Investigative journalism

And that has come out abundantly clear in the last 24 to 48 hours.

All right, now it's time to go to the investigative report.

All right, there he is, George Webb.

What's on your radar, George? Good to see you.

This is getting controversial given the night.

But where was the investigative journalism prior to the Royal Commission? Why weren't there journalists out there visiting Jewish schools and reporting on what was happening in our country? And that hasn't happened.

And that, to me, is a real worry.

And so long as we have Australians who are living like that, we've got a problem.

Liz Collin is a multi-decade actual journalist.

She works for Alpha News, does a lot of investigative journalism work.

We're gonna have her on very soon.

Uh, but one, I, I, she did a Q&A, and I got to ask two questions, and she gave great answers to both.

[laughs]

[laughs]So I associate you very much with investigative journalism.

Is that your, like, true love?

It is, and it, it took me a little while to find it because I, I liked doing more of the analysis or just even the hot takes, you know, 'cause there's so many things-

Um, for sure, and all the people that are, uh, that he put on is amazing, and I just felt it was really important to kind of chronicle that and, um, in, in a deeply, deeply reported book.

Kinda continuing with, like, your story, what about investigative journalism do you love that makes you so passionate about it?

I think it's just, like, not to use a cliche, like the peeling the onion-

Mm-hmm

So, like, like that one week was insane, like trying to shoehorn in.

Like, there's like two pages in one section of the book and two pages later on that all went in, like, a week before the book was due to the printers because, um, that's when I, I got the documents.

So that's, that's the, the best thing, like, about investigative journalism is just the, just the constant discovery, and it keeps you sharp.

I worked on this, um, I worked on a few stories for Grantland, which used to be around.

And to your point about like empathy, and I think this kind of brings me to my next question.

We all kind of have this... mixed role right of being and you know whether or not you guys sort of claim these titles or not I'm interested to know where you have it right it's like in some sense like subject right like we started off with our own stories you know and then by turns advocate right I think we all have a strong advocacy angle to our work that's like out in the open and then also investigative journalists.

And those roles can have a lot of tension.

And I wonder, Sarah, as you've sort of moved from the one to the other while still holding on to the pieces of, you know, that they brought you here, like, how have you navigated for that? What do you find yourself in needing to like sort of watch for blind spots, because I think it's like it can be a huge strength to have that relationship to like knowing what it's like and knowing what it's like to see your family get covered in the media and all that kind of thing.

As of this recording, Theo is still an undergrad at Stanford University.

He spent much of his freshman year reporting on research fraud committed by the school's president, which led to him becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the George Polk Award for Investigative Journalism.

And now, just ahead of graduation, Theo is publishing a book, How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University.

The New York Times says, quote, "In every age, there is some place that epitomizes how power works.