Lesson 16: Gathering testimony

Some journalists reach out directly to the public for information. In a Boston Globe investigation that revealed sexual harassment in Catholic churches in Boston, a team of journalists followed up the publication of their main investigation by calling for input from their readership and the broader public, in cooperation with local radio stations.
This meant that many victims were able to provide further information and documentary evidence to the paper, allowing them to keep the investigation alive for as long as possible. Thanks to rapid technological development, gathering data in this way is now safer and easier than ever but it is also more dangerous. Data provided voluntarily by the public needs a great deal of work to verify and corroborate before it is incorporated into the investigation.
Bellingcat was able to use some sixty sources found using social media to track down a suspect who had fled the Dutch police, identifying the locations of photos he had shared on Instagram. Thanks to these efforts, the police were able to find and arrest the suspect and charge him with two murders and the theft of 175,000 euros. Gathering testimony like this requires a solid relationship with the audience based on trust rooted in the journalist’s independence, professionality and desire to serve the public interest. The website Help Me Investigate has also used this technique to produce some very important investigations 153. We will discuss these investigations in more detail in the next lesson