Peter Williams: The Silence After the Scoop

One of the curiosities of modern journalism is not how often stories are missed, but how often they are found, laid bare — and then quietly abandoned.

A week ago, the Otago Daily Times published what I regard as the most substantial piece of investigative journalism produced by a New Zealand newspaper this year. Across four full pages, with a front-page splash, the ODT examined allegations of serious governance and financial failings at Te Kaika, a Dunedin health hub operated by Otepoti Health Limited, a Māori health and social services trust. The sums involved run into many millions of dollars of taxpayer funding. The issues raised went to conflicts of interest, board oversight, accountability, and the blurred line between public money and private control.

Penn Raine: R.I.P. Investigative Journalism?

Back in the day, if I queried a news story my old mum would say, ’Well, they wouldn’t be allowed to print it if it wasn’t true.’

 The mainstream media had reasonably earned the trust of my mother’s generation when journalists’ jobs were to report verifiable facts and to offer balanced commentary. The editorial, of course, was likely to promote a certain point of view and there would be a recognisable op-ed that did the same thing.  Then dawned the Information Age when social media platforms and You Tubers hustled excitedly into the info space and the fan base of the trusted TV news, daily newspapers and national radio stations began to bleed out.