About Us

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that holds power to account. Founded in 2010 by David and Elaine Potter, we tackle big subjects through deep reporting that uncovers the truth. We tell the stories that matter.

We rely on donations to fund our work. Click here to make a contribution.

Our mission: Journalism driving change

We believe investigative journalism plays a key role in keeping democracy strong, power accountable and societies more just. That is why we focus on in-depth, rigorous investigations that can make a real difference at a global, national or local level.

We look beyond the short term news agenda, and the need to generate clicks. Instead we take time to dig deep, led by the facts not by political or corporate agendas. We do not cower from difficult stories and we seek to listen to voices that are often overlooked.

Our motivation is to drive change. This means we go beyond just words on a page to work directly with those who can use what we reveal to make a difference in the world.

Our values

Just: We are committed to pursuing what is right. We act with integrity and fairness to bring injustice to light.

Honest: We deal plainly and truthfully with each other and what we uncover. We reveal the truth even when it is uncomfortable.

Courageous: We aim to break new ground. We are ambitious, tenacious and innovative.

Inclusive: We seek to build equity. We embrace diversity, different experiences and perspectives.

Collaborative: We believe people are stronger when they work together. We take a collective approach to how we tackle problems, share skills and enable change.

Support us

Right now, public interest journalism is more vital than ever. Trust and truth are under threat and your support is needed to keep quality reporting alive.

Help us to continue doing powerful reporting that scrutinises, questions, reveals and informs. Make a donation today.

If you want to speak to someone about supporting the Bureau, please contact [email protected]

From our Founder

When we launched the Bureau I wrote: “Democracy itself is imperilled in the absence of honest information and a robust watchdog to hold government and the powerful to account. Without that we all become susceptible to the manipulation and deceptions orchestrated by governments, industry or even the media.” In the eight years since then, things have got much worse.

Anti-semitism with its ugly long history has again come to life, far right movements have spread across Europe, the Americas and around the world, minorities are under threat, racism is becoming tolerated. Each year it seems a new and feted ‘illiberal democracy’ comes into being to sit all too easily alongside established dictatorships.

And everywhere the press is under enormous pressure, being diminished daily with wild and indiscriminate assertions of fake news whilst fake news itself is being manufactured and proliferating across the internet.

The Bureau has gradually been building a new bulwark to address these issues. Through our pioneering Bureau Local we are bringing local accountability journalism back to life as well as creating an original model for others to adopt. Globally through our varied and penetrating probes into matters of public importance we are positioning ourselves to be powerful truth tellers. We intend to crusade against the backward drift of human rights, to demand and deliver transparency and the hard pursuit of truth.

We are forging new partnerships to enhance our impact and help find ways of taking the press back to its Fourth Estate duties.

Many years ago when working on a major investigation into the aerospace and airline industry, I learnt that the safest airlines were those which operated in countries where accountability was strongest.

We believe this observation holds true beyond the airline industry and that holding the powerful to account is the most important role of investigative journalism. With huge ambition we intend to do just that.

Elaine Potter
Founder of the Bureau