The Ferret is an independent non-profit media cooperative in Scotland set up to investigate stories in the public interest which launched in May 2015.
The Ferret was launched in May 2015.[1] With the support of members, it aims to produce independent investigations that can be sold to outlets in the mainstream media.[2] The cooperative structure was chosen to allow readers to be more than passive recipients of their stories.[3]
The Ferret was the first publication in Scotland to join press regulator IMPRESS, and adopt an editorial policy compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry.
A crowdfunding appeal was chosen to launch their first investigation into aspects of the fracking industry and unconventional gas. They hit their target within a week.[4] By the close of the appeal, they had raised more that double their target and so they decided to look at the treatment of asylum seekers too. [5]
They organised a conference with Strathclyde University held in April 2016.[6]
In November 2016 The Ferret was shortlisted in the "Digital Innovation" category of the 2016 British Journalism Awards.[7]
In April 2017, the co-operative launched a fact checking service.[8] It remains the only fact checking project in Scotland to be independently assessed as meeting the International Fact Checking Network Code of Principles.
In 2018, Ferret co-founding Director Billy Briggs and photographer Angela Catlin were awarded Outstanding Digital Journalist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. [9] The award recognised Billy Briggs and Angela Catlin's reporting from Iraq the previous year, which was published by The Ferret.
The organisation also won Online/Digital Award at the 2018 Scottish Refugee Media Awards[10] for a story by Ferret Director Karin Goodwin and Angela Catlin highlighting the increasing numbers of children being made destitute in Scotland.