Future Imaginaries of Visual Open Source Investigative Journalism

At the intersection of journalism and open source intelligence, novel practices offer powerful ways to verify and reconstruct events using visual material, such as eyewitness images. To describe and analyse this emerging form of journalism, the concept “Visual Open Source Investigative Journalism” (VOSIJ) is introduced. While large international news outlets champion VOSIJ and increasing scholarly attention is devoted to it, we know less about the phenomenon outside international, English-language newsrooms. Drawing on in-depth interviews and participant observation, this article examines how thirteen Norwegian journalists who engage in VOSIJ perceive challenges to their line of work in the future. The theory of Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is used to analyse their concerns about VOSIJ’s future. The article finds that the most significant challenge lies in the limited competence in VOSIJ among journalists, caused by institutional inertia as well as scarce opportunities and resources for training and maintenance. Based on the empirical data, future scenarios and metaphors for VOSIJ are conceptualised. They contribute to ongoing debates about epistemic shifts in journalism, the need for greater visual literacy, and whether VOSIJ should be integrated as a core journalistic function.