Between Transparency and Secrecy: A Mixed-Methods Study of Digital Surveillance, Source Risks, and Resilience in Global South Investigative Journalism

Abstract

In the context of increasing digital surveillance and shrinking press freedom, investigative journalists in the Global South face critical ethical and operational challenges. Mixed-method studies which highlighted regions like Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Philippines were not exceptionally prominent in the previous literature. Within a sequential framework, we studied 150 investigative reports (2018-2023) through natural language processing, undertook 25 semi-structured interviews, and carried out participatory observations in three newsrooms. The results point to three important observations: hybrid analogue-digital verification models make exposure to a source less likely; collaborative resistance cultural- practice networks constructively defy networks; and the paradox of ethics in investigative journalism transparency and secrecy suggests the need for a decolonial approach. The surveillance journalism framework, which examines outstanding epistemic imbalances, incorporates Southern knowledge, relational accountability, and the new concept of communal sousveillance ethics. By combining the principles of sousveillance, networked resistance, and communal ethics, the study focuses on culturally rooted policy proposals such as the ASEAN Hybrid Safety Fund. These results point to the need for global journalism safety standards which.

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