Investigative journalism: the five phases P

Authors

  • José Manuel de Pablos La Laguna University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-1998-2113

Abstract

Investigative journalism is carried out through five phases, which we will call 5P (the P is the initial of each of the five phases indicated), which are unavoidable in any investigative journalistic process: 1st phase P, the lead. 2nd phase P, the investigation. 3rd phase P, the publication. 4th phase P, the pressure. 5th phase P, the prison. The author explains these five phases step by step with some examples from everyday practice and underlines the importance of being aware of them, especially the fourth phase, when those concerned put pressure on the journalist in all sorts of ways so that he or she desists from his or her investigative function.

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Author Biography

José Manuel de Pablos, La Laguna University

José Manuel de Pablos Coello is Professor of Journalism in the Department of Communication Sciences and Social Work at the University of La Laguna, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Córdoba (Argentina).

In 1998 he created the Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, the first online scientific journal on Communication in Spanish universities.

He has been a member of the first teaching staff of the Faculty of Information Sciences at the ULL since its creation in 1988, the year in which he presented his doctoral thesis at the Complutense University of Madrid, "Del plomo a la luz" (From lead to light).

The first stage of his life revolved around printing presses; a fact that would link him to the media, first in Madrid as editor of Tribuna Médica and the newspaper Abc (1970-1978) and, later, as director of the newspapers El Día (1979-1985) and La Gaceta de Canarias (1990-1991). De Pablos Coello is the author of six novels published between 1985 and 1992.

His research and development projects have focused on the field of new information technologies and the analysis of journalistic content, resulting in the publication of numerous scientific articles in journals and several books, published in Madrid and Barcelona.

Published

1998-01-10

How to Cite

de Pablos, José Manuel. 1998. “Investigative Journalism: The Five Phases P”. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, no. 53 (January):244-55. https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-1998-2113.

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous