sentiment of the Bush administration, said MacFarquhar.

Overall, no conclusive changes have been established in US cooperation with the UN in the first three months of the Obama administration. It seems like the general consensus is that the future may provide some answers about the possible changes in the US-UN relationship.