Here's how to get the most out of your investigation: Advice from #IJF16

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Many cash-strapped newsrooms no longer have the budget to commission long-term investigations, but those are the projects that tend to produce the most impactful journalism.

So how can you convince your editor to give you time to research a beat in-depth, and how can you ensure that the time you have managed to secure is well spent?

Daniel Drepper, senior reporter at German non-profit investigative news outlet CORRECT!V, outlined some of his best tips and workflows, speaking at the International Journalism Festival in Italy today (6 March 2016). Here are some of the key takeaways:

How to get a good idea

In some cases, you may already know a lot about a topic and have a passion for it, but if you are fishing for ideas there are a few things you can do to spark an investigation.

Drepper explained reading a lot of daily newspapers or even weekly or monthly magazines may turn up “things in the article that lay out something, but the author didn’t have the time to follow through”. You may often find these buried in the final few paragraphs.

Case studies could also prove to be valuable leads. The original author of the article may have only interviewed one person, but the problems they highlighted are often part of larger structural issues you could “uncover and explain to the public”.

Looking for investigations that have taken place in other regions of your country or even other countries can also inspire you to check if there are similar problems in your area.

Finally, asking open ended questions whenever you interview any experts can result in some good leads.

“[Be] really open, ask ‘if you had a journalist on your hand... what would you do with them? Where would you send them?” said Drepper.

“Often times they have stupid ideas... because they don’t know how journalism works. But every other time someone comes up with a really great idea. Ask these people really openly about what can be done.”

And there’s one question to always keep in mind: “Who’s getting screwed and how many are getting screwed?”.

Get the minimum viable story

Investigations can take a lot of resources away from other projects in the newsroom, and it can be difficult to convince an editor to allocate budget or block off a few days in the calendar to allow you to pursue a topic.

When thinking about starting up an investigation, always write a “memo” outlining your hypothesis, the best-case scenario, as well as the worst case – the minimum viable story.

Writing a “memo” can also help you stay on track when working on long-term projects, said Drepper.

“The bigger the project and the more important it is to you, you should really have something written down. It’s really bad coming out with nothing after six months.”

How to get sources to talk to you

As well as keeping you on track with your research, writing this memo will help you get organised quickly and find relevant sources faster.

One of Drepper’s tips for finding sources for investigative projects is to track down “formers”, ex-employees of companies who operate in the field, or of the organisation you are specifically investigating.

Drepper says they are the best sources as they have nothing to lose and may often hold a grudge against their former employers. One place you can find them is on LinkedIn – the platform offers free Premium accounts to journalists.

Establishing a rapport with the person you are cold-calling is a big step, as firing a handful of questions at them from the very beginning will never get you the best results.

Becoming more than just a voice on the phone for any source can help you become an insider more quickly.

“[If you] call them it’s OK, meeting them is even better, visiting their homes is the best,” he said. Speaking to enough people from a particular organisation that you know the office gossip can also prompt people to open up to you faster.

And before you end an interview, here are three questions to always ask:

• What did I forget?

• Are there documents?

• Who else should I meet?

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