I’m helping to run a campaign to free Benjamin Geen, a former nurse who was wrongly convicted of killing and harming his patients. Please check out the campaign site, where we will be posting news and information about the case as it proceeds. Make sure you add your email address to the mailing list so we can keep you updated.

Also please read the Independent on Sunday’s report into Ben’s case, and have a look at the Innocence Network for more information on the London Innocence Project.

The biggest factor influencing the effectiveness of investigative journalism is the state and the laws within which it is being practiced. The effectiveness of journalism is often defined within the paradigm of “states”. Reporters Without Borders maintains the press freedom index, which ranks states according to their record of press freedom. Even in conversation the importance of the state in influencing journalism is repeated: we’ve all heard the stereotype that the British press (with its tabloid newspapers) scrutinises the behaviour and actions of politicians more effectively than the American press.

I believe that direct and indirect influence from the state system in which journalism is conducted is one of the biggest hindrances to the furthering of universal principles of investigative journalism, and that investigative journalism is most potent when it bypasses or overrides this influence. What should be desired is an international attitude to investigative journalism, based in the principles of international human rights law, and international cooperation. The international system of states is the biggest roadblock to this aim.

It’s useful to start with a country with one of the most powerful states in the modern world: China. Until relatively recently the Chinese state could have been said to have encouraged investigative journalism. Over the last 30 years, loosened party control of the media and new media outlets have firmly established investigative journalism practices within mainstream media. In the past party officials encouraged investigative journalists willing to spend time in digging out corruption. “These new journalistic developments were not in opposition to the party: on the contrary, the party leadership encouraged and supported many of them.”

This encouragement led to an institutionalization of investigative practices amongst some Chinese media organisations. Papers like Dahe Daily introduced investigative series like the “Public Opinion Monitoring Reports”, with the result of an increased revenue from 3.2 million RMB in 1997 to 300 million in 2003. Unfortunately, when the state decided it didn’t like specific publications of practices, it could easily fix the situation in its favour. Southern Weekend, once a publication looked up to by aspiring young journalists in China for its crusading investigations into corruption and against those who abused their power, is neutered today. In 2001 the Communist Party assigned a new editor-in-chief to the paper, who took the paper in the direction of “serving the middle class” and providing “constructive opinions,” journalism speak for not very interesting.

Even in the UK and Europe, the state is one of the biggest factors affecting investigative journalism. Libel laws in the UK mean that journalistic organisations are only free to publish information to the extent to which they can afford expensive libel lawyers. One notable example is the pressure imposed on Chambers and Partners due to libel challenges [UPDATE: this original mentioned the "demise of Chambers and Partners", when in fact that publication is alive and well. Apologies.]. Large newspaper groups also tend to apologise and settle rather than fight expensive court battles, and will only fight on cases based on important principles, or when they know they can win. This situation can be largely blamed on the lack of political will to change these libel laws. Although Jack Straw has announced a review (primarily aimed at libel tourism, rather than the cost of defending actions), he has also chosen to include the views of Carter Ruck in the review, a firm which uses the laws to the highest effect.

The policies of the individual countries of the European Union can also be seen in the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In December 2009 the court ruled in favour of The Financial Times, the Independent, the Guardian, the Times and Reuters in their appeal against a judgment asking them to hand over documents relating to Belgian brewing firm, Interbrew, upholding the principle of protection of anonymous sources. A month before that, the Court ruled that “indefinite liability” for internet publications did not breach Article 10 of the Convention.

Although the ECHR may uphold tested principles like the anonymity of sources, this latter case shows that it may still have some way to go in battling the U.K.’s strict libel laws. The political will to copy the US “single publication rule” and overrule the precedent established by cases like Godfrey vs Demon Internet 1999 is not present within the EU.

The tax situation is one area of the law that indirectly shapes the strength and form of investigative journalism in a country. In the United States, individuals donating money to organisations classed as 503(c)(3) under the tax code can deduct donation payments from their tax return. That has created an extremely strong and vibrant set of foundations and charities supporting investigative journalism. In the United Kingdom, donations to charity are tax free, but donors cannot claim the deductible amount: the extra 22 per cent deduction is added onto the donation. The UK does not have a tradition of foundations supporting investigative journalism.

Gavin MacFadyean of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, speaking at an NUJ event, said that this is one reason why 75 per cent of investigative journalism in the United States is conducted by bodies other than the “mainstream media”. Foundations like the Knight Foundation, the Sandler Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism in the U.S. are not matched by their equivalents in the U.K. Further exacerbating the problem, bodies like the Investigations Fund, run via the Centre for Investigative Journalism, are only able to take on a production/funding role, rather than a more efficient publishing role, due to a combination of the U.K.’s libel laws and their less secure funding.

As we have seen through these examples of state control, the practice of investigative journalism is massively shaped by the state in which it takes place. One possible solution to this problem is to remove investigative journalism from the constraints of the state system, a prospect raised by the actions of Wikileaks.org. As part of a drive to raise awareness and find funding, the organisers of the site have embarked on an initiative to try and create an “offshore publication centre” akin to a “Switzerland of bits” in Iceland. Wikileaks hopes to establish a safe haven for investigative journalism that takes “the source protection laws from Sweden […] the First Amendment from the United States, [and the] Belgium protection laws for journalists.”

Sources
P.337 Tong and Sparks, Investigative Journalism in China Today.
P.344 Tong and Sparks.
http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2009/10/britains-libel-laws-are-killing-investigative-journalism.html
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/media_law_prof_blog/2009/12/european-court-of-human-rights-says-media-can-protect-anonymous-sources.html
http://www.out-law.com/page-9858
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/01/18/nujs-making-journalism-pay-online-five-points/
WikiLeaks’ spokesman Daniel Schmitt at the Chaos Communication Congress (26C3) in Berlin. December, 2009

Part one of the discussion.

Part two of the discussion (note: I missed the last 15ish minutes as my laptop battery couldn’t quite hack it).

Full blog post coming tomorrow at Catch21.

Present at the event:
Guido Fawkes: http://order-order.com/
Jonathan Isaby of Conservative Home: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/
Sunny Hundal of Liberal Conspiracy: http://liberalconspiracy.org/
Mick Fealty of Slugger O’Toole: http://www.sluggerotoole.com/
Nick Cohen: http://nickcohen.net/

Video of Nick Cohen talking about the trappings of technology as saviour.

Video of Nick Cohen “responding” to an audience comment.

And Paul Staines revealing information and advice about his commenters.

Photo credit: The Pub by mild_swearwords on Flickr

James Brown has an interesting anecdotal post up over at Organ Grinder about the best time to get articles commissioned in magazines. He says this week is the best time due to a combination of “end of year list exhaustion”, plenty of trips to the pub and lowered expectations as to what stories are out there.

I think the situation is a little different on newspapers.

Most of the national newspapers have had their Christmas parties already*, and this week most reporters are working their arses off trying to get all the work in so they can be with their families on Christmas Day. Just think of the Sunday papers. Their busiest days of the week happens to coincide with Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

One of the tips from Brown’s post is to get chummy with editors who are sloshed up in the pub after work. I’m not sure if starting a commissioning relationship with someone who’s drunk is a great idea: if they don’t know who you are at the pub, they’re unlikely to remember you in the morning!

The best way to get commissioned is still, and has always been, pitching the best stories you can find, but I’m sure there’s something to be said for pitching them when expectations are low. I think Brown’s post bears that out: the scoops he mentions includes an unprofiled Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and a Jack Dee before his first TV appearance. That’s how you get commissioned.

*News International’s party had to win the prize this year. Apparently they hired out a massive warehouse, and had Jedward, Peter Andre and others performing next to giant stalls themed to each paper.

Twitter tips
Be useful. Help other people and they’ll help you.
Live tweet at events! Don’t just sit in the audience, tell people what you’re doing.
Be unique. Send links out to information that people can’t get easily or might not see elsewhere.
Ask for help. Tell people what you’re working on and ask them for tips.
Own your niche. Designate a large proportion of your tweets (50%?) to the niche that you’re writing about.
Don’t overdo it. Be selective about your tweets.
Be positive. Nobody like a Twitter moaner.
Make people laugh. Share jokes and funny observations about current events.
Give credit. People like helping other people, so thank them!
Find out what people are talking about. What links are being exchanged, what person is being talked about etc.
Find people at events and ask them for information.

Some great behaviour tips at Mashable and from one of @PaulBradshaw’s excellent presentations:

Technical tips
Get a simple, easy to read (and repeat) username
Put up a nice profile pic that has your face in most of the frame
Place a link to a list of your own articles, not to a homepage
Your profile should have your job description

Tools
http://www.tweetdeck.com/ (desktop/mobile software capable of multiple search feeds)
http://twitterfall.com/ (customisable feeds set by location)
http://tweetmeme.com/ (top links on Twitter)
http://www.helpareporter.com/ (might be a little US focused)
http://wefollow.com/ (search for people by hashtag)
http://muckrack.com/ (journalists on Twitter)
http://www.mediaontwitter.com/ (more journalists on Twitter)

Good examples (could do with more!)
http://twitter.com/BreakingNews

Me
we need to make princess louise pub our default
pity its in holborn

Simon
calm down, just a pub
love the angel

Me
angel is a shithole
princess louise is cheaper and a lush pub

Simon
A man on the table next to us started doing a wee under the table
then he got into a fight
then the barman ran outside
he wolwhistled
wolf whistled
then a plice car pulled up
police
it was funny

Me
damn

Simon
then they put some bleach down
it smelled
all in all a good time was had by all

Me
dude can i post this conversation on my blog

Simon
ok, but you have to include all the typos

Don’t put an external link in the first three paragraphs of an article, because you don’t want to send people away from your content. [This is a highly cynical tactic. Your users will hate you if you don't link clearly and often to sources.]

Make sure you alter the link type to “open in new window” because then people won’t leave your content. [This is a dreadful policy. Don't tell web users how to browse your content.]

A perfectly written online article will result in people closing the tab at the end, not visiting another (presumably competing) website or link. [Nonsense. You want people to click another link at the end of your article. Preferably to another article by you. But not exclusively.]

Education is not as good now as it was in the past, and people have shorter attention spans, so you should always write short sentences in the active voice: ideally one sentence per paragraph. [I agree with the sentiment that you should write concisely, but I don't agree that readers are dumb. I believe in challenging readers. They respond well to that.]

People read in an “F” pattern (thanks Jakob!). [So maybe you should put ads at the top left?]

Write in an “inverse pyramid”, or a “zooming out” style with the facts in the “news epicentre”. [Sure, why not? Put the information first]

We’re now covering Jakob Nielsen’s “Reading on the Web” about usability and writing style. Keep it simple, stupid.

You can’t compete with Reuters, or the BBC, so why try? What is the angle that you have that does the job ot telling people what is happening in the world today? Write slightly more analytical work that hangs on what is happening now. [I think the point is you need to write for a niche.]

to be continued

“I thought it was an amazing X Factor performance, but if the papers are anything to go by, you didn’t need to change those gender references.”

@krishgm I don’t think Dannii meant that as it came out…but it was bloody stupid thing to say

@darrenwaters Oh my god. The Danni comment is unbelievably crass and appalling. Homophobic fucktart. I’m outraged.

@charlesarthur It wasn’t just that Dannii said it once, but that she said it *twice*. Cheryl probably getting flashbacks to CBB.

Also in the comments on my last post about Zoe Griffin, is a note that Voltz had Zoe marked on its website as a “celebrity ambassador”. So that confirms her deal with Voltz.

I had no idea that the ASA would take up this case: I was expecting an email along the lines of “we don’t cover private websites”. It’s great news that they’re willing to get involved and make a few phone calls, even when the publisher isn’t a major newspaper or magazine.

Unfortunately, if you go to Zoe’s site right now, you’ll notice that no less than the last nine posts refer directly or indirectly to the Voltz brand, with no disclosure of her financial relationship with the company. I’ll be mentioning this to the ASA representative. Despite this result, if you see anyone else (in the UK) slipping towards undisclosed advertorial content on their blog, do shoot the ASA a quick email and follow up with them.

In other news, if you’re a subscriber to Press Gazette, make sure to read my interview with some top magazine and newspaper editors about advertorial ethics and standards, set against the ASA’s rulings on the Express newspaper advertorials.