Watchdogs on a leash: Austrian journalists and their obstacles to investigative reporting

Eder, Maximilian und Preisinger, Irene (2024): Watchdogs on a leash: Austrian journalists and their obstacles to investigative reporting. In: International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, Vol. 20, No. 2: pp. 203-224

Abstract

Investigative journalism is experiencing a new golden age facilitated by digital technologies for reporting and international, cross-border collaboration. Despite and often because of the vital role investigative journalism plays in democracy by holding powerful elites accountable, several challenges necessitate a deeper understanding of the obstacles investigative journalists encounter. This study applies the adapted hierarchy of influence model by Kunert et al. (2024) to investigative journalism in Austria. Investigative journalists’ capabilities as watchdogs of public interest are ascertained against the background of the so-called Ibiza affair as Austria’s Watergate scandal. The findings indicate that while the importance of investigative journalism over the past decades has grown in Austria, several obstacles on all five levels of the model still pose severe challenges to investigative journalism. Among the most significant problems are pressure from politics and the closeness between journalists and political actors in the microcosmos of Vienna.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Ibiza affair; investigative journalism; journalistic research; journalistic roles; media system; scandal
• Faculties: Social Sciences > Department of Communications and Media (IfKW)
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 380 Commerce, communications and transportation
• ISSN: 1740-8296
• Language: English