This study of American investigative reporting from 1976 to 2012 examines a random sample (N = 757) of prize contest entry materials created by journalists. This novel data source and methodology allow for analysis of the dynamics of journalistic process rather than relying on assumptions drawn from published news content. The results provide a fuller and more sophisticated explanation of how investigative journalism is related to democratic governance, including fresh insight into journalist/source relationships, story triggers, policy outcomes, and agenda-building relationships among journalists, sources, and policymakers. A model for predicting policy agenda-building in investigative journalism is proposed and tested based on attributes of the reporting process, policy results, and other actions by public officials produced by journalists’ investigations. While the analysis indicates a key role for sources in the origination of investigative news stories, it also reveals a more prominent place for journalistic enterprise than previously acknowledged. At the same time, investigative stories that are initiated by tips from sources and that have a more diverse array of sources are more likely to achieve substantive policy results. Overall, the findings point to a greater degree of interdependence among investigative reporters and policymakers that challenges conceptions of journalists as passive recipients of information but also reveals the limitations of news organizations’ ability to independently spark policy change.
AlthausSL (2003) When news norms collide, follow the lead: New evidence for press independence. Political Communication20(4): 381–414.
2.
BennettWL (1990) Toward a theory of press-state relations in the United States. Journal of Communication40(2): 103–127.
3.
BennettWLLivingstonS (2003) A semi-independent press: Government control and journalistic autonomy in the political construction of news. Political Communication20(4): 359–362.
4.
BerkowitzDA (1987) TV news sources and news channels: A study in agenda-building. Journalism Quarterly64(2): 508–513.
5.
BerkowitzDA (2009) Reporters and their sources. In: Wahl-JorgensenKHanitzschT (eds) The Handbook of Journalism Studies. New York: Routledge, pp. 102–115.
6.
BroersmaMDen HerderBSchohausB (2013) A question of power: The changing dynamics between journalists and sources. Journalism Practice7(4): 388–395.
7.
BrownJDBybeeCRWeardenST. (1987) Invisible power: Newspaper news sources and the limits of diversity. Journalism Quarterly64(1): 45–54.
8.
BurchEAHarryJC (2004) Counter-hegemony and environmental justice in California newspapers: Source use patterns in stories about pesticides and farm workers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly81(3): 559–577.
9.
CarlsonM (2011) On the Condition of Anonymity: Unnamed Sources and the Battle for Journalism. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
10.
CookFLTylerTRGoetzEG. (1983) Media and agenda setting: Effects on the public, interest group leaders, policy makers, and policy. Public Opinion Quarterly47(1): 16–35.
11.
CulbertsonHM (1975) Veiled news sources – who and what are they. ANPA News Research Bulletin3: 3–22.
12.
DavisA (2009) Journalist–source relations, mediated reflexivity and the politics of politics. Journalism Studies10(2): 204–219.
13.
DenhamBE (2010) Toward conceptual consistency in studies of agenda-building processes: A scholarly review. The Review of Communication10(4): 306–323.
14.
EttemaJGlasserT (1998) Custodians of Conscience: Investigative Journalism and Public Virtue. New York: Columbia University Press.
15.
FeldsteinM (2007) Dummies and ventriloquists: Models of how sources set the investigative agenda. Journalism8(5): 499–509.
16.
FicoF (1984) How lawmakers use reporters: Differences in specialization and goals. Journalism Quarterly61(4): 793-800, 821.
17.
FranklinBCarlsonM (eds) (2011) Journalists, Sources, and Credibility: New Perspectives. New York: Routledge.
18.
GansH (1979) Deciding What’s News. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
19.
GossBM (2001) ‘All our kids get better jobs tomorrow’: The North American Free Trade Agreement in the New York Times. Journalism and Communication Monographs3(1): 4–47.
20.
GreenwaldMBerntJ (eds) (2000) The Big Chill: Investigative Reporting in the Current Media Environment. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
21.
HallSCritcherCJeffersonT. (1978) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
22.
HallinDCManoffRKWeddleJK (1993) Sourcing patterns of national security reporters. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly20(4): 753–766.
23.
HamiltonJT (2016) Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
HansenKAWardJConnersJL. (1994) Local breaking news: Sources, technology, and news routines. Journalism Quarterly71(3): 561–572.
26.
HayesAFKrippendorffK (2007) Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures1(1): 77–89.
27.
JohnsonTJWantaWBoudreauT (2004) Drug peddlers: How four presidents attempted to influence media and public concern on the drug issue. Atlantic Journal of Communication12(4): 177–199.
28.
JustMLevineRReganK (2002) Investigative journalism despite the odds. Columbia Journalism Review41(3): 102–103.
29.
KiousisSKimLJRagasM. (2015) Exploring new frontiers of agenda building during the 2012 U.S. presidential election pre-convention period. Journalism Studies16(3): 363–382.
30.
KovachBRosenstielT (2007) The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. New York: Three Rivers Press (CA).
31.
LangGELangK (1983) The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, the Press, and the Polls During Watergate. New York: Columbia University Press.
32.
McCombsM (2004) Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media and Public Opinion. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
33.
O’NeillDO’ConnorC (2008) The passive journalist. Journalism Practice2(3): 487–500.
34.
ProtessDLCookFLCurtinTR. (1987) The impact of investigative reporting on public opinion and policymaking: Targeting toxic waste. Public Opinion Quarterly51(2): 166–185.
35.
ProtessDLCookFLDoppeltJC. (1991) The Journalism of Outrage: Investigative Reporting and Agenda Building in America. New York: Guilford Press.
36.
ReichZ (2006) The process model of news initiative. Journalism Studies7(4): 497–514.
37.
RogersEMDearingJW (1988) Agenda-setting research: Where has it been, where is it going?Communication Yearbook11: 555–594.
38.
SigalL (1973) Reporters and Officials: The Organization and Politics of Newsmaking. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
39.
SoloskiJ (1989) Sources and channels of local news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly66(4): 864–870.
StrömbäckJNordLW (2006) Do politicians lead the tango? A study of the relationship between Swedish journalists and their political sources in the context of election campaigns. European Journal of Communication21(2): 147–164.
42.
Van AelstPThesenGWalgraveS. (2013) Mediatization and the media’s political agenda-setting influence. In: Proceedings of the CAP conference, Antwerp, 27–29 June.
43.
VosTMatthewsC (2013) A history of the watchdog metaphor in journalism. Paper presented at the annual conference of association for education in journalism and mass communication. Washington, DC, 8 August.
44.
WolfeMJonesBDBaumgartnerFR (2013) A failure to communicate: Agenda setting in media and policy studies. Political Communication30(2): 175–192.
