This latest installment of the GIJN Bookshelf includes recommendations from our global editorial team, and features titles on uncovering COVID-19 corruption, tracking the assassination of a reporter, a historical look at a pioneering female investigative journalist, and unraveling the mystery of disappearing jumbo jet that shocked the world.
Ján Kuciak was building a name for himself with his investigations on corruption when he was shot dead alongside his fiancée — the first targeted killing of a journalist in Slovakia’s modern history. A collective of reporters worked together to publish his final story, and then set up an investigative journalism center in his name.
Over the past twelve years, close to 1,010 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public. On average, this constitutes one death every four days. In nine out of ten cases the killers go unpunished.
Investigative journalism is dangerous because it exposes those in power. In the past six months, it has taken the lives of two journalists working within the EU’s borders. Forbidden Stories is showing its strength in picking up where the slain journalists left off.
The cold-blooded murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was also a cold slap across the face of modern Europe. That the public watchdogs could be halted simply by a brutal act of violence seems to portend a further breakdown of European values. Is it possible to legislate better security? There could be.
