IL GIORNALISMO INVESTIGATIVO

Il giornalismo investigativo secondo una che lo fa veramente Giannina Segnini è una dei giornalisi investigativi più celebri e bravi di tutto il mondo. Lavora per il quotidiano costaricense La Nacion e in una intervista sul sito dello International Consortium of Investigative Journalists spiega dettagliatamente come funziona il suo lavoro e quello della squadre che guida. Insiste molto sul lavoro autonomo e documentale del giornalista, mi permetto di citare alcuni punti, che potrebbero non essere ovvi in un contesto italiano: The investigation took us about a year and during that time there were many breakthroughs and revelations. We had access and explored, in advance, databases that were relevant to find information about the case. Identifying those data sources and exploring them is always a great investment. Many times it is much better conduct reporting outside of your country. If the evidence you are trying to find is also in a third country it’s worth it to try there Digital and online journalism does not necessarily refer to immediacy. Digital journalism is not about technology; it’s still about doing great journalism, empowered by technology and design. We at the investigative unit in La Nacion started a very unique experimental project on data investigative journalism four years ago. The model consists in gathering and consolidating public databases to uncover investigative stories out of them. In addition to the investigative journalists, we started working with two developers mining big data and interviewing oceans of datasets to discover hidden stories. Traditional investigative journalism follows the scientific method to approach a story. We used to define a hypothesis to either prove it or discard it. There are many sources that want to control the journalist’s agenda by leaking a piece of information that benefit them. By conducting data investigative journalism we can have access to the whole universe of information, not only what someone wants to deliver. An investigative story should be conclusive. There is no room for “maybes” or “possibilities” in investigative journalism. In spite of the impact a story may have, if it’s the product of a third party’s investigation, such as prosecutors or auditors, it’s not investigative journalism. An investigative story has to detail and show all the evidence that support all its  conclusions. With some exceptions, an investigative story is not based on testimonies, let alone on anonymous sources. Testimonies are usually vague, ambiguous, volatile and, in general, not trustworthy. A journalist who is driven by revenge, biases, or personal motivations should never be given the chance to do investigative journalism. Sintetizzando: tantissimo tempo; indagine prevalentemente documentale e sui dati; dubitare di testimoni e fonti umane (specie anonime); disponibilità a scoprire che l’ipotesi iniziale è errata; conclusioni certe, no alla “cultura del sospetto” e dell’allusione; giornalismo d’inchiesta è l’inchiesta che fanno i giornalisti, non quella che fanno i magistrati.