Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Geneva 2010. Photo: Gohar Khodjayan/IMS

The 6th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva gathered 500 journalists from 90 countries around the world to focus on one of the most important, but also troubled genres within journalism

Set against the backdrop of the financial crisis facing the world, the impact of the financial crisis on the journalism and media industry has been significant.

Need for new funding models

Restrictions on access to information and funding have always been some of the challenges facing investigative journalism. But now more than ever there is a need for new ideas and business models of how to finance investigations which are often costly and span over many months. This often leads investigative stories to lose out in the bid for funding when media outlets have to prioritise within their budget.   

Input from the Arab world

IMS-supported Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) were represented by six journalists at the conference, some of whom presented their work. Although also faced with financial challenges, investigative journalism in the Arab world is constantly developing.

Award-winning journalist Majdoleen Allan and her colleague Imad Rawashdeh, both ARIJ fellows from Jordan, showcased the methodology they used to uncover sexual, physical and verbal abuses against orphans in local orphanages.

From Egypt, ARIJ award-winning Hisham Allam and Dareen Farghali, exposed how the mythic Nile river was heavily polluted by industrial waste and how they exposed it in an investigation that created a local outcry among members of parliament and the local community.

Mona Iraq, from Egypt’s OTV, gave a talk about her investigation of illegal collection of dirty syringes from hospitals in Cairo. Mona Iraq described how she got the idea from her local rubbish collector who had problems protecting himself from dirty syringes in the rubbish bags. When Mona Iraq started investigating the story a whole illegal industry of collecting and re-processing used hospital syringes that should have been destroyed in incinerators came to light. She described how she managed to “educate” herself to become a rubbish dealer, and how she went undercover to uncover the dealings of the illegal trade. She rented a flat in the street where these rubbish traders operates, and managed to show how hepatitis C is spread to the families of these traders through the syringes.

Although nothing has so far changed – except for the dealers becoming more cautious of cameras,  Mona Iraq believes that investigative journalism has a chance in Egypt and she is optimistic about the future of investigative journalism in her country.

The meeting of minds

As part of International Media Support’s (IMS) Programme: Environmental and Investigative Reporting in China, four Chinese investigative journalists participated in the conference.

According to the China Daily journalist Hu Yinan, the Sixth Global Investigative Journalism Conference came at a particularly vital and relevant time for investigative reporters around the world, who above all are facing a turbulent future in a world undergoing dramatic transformations, economically, politically and socially. The meeting of the minds of some 500 reporters more than 90 countries was important for all participants.

 Hu Yinan said:

- I found the speeches of the keynote speakers particularly inspiring. It was, for example, like a textbook figure coming to real life when Seymour Hersh [United States Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist] delivered his powerful – and urgent – messages. His optimism was critical for younger generations of investigative journalists like us. The respective experiences shared by Roberto Saviano [Italian journalist who deals with organised crime] and Muntazer Al Zaidi [Iraqi broadcast journalist] offered critical insight into the magnitude of danger – and courage thereof – illustrated precisely the need for a forum like this to address issues that could well be neglected by means as crude as physical torture and imprisonment to those that appear to be more lenient but are just as destructive – framing or intimidating investigative reporters and destroying our credibility.
 
China economic Times journalist Liu Jianfeng similarly praised the many lessons shared by renowned investigative journalists such as David Barstow who has uncovered a questionable relationship between the arms industry and “independent consultants”.

Liu Jianfeng highlighted the fact that some of the leading Chinese investigative journalists like Wang Keqin could not participate due to language restrictions. Many do not understand or speak English and that this issue should be factored into the equation when organising the next Global investigative Journalism Conference.

Visit the homepage for 6^th Global Conference on Investigative Journalism for more information.