Private Media chairman Eric Beecher says investigative journalism is core to Australian democracy and last week’s police raids at the ABC and at the home of a News Corp journalist only highlight the importance of the fourth estate.

Mr Beecher’s Private Media will on Tuesday launch its new investigative journalism team, INQ, with a staff of 12 – two editors and 10 journalists – who will focus on deep reporting across a range of topic areas as an extension of independent digital news publisher Crikey.