Here are excerpts from that conversation. In the early 1990s, investigative journalism gained visibility throughout Latin America and was responsible for triggering a number of scandals that had significant repercussions. This was a regional pheneomenon. The book tried to understand this phenomenon and ask what it reflected about changes in the press in South America. I only had a brief experience as a columnist for Perfil , an short-lived Argentine daily in 1998.
Investigative journalism puts the emphasis on the methods that reporters use.
Many journalists think that all good journalism is investigative journalism. Actually what is usually considered investigative journalism in reality isn't if we follow orthodox definitions given by the IRE and other U.S. institutions and journalists. Whether this is true, or what kind of power is monitored is exactly what the book tries to analyze. For a sample, check El Comercio , Expreso and La Republica . In the final section of the book, you examine the consequences of muckraking for the quality of contemporary South American democracies.