ABSTRACT
Journalism can usefully be characterised, in part, as an unofficial Fourth Estate which has the function of pursuing and covering stories that concern the political, legal or social interests of the public as citizens. It relies on the Lockean notion of an implicit contract (Kieran 1997:21-63). The basic Lockean thought is that citizens must be made aware of the nature, workings and characters of those in government so they are in a position to exercise their will as citizens and judge those to whom power is entrusted on their behalf. The news media have certain privileges to act on our behalf in keeping watch over those who affect our lives. The purpose is to ensure just and fair government, due process in law, its application and enforcement, revealing corrupt and scandalous practices and informing us about events that affect the social fabric of our society. But it is important, further, to distinguish investigative journalism from standard news reporting. Standard news reporting is essentially reactive-it involves looking for stories of the day that have a public or human interest element to them, chasing up the institutions or people involved to check facts, motivation, intention, allegations and conveying to the public the nature and significance of the event involved. Investigative journalism is, by contrast, a more drawn out, murkier and sometimes much more tedious process. For although the general ends involved are the same as those of standard news reporting investigative journalism is necessarily concerned with matters such as corruption and illegality which it is difficult to discover, prove and thereby reveal to the public. The distinction is not a straightforward hard and fast one but rather a matter of degree. Nonetheless, it has to be borne in mind when considering the regulatory and ethical considerations that are pertinent to investigative journalism.
