7: Going undercover always carries a risk – Ed Davey, environmental investigative journalist

This episode features Ed Davey, the head of rainforest investigations at the international NGO Global Witness, where he leads a team dedicated to exposing the destruction of the world’s most important rainforests. In 2018 he helped reveal how the world’s top three commodity traders were embroiled in one of the biggest corruption cases of all time. Previously he spent eight years specialising in undercover journalism at the BBC where his work was featured on programmes such as Panorama, Newsnight, and the national News at Six, as well as writing for publications including the New Statesman and the Mail on Sunday. At 38, he’s also the author of three novels – Foretold by Thunder , The Napoleon Complex and The Killing Gene – published under the name EM Davey. He has visited more than 60 countries and African countries feature in all his novels. In this episode, we chat about what it’s like to work in investigative journalism for an NGO, getting the low-down on how Global Witness carries out its campaigns focused on complex international corruption and environmental crime, and how the job differs to working for a media outlet. We also hear eye-opening stories from Ed’s career as a journalist going undercover to expose everything from unscrupulous building firms to unethical fertility clinics, and learn about his astonishing trip to Benin, West Africa, to make a BBC documentary about voodoo sorcery after a friend told him he’d seen a voodoo priest cut off his wife’s head and then reattach it… 1:32 becoming a published author 6:41 sharing a name with a famous politician 8:37 transitioning from the BBC to campaigning journalism 12:50 calling on companies to take action on deforestation 15:33 getting decision-makers to take action on findings 17:30 the inside track on Global Witness investigations 21:00 justifying long-haul flights as an environmental campaigner 24:18 going undercover 28:12 Ed’s most impactful investigation 30:07 evaluating the impact of investigations 35:47 risks in undercover operations 39:24 voodoo in Benin 44:44 tips for getting into campaigning journalism Useful links: Check out Ed’s website Check out Ed’s novels Check out this Global Witness anti-corruption investigation Ed worked on Check out Ed’s BBC World Service documentary on voodoo sorcery in Benin Check out this BBC undercover investigation into building test centres Ed worked on Check out Ed’s BBC undercover investigation into immigrant working conditions Connect with Storytelling for Impact: Visit the website:

You can listen to 7: Going undercover always carries a risk – Ed Davey, environmental investigative journalist online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

7: Going undercover always carries a risk – Ed Davey, environmental investigative journalist is an episode from Storytelling for Impact by Susannah Birkwood.

This episode is 00:48:06 long.

This episode was published on Aug 1, 2021.

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