Investigative Reporting in the Networked Media Environment

Abstract

The internet and social media sites are used extensively by violent extremist actors, providing new areas of inquiry for journalists reporting violent extremism. Based on 26 in-depth interviews with Norwegian media professionals, the present article describes how journalists monitor, assess, and make use of online information in investigative reporting of violent extremist groups in today’s networked media environment, characterized by complex interaction patterns, a plurality of voices, and blurred boundaries between private and public communication. While existing research on journalists’ use of social media as a source has tended to emphasize breaking news, the present article focuses on longer-term investigative efforts of journalists. The article gives insights into journalistic investigative practices in the networked media environment, in general, and in reporting violent extremism, in particular.

KEYWORDS:

• digital journalism
• investigative journalism
• journalism
• networked journalism
• news production
• social media
• sourcing
• violent extremism

Notes

1 In the context of the present article, the term violent extremism refers to groups/individuals advocating or employing violence to achieve specific political objectives.

2 Hegghammer (2010, 57–58) defines a foreign fighter as “an agent who (1) has joined, and operates within the confines of, an insurgency, (2) lacks citizenship of the conflict state or kinship links to its warring factions, (3) lacks affiliation to an official military organization, and (4) is unpaid”. The present article uses the term foreign fighter in referring to individuals (allegedly) having joined Salafi-jihadist group IS, as reported in journalistic texts.

3 The three reports written by reporters in TV2 and NRK concern the mapping of networks of jihadism in Norway, whereas the report submitted by Morgenbladet concerns investigative journalism on right-wing extremism. All the reports describe in detail the sourcing practices of journalists reporting violent extremism, including the ways in which digital data were monitored and used as part of the investigative efforts.