ABSTRACT
In order to evaluate the state of investigative journalism today, it is important to understand its past practices and norms. Chapter 4 uses Australia as its case study to undertake a deeper analysis that examines six decades of award-winning investigative reporting from the press and broadcast media. It compares these findings with a sample over four decades of investigative journalism from Australian broadsheet newspapers. It addresses two questions: How has investigative reporting developed and changed since the mid-20th century? And how has it fared since the arrival of the digital revolution? The chapter contests the widely held romantic view that investigative journalism’s ‘golden age’ is behind us. It demonstrates that there is no simple linear relationship between falling print media revenues and the state of quality newspapers’ investigative journalism, rather, through newspapers’ experimentation and adaptations, investigative journalism is in good health this century.
