Increasingly, the resources being invested into serious investigative journalism are under threat in Australia, and there are few locations in the media where the practice is undertaken.
Public service media remain committed to investigative journalism even with their resources being spread more thinly. As already noted by Josephi (2011) a decade ago, ABC always had a strong investigative brief, and has a dedicated investigative unit; however, it is now having serious limitations placed on its functioning due to funding cuts. ABC’s Four Corners programme, a weekly 45-minute report on television, is Australia’s best known investigative programme. Its investigations have caused royal commissions and state premiers to step down. But other segments on ABC television, such as its nationwide 7.30 programme, contain diminishing investigative elements, as do a number of ABC radio programmes. SBS shows investigative programmes on international topics often bought from other providers, and the impact of funding restraints are evident. The commercial television stations, too, have current affairs programmes, such as Nine’s 60 Minutes (based on an American format) which contain investigative elements, though they are typically cast with an entertainment priority and by the programmes’ emphasis on the human-interest angle.
