IRPI Takes a Grassroots Approach to Global Stories

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Based in Italy but regularly reporting from locations across the world, IRPI is a centre for investigative reporting founded in 2012, that runs an independent newsroom, IrpiMedia, that focuses on producing cross-border investigations. Uniquely positioned as the sole non-profit publisher of investigative journalism in the country, IRPI is known for its work exposing the international reach of Italian organised crime, as well as its role in investigative collaborations with platforms such as the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP.

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When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down newsrooms across Europe, most in the media industry scrambled to adjust to remote reporting. Not journalists at IRPI, though.

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“We have what we call a liquid newsroom. We work from home, a plane, train – wherever,” said Cecilia Anesi, co-founder of IRPI. “We look at the international aspect of the story as well as the local, and we work with smaller collectives in Italy that cover local news from a bottom-up perspective. We provide an angle that mainstream media has failed to.”

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"We provide an angle that mainstream media has failed to”

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Anesi, along with co-founder Giulio Rubino, were both freelance journalists frustrated by the lack of opportunities and funding for investigations in Italian mainstream media when they met with other Italian freelancers at a Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine more than a decade ago. The pair were among a small group of Italian participants, all of whom were young freelancers struggling to get by, Anesi said.

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“None of the mainstream media in Italy, not even the ones known for producing investigations, actually sent their staff reporters,” Anesi said. “We felt then that there was a need, a void – to create a center for investigative reporting in our country.”

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The group launched IRPI in 2012, and the collective quickly became an important part of the Italian media landscape as one of the few independent platforms holding power to account. Since the launch, they have covered a diverse range of topics, from stories about drug trafficking links between the Italian Mafia group ‘Ndrangheta and South America, to investigations into the dire consequences of bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean. The collective was also the Italian partner on OpenLux, an investigation by Le Monde exposing Luxembourg’s status as a tax haven. Their work is now funded entirely through donations and grants from foundations in Europe.

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“Back then, there was little interest among media outlets to invest in investigations because they were lengthy, expensive, too complicated and came with high legal risks. And still, up to today, this space is shrinking,” Anesi said.

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Journalism Under Pressure

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In Italy, journalists remain vulnerable to strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), which have become widespread in recent years, according to press freedom group Article 19. These pressures are keenly felt by IRPI journalists, who are increasingly being forced to take time out of reporting in order to grapple with such lawsuits, which can result in massive damages and financial losses for the newsroom should they lose. As defamation is a crime in Italy, they also face prosecution. Every week, their team receives between 2-4 emails requesting for content to be removed, Anesi said.

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“We see more and more criminals, grey zone brokers and intermediaries starting lawsuits against us"

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“We’re facing more and more pressure. The climate we’re operating in isn’t friendly, not just from a political perspective, but also a criminal perspective,” Anesi said. “We see more and more criminals, grey zone brokers and intermediaries starting lawsuits against us…it’s very demanding in terms of our time.”

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The deteriorating environment for press freedom has had an adverse effect on the quality of journalism being produced by Italian newsrooms, which has led to a decrease in public trust towards media institutions. “Now, the majority of readers have lost trust in media. Unless media outlets can provide investigations and in-depth reporting, people aren’t going to be interested anymore,” Anesi said.

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To meet these challenges, IRPI has not only prioritised in-depth investigations and global collaborations, but also taken a multi-platform approach in their reporting in recent years. For instance, in 2020 the team authored “Verified”, a Stitcher-produced English-language true crime podcast that covered the story of an Italian police officer who drugged and sexually assaulted women using the online platform CouchSurfing. The series won the “Best Audio” award at DIG, a cultural association supporting journalism. That same year, the collective also launched its own online news outlet “IrpiMedia,” thematically structured in a way to better guide readers through complex topics and lengthy investigations.

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“We want to have our own voice, have a connection to our audience and build our independent space. We also want readers not to feel lost,” Anesi said. “It’s investigative journalism with ‘entertainment’ at the same time. I think this is quite a unique (approach) in the European media landscape.”

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Impact-Driven Storytelling

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Now, much of their stories are impact-driven, which means that the collective aims to frame their stories in a way that reaches not only the widest audience possible, but also the decision-makers best placed to tackle the issues raised in their reporting. An example of this approach is highlighted in a recent joint investigation into the exploitation of Indian migrant workers in Italy’s kiwi-production industry, which among others led to the kiwi manufacturer Zespri and supermarket chain Lidl promising to look into the contracts with the exploitative companies. Furthermore, they also trained 15 young people with migratory backgrounds who are interested in pursuing stories about the exploitation of foreign laborers in Italy.

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"The journalists aren’t coming from above – the stories are produced with the local communities”

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It’s just one example of how the collective is invested in training, engaging, and collaborating with local communities on the ground. Recently, IRPI was awarded funding by Journalismfund Europe to coordinate “Senza Segnale (No Signal)”, a project amplifying the voices of marginalized communities. Through the initiative, local newsrooms, grassroots activists and NGOs in among others Rome, Milan, Sardinia and Campania have produced four investigations that will be published by IrpiMedia. The project has developed into a book and in immersive exhibitions.

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“We want to show that you can produce quality reporting by coordinating a network of local outlets and communities. The journalists aren’t coming from above – the stories are produced with the local communities,” Anesi said. “We see that it has an incredible amount of impact.”

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Looking ahead, the collective aims to secure enough funding to maintain and expand its existing operations. “Without core funding from trusts and foundations such as Limelight Foundation, none of this could happen,” Anesi said. “What we’ve built – we want to make sure it persists and grows.”

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