Investigative Journalism Quotes

“One day soon, you’ll hear a car pull up to your curb, an engine cut out. You’ll hear footsteps coming up your front walk. Like they did for Edward Wayne Edwards, twenty-nine years after he killed Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew, in Sullivan, Wisconsin. Like they did for Kenneth Lee Hicks, thirty years after he killed Lori Billingsley, in Aloha, Oregon.

The doorbell rings.

No side gates are left open. You’re long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper, gulping breaths. Clench your teeth. Inch timidly toward the insistent bell.

This is how it ends for you.

“You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark,” you threatened a victim once.

Open the door. Show us your face.

Walk into the light.”
― Michelle McNamara, I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

“I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress.”
― Gary Webb, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Cocaine Explosion

“Reality is an aspect of property. It must be seized. And investigative journalism is the noble art of seizing reality back from the powerful.”
― Julian Assange, Julian Assange - The Unauthorised Autobiography

“Exposing corruption, brandishing truth.”
― Chris Cleave, Little Bee

“There were generally two kinds of stories: the ones you chased and the ones that chased you.”
― Frances Wren, Earthflown

“The Athenaeum always managed to have a scribe on hand whenever anything interesting seemed like it might happen. Durham avoided scribes, figuring that 'interesting' was not a word that was necessarily synonymous with 'pleasant'.”
― Jeffery Russell, The Dungeoneers

“Cherchez la femme" is good advice for investigative reporters. "Follow the money" is even better advice.”
― Ben Bradlee

“When radio keeps silent, our ears shall never hear the real details!”
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“Feeling slightly dizzy from going round in circles...”
― Jessica Mitford, Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking

“The reality is that to do what is right, you have to do some little wrongs.”
― T.W. Lawless

“Secrets don’t stay buried. They resurface usually when it hurts the most.”
― Richard Herman

“Truth in journalism isn’t just about facts — it’s about courage to question power and clarity to enlighten the public.”
― Roshan Shrestha, KhojX: News Age