The Fox: The Friend takes the news initiative
The editor introduces a unique Friend venture
The first issue of this newspaper carried a story that immediately nailed its colours to the mast. It was to be a forthright, campaigning voice. Readers heard that: ‘the Indian Reports of the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, for 1841 and 1843, renew the sad story of the removal of the red man to make way for the white, by means of treaties, into which he is inveigled, and which when carried into execution, are a manifest and great injustice, which he is in no condition to withstand’.
Inspired by that bold start, the Friend is launching into forthright campaigning once again, through the medium of investigative journalism. When we think of news sleuths perhaps the characters of Woodward and Bernstein spring to mind from the Watergate scandal. The image emerging from the film All The President’s Men was of a glamorous life but nothing could be further from the truth. Investigative reporting involves endless, tedious searching, checking, fine-toothcombing archives, reading, telephoning, visiting sources. One assignment can take months, and the obstacles are many. That is why many newspapers have shied away from the old-fashioned, plodding reporting that could fetch up startling material.
What would a Quaker investigative journalist look like? The answer is in the kind of story we would pursue. Not so much politician’s expenses but shady armaments deals, covert curtailment of civil liberties, abuses of prisoner’s rights – all the issues that Quakers act on.
We took our idea to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) and explained that if the Friend broke stories in the national interest, the Quaker profile would be enhanced. But with a reporter for only two days a week, we were unable to pursue news leads with the diligence needed. To our delight, the JRCT smiled on us and has given us enough money to set up a unit for three years.
The unit will be engaging freelance journalists for special assignments and they will be given time to dig out facts and figures from all available sources to verify – or otherwise – leads that we will be following. The unit will be approaching some of the smaller campaigning groups who stay mainly out of sight, and seek to work with them on stories that they may be investigating themselves.
This is where our readers can come in. We need you to be our eyes and ears. If you see injustice that stirs your Quaker instincts, if you are considering becoming a whistleblower in your working life, then please consider talking to us. If you are a freelance or retired journalist, you may be interested in working with the unit.
We are calling our unit Fox. In honour of our founder, of course, but there are other connections. A fox has an air of uncertainly, often keeps under the parapet and is possibly dangerous.
To reassure those readers who may think we will stoop to such practices as wire-tapping, hidden cameras or undercover plants – we won’t do this not only because it is unethical but because it is lazy journalism. Reporters managed to uncover big stories in the past without these dubious aids.
If you want to get in touch with us, you can email Fox@thefriend.org or write to: The Fox enquiry team, The Friend, 173 Euston Rd, London NW1 2BJ.
There are many dark corners that could benefit from some Quaker light. It is, after all, why we’re here.
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