Investigative reporting: a practical guide for beginners

1
Investigative reportinga practical guide for
beginners

• Ziva Branstetter
• Tulsa World projects editor
• Ziva.branstetter_at_tulsaworld.com

2
Earning time for investigative reporting

• Buy time by throwing your editor a few good
  dailies at once and then asking for dedicated
  time to finish a project.
• Use slow times in your beat (summer for education
  reporters, holidays for govt. reporters) to work
  on projects.
• Consider asking to swap beats temporarily with
  another reporter. Have someone on a slower beat
  take over while you finish a project.

3
Creating time for projects

• View yourself as a cook. Dailies are on the front
  burner, mid-range stories in the oven and
  long-term projects on the back burner.
• Try to spend some time each day working on each
  category. Dont let projects sit without stirring
  them.
• Keep a running list of tasks to accomplish on
  your mid-range and long-term projects. When
  youre waiting on phone calls or other actions
  for daily stories, work on those items.

4
Gathering records before you need them

• Always ask for more than you need.
• Request the whole database, not a printout.
• Request every field of data, not just the ones
  you need now.
• Take a records inventory of your beat.
• What records are routinely created? Make a
  schedule and get them.
• Know the Open Records Act, especially the parts
  regarding electronic records and allowable fees.
  http//www.foioklahoma.org/
• Track records requests.

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What to do with records once you have them

• Look for the minimum and the maximum story. Bite
  off a small piece for a daily story and save the
  rest of the information for a long-range story.
• Look for patterns over time. Compare with other
  cities, districts etc.
• Put databases on an intranet so other reporters
  can use them. http//209.184.242.51/IntranetLogin.
  asp

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Dont forget about human sources

• People lead you to documents and documents lead
  you to people. Use both to triangulate.
• Cultivate sources regularly. Have a system for
  saving business cards, contacts etc.
• Spend at least some time checking out tips from
  sources, even those that seem unlikely to pan
  out.

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Is it worth a project or just a daily story?

• Is the issue important? Are there real victims?
• Has the story been done before?
• Can you break new ground by obtaining records
  that havent been released?
• Will it make a good human story with characters
  and drama?
• What results will likely follow?

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Moving a project to the front burner

• Collect your data and analyze it.
• Spend some time pre-reporting.
• Bounce your theory off of the experts.
• Look for real-world examples to back up your
  data. If you cant easily find anecdotal evidence
  to back up your story, it might not be a story.
• Build internal support for your project. Make
  sure your top editors are on board. Talk with
  your editor about how much time you will need,
  what resources you need etc.
• Provide a written project proposal and update
  your editors regularly about your findings.

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Organizing your project

• Build a team.
• Database or tech support
• Graphics and design
• Photo
• Internet
• Upper editors
• Give your team a copy of the proposal and update
  members regularly.

10
Managing the information

• Create a chronology, either in text or
  spreadsheet format.
• Track records requests. Which ones are
  outstanding? What are the obstacles? What date
  did they promise to give you the records?
• Create a spreadsheet of sources, contacts for the
  project.
• Make your own database or spreadsheet for your
  data.
• Create a common area in the system for sharing
  files.

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Now comes the hard part writing

• Create an outline.
• What kind of presentation works best for your
  story?
• Narratives with a beginning, middle and end that
  build suspense.
• Serial narratives.
• Traditional multi-part series with different
  themes on each day.
• Focus on one example to tell the whole story.
  Follow a single case from beginning to end to
  show how the system works.

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Writing projects

• The rolling investigation
• Go with your strongest angle. Keep working on the
  follow-ups.
• Write what you dont know as well as what you
  know. People are often motivated to help you fill
  in the blanks.
• Make sure potential sources know how to reach
  you.
• Go back and publish a recap story that connects
  all of the dots for readers.

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10 issues that should be investigated in Oklahoma

• Write what you know oil, agriculture, tribal
  issues.
• Why does the power to regulate corporate farming
  lie with the ag department instead of DEQ? How
  tough is the dept. on polluters?
• What happens when a crime is committed on Indian
  land, especially casinos? How often are people
  convicted? What are the crime rates?
• How independent is the state Corporation
  Commission, which regulates oil and gas? How much
  money do the commissioners get from the industry?
  

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10 issues that should be investigated in Oklahoma

• Where does all the money go that tribes earn from
  gaming revenues? Which tribes are open with that
  information and which ones arent?
• Which health insurance companies in Oklahoma deny
  claims most often? Does the state do anything to
  them?
• What are the best and worst day-care centers?
• How tough is the state on bad doctors? What does
  it take to get a doctors license yanked in
  Oklahoma? How does that compare with other
  states?

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10 issues that should be investigated in Oklahoma

• Why does Oklahoma exclude so many students from
  the NCLB requirements? Are we cheating?
• Why does our state lock up more women than almost
  any other state? Why are our prisons filled with
  drug defendants? What happens to juvenile
  offenders locked in adult jails?
• High school sports How much recruiting goes on?
  How much substance abuse is there? How many kids
  are permanently injured?

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10 investigative story ideas for beat reporters

• Use your citys pet license database to find
  favorite pet names breeds. Or do your city
  officials have their animals licensed?
• Use traffic ticket data to find members of the
  100-mile-an-hour club or to find speed traps.
• Use voter registration data to find the most
  faithful voters, or to find elected officials who
  cant make it to the polls.
• Use day-care center inspection data to find
  centers most often cited.
• Use jail blotter data to find people most
  frequently arrested or to analyze arrests by
  race.

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10 story ideas for beat reporters

• Who is cited most often for code violations in
  your city?
• How often does your state environmental agency
  waive fines?
• Which city employee claims the most overtime?
• Who are the highest paid city (or school or
  county) employees?
• Examine teacher turnover, pay and experience at
  low-performing schools.

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How to get started

• Join IRE as a member and attend a conference
• www.ire.org
• Join a list-serv. IRE-plus and NICAR-L are good
  ones. Just lurk even if you dont understand.
• You must learn basic CAR skills.
• Start asking for documents
• Find a mentor in the business