Investigative journalism today is not as lively as it should be, but we are still able to see it subtly now and then for the more important stories.
There are many reasons for it to be diminishing as time goes by and as technology grows. As the internet is growing, there are fewer people willing to read the print anymore. Instead, they are scouring cyber space for pieces of news whether credible or not to keep updated. So, with the lack of consumers buying the newspapers, there is also a lack of interest or motivation for the journalists to work doubly hard on their pieces.
Investigative journalism is no easy feat. It may not be a well-liked nor easy task as it can be extremely time-consuming. It may take months or even years to complete one investigative journalism piece due to the different sources needed to obtain. This can be observed in the movie State of Play where Cal McAffrey and Della Frye are seen hunting high and low for their sources. Frye also calls a long list of people to get information on Sonia Baker but is seen to have immense difficulty in succeeding as one by one she gets slammed by a door in her face. This shows that even if you have the contacts and even if you know where to look, it is not often they are willing to respond to you either.
Another downside is that it can also be very costly. A vague example can be seen when McAffrey has to fork out five hundred dollars to redeem a valuable source in the form of photographs from a homeless girl who was willing to provide it. In a real life scenario, the journalist may even have to travel overseas to perform his investigation.
However, realistically, investigative journalism is still considered necessary because it is basically the truth.
In this way, it can be used as a form of competitive media because all newspapers would want to have the “best” kind of truth. The deeper you dig, the more powerful your information becomes which will put your piece ahead of the others. Because...