Contacting investigative journalist

[bananamilkshake123]

Posting here for traffic- has anyone in a public facing role ever contacted an investigative journalist (thinking dispatches/ panorama)?

Interested in experiences of people who have done this and whether they were kept anonymous.

Thanks :)

Obviously I mean due to raising serious concerns which have not been dealt with in-house. It's hard to see things going badly wrong but don't want to be outed or lose my job either!

Any reputable journalist will absolutely maintain your anonymity, I work in the media and protecting sources is taken very seriously in the world of journalism.

OP I am literally thinking the same thing. I work in the public sector and am witnessing such failures in service that are failing vulnerable people. Lots of inhouse shrugging of shoulders and very little action.
I considered a protected disclosure but it would be difficult to prove wrongdoing v not working harder to overcome the obstacles.

I have been thinking the only way to get action is to blow it up in the papers.

Yes, I wrote to Ian Hislop at Private Eye and he passed my letter on (with my permission) to one of their roving investigative journalists, and as a result two pieces appeared in the magazine which had a material effect on the organisation (s) in question.

The Private Eye journalist was painstakingly thorough in making sure that s/he had seen primary, genuine evidence and that the concerns I raised went far beyond hearsay & grievance.

The story was then picked up by the Guardian and the Mail.

As far as I'm aware, Ian Hislop remains the editor at Private Eye. I have a lot of time for the man and his staff.

Wow, this is so reassuring. Thank you all! Is anyone else here NHS? I'm grateful for your responses :)

I know a lady who did and her name has still never appeared in the papers etc.

I contacted a financial journalist from the Sunday and Financial times, his name is Nick Huber he ran the story which was then syndicated across many other media. The perpetrators of the crime were arrested in October. My name was never mentioned

A decent journalist will keep you fully anonymous if that's the condition of sharing your story. They would breach their code of conduct if they identified you against your consent.
I've dealt with a tabloid journalist and said I want no part in the story or to be identified. They obliged and they still paid me. Anyone from the BBC would have to uphold high moral standards when compiling a story. You'd hope.

Sometimes the media are your only friend but have you gone through other channels yet, your union, regulatory body, cqc, risk assessment, governance, social services, the police if its serious.

I whistleblew over a residential care scheme for severely autistic young adults - which resulted in safeguarding followed by police action for 2 members of staff, it did not make the press so I contacted a local paper and was then approached by 2 nationals
My details were kept fully confidential

Just to make clear this facility was not where I live now or where my user name suggests

I'm a journalist and everyone else on this thread is correct - as long as they work for a reputable paper (including the ones we don't like, like the Mail) you'll be fine. As a PP said, I would start with Private Eye because they are the gold standard, and often where places like Panorama find their stories.

Do you ask what action has been taken so far before you investigate or just take someone's word for it, do you go on to interview the person and organisation. When do you decide to investigate and turn it into a story.

Former journalist here (although I still dabble) and just want to echo this. Source anonymity is taken very seriously by journalists so if you approach a reputable outfit or journalist (a lot of investigative work is done by freelancers) you will be protected. Be wary of the citizen journalist types who, although well intentioned, might not know what they are doing.

You might want to check out the Bureau of Investigative Journalism as well.

My parter is a journo and is so protective of his sources that he's never told me one of their names in 10 + years. When he describes a story to me that he's investigating he'll say 'my source' or 'they' - he doesn't even ref their gender in conversation. On sensitive stories his editors wouldn't necessarily know source names, once he corroborates what they tell him with other reliable sources.

It's such a shame it comes to this isn't it. We just want to get on and do the job properly!

It's quite a specific issue and probably a grey area so doesn't fall under the umbrella of all the above but yes, have reported and escalated as appropriate

Amazing replies here and reassuring to hear that reputable journalists will protect their sources

Thank you for sharing your story, I'm so glad you remained anonymous and was able to protect those in your care