Long Live Investigative Journalism!

This week’s tutorial really opened my eyes to the importance of investigative journalism. It is not often that you will come across people questioning whether the news is telling you the entire truth? Didn’t our mothers always tell us not to believe everything that we hear?

Since the emergence of technology, continual questions have been raised about the importance of journalism. One of the most commonly debated questions is whether or not journalism is a dying trade?

Many opinions surround around what the future will entail for journalists, however the evidence behind the continual and growing importance of journalism still remains.

Author of ‘Journalism at the Cross Roads’, Margaret Simons makes a valid point about the significance of journalism.

“I believe the most useful thing about journalism – indeed, our essential trade skill – is that we find things out. That we ferret away in the murky world of unauthorised disclosure,” she said.

Simon’s statement emphasises the importance of investigative journalism. Search on the Internet and you will find hundreds of pages dedicated to the incredible work of investigative journalists.

An Australian journalist which stands out from the rest worked in a time of hands on investigation, a time where computers didn’t exist but typewriters, a time that is very foreign to the modern journalists of today. He goes by the name of Wilfred Burchett and he is famous for his coverage on the atomic plague.

Wilfred exposed the widespread radiation poisoning which was a result from the Tokyo bombing. He watched and documented as doctors wait helplessly as they witnessed people dying.

The American authorities strongly denied that this type of poisoning even existed. America went as far as describing fish, which died immediately upon entering water in Hiroshima, as ‘Japanese propaganda.’

Wilfred made the front page of the ‘Daily Express’ on  September 5, 1945. The article was written as “as a warning to the world”. The news quickly spread around the world and made an international impact. 

It is uncovering critical information and publishing news stories such as the atomic plague which reiterate journalisms importance in society. The courage and skills of journalists such as Wilfred Burchett show the continual need for journalists not only on the past but also in the present and future.

Curious to know more about the great work of other journalists like Wilfred Burchett? Then take some time and read over the following website : http://sabotagetimes.com/people/john-pilger-and-the-greatest-investigative-journalism-moments-in-history/