§ masterplan.md
Investigative Reports Hub
An editorial hub for student investigative journalism with long reads, evidence maps and downloadable PDF reports.
01
App overview and objectives
A hub for long-form investigations with the underlying data published alongside each story, plus a secure tip line. The objective is verifiable journalism, not just readable journalism.
02
The problem worth solving
Readers increasingly distrust conclusions they cannot check. Publishing the dataset, the method and the documents turns a story into something a reader — or another newsroom — can audit.
03
Target audience
- Primary — Readers of serious investigative journalism.
- Secondary — Researchers, other newsrooms and NGOs reusing the data.
04
Roles and permissions
- Visitor — read-only public pages, can sign up.
- Member — owns their own records, cannot see other users' data.
05
Core features
- Report pages with chapters, embedded charts and document viewers
- Data page per report with downloadable, documented datasets
- Methodology section explaining collection and limitations
- Secure, anonymous tip submission
- Topic hubs grouping related reports over time
- Subscription or donation to fund the work
Deliberately later
- Collaborative cross-newsroom projects
- Interactive data explorers
- Podcast companion
06
Technical stack
Static-rendered articles, object storage for datasets and documents, a separately hosted anonymous tip intake.
Why: Static delivery survives traffic spikes when a story breaks; isolating the tip system limits the blast radius of any compromise.
Alternatives: A standard CMS newsroom platform (mature, weak on data publishing) or a data portal plus blog (good data, disjointed reading).
07
Conceptual data model
Report — title, chapters, authors, published, topics, status
Dataset — report, file, schema description, licence, collection method
Document — report, scan, ocr text, redactions applied
Topic — name, description, linked reports
Tip — encrypted payload, received_at, triage status
08
Integrations
- Object storage with CDN
- Charting library
- Anonymous intake service
- Payments for donations
09
UI design principles
- Reading experience first: 65-75 character measure, strong serif headings, real typographic hierarchy.
- Images are captioned and credited; pull-quotes break long passages.
- Navigation stays out of the way while reading and reappears on scroll-up.
10
Security considerations
- Tip line runs on a separate origin, strips metadata, and stores nothing that identifies the sender.
- Documents are redacted before upload and re-checked for hidden text layers.
- Strict access control and audit logging on unpublished investigations.
11
Development phases
Phase 1 — Prove the core
- — Report pages with chapters, embedded charts and document viewers
- — Data page per report with downloadable, documented datasets
- — Methodology section explaining collection and limitations
- — Static content and design system in place
- — Basic analytics
Phase 2 — Make it real
- — Secure, anonymous tip submission
- — Topic hubs grouping related reports over time
- — Subscription or donation to fund the work
- — Accounts, sign-in and password reset
- — Empty, loading and error states everywhere
Phase 3 — Polish and launch
- — Performance, accessibility and SEO pass
- — Legal pages, contact route and 404 handling
- — Wire up: Object storage with CDN
- — Wire up: Charting library
Phase 4 — Grow
- — Collaborative cross-newsroom projects
- — Interactive data explorers
- — Podcast companion
12
Challenges and solutions
Risk — Legal pressure and takedowns
Solution — Pre-publication legal review, mirrored archives and a documented corrections process.
Risk — Source exposure through metadata
Solution — Automated metadata stripping plus a manual checklist before every publication.
Risk — Data downloads are expensive
Solution — CDN caching and dataset versioning rather than regenerating files.
13
Future expansion
- Grant-funded investigation series
- Public records request tracker
- Data journalism training
14
Page list (13 pages)
- 01 PUBLIC Reports — The investigations themselves.
- 02 PUBLIC Topics — Ongoing beats and related coverage.
- 03 PUBLIC Data — Downloadable datasets and documentation.
- 04 PUBLIC Subscribe — Funding and email updates.
- 05 PUBLIC Submit — Secure tip line.
- 06 AUTH Sign up — Create an account with email or a social provider.
- 07 AUTH Log in — Return to the account, with error and lockout states.
- 08 AUTH Reset password — Request a reset link and set a new password.
- 09 APP (signed in) Account settings — Profile, email, password, language and delete account.
- 10 PUBLIC Contact — Contact form plus real address, phone and email.
- 11 LEGAL & SYSTEM Privacy policy — What data is collected, why, and how to remove it.
- 12 LEGAL & SYSTEM Terms of service — Rules of use, liability and account termination.
- 13 LEGAL & SYSTEM 404 not found — Friendly dead end with search and links back.
15
Page map
PUBLIC AUTH APP (signed in) LEGAL & SYSTEM ──────────── ───────────────── ─────────────────── ─────────────────── ├─ Reports ├─ Sign up └─ Account settings ├─ Privacy policy ├─ Topics ├─ Log in ├─ Terms of service ├─ Data └─ Reset password └─ 404 not found ├─ Subscribe ├─ Submit └─ Contact key flows: Reports ──▶ Data Topics ──▶ Reports Reports ──▶ Subscribe