The Investigators: Courtney Greenberg

By Investigative Journalism Bureau

Every day, our reporters and researchers pound the pavement, dig through troves of documents, analyze massive databases and ask tough questions in order to unearth important truths in the public interest.

The Investigators turns the spotlight on them, asking them to share what drives them, what challenges them and why they choose the difficult work of investigative reporting.

Courtney Greenberg is a Postmedia Fellow and National Post journalist who joined the IJB for six months in March 2026. Her latest investigation looks into controversial metal-on-metal hip implants used on thousands of Canadians.

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Q: You’ve spent much of your career working in the fast pace of daily news. As you near the end of your six-month fellowship with the IJB, what has it been like to step into an environment where you’re encouraged to slow down, dig deeper, and follow stories for months instead of hours?  

My career has been largely in daily breaking and trending news. There’s a sense of urgency and instant gratification that comes with that. The story gets published and then, usually, it’s on to the next.

Investigative reporting lives with you. And it doesn’t have that sense of finality, even when a story is published. There’s still the possibility to keep pushing and keep digging. 

Being at the IJB is such a unique opportunity for daily reporters to do investigative work for six months. It has completely changed how I approach reporting. 

It requires a deeper understanding of a specific issue. Rather than knowing the answer at the outset, I am in search of it. There is no formula for this kind of reporting. The story progresses and changes hundreds of times from pitch to publication. I’ve found that to be frustrating at times, because I like things to be wrapped up neatly with fewer twists and turns. But the reality is, the messy, meaty stories are the ones that have the greatest impact. And they’re the ones that are worth reporting. 

I’ve also come to understand the importance of building trust with sources, turning an “on background” conversation to “on the record” one, with time and patience. And because I’ve been able to sit with the stories for weeks and months, I’ve been able to find the right voices — not just voices that were available right away.

The IJB has helped me work through the frustration and turn it into productivity. Rather than looking at a challenge as a road block, the team is quick to ask “how can we work our way around this?” or “who else can you speak to?” or “what if you tried…”

There’s a sense of reflection, rather than urgency. 

Q: It’s the night before a big investigation is about to be published — one that will publicly cast an individual or organization in a negative light. What kinds of things are going through your mind?

This is something that I do struggle with because my goal is not to cast a negative light on anyone. But the truth is more important than how I feel, and I try to keep that in mind.

The night before publication, I go through the steps I took to ensure that each source understood the scope of my reporting, the main issues I’d be raising, and the kinds of people I’d be speaking to for the piece. It’s helpful to reflect on how I did the work and why I wanted the piece to be published in the first place. 

Did I give every source, and subject, a fair chance to respond? Are my findings grounded in fact? Will this story help the public’s understanding of the issue?  

I know that if I answer yes to all of the above, then I’ve done all I can do. I may be nervous the night before, but I know there’s also relief in publishing a story I’ve worked on for months. 

Q: When you think back on the stories you’ve done, are there moments when you felt you hit the wall? What are some of the biggest professional challenges you’ve faced?

When I started doing research on controversial metal devices still being used for hip surgeries, I hit many dead ends. It was tough because I had a source who felt strongly about wanting people to know what had happened to him, and he wanted others to be able to make informed decisions about their own potential surgery. 

But it took a long time to gather data and get answers from health officials. It seemed like the story might never get done.

I felt like I was letting my source down by not being able to find a way to report on the issue, which had deeply affected him, his lifestyle and his health. It was a challenge to figure out how to move forward. There was a point when I had to tell him that it was unlikely the story would get published after all.

But then, all of a sudden, it was brought back to life. I found a case that was going before the courts. After weeks of reaching out, the lawyers involved decided to talk to me about it. I was also then connected with a representative plaintiff, who became the lead of the story. 

That’s where the magic of the IJB comes in. If I didn’t have that extra time to persevere, the story would have never been published and fewer Canadians would be aware of the potential risks of metal-on-metal hip devices.

Q: The IJB’s model is unique in journalism, bringing together reporters, academics, students, data specialists and media organizations to collaborate on public interest issues. How has that approach impacted your journalism?

The mere proximity to Rob Cribb and the team of journalists, academics, students and other experts at the IJB has, by osmosis, made my reporting better. (No one paid me to say this). Seriously, seeing the highest standards of journalism applied to the work and watching the team talk through issues in real-time has widened my understanding of what it means to be an investigative reporter. 

It doesn’t have to be isolating. You don’t have to be the only one carrying the burden of a story. You can discuss it with a group of people who are equally as invested, whether they’re working on the same story or not. The IJB is an environment in which you can be challenged in a way that makes the reporting better. 

When I interviewed for my fellowship spot at the IJB, Rob told me about the collaborative nature of the newsroom. At the time, I couldn’t fully grasp it. 

Fast forward to my first day, when I didn’t yet have an assignment. After the morning meeting, a senior reporter invited me to sit in on an interview she was doing for a piece about the prison system. Later, when I decided that my first IJB piece would focus on transgender inmates, that same senior reporter suggested I speak to the source who was on that call and connected us right away.

Later, when I started reporting about the use of metal-on-metal devices, senior editor Dr. Blair Bigham, also an emergency doctor, was on board immediately. He connected me to a former colleague of his and talked me through some of the more technical terms. Not only that, but he was along for the ride when the story took myriad turns, almost got squashed, and was then resurrected. 

Q: Investigative reporting in Canada is shrinking. Most news outlets no longer have dedicated investigative positions so there are fewer reporters given the time and resources to do in-depth stories that take weeks or months to complete. What is the case for doing this kind of journalism?

I was speaking to a professor for a story that I’m working on now at the IJB. She told me she agreed to the interview because “we are in an evidence desert at the moment.” She wanted to share her expertise so that readers could be well-informed and not have to rely on the plethora of misinformation currently out there on the topic of women’s health.

Sources have thanked me for covering issues that are important to them. Some have told me that they reviewed the work done at the IJB before agreeing to speak to me, and decided to do so because of that work.

That shows me that this kind of journalism is incredibly valuable. Not only for the obvious reasons — holding people accountable and uncovering data that otherwise would remain hidden. It’s equally valuable for the people who rely on us to tell their stories, and the readers who benefit from having the information that we painstakingly dig up, pore over, and put in the spotlight.