IrpiMedia

In October 2011, five Italian freelance investigative journalists attended the 7th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine. Shortly after the event, they founded the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), building on the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project- OCCRP's example. The association initially offered fixing services to foreign journalists and media in Italy. Increasingly, they started producing written reports and multimedia projects on local and transnational investigative journalism for international media outlets.

Working as freelancers, they were not satisfied with the process of adapting or "divvying up" their content to fit each media outlet's specific needs. In 2018, when they received structural funding from international donors, such as the Open Society Foundations, they started thinking about founding their own digital media outlet. IrpiMedia finally sprouted in March 2020, producing investigative written and audio series focused on criminal organisations and migrations.

The media outlet is based in Milan, but its newsroom of at least seven regular contributors is scattered across the country.

The organisation favours the serial format, as it allows it to explore every facet of the usually complicated issues they tackle, and to follow the topics and include updates over time.

In 2022, along with other international media outlets, IrpiMedia won the European Press Prize for the investigative project Cities for Rent, which analysed corporate landlords across Europe. The organisation relies on funding from a few international core donors and multiple grants in order to stay independent.

Even if the outlet usually has a transnational approach, it also aims to reach the Italian audience. According to the organisation, mainstream Italian media lack investigative journalism, and IrpiMedia seeks to fill that void.

Last updated: January 2023