[palmotea]

> Investigative journalism is really not that expensive. A lot of it boils down to needing a phone and money for gas.

Come on. It investigative journalism takes a lot of time, and in the mean time, the journalist has bills to pay.

An opinion-haver or second-hand news analyst can build a Substack following by picking a theme and pumping out a blog post every couple days, but that's not practical for someone who might only be able put out a story every couple months on varying topics (based on whatever scoops they get).

[r3trohack3r]

I suspect the economics of investigative journalism work out better for an individual who is personally invested in their work.

Your scenario is the same for a news company. Investigative journalism takes time. And, in the meantime, you have HR departments, corporate rent, etc., you’re trying to build a media empire and your ROI is being compared against just investing in the S&P 500.

And I don’t think the economics of corporate news make sense. I suspect people buy these news rooms because their ROI comes from manufacturing consent (power and influence) - not monetizing investigative journalism.

[palmotea]

> I suspect the economics of investigative journalism work out better for an individual who is personally invested in their work.

> Your scenario is the same for a news company. Investigative journalism takes time. And, in the meantime, you have HR departments, corporate rent, etc., you’re trying to build a media empire and your ROI is being compared against just investing in the S&P 500.

No. In the mean time, you have opinion-havers and other investigative journalists writing articles, maintaining a steady audience. An "individual [investigative journalist] who is personally invested in their work" wouldn't have the steady output to maintain one.

> And I don’t think the economics of corporate news make sense.

The economics of solo news make even less sense.

[tsimionescu]

The point isn't that it's cheaper to do investigative journalism than opinion pieces. The point was whether it's easier to do IJ independently or as part of a big news corporation. And I firmly believe that big news corps are mostly actively against IJ, so that going independent is the only real way to practice it.

[palmotea]

> The point was whether it's easier to do IJ independently or as part of a big news corporation....so that going independent is the only real way to practice it.

I think you're pushing a fantasy. I don't think "going independent" is really viable for a person unless they 1) have pre-existing fame, 2) independent wealth (or a patron), or 3) cut corners with the project in some way.