In 2015, the Coalition for Investigative Journalism identified a number of trends threatening investigative reporting. The threats included the public’s choice of “fast food blips” of news on TV and the social media and the death of newspapers and beat reporting.
A UNESCO report described the erosion of legal protection of sources vital to investigative reports including the preponderance of national security and anti-terrorism laws; surveillance; and the questioning of journalists’ standing. The report recommended the adoption of an 11-point assessment tool for measuring the effectiveness of legal source protection frameworks. (MediaShift, May 5, 2017, by Julie Posetti)