One of the more recent efforts to assess the impact of watchdog reporting is developed in the book Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism, published by James Hamilton in 2016. In this study, Hamilton presents the main trends of investigative journalism conducted and published in the US in the past three decades and provides a compelling economic argument regarding its impact and, consequently its worthiness.
Indeed, Hamilton examines –among other material- more than 12 stories submitted to the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award between 1979 and 2010. Based upon this extensive database, the author identifies the topics investigated by the US muckrakers in this period of time, the impact of this story, and how these works were produced and funded.
The study shows some discouraging trends: There are less investigative scoops produced by local media, a less intensive use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by local reporters, and more stories published or aired by just a few outlets that are leaders in the US media industry. However, some other findings are brighter, as the appearance and
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After all, the US journalism is a model that Latin American media have tried to imitated, whether for good or not. In fact, the book is an endless source of good practices, collective strategies, and institutional, professional, and individuals methods and processes. Actually, there is a whole chapter dedicated to a single reporters’ work, in local outlets, and how influential has been his work through his whole career. Nonetheless, there are some other practices and tools that there are not fully –or not at all- developed in environment different than the US journalistic landscape whether for short funding or