Walter Robinson, who led the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Spotlight team, gives a speech before 370 journalists at the banquet of “Uncovering Asia,” a three-day investigative journalism conference held in September 2016 in Kathmandu in Nepal. His audience gives him a standing ovation. (Photo by NINYA CALLEJA/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Boston Globe editor-at-large Walter Robinson gave this advice at a gathering of around 370 foreign journalists at the second the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC), which the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) stages every two years.
Robinson was the keynote speaker at the conference, held last September 23 to 25 Kathmandu, Nepal, with the theme “Uncovering Asia.”
The GIJN aims to promote the growth of investigative journalism by training and supporting journalists from around 51 countries. The first conference was held in Manila in 2014.
Back in 2001, as Globe assistant managing editor for investigations, Robinson led a Spotlight team in putting out an investigative series on sexual abuses by several Catholic priests. The series had a big impact in countries around the world, including the Philippines, and won for the paper the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which Robinson himself accepted.
The series was later adapted into an Oscar-winning film titled “Spotlight,” which starred Michael Keaton.
In an interview with reporters during the conference, Robinson was asked about how journalists should respond when criticized, discouraged or trolled for their writing,
His advice: “Just continue.”
“In cases like this (in the Philippines), journalist should be very public on what they are doing and the importance of what they are doing,” he added.
Robinson said journalists often faced a similar problem in the United States, where the public would “ignore the press” or even attempt to discredit a news organization.
“We have this instance in the United States when journalists are criticized, and journalists don’t usually say anything, but I think that is wrong. We need to speak up, and people need to understand our role and how important our role is. When we get challenged, say by the government, in a very vigorous way, we can reply politely and respectfully but firmly respond,” Robinson said.
“The only way we can do to point to them is keep reporting the truth,” he stressed.
‘Newspaper man’ at 11
Talking before a crowd of reporters, Robinson said his 44-year career at Boston Globe began when he was hired as a college intern reporter, but admitted to be in love with the news and words since he was 11. Before delivering newspaper on his bicycle in his neighborhood, he would sit down to read the paper.
“I read the morning paper with wonder because it empowered me,” he said. “I thought of myself at age 11 as the first person in the community who knew what the news was. Back then I began to dream.”
Robinson described himself as someone “always try(ing) to find out what others cannot, forever asking questions when he sees something out of the ordinary, being among the loudest voices demanding to know what’s behind those official explanations – and constantly seeking out stories that the people and institutions (we cover) do not want us to know about.”
For Robinson, journalists, particularly investigative reporters, are important for democracy to function effectively because they act as sentries for the public.
Journalism of difference
“Spotlight speaks to us all, as journalists. And it speaks for us all. And it does so in a language we all share,” he said.
“It is about what we all do – journalism that makes a difference,” he added. “It is about reporters like all of you who stirred down the most powerful of institutions. And you – not I – take great risk when you do that. It is about overcoming obstacles that often seem impossible to surmount. It is about in undertaking as risky as any news organization could imagine.”
In 2001, the Spotlight team started its series by probing a lone priest involved in a sexual abuse case. Digging deep, however, resulted in the discovery of a massive coverup of sexual crimes of priests by the Roman Catholic Church itself.
“Eventually, a dozen priests turned out to be 87 priests. “And then 110 priests. And then 135. And then 175. And finally, 249 priests,” Robinson said. “About 10.75 percent of all the priests over 50 years sexually abused children in Boston.”
“If we didn’t produce an airtight case or we got the story wrong, the consequences for the Boston Globe would’ve been catastrophic,” he added.
Robinsons said the film had become a powerful megaphone for the survivors of sexual abuse in their battle to force Catholic Church to change its ways. It had given them the courage to come forward.
Investigative journalism is a necessity
Some editors think investigative journalism is costly. But Robinson, who taught also about managing an investigative project, consider it a “a necessity we can’t afford to do without.”
Asked how journalists could overcome challenges such as funds and technology, he said: “The foundation of my hope is that someday soon, somebody is going to figure out, how to get people to pay for the work we do. In the meantime, I believe that the same internet which has hollowed out our newsroom has also given us the capacity to be much more efficient, effective, and accurate in the investigative reporting we do.”
Collaboration
At the same conference, a panel of reporters shared the lessons they learned while doing an investigation that led to the publication of the Panama Papers.
The discussion was led by investigative journalist Sheila Coronel, who is also the academic dean of the Colombia School of Journalism.
Yasuomi Sawa of the Kyodo News Service emphasized the importance of collaboration among journalists, saying: “It’s strange. Before, we hid everything. Now we share things with each other.”
Following are some of the other speakers at the conference who tackled various topics:
- Glenda Gloria, managing editor of Rappler – covering terrorism and extremism
- Patricia Evangelista, multimedia reporter at Rappler – tools and techniques in reporting disasters
- Raffy Tima, senior news producer and anchor at GMA – using drones and sensors in investigative reporting
- Patrick Boehler, digital editor at the International New York Times – tracking business records across Asia
- Karol Ilagan, senior media producer at the Phlippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) – investigating corruption and tracking business records across Asia
- Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, editor at the Economic and Political Weekly in India – background checking people and tracking business records across Asia
- Mark Horvit, executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors (USA) – maximizing spreadsheets, visualizing data, and using the cloud for storing and annotating data
- Paul Myers, internet research specialist at the BBC – digging out hidden information online
- Pulitzer Prize-winner Martha Mendoza, Asia investigative reporter at the Associated Press – on finding great resources for stories and on exposing human trafficking and slavery
- Bobby Soriano, program adviser at the Tactical Technology Collective- Philippines – on digital protection
- Chris Walker, program advisor at Tactical Technology Collective-Germany – on digital protection
- Weak link
“Asia used to be the weak link when it comes to investigative journalism, but now, not anymore,” David Kaplan, director of the GIJN, said.
He noted how the GIJN membership grew first in Europe and in North America, with Asia now catching up, membership tripling as more reporters there had started doing more cross border and data journalism in the last five years.
“The Philippines is blessed with world-class reporters who are doing great investigative journalism,” Kaplan said. “We worked with them for years. Their job is to take on that tradition. To strengthen that, we need more articles that tackle the government’s lack of accountability, humans right abuses, corruption, and healthcare.”
Torben Stephan, Media Asia Program director of the Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung, noted that more investigative centers had opened up since the first GIJN conference in Manila two years ago. He noted how more investigative pieces had sprouted, tackling important areas, such as medicine and health care. As an example, he pointed out articles written by Ramu Sapkota uncovering a systemic mafia of fake doctors in Nepal and India.
“What we need to do more is a stronger base to overcome the journalist’s challenges such as lawsuits, killings and threats,” Kaplan said. “We need to put a stop to impunity and protect journalists. We need to give them the best tools and techniques to raise their game.”
In line with this, the GIJN came up with a Help Desk for journalists. Visit the GIJN Help Desk to access hundreds of tip sheets generated by more than a hundred journalists from 43 countries. /ATM
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Jodee A. Agoncillo is a reporter at the Philippine Daily Inquirer covering the crime and local government beats. She wrote this article as a fellow to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. The GIJN network has 145 groups in 62 countries – recently joined by the Centre for Investigative Journalism Malawi; Mary Raftery Journalism Fund (Ireland), MuckRock (US), NGSCO “TOM 14” (Ukraine), Oorvani Foundation (India, Pod crto (Slovenia), and Stop Corruption (Ukraine).