Legal and Ethical Practical Guidance for Investigative Journalists

This guide was produced by Transcrime as part of the Next-IJ project (Next-Level Data and Tools for Investigative Journalism), co-funded by the European Union – Creative Europe MEDIA, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).

The report provides a practical legal and ethical framework for investigative journalists operating in Europe’s digital environment, covering the protections afforded by freedom of expression law, the obligations arising from data protection and privacy regulation, the criminal law boundaries of newsgathering and publication, and the ethical challenges posed by the growing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in investigative workflows.