Still good investigative reporting, but less going on

Ryan Chittum of the Columbia Journalism Review interviews Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Mark Maremont about his job and the future of investigative business reporting.

Here is an excerpt:

TA: A broader question: What’s the climate for investigative reporting in general? Do you sense it’s getting more difficult or there’s less ability to do investigative reporting on corporations with all the cutbacks?

MM: (Everybody) knows that to do investigative reporting is somewhat expensive and people-intensive, time-intensive.

So far I’ve been blessed with editors that understood that and understood that sometimes it’s going to take weeks and sometimes months. My contention is what is it that people remember every year? They read something really great in the newspaper or magazine and maybe they’ll resubscribe.

It’s just a question of balance and how much time should people be allowed and how much expense is it. There also has to be a recognition on the part of management that you’ve got to drill some dry holes when you’re prospecting for oil.

Fortunately, at some of the bigger newspaper and magazines there’s still some pretty good investigative journalism going on, but my sense is there’s less of it. There’s pressures to just cut some of that and it’s something the reader doesn’t know they’re missing necessarily until they don’t get it.

Read more here.