Onderzoekscollectief Spit

About the network

For freelancers, it’s hard to spend much time in investigative journalism. It requires a big investment of time, often partly unpaid, with an insecure outcome, and it also involves (legal) risks. Although there are start-ups focusing on investigative journalism, these jobs tend to be insecure. Therefore, in 2018 the two founders of Spit decided to start a cooperation in which freelancers are able to build a brand for investigative journalism owned by themselves.

The freelancers work from different parts of The Netherlands. Spit therefore doesn’t have an office. They publish their stories with partnering media outlets, and keep overhead costs as low as possible, so all income can be used to pay freelancers for the hours they work on investigative journalistic projects.

The legal entity is a cooperation, which makes it possible to apply for bigger grants than individual journalists usually can apply for. The cooperative has been growing from 2 to currently 8 members, which is for now the maximum. They do however cooperate with other journalists, in The Netherlands as well as internationally.

Projects

Spit wrote about the problems in social housing in The Netherlands, various stories on the disfunctional healthcare system in The Netherlands, or harmful fishing activities and the business behind it.

Contact

Website: https://www.onderzoekscollectiefspit.nl
Name: Bram Logger
Email: loggerbram@gmail.com