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.