Аннотация: A new type of investigative journalism and the verification of the result. An essay.
A new type of investigative journalism and the verification of the result. An essay.
What is an investigation?
What is a scientific research? What is a criminalistic investigation? What is Investigative Journalism?
As a rule, journalistic investigation is connected with contacts and interviews of various kinds of persons, with the analysis of various kinds of primary documents and other materials?
('Investigative journalism - is a type of journalism (as an activity of collecting and interpreting information), which characterizes the systematic and, as a rule, long-term study of the subject of publication, usually devoted to crimes, political scandals, the activities of certain organizations and individuals etc. The work of a journalist in this genre is similar to the work of a private detective, since it is based on the search for a set of facts that interested persons and / or organizations hide from society.
De Burgh in 2000 gave the following definition:
'The work of a journalist-investigator is close in technique to what the police, lawyers, auditors do, but is focused not so much on prosecution as on publicity.' - Wikipedia (rus)). [unofficial translation]
But there are situations when the researcher (investigator) does not have any primary documents, and he does not have the opportunity to talk with the actors.
Let's say Alexander Solzhenitsyn is writing a work "Lenin in Zurich".
As one of the characters correctly says, big cases are much more difficult to open than small ones.
"Well, by the way, you have something oozing out there", - Parvus recalled in a friendly, ironic manner, - " you are publishing "The Sotsial-Democrat" ["The Social- Democrat"], using some means. Or," - his Falstaffian belly trembled with laughter, - "or you, let's say , to the Swiss tax agents you write that, on the contrary, you live on fees from "Sotsial-Demokrat"? ..' 'And I'll tell you from true experience: at a huge ... enterprises you will never get caught. But the one who try to make business through the little enterprises - he falls into. " [unofficial translation]
This is because in a huge projects there are a variety, a lot of circumstances. And or not enough, or no, documents and people, who are linked with the most basic, main decisions. One big situation crumbles into a million small-scale circumstances; and it is difficult to link them with the help of documents and evidence.
But these details can be connected by imagination, intuition. Here (work "Lenin in Zurich") we see an artistic (creative) research (investigation).
Yet there is a considerable distance between the motive for artistic investigation and the final result. The work "Lenin in Zurich" was written in the mid 70s of the 20th century, and the reason for the investigation existed between 1914 and 1917.
If we are talking about contemporary events, then it is somehow more correct to call, to name the investigation not artistic, but journalistic one, - but journalistic of a special type - intuitive, evaluative, conjectural one.
Therefore, there are grounds for a distinguishing of a special type of journalistic investigation - an intuitive, evaluative, conjectural, presumptive journalistic investigation.
We tried to carry out such an investigation in miniature '[MDCCCXLVIII.] Wonderful scenarios under a consideration by the information holding. A story" (November 21, 2020).
In this miniature, in the format of an intuitive, evaluative, conjectural, presumptive journalistic investigation, we have determined the approximate cost of one day of protests (for the Lukashenko's regime).
100,000 (one hundred thousand) representatives of the regime multiplied by $ 83 (eighty-three) equals 8,300,000 (eight million three hundred thousand) dollars. Accordingly, 830,000,000 (eight hundred and thirty million) dollars were spent in 100 (one hundred) days of protests. How much in 130 days?
If you follow the previously stated logic, then 8,300,000 (eight million three hundred thousand) dollars must be multiplied by 130 (one hundred and thirty) days (approximately from August 9, 2020 to December 20, 2020).
We get 1,079,000,000 (one billion seventy nine million) US dollars.
Surprisingly, on December 21, 2020, information comes that the Lukashenko's regime is receiving another (new) loan in the amount of 1,000,000,000 (one billion) dollars.
'MOSCOW, December 21 [2020]. / TASS /. The Russial government has approved a draft agreement on the provision of a loan to Belarus in 2020-2021 in the amount of $ 1 billion. "(Https://tass.ru/ekonomika/10313449) [unofficial translation]
Summation. We can talk about both a new type of journalistic investigation and the verification, the confirmation of its results.
December 22, 2020 19:15
Translation from Russian into English: December 23, 2020 06:53.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Новый тип журналистского расследования и верификация результата. Очерк'.