The Evolution of American Investigative Journalism

255 Pages·2006·1.76 MB·English

by  James L. Aucoin

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The Evolution of
American Investigative Journalism
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The Evolution of
American Investigative Journalism
James L. Aucoin
University of Missouri Press Columbia and London
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Copyright © 2005 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aucoin, James, 1952–
The evolution of American investigative journalism / James L.
Aucoin.
p. cm.
Summary: “History of American investigative journalism and
the founding of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
Discusses the murder of investigative reporter Don Bolles and
IRE's subsequent controversial Arizona Project. Applies the social-
moral development theory of Alasdair MacIntyre to explain how
the IRE contributed to the evolution of American investigative
journalism”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8262-1615-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8262-1615-3 (alk. paper)
1. Investigative reporting—United States. 2. Investigative
Reporters and Editors, Inc. 3. Bolles, Don. I. Title.
PN4888.I56A83 2006
070.4'3'0973—dc22 2005022114
™ This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Jennifer Cropp
Typesetter: Phoenix Type, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Minion and Goudy
The University of Missouri Press offers its grateful acknowledgment
to an anonymous donor whose generous grant in support of the
publication of outstanding dissertations has assisted us with this volume.
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This book is dedicated to
Professor Edmund B. Lambeth
and to my wife,
Peggy A. Hansen
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Tradition of Exposure in American Journalism 17
2. The Reemergence of Investigative Journalism, 1960–1975 42
3. Defining the Practice, 1960–1975 84
4. The Founding of IRE 117
5. The Arizona Project:
IRE’s Unique Contribution to American Journalism 142
6. IRE and the Mainstreaming of Investigative Journalism 171
7. A Social Practice 203
Selected Bibliography 217
Index 229
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Acknowledgments
No book evolves from a single person. Among those who helped
me with this one is Professor Edmund B. Lambeth, who introduced
me to the moral theory of Alasdair MacIntyre and guided me through
my dissertation at the University of Missouri–Columbia, from which
this study evolves. I also thank Steve Weinberg of the University of
Missouri–Columbia, former executive director of Investigative Re-
porters and Editors, Inc., and a superb investigative journalist and
writer. He encouraged this study and generously gave of his time and
knowledge. Journalists Andy Scott and Rosemary Armao, successive
executive directors of IRE, generously gave me permission to research
the files of the organization without restriction. Dr. Les Hansen, an
outstanding teacher of composition, edited early versions of the
manuscript, for which I owe him much gratitude. I, of course, am
alone responsible for any mistakes that remain.
Chapter 2 originally appeared in an earlier form in Journalism His-
tory,Spring 1995, vol. 21, no. 1; chapter 4 includes material that orig-
inally appeared in American Journalism, Fall 1995, vol. 12, no. 4; and
portions of chapters 5 and 7 appeared originally in the Journal of
Mass Media Ethicsin 1992, vol. 7, no. 3. All are used with permission.
Material in chapter 5 from Peter Benjaminson and David Ander-
son’s text on investigative journalism, Investigative Reporting, second
edition, is used with permission of the copyright holder, the Univer-
sity of Iowa Press.
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