Steve Doig

 Reporter and editor with The Miami Herald for 20 years before joining the Cronkite School in  Expert in computer-assisted reporting for investigations  Some investigations I worked on: ◦ Hurricane Andrew (Pulitzer Prize) ◦ Miami criminal justice system (IRE Award) ◦ Immigration in America (Goldsmith Prize) ◦ Florida prisons (ABA Silver Gavel award) ◦ Money laundering (IAPA Globe & Mail Award) ◦ Medicare fraud (George Polk Award)

 In-depth examination of societal problems or situations, leading to stories that expose wrongdoers or bring about calls for change for the better.  Watchdog journalism  Our motto: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  Our attitude: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

 A tip from a source  An anonymous call from a whistleblower  A regular news story suggests further in- depth scrutiny  Curiosity about something observed  Finding a pattern in a database

 Use of computers and social science techniques to do stories that otherwise would be impossible  Normally used to find patterns of interest in government databases  Also called “database journalism” or “computer-assisted reporting” (CAR)

 Walter Cronkite in the 1952 election  Don Barlett & Jim Steele in Philadelphia in ’60s  Phil Meyer writes “Precision Journalism” in 1973  Scattering of journalists use personal computers beginning in the ’80s  First data Pulitzer in 1989: “Color of Money”  NICAR created at University of Missouri  1993 Pulitzer for Hurricane Andrew reporting  Basic CAR skills now considered essential in most newsrooms

 Official corruption  Vote fraud  Slum lords  Environmental problems  Kickbacks to public officials  Business practices  Dangerous medical devices  Racial discrimination

 Software: ◦ Browser: Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, et al. ◦ Spreadsheet: Excel ◦ Database: Access ◦ Mapping: ArcMap, QGIS, Google Fusion Tables ◦ Miscellaneous: Text editor, SPSS, et al.  Hardware: Computer, GPS  Social science: Statistics, polling, experiment

Excel spreadsheet

Sorted

Filtered

Math and functions

Pivot tables

Data mapping

Other tools

 Join IRE ($70/year)  “Investigative Reporter’s Handbook”  IRE beat books  NICAR-L list

 IRE formed in 1975  IRE founding member Don Bolles of the Arizona Republic was killed with a car bomb in June 1976  Desert Rats continued Bolles’ work

 Today, IRE has >4,000 members, including many international journalists  Annual conferences around the US  Workshops and bootcamps (including NICAR conference)  IRE offshoots in countries around the world  GIJ conference in Brazil in 2013  Next GIJ in Norway in 2015

datadrivenjournalism.net

DataJournalismHandbook.org/

gijn.org