Investigative journalism has the potential to bring about powerful societal impact, therefore compelling power holders to become accountable. However, this process is anything but linear. To create this content, journalists need access to sources and to spend significant time investigating an issue. Additionally, it is never guaranteed that an investigation will have societal impact, and if it does, it is difficult to assess.

This section expands on existing approaches to support journalists and media outlets in conducting journalistic investigations, and suggests methods of tracking and techniques for increasing investigative impact.

In the following pages we aim to breakdown all these methods and techniques to equip journalists with a clearer overview of how their investigations can bring about impact and be tracked in the long run, so that individual investigations can contribute to the emergence of a culture of accountability.