Most news is commoditised. It’s the same set of known or public facts, wherever you read it and whatever lens you view it through. Opinion and comment can be informative, but they are not news. Investigations can fundamentally change our understanding of what is happening in our society.
There are quite a few small, independent investigative reporting outfits in the UK. They frequently publish stories in conjunction with the (so-called) mainstream media, but don’t have the same size of platform. Although they sometimes work in conjunction with big publishers, they usually do the hard work of digging for stories, painstakingly putting an investigation together. Much of their reporting is challenging the government, councils, or big business.
Due to the nature of investigative journalism, they don’t publish stories every day. This infrequency makes their websites less of a regular visit. It also makes for a disjointed ecosystem. Investigations can go unnoticed in the noise of social media and other news.
Investigations Index aims to collect and highlight the work of these groups, to try and give a rounded picture of the investigative news world, and to act as a signpost to the stories that matter. It seeks to give them more attention, which they deserve.
None of the investigative groups pay to have their stories included. They are available on their websites, for free, and the links provided by Investigations Index are free from third-party affiliates. The aim of Investigations Index is to link only to investigative news, not any opinion pieces, organisational updates, or other content that might appear on their news feeds. However, although Investigations Index filters out non-investigative content, it does not vouch for the veracity of those investigations, and accepts no legal responsibility for the content. Please see our privacy policy.
The newsletter
Investigations Index runs a subscription newsletter on Substack. It is released when there are significant updates, which could be frequent or sporadic, depending on the flow of investigations. Once a new post is released on Substack, the previous posts appear on this site for free.
Substack is a popular (and controversial) subscription email system, and Investigations Index is priced at the minimum level: $5 per month. This is to cover costs (hosting etc) and time. Please do subscribe, it’s crucial to maintaining the site. If you would like to donate rather than subscribe, please get in touch.
Who’s in the Index?
The following investigative news organisations are currently included in the Index.
- Bellingcat
- Bureau of Investigative Journalism
- The Ferret
- Liberty Investigates
- Open Democracy
- Source Material
Note: the list is alphabetical, and is not reflective of any prioritisation or ordering. If links to any site are not appearing, that may be because that organisation hasn’t published anything for a while.
Who runs Investigations Index?
Investigations Index was started in 2021 by Rob Minto. Rob worked as a journalist and editor at the Financial Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, among other things. He also wrote a book, Sports Geek, published in 2016. He also builds websites for small businesses and good causes.