ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL THREATS: The Challenges to Investigative Reporting in today’s market

In the US, the biggest constraint on watchdog reporting is diminished resources brought about by declining advertising and circulation revenues. There are pressures brought about by owners and advertisers as well. Mark Horvit of IRE and Cheryl Phillips of the Seattle Times will talk about the challenges of doing investigative reporting in this environment. Paul Steiger, former Wall Street Journal managing editor and now head of a nonprofit committed to investigative reporting, will discuss how newsrooms have cut their investment in investigations, prompting the need for nonprofit models for funding watchdog reporting. Gustavo Goritti, veteran investigative journalist from Peru, will talk about the constraints posed by media owners and the growing threat of “soft censorship” through government advertising in the Latin American media.
Moderator: Bill Grueskin, academic dean, Columbia Journalism School Paul Steiger, editor in chief, president and chief executive of ProPublica Gustavo Gorriti, columnist, Caretas magazine, Peru Mark Horvit, executive director, Investigative Reporters and Editors Cheryl Phillips, data enterprise editor, Seattle Times, and president of Investigative Reporters and Editors