AreaS-medlem, Elin Strand Larsen, deltok på NordMedia-konferanse i Tampere, Finland 17-19. august med paperet: “A Justification and Celebration of Investigative Journalism. An analysis of four political scandals nominated to SKUP between 2010 and 2014”.
Her er en kort introduksjon til paperet:
Each year the investigative journalism association in Norway – SKUP – hands out a SKUP award and several SKUP diplomas to news stories for excellence in investigative reporting. To nominate a story for the Norwegian SKUP award, the responsible journalists have to write a methods report describing how they worked, problems they encountered and the consequences of the story.
The methods reports can be seen as both a justification and an argument for why exactly that specific news story deserves to win an award for best investigative report. The methods reports also serve as examples of what the journalists themselves think of as “best practice” when it comes to investigative journalism. Last, but not least, the nominations lead up to an award ceremony and a celebration of so-called “muckraker” journalism in Norway.
In this paper, I will use qualitative textual analysis to analyze a selection of methods reports concerning political scandals in Norway between 2010 and 2014. What is considered a political scandal in this context is based on an earlier register of political scandals in the Nordic countries (Allern, Kantola, Pollack, & Blach-Ørsten, 2012; Allern & Pollack, 2016). By comparing the methods reports and the scandal register, I found four cases both considered political scandals and nominated to SKUP – The Embassy Case 2010, The Gift Case 2010, The Self-Defense Case 2012 and The Vimpelcom Case 2014. Analyzing the four methods reports, I have chosen to focus on three of the aspects the SKUP jury takes into account when evaluating the quality of investigative journalism – resistance, ethics and consequences.
In the discussion and conclusion, you will find a table summing up my analysis of the four methods reports. The table gives an overview of the mediums nominating their investigative stories to SKUP, what kind of scandals are nominated, the discussion of resistance, ethics and consequences in the methods report, as well as the awards received.
Link til tabellen:
