THE TRUTH ALWAYS PUNCHES ABOVE ITS WEIGHT IN LIES
How returning to the profession of investigative journalism can restore faith in news media
The Rival: Investigative Journal arose from the problem that investigative reporting is seen as the "leading loser" in the world of journalism. Investigative pieces uncover political corruption, identify shady business practices and give the individual the best forewarning against the things that would strip their freedoms and liberties, but investigative reporting is seen often too costly an investment when taking up equal space to more virulent news.
Those who are willing to dig into the numbers, follow the money, and put their skin on the line have the chance to make the world a better place. Yet with such a weighty duty on their shoulders, networks,newspapers and magazines have abdicated that responsibility for opinion writing, "think-pieces", list-icles, and shallow coverage that almost seems to deliberately miss the truth. The reasons for this are numerous. Investigative work is costly and time-consuming. Controversy is easier to sell and lies can travel twice as fast as the truth and catch twice as many eyes with half as much due diligence. But this notion is to the benefit of only the news media. The audience needs more.
​
The Rival rises to answer the question, "what if a news magazine dedicated itself entirely to investigative reporting?" We want to take the "leading loser" of journalism and show the rest of the media that when you plant your feet in the truth, no matter how hard to find or how uncomfortable to hear, you can always punch above your weight.
​
OUR (ANTI) EDITORIAL STANCE
Everyone has opinions. You can read for opinions on your uncle's facebook page. We just want facts!
In keeping with our "dedication to the investigation" motto, there is no room for op-eds in our publication. We want to lead with hard hitting fact-reporting and we cringe at the term "opinion-journalists." We don't have columnists, we have investigators.
​
In spite of this policy of "no opinion writing" we know that many news organizations will inject their personal biases deep into the facts they report. Analysis pieces, polls with questionable methodology and one-sided sourcing are all (less than) clever ways for news organizations to tell their audiences what to think. Moreso, you can often understand the biases of a news organization by the things they don't report, as much as what they do.
​
In order to avoid this appearance of bias by omission, we will state now, once and for all, our only editorial stance. We care about anything that might limit your individual freedoms. If it's a tax-collector reaching deep into your pockets, or a moral busy-body telling you what you can and cannot own or do with your own money, body or other extension of your human autonomy, we find it newsworthy and worthy of the greatest scrutiny. We will offer no specific denouncement of any single policy, but identify those policies factually and leave the reader to form their own opinion.
​
While it is impossible for fallible humans to separate themselves entirely from their beliefs, we hope to make this set of beliefs a clear framework for how we view the "newsworthiness" of a story.