Journalism in Crisis 09: 'Fifth estate' models could aid investigative journalism in the UK, says Paul Lashmar

Various options to address the current plight of investigative journalism are being discussed by the group of investigative journalists holding a series of private meetings in London, Paul Lashmar told the audience at the University of Westminster Journalism in Crisis event.

Carlyle's 'fourth estate' model which recognises the 'press' as a integral part of the political process, has led to the idea that a critical mass of investigative journalists is 'vital to democracy', said Lashmar, an investigative journalist and research fellow at the University of Bedfordshire Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Highlighting the low level of investigative journalism conducted in the UK, Lashmar said that new ways of funding and producing journalism could fulfil the function traditionally left to the 'fourth estate'. 

A new 'fifth estate' could fill the current void, he suggested.

Quantifying investigative journalism
Only 75 - 125 UK journalists 'scattered around the media' could be said to be working in investigative journalism at any one time, he said.

Lashmar, whose career has included positions at the Independent and Observer newspapers and the investigative television programme World in Action, attempted to quantify the amount of investigative journalism in the UK for his conference paper, and found that there are very few outlets for investigative journalism left.  In radio, there is content produced by BBC's Radio 4, and occasionally Radio 5, he said.

On television there is BBC's Panorama and Channel 4's Dispatches, but even within these formats there are 'variables' in terms of how much investigative journalism is being conducted, he said. At Panorama, for example, there are journalists who 'sometimes' did investigations, and others who are 'known only' for conducting investigations.

'Newspapers are seriously in trouble', Lashmar said, citing as evidence the Sunday Times, which has not replaced its well-known Insight Team; the Observer, which has reduced the number of investigations; and the Independent, which has stopped doing investigations as a 'separate exercise'.

Effect of losing specialist investigative journalists
Lashmar looked at the effect of cutting back on specialised investigative journalists in newsrooms.

"These are people who have come into [their] position because they have expertise," he said. They deal with "quite serious ethical issues, [and] it helps if you've got experience," he added.

Investigative journalists are 'usually there because implies a commitment to a certain form of journalism,' Lashmar added.

One good thing about investigative journalism, he said, is that the ethos is a 'complete antithesis of press-release generated journalism'.

Pros and cons of various approaches
The group of high profile journalists, who first met privately in January 2009, includes Stephen Grey, David Leigh, Nick Davies, Andrew Jennings, Gavin MacFadyen and Lashmar himself. They have discussed the pros and cons of various approaches in their meetings, Lashmar said.

Lashmar shared his reservations about certain models: foundation-funding had certain limitations, he said. For example, in the context of the UK, funders, rather than the journalists, might find themselves at high legal risk.

"The donor, because they're the wealthy people, then becomes the publisher," he said.

Funding would also be much harder to come by than in the US, he added: "The money isn't there." For example, he said, a recent €20,000 European fund for investigative journalism had seen '29 journalists in 18 teams apply for a slice of that money'.

Crowd-funded models, such as the recently launched Spot.us, are equally problematic, for obvious reasons, he said. Investigations could be subject to manipulation by parties with a particular agenda, he said.

Lashmar was sceptical about the longevity of blogs such as Guido Fawkes' Order-Order.com. While he praised the 'flamboyant' content produced by its author, Paul Staines, he asked: 'how long can it survive within the legal climate in which we operate?' 

"If you start an online site (...) you're broadcasting internationally - the range of your potential legal actions broadens," he said.

But, he added: "While I have come to tell you that investigative journalism is dying, I concede that technology might save it."

Lashmar pointed to the example of Global Radio News' 'Global Me' project, which he hopes, could provide a viable model for conducting user-prompted media projects.

More coverage of Journalism in Crisis 2009 to follow from Journalism.co.uk. Follow @journalism_live on Twitter. A livestream can be viewed at this link.

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