The Ferret (website)

The Ferret is an independent non-profit media cooperative in Scotland set up to investigate stories in the public interest which launched in May 2015.

History

The Ferret was launched in May 2015.[1] With the support of members, it aims to produce independent investigations that can be sold to outlets in the mainstream media.[2] The cooperative structure was chosen to allow readers to be more than passive recipients of their stories.[3]

The Ferret was the first publication in Scotland to join press regulator IMPRESS, and adopt an editorial policy compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry.

A crowdfunding appeal was chosen to launch their first investigation into aspects of the fracking industry and unconventional gas. They hit their target within a week.[4] By the close of the appeal, they had raised more that double their target and so they decided to look at the treatment of asylum seekers too. [5]

They organised a conference with Strathclyde University held in April 2016.[6]

In November 2016 The Ferret was shortlisted in the "Digital Innovation" category of the 2016 British Journalism Awards.[7]

In April 2017, the co-operative launched a fact checking service.[8] It remains the only fact checking project in Scotland to be independently assessed as meeting the International Fact Checking Network Code of Principles.

In 2018, Ferret co-founding Director Billy Briggs and photographer Angela Catlin were awarded Outstanding Digital Journalist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. [9] The award recognised Billy Briggs and Angela Catlin's reporting from Iraq the previous year, which was published by The Ferret.

The organisation also won Online/Digital Award at the 2018 Scottish Refugee Media Awards[10] for a story by Ferret Director Karin Goodwin and Angela Catlin highlighting the increasing numbers of children being made destitute in Scotland.

References
  1. Ciobanu, Mădălina (29 May 2015). "How The Ferret will 'nose up the trousers of power'". www.journalism.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. Carrell, Severin (6 July 2015). "Crowd-funded investigative journalism site the Ferret to launch in Scotland". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. "Duncan Thorp: Building Scotland's social enterprise media". The Scotsman. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  4. Turvill, William (9 July 2015). "Scotland sees 'flowering' of news websites as national press wilts north of the border". Press Gazette. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  5. Nutt, Kathleen (11 August 2015). "Journalists raise £9k for investigations with crowdfunding". The National. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  6. Spowart, Nan (21 March 2016). "Investigative journalism website The Ferret joins forces with Strathclyde University for media conference". The National. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  7. Ponsford, Dominic (7 November 2016). "2016 British Journalism Awards finalists revealed: 'A timely reminder of the good journalists do'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  8. Ciobanu, Mădălina (28 April 2017). "The Ferret launches fact-checking service, aiming to work with its community to verify claims". www.journalism.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  9. "The Winners at the 2018 awards". Scottish Newspaper Society. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  10. "Refugee Festival Scotland Media Award winners announced". Scottish Refugee Council. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
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