The March of Time

Zoomer | January 1st, 2006

Internet portal CANOE has published what it says is the very first piece of Canadian investigative journalism written and designed specifically for the Internet. The “Interactive Investigation of the Chiropractic Industry in Canada” was published yesterday on the CANOE website. The report is made up of 36 separate articles, cross-linked to each other, original documents, sound clips, and, of course, the web itself.

The two-month investigation takes a hard look at the proposed merger of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College and York University, along with the theory, practice and teaching of chiropractic in Canada. The Interactive Investigation offers readers dozens of documents, interview sound clips, and links to pertinent websites.

“This format really allows readers to discover the story for themselves and gives them the chance to get behind the scenes to review and analyze the findings,” said C-Health Executive Producer, Paul Benedetti. Adds Wayne MacPhail, a freelance writer and journalist, “We had to think about the story in a whole new way. Hyperjournalism allows us tremendous scope, and no two readers will explore and experience the stories in the same way.”
&l;PThis could be the future of investigative journalism, especially with the immediacy that the Net offers writers and publishers. Readers can also interact with the story, by sending emails to the authors, voting in several polls and sharing their opinions in the message forum (as they already do on Fifty-Plus.Net.)