In the Dark: crafting investigative stories for audio

Madeleine Baran is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. She is the host of In the Dark, an acclaimed podcast known for its meticulous, exhaustive reporting. Over three seasons, In the Dark’s reporting has exposed the failure of law enforcement to solve a notorious child abduction, led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the case of a Black man on death row in Mississippi, and revealed the untold story of the killing of 25 civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq.
Rik van Hulst is a journalist at De Limburger. He previously produced the podcasts Het verhaal van Nicky Verstappen (2020) and De Fabriek (2025), the latter about the mass layoffs at the Nedcar car factory in Born. Together with Sjors van Beek, he won the Dutch journalism award De Tegel for their investigation into the Horst police affair. He received another Tegel with Judith Janssen for Project 46, an investigation into the impact of deadly traffic accidents.

In this online session, Madeleine Baran, host of the award-winning podcast In the Dark, will share how she and her team select stories, prepare interviews through role play and structure narratives using storyboarding. She will also reflect on why audio is such a powerful medium for investigative journalism, offering insights from her team's reporting on the Haditha killings. Facilitated by our colleague Rik van Hulst, this session offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most respected investigative podcasts.

Location: Cloud 9

Time: 11:10 - 12:00

Speaker(s): Madeleine Baran & Rik van Hulst

Language: ENG

Type: Online session

Theme: Audio

9 September 2025

TivoliVredenburg

Utrecht

How do you make the difference as a journalist?

On 9 september Mediahuis celebrates journalism! Come together with over 250 fellow journalists in the music venue TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht.