How to become an investigative reporter

Is becoming an investigative reporter right for me?

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Overview
What do investigative reporters do?

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How to become an Investigative Reporter

The journey into investigative reporting usually starts with a mix of education and hands-on experience in news.

  • Work for Student Media: Joining a high school or college newspaper, radio, or TV station gives aspiring reporters a chance to practice interviewing, writing, and reporting. This early experience helps build a portfolio that demonstrates skills to future employers.
  • Complete a Bachelor’s Degree: Many entry-level journalism jobs prefer a degree in journalism, communication, or a related field like English, political science, or public policy. This foundation develops writing, research, and critical thinking skills needed for complex stories.
  • Build Research and Data Skills: Learning to use public databases, spreadsheets, and data visualization tools is important for uncovering hidden patterns and verifying information. These technical abilities give reporters an edge in investigative work.
  • Complete an Internship: Working at a newspaper, magazine, or broadcast outlet provides practical newsroom experience. Internships often help aspiring journalists build connections and sometimes lead to full-time employment.
  • Start in General Assignment Reporting: Most investigative reporters begin by covering daily news, local events, or beat reporting. This experience teaches accuracy, meeting deadlines, and interviewing skills, all of which are essential for more complex investigations.
  • Earn Professional Certifications (Optional): Certificates in investigative techniques, data journalism, or fact-checking can enhance skills and credibility. While not required, they can help reporters stand out in competitive newsrooms.
  • Develop a Professional Network: Connecting with mentors, journalism associations, and other reporters provides guidance and access to story ideas. Investigative reporting often depends on trusted sources and collaboration, so relationships are key.

Certifications
Relevant certifications can help investigative reporters build specialized skills and show credibility, especially when working on complex or technical stories. While none of these are required to work as a journalist, they are respected professional credentials that can strengthen a reporter’s expertise.

  • Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE): The IRE provides training, resources, and a community of support to investigative journalists; promotes high professional standards; and protects the rights of investigative journalists. It offers events, fellowships, scholarships, conferences, bootcamps; and workshops covering investigative reporting basics, such as interview strategies, public records research and navigation, and database and document analysis.
  • Poynter Institute Certificates in Journalism: The Poynter Institute is one of the most trusted journalism training organizations in the United States. Its certificates focus on areas like ethics, reporting, fact-checking, writing, and editing, and are commonly used for professional development.
  • Poynter ACES Certificates in Editing: Offered through Poynter in partnership with ACES, these certificates help journalists strengthen their editing and language skills. The programs are open to all experience levels and include introductory through advanced tracks.
  • National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR): NICAR, part of IRE and based at the University of Missouri, is a major authority in data journalism. It provides training, conferences, and access to government datasets, helping reporters learn how to analyze and use data responsibly.
  • Google News Initiative Training Certificate: The Google News Initiative offers training that helps journalists use digital tools to research, verify, and tell stories more effectively. These certificates are commonly used by reporters working in digital and multimedia journalism.
  • Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE): The CFE credential, offered by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, focuses on detecting fraud, corruption, and financial crime. It is especially useful for investigative reporters covering business scandals or government misuse of funds.
  • GIAC Open Source Intelligence (GOSI) Certification: This certification focuses on advanced techniques for gathering and verifying publicly available online information. It can be helpful for investigative reporters who work with digital evidence, online research, and source verification.