Jim Heaney: Investigative Post
On How to Achieve a Kick-Ass Brand
By Jackie Orchard
Eight years ago, Jim Heaney was a frustrated reporter at The Buffalo News. He wasn’t able to spend the time he wanted on the stories that he felt mattered most. He wanted to investigate corruption. There was not enough room for that at a daily newspaper. So he started his own.
The Investigative Post was created by Jim Heaney’s dreams - and his credit card – in 2012.
“It was born of my frustration,” Heaney says. “I had ideas on how I wanted to practice journalism that really didn’t have a place in a daily newspaper.”
As a business, a daily newspaper needs to worry about publishing content that readers will pay for, in order to create revenue.
“Daily newspapers are in a death spiral,” Heaney says. “It’s a matter of survival. And that’s not the best environment to do great journalism in. I had to have my own vehicle.”
This is why The Investigative Post is a not-for-profit business, powered solely by donors.
Now seven years strong, The Investigative Post has received 19 journalism awards and Heaney himself most recently won the Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Reporting from the Museum of Political Corruption.
Heaney says his success is due to the confidence people have in his work. If you visit The Investigative Post website, the brand is clear: They get stuff done.
“Our brand is kick-ass, investigative reporting,” Heaney says. “When you do high-quality work and you get in front of a large audience – good things can happen.”
The website makes it easy to see their accomplishments. There is a tab for their journalism awards, a tab dedicated to the results of their reporting, and a convenient tab for donating. This is how they fund the operation. Ideally, one sees their good work, then wants to help pay for it.
Even with the results on display, Heaney says fundraising for the cause is not always easy.
“Raising money for investigative journalism is challenging because while a lot of people recognize the value of it, they don’t necessarily want their name or money associated with it," Heaney says. “Because you’re going after the powerful.”
The site helps promote their work, but Heaney says the promotion starts with the work they do every day.
“The primary way you promote it is just by going out and doing good journalism,” Heaney says. “You let the stories speak for themselves.”
Heaney’s stories speak on multiple platforms.
“We do work for the NBC affiliate, TV work, we do radio work for the NPR affiliate. As well as Capital Pressroom,” Heaney says. “We’ve got a large reach. We can reach up to a quarter of a million people per story.”
Heaney says, for television, they reach anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 viewers per story. For radio it’s about 30,000 for WBFO in Buffalo. Capital Pressroom is up to 100,000.
“You add all those up,” Heaney says, “We have a broader reach than any news organization in all of upstate New York.”
Screen grab from Investigative Post Facebook account. Consistent with the black and white, no-nonsense brand of the iP.
Screen grab from Investigative Post Twitter account. Consistent with the black and white, no-nonsense brand of the iP.
Screen grab from Investigative Post website. Shows how they display their credibility as part of their brand, by showing their awards,
Screen grab from Investigative Post website. Shows how they promote their social media accounts.
Jim Heaney and Jackie Orchard after Heaney received the Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Journalism and imparted some words of wisdom upon young journalists. "Be feared."
For the Full Audio Interview:
Investigative Post Slideshow:
Video about iP's brand.
Jim Heaney speaking on a panel for the Museum of Political Corruption in Albany, NY.
Jackie Orchard and Jim Heaney after he received the Nellie Bly Award in Albany, NY.
Video about iP's brand.
Screen grab from Investigative Post website. Example of how their brand promotes revenue.
Heaney says their brand is definitely about being watchdogs and exposing truth. But they aren’t saying that just because it sounds good as a brand.
“Our TV partner, their brand is accountability journalism,” Heaney says. “They like to tell people: 'We ask the tough questions.' And we ask the tough questions but it’s not so much a marketing move on our part, it’s just the way you practice good journalism.”
Their website also links to their social media. Heaney says that for distributing their stories, Facebook is best. But for keeping tabs on developing stories, they need Twitter.
“We find, and a lot of news organizations find, that Twitter is good for reaching other journalists and policy makers and insiders,” Heaney says. “But for the average person, Facebook is the way you reach them and engage them, because it’s more two-way. Twitter is put it out there and it’s there, but it’s not intended to get people commenting back and forth.”
The most lucrative reason for the no-nonsense Investigative Post website is to collect donations. But as important as donations are, Heaney says no amount of money will protect you if he’s investigating you.
Just ask one of his major corporate donors, whose president is now headed for prison because of the Buffalo Billions scandal Heaney exposed.
“Whenever anybody wants to accuse me- ‘Well people give you money and then you leave them alone,’ Well... No. Actually, Louis Ciminelli is headed to federal prison. And he gave me money.”
Heaney says that his organization follows two simple rules, in keeping with their brand of watchdog, kick-ass journalists.
“One- Can we expose wrong-doing or injustice? Two- Can we explain a complicated issue that isn’t being explained by the local media outlets? If we do that, do we have a fighting chance at effecting change,” Heaney says. “Ideally, it needs to be both. Exposing the bad guys in a way that will effect change.”
Heaney says their company “brand” starts with his own journalistic style.
“I’m trying to build an organization that reflects my values and my techniques,” Heaney says. “Those values include being very thorough and being very aggressive.”
Heaney says that when they call a subject, there’s a large gulp at the end of the phone call. He likes that.
On the Investigative Post website, there is a roughly three-minute-long video that sums up everything one would need to know about their brand. It hits all their key phrases: elite investigative unit, non-profit, analytical, relentless, fearless, available on all media platforms.
“Our elevator pitch is, in part, ‘The only news organization in Western New York dedicated exclusively to watchdog journalism,’” Heaney says. “So yeah, we kick ass and take names.”
The video goes on to list some of their most impactful cases. It shows that the whole point of their brand is to restore the relationship between the public and the media. It ends with, “Help us tell the stories that need to be told.”
Heaney says this brand of watch-dog, kick-ass journalism is what allows them to grow in a time when daily newspapers are dying.
“Right now we’re a $300,000 a year operation,” Heaney says. “Five years from now, I want to be a $1 million operation with a newsroom staff of ten people and more staff working on fundraising. There’s a lot of potential.”
Heaney says that the brand of the Investigative Post is not focused on “likable,” it’s focused on results.
“I’ve never suffered from the need to be liked,” Heaney says. “You don’t have to be liked. You have to be respected. And to be respected you have to be fair-minded and do your homework.”
Which is exactly what their brand conveys.
Screen grab from Investigative Post website. Shows how they use their brand of reliable journalism to create revenue for the non-profit.