Investigative journalism in corporate media: reporters' perceptions of investigative journalism in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims at analysing the practice of investigative journalism as a political instrument during the recent political developments in Turkey with a focus on the perceptions of the main agents of the newsmaking process, the reporters. The main point of focus was how the organizational restrictions necessitated by the politicaleconomic affiliations of news organizations influence the reporters’ practice of investigative journalism. A group of reporters were interviewed about their evaluations of the current practice of investigative journalism and the problems they perceive in its conduct in Turkey. The results indicate that the reporters are critical of the current conduct of investigative journalism in Turkey. They associate the problems they perceive with the corporate structure of the media in Turkey and the organizational procedures of newsmaking it requires. The reporters are critical of the influence of the politicaleconomic interests of media owners on news policy, which in turn leads to an instrumentalization of investigative journalism, reinforced by the uncritical use of leaked information. They complain of the editorial control in the selection of news and the auto-control in the process of making news. They argue that the routinization in the content of assigned stories and the restrictions of time spent on making news provide obstacles to making investigative news. They also believe that their professional skills are undermined because of low job security, the lack of work satisfaction and the undervaluing of reporters.