ABSTRACT
Watchdog journalists have long been portrayed in a lament for a golden yesteryear of unparalleled prosperity. There has been less analysis about the meaning of a past ‘golden age’ for investigative reporters today. This chapter seeks to answer the question, What are the media styles, roles and influences of golden ages in investigative journalism? Taking a discursive approach, this chapter provides a fresh perspective that counters the traditional notion of sameness within Australian and Anglo-American investigative reporting. This chapter argues that journalists have developed varying expressions of golden ages to reaffirm their central ideals, identities and styles of watchdog reporting. It finds that journalists increasingly advocated an open revolt against elegiac tributes to a lost profession. Their discussions have also asserted a growing need to reinterpret the so-called gilded days to allow for more inclusive reporting.
