Watchdogs

Watchdog journalism - Wikipedia

Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative journalism where journalists, authors or publishers of a news publication fact-check and interview political and public figures to increase accountability in democratic governance systems.^[1][2]

Role

Watchdog journalists gather information about the actions of people in power and inform the public in order to hold elected officials to account.^[3]

This requires maintaining a certain professional distance from people in power.^[4]

Watchdog journalists are different from propagandist journalists in that they report from an independent, nongovernmental perspective.^[5]

Due to watchdog journalism's unique features, it also often works as the fourth estate.^[4] T

he general issues, topics, or scandals that watchdog journalists cover are political corruption and any wrongdoing of people in power such as government officials or corporation executives.