BISS: Story-Based inquiry

This two-day-course by head lecturer Mark Lee Hunter gives you the foundation for starting, deepening, organizing and writing an investigative report or article. It covers the Story-Based Inquiry (SBI) method, which has been successfully used by thousands of journalists, academics and NGO researchers since its publication by UNESCO in 2009. The core insight of SBI is that investigating and writing can form one coherent process. The investigator begins with a hypothesis that is testable. From this follows an outline for the story and a map for locating sources. The final product is a database that records the quest and the material found. The theory of the method is also described in several textbooks, so we have time during the course to address the work and practice of the participants.

Participants will learn:

• how to conceive, assess and launch a viable investigation
• how to organize and extend the research step by step
• how to identify key sources and audiences
• how to structure the research and the story simultaneously

Your lecturer:  

Dr. Mark Lee Hunter is a founding member of The Global Investigative Journalism Network, and the principal author of Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists (UNESCO 2009). He has trained thousands of journalists to manage and write investigations. He is the author of investigative books and won several awards for his work.