AUST Campus Weekly Magazine – MidWeek

Daoud Ibrahim, an expert in investigative journalism, gave a lecture to journalism students at AUST on how to go about investigating a story. His first tip to students was to gather information and to research the topic; “Don’t’ give up on the details” he said.

Students paid attention to Mr. Ibrahim’s power point presentation and listened carefully to the live examples he gave. They then asked questions related to the stories they were working on in class. Mr. Ibrahim‘s answers were to direct them on how to handle and map out their stories.

He showed students how they can find answers to an investigative story just by searching the Internet. He also advised students to get essential details before going to the interview so as to break the ice. “You need to build a rapport between yourself and the interviewee,” he said. Mr. Ibrahim went on to discuss the Arab Reporters Investigative Journalist (ARIJ) method of gathering information, “Reporters ought to know what they want to change. They need to know the reality.“ The students were impressed and felt ready to implement Mr. Ibrahim’s tips in their projects.