Who invented investigative journalism?

Does the name Ida Tarbell sound familiar? At the turn of the last century, she wrote a series of stories for McClure’s magazine that led the U.S. Supreme Court to dissolve one the country’s most powerful companies, Standard Oil. Steve Weinberg, who wrote about her stories in the book, “Taking on the Trust,” [...]

Using FOI on the FBI

Al’s Morning Meeting just featured a “how-to” for requesting FBI files on the famous and not-so-famous. WTTG-TV reporter Tisha Thompson is working on a series of reports involving the files and she shares what she’s learned so far.
If you want your file, you need to file a Privacy Act Request using the FBI’s form. [...]

Flash map brings story to life

The Times Herald-Record posted an amazing investigative package this week that combines excellent use of Flash with top-notch video to bring a compelling story to life online. Multimedia producer John Pertel and investigative reporter Christine Young collaborated on the story of Lebrew Jones, a man who may have been wrongfully convicted of murder 20 [...]

Making the most of numbers

Everyone knows that people who go into journalism aren’t any good with numbers, right? I often joke that if they were, they’d be in a more remunerative line of work. But however math averse most journalists are, they have learn how to deal with data because it’s the root of so many great [...]

Data as journalism

Data should be a driving force in online journalism, writes Rich Gordon of Northwestern in a post for the Readership Institute. In his view, the Gannett newspapers are leading the way thanks to the company’s restructuring of its newsrooms into converged “information centers.” Why data?

Data is “evergreen” content. Its value to users [...]

Giving objectivity a bad name

Journalists sometimes miss or underplay big stories by trying to be objective in the wrong way, says UNC’s Phil Meyer. Instead of presenting “both sides” and letting the audience decide, Meyer argues in the new Yale Climate Media Forum that journalists should be objective in their method, not their result.
In other words, journalists should [...]

Lists as sources

Sometimes good story ideas fall in your lap (or show up in your email). The following is a post from the Criminal Justice Journalists listserv on Friday, 9/21/07:
If all goes according to plan, the FBI will put out its 2006 crime stats on Monday, 9/24/07.
Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri-St. Louis is working [...]

Do your homework

How can you avoid being suckered by sources or stampeded by the competition? Do your own homework. That’s the advice from Stuart Taylor of the National Journal. His book about the Duke lacrosse case, “Until Proven Innocent,” says the news media blew it. “Read the damn motions,” Taylor–who is also [...]

Think like a detective

Good advice from Bob Woodward of Watergate fame: Reporters should remember that investigative journalism is a lot like “what TV’s Columbo does.” Two stories from a new biography of Woodward and Carl Bernstein make the point. When the five burglars were arrested at the Watergate, Woodward asks,
What do you do? Do you [...]

Getting the data

Even when you know what you’re looking for, it’s often difficult to get access to the data you need. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel had to threaten a lawsuit to get a complete list of concealed weapons permits issued by the state. When they finally got it and compared it to the state’s list of [...]