How to Become a Investigative Journalist

About Investigative Journalist

The career of an Investigative Journalist is one of the most challenging, exciting, competitive and rewarding roles that one can have. The career just does not have professional satisfaction but instead also a lot of personal satisfaction. It is achieved by providing service in order to uncover and unravel important issues and events taking place in the world and society. The job role of an Investigative Journalist is to investigate news and events and find out the actual truth in due process. The work may be done for an organisation or by freelancing. 

The Media is known as the fourth pillar of democracy, and the job of an investigative journalist is to maintain that. They act as an overseer and safety checks in the functioning and operation of society. So the job role of an Investigative Journalist is very crucial.

Eligibility to become Investigative Journalist

There are two sets of skills required for being a quality investigative journalist one of them is academic skills and the inherent skills required to excel in the field of journalism. 

• Graduation - You need to have at least a bachelors degree in one of the related fields like Broadcasting, Journalism, Communication, Mass Communication, Political Science. 
• Basic Knowledge - The aspirants need to have basic knowledge and clarity about different fields of society like government, law, ethics, economics. 
• Skill Sets -  Certain skill sets are required to excel in the field of investigative journalism like communication skills, negotiation skills, soft skills, ethics and integrity. 
   

Types of Job Roles Investigative Journalist

There are a variety of job roles in being an investigative journalist, they can work for news houses and media houses or they may work as a freelance journalist. The job roles are listed as follows

• Political journalism: Investigative journalists that work in the field of politics, most of the news that they cover are related to political developments in society. They keep checks on the politicians trying to uncover and validate the claims that they are making and the way they have been functioning. Investigative Political Journalism also involves validating and proving the functioning and the claims made by the government in power. 
• International journalism: It is when the journalists deal with international issues it may entail issues like the functioning of international organisations, multilateral organisations, foreign relations, global conflicts, interstate relations, war and ongoing conflicts. International investigative journalists deal with such issues and uncover the truth hidden among them if any. 
• Broadcast journalism: This classification of this particular job role is on the medium of propagation of information. The Broadcasting Investigative Journalist broadcasts his findings through electronic media forms like the Television, Internet, or Social Media. Broadcast journalists have the highest amount of reach in terms of viewers or readers thus helping them to get their stories to reach the largest number of people. 
• Print journalism: As the name suggests the Print Investigative Journalists are the ones that disperse information through print mediums it might be through the form of newspapers, websites and other print media. 
   

Pay Scale/Salary of Investigative Journalist

The salary and the compensation of any job role depend on the amount of experience and skills that one possesses. It is also largely dependent on the economic value of the work performed.

Entry Level Journalists - 3,60,000- 8,00,000

Mid Level Journalist -  8,00,000 - 22,00,000

Top Level Journalists -  30,00,000+

All figures have been sourced from Glassdoors and are suggestive 

Books & Study Material to Become Investigative Journalist

1. The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm 
2. Inside Reporting by Tom Harrower 
3. The Ethical Journalist - Making Responsible in the Digital Age by Gene Foreman 
4. Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work by Donald Murray 
5. The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity by Lewis Raven Wallace 
6. The Best American Magazine Writing by Sid Holt 
7. The Fact Checker’s Bible A Guide to Getting it Right by Sarah Harrison Smith 
    

Pros of becoming a Investigative Journalist

• Challenging work Environment 
• Learning Process is Continous 
• Opportunity to meet new and exciting People 
• Making changes in the functioning of society 
• Impactful Work 
• High Level of Job Satisfaction 

Cons of becoming a Investigative Journalist

• Job not lucrative enough
• Long Working Hours 
• Very Stressful 
• Carries a certain amount of risk to life