Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists

This manual, published by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), provides a guide to basic methods and techniques of investigative journalism. According to the manual, the majority of investigative manuals devote a lot of space to the subject of where to find information. They assume that once a reporter finds the information he or she seeks, he or she will be able to compose a viable story. This manual focuses on the hypothesis-based inquiry approach, which takes the basic assumption that a story is only a hypothesis until verified. The methods and skills applying to every step of the investigative process - from conception to research, writing, quality control, and dissemination - are analysed and are illustrated by case studies in each chapter.

The manual was originally launched in Arabic by UNESCO and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) at the second ARIJ conference in Amman, Jordan in 2009. According to UNESCO, it has since been used by many journalists' training organisations and introduced into curricula of university journalism programmes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. They add that investigative journalism crucially contributes to freedom of expression and freedom of information, which are at the heart of UNESCO's mandate.

The manual consists of the following chapters:

• Chapter 1: What is investigative journalism?
• Chapter 2: Using hypotheses: the core of investigative method
• Chapter 3: Using the Open Doors: back grounding and deduction
• Chapter 4: Using Human Sources
• Chapter 5: How to set yourself up to succeed
• Chapter 6: Writing investigations
• Chapter 7: Quality control: techniques and ethics
• Chapter 8: Publishing It!