Investigative journalism is usually the glamour poster for the journalism profession as it seeks to hold powerful people and institutions to account. It demystifies the high and mighty by greatly probing into their private lives for crimes committed by them against the State.

The world wouldn’t forget the heroism of the then Washington Post rookies Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein whose investigative work a.k.a the watergate scandal brought down the government of Richard Nixon and made him the first and only American President so far to resign.

Coming down home, the press has lived up to its name as the fourth estate of the realm by effectively using investigative journalism to hold the government to account.

It was the News Magazine that uncovered the fact that the former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari was 29 years old as at the time he became Speaker and not 36 as he claimed and also that he didn’t attend the University of Toronto. Premium Times also blew up the story of the ex-finance minister, Kemi Adeosun not having an original NYSC discharge certificate forcing her to resign in 2018.

Beneath the glamour of investigative journalism, what is the impact of it on the mental health of its practitioners given the inherent risks that its practitioners have to undertake?

October 19 this year will make it 36 years since Dele Giwa was dispatched to his maker in a parcel bomb without his killers being found. Jafaar Jafaar of Daily Nigerian who made a controversial video of the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje stuffing his babaringa with dollars gotten from a contractor now lives in exile in the UK. David Hundeyin, Publisher of West Africa Weekly who has unearthed quite a number of investigative stories now lives in exile in an undisclosed location having fled the country after exposing the current minister for communication and digital economy, Dr. Isa Pantami.

Investigative journalists in Africa live in so much fear since they know too much. They are constantly looking behind their shoulders. Some of them can’t even reveal their real identities to the public like the famous Anas of Ghana whose face has been hidden beneath a veil since he started uncovering corruption in Ghana. They battle post traumatic stress, clinical depression and all sorts of mental health disorders as they are constantly in a metaphoric war zone in their bid to make society better.

Worse still are the investigative journalists who work in most Nigerian media houses where they owe them salaries for months. It is bad enough that these heroes and heroines earn a piddling which cannot take them home; it is worse for them to be owed for months and even years in some cases.

Therapy is necessary for these journalists as revealed by Amaka Okoye of Deutsche Welle who revealed that she uses it to save her sanity as she works across the troubled North East region. How many investigative journalists in the country can afford it when they can hardly feed themselves?

Many of these journalists cannot openly flaunt their families on social media not because they aren’t proud of them but because it will make them easy targets for elimination by their vicious foes who would stop at nothing to frustrate their work.

In Nigeria where life is cheap and murders are always unresolved, it is an extremely dangerous place to be an investigative journalist as most media houses do not have an insurance cover for their members of staff let alone troublesome investigative journalists whose work could even be a clog in the wheel of their getting lucrative deals from the public and private sector.

There is also the tricky issue of funding. Most investigative journalists especially the freelance ones get grants from international donor agencies to do their work. Many of these foreign donor agencies promote anti-African agendas in the name of human rights. For instance, controversial subjects like abortion and gay rights are opposed by most Africans. The question to ask is wouldn’t these so called brave investigative journalists end up as potential agents of destabilization of Africa by these western donor interests who activities aren’t necessarily pro-African? How many African investigative journalists for example can boldly investigate the activities of the International Planned Parenthood Federation of Marie Stopes with regards to the abortion issue in Africa especially in the light of the planned revocation of the Roe vs Wade law? How many can investigative the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its interference in the African leadership process? There seems to be a divide and conquer strategy by the Caucasian Imperialists with regards to the activities of the African investigative journalists.

I advocate that investigative journalists in Africa for the sake of their mental health should be more financially independent and shouldn’t solely depend on an employer or grant making agency for funds to execute their noble work. Crowd funding should be used to raise funds so that they are truly independent from all forms of local and foreign sinister interests. I recall in the year 2000 that the Nigerian public saved African Independent Television (AIT) from going under as they proved to be the darling of most Nigerian households since their debut in 1996. African investigative journalists can be the voice for areas where majority of Africans are voiceless that these Africans would contribute monetarily for the advancement of their work. They can also use GoFundMe and other crowdfunding websites to raise funds as the critical thing is for them to be truly independent so that they are advancing not only African interests but humanity’s as well.

The presence of money in the life of the African investigative journalist would ensure that they get regular therapy which their work needs as they would end up as emotional wrecks if they don’t get professional help due to the paucity of funds. Africa would be better off if the mental health of her investigative journalists is taken care off as the continent needs an extremely vibrant and financially independent press to effectively hold its corrupt governments to account which is the raison d’etre of investigative journalism.

African investigative journalists should also remember that no story is worth a life and so should put their mental health first as health is wealth which includes having a robust mental health.

https://africavoiceshq.com/2022/05/07/the-nexus-between-investigative-journalism-and-mental-health-by-tony-ademiluyi/