Adeshina Emmanuel of Injustice Watch on Succeeding in Investigative Journalism

In our December 1, 2021, Study Hall AMA with Adeshina Emmanuel, editor-and-chief of Injustice Watch, he offered tips about pitching investigative stories, crafting reported features, and organizing research.

On December 1, 2021, Study Hall held an AMA with Adeshina Emmanuel, editor-and-chief of Injustice Watch, a Chicago-based investigative journalism organization. Adeshina offered tips about pitching investigative stories, crafting reported features, and organizing research. 

Here’s a condensed version of the AMA, which has been lightly edited. 

 

Can you start by telling us how you got into journalism and a bit about your EIC role at Injustice Watch?

I’ve always been a writer, but I didn’t know how that would pan out professionally. I tried a college newspaper course at community college my freshman year and was hooked. It was fun telling stories about my college community and how forces outside the school affected me and my classmates. I was pretty much in love after that.

At Injustice Watch, I now lead a team of seven journalists, four of whom report directly to me. I report to the executive director. I am the top editor at Injustice Watch, responsible for ensuring the quality and standards of all final editorial products, overseeing staff development and culture, and managing and supporting organizational strategy. Here’s a look at my role expectations if you’re interested.

My days vary but are always busy as hell. I have to balance between focusing on what’s proximate — like edits on a daily or weekly story — and longer term project management and editing. I have to focus on the development and performance of writers, so I do a lot of check-ins and memo tracking. I also focus on our short and long term strategy. I tend to touch on all these things from day to day.

 

Can you elaborate on quality and standards a bit? It seems like rules are a little less formal in journalism than in documentary film. For example, there’s no release that sources are required to sign for a written piece, it’s just a verbal on/off the record. The rules for documentary filmmakers are also more clear in regards to getting appearances and location releases. I’m interested in challenging institutions that don’t generally like to be challenged and I want to make sure I’m covering myself as I dive in. Are there rules of thumb you’d suggest?

I think you have to be upfront with people about who you are and what you’re working on. It’s good to record as much as you can. Have people spell their name and talk beforehand about what’s on the record or not, how they want to be identified, etc. There’s no standard release form, but you do have to negotiate the interview transparently and in good faith.

Last thing: Your notes can fail you. Record all interviews, even off-the-record interviews, with your source’s consent. Check with your source that your notes are correct. Seek further verification of claims and facts made by others that you include in your notes. Your sources can fail you. Be careful of making concessions to sources that compromise your ability to verify the accuracy of their statements and accounts. Consult an editor if an issue like this comes up.

Here’s a tip sheet of Best Practices for Accuracy and Fairness.

 

For those of us wanting to deepen our investigative skills while not having institutional support or guidance, are there particular types of workshops or exercises or programs that you suggest prioritizing?

Definitely get an IRE membership, for starters. They have tons of resources, on-demand trainings, tipsheets, and other training opportunities for folks. Attending IRE conferences is a good idea both for the resources there and for the connections and networking opportunities. What’s helped me most has been having mentors I can troubleshoot stories with in a psychologically safe space, and learn about techniques. I think learning data skills is important, especially anything that helps you manipulate a relational database (SQL for example) and there are lots of self-directed trainings through IRE and NICAR that can be helpful.

Asking a good reporter “How did you do this story?” over coffee also goes a long way.

If you are a journalist of color, there’s always the Ida B Wells Society, and Poynter has trainings as well.

 

What kinds of stories should writers cover if they’re trying to break into investigative journalism?

I think people should always pursue stories that matter to them — stories they think matter and deserve to be told that they can bring special value to. But beyond that, I think stories of institutional failures, wrongdoing, and harm are always ripe because, you know, institutions are pretty fucked up usually, in some way. Police and schools are particularly ripe also because there’s a lot of open data, documents, and public reporting that happens that can help inform an investigation and give you a good launching point.

To add: I think stories that are community focused or focused on a particular area are also ripe because people often overlook hyperlocal issues and focus more on national and statewide news, so there are a lot of stones unturned, so to speak. I’d say the same for intersectional stories that go beyond just race, or just gender, or just income, or just disability, or just immigration, etc. Stories that answer the questions, “What’s missing?” and, “Who’s missing?” when we consider particular issues related to institutional injustice.

 

Tips for interviewing and culling sources?

I’m gonna cheat here and post another presentation I did a couple years ago: Interviewing.

As for culling sources, I think showing up is the most important thing you can do. Showing up means many things. It can mean showing up in person to an event, NOT just when there’s news or when you need something, but just to show that you are watching an issue or are interested in people’s work or problems, and the things they care about. It’s the same whether we are talking about politicians, experts, community organizers, teachers, whatever.

 

Tips for landing investigative pitches? 

Gonna cheat here with this pitch template with some key questions I want my writers to answer: Copy of Copy of Injustice Watch Pitch Template.

 

Any tips for fact-checking your own work when there’s no dedicated fact checkers?

Well, I think my big tip is to have a system. Cheating again: Fact Checking!

This is a fact check procedure guide with best practices for accuracy and fairness, and an accuracy checklist. That last part is especially important. Always have a checklist. But I would say build your own system and stay faithful to it.

 

What has been the most difficult story for you to break?

That’s a tough question. Some stories have been very emotionally difficult. Like this one. I grew up in Uptown, and Mona reminded me a lot of some of my friends in the local African community, and it was very hard to talk to her dad and others who were searching for answers they never got. It left me an emotional wreck.

 

Things writers can do make them attractive freelancers for editors?

Have good pitches. Build expertise. Be open to editing and be a good rewriter. I love good writers, but I love good rewriters even more. They take direction well and have a strong sense of what’s off in a story. Also, I’d say it’s good to fight FOR a story…but don’t fight OVER a story. It’s exhausting as it is managing my staff writers. I don’t love the idea of arguing with a volatile freelancer over changes in a piece. But I do want someone who is going to stand up for what they think is important in a piece and present good arguments for why I’m wrong rather than take things personal.

 

Having freelanced and worked as staff in a newsroom, what are the pros and cons of each?

Well… I like money. Consistent money and benefits. Staff jobs provide that. I also like community and working on teams, which is another perk of staff jobs because you’ve got a squad to lean on. Sometimes there’s less creative freedom, office politics, and too many fucking meetings. I’d say freelancing’s biggest perk is the creative freedom part and the control you have over your brand and voice. If you’re an ace at building your own following and are deeply networked with outlets and publishers, being independent or freelancing can be better. But…only if the number$ work out.

 

You can pitch Ade at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter @public_ade.

 

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