Broadcast Journalism Chapters 16 & 17

Freedom of Information The 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Also called the “sunshine laws,” the FOIA grants the public access to the records of most federal agencies.

Freedom of Information To obtain this information, a formal letter must be written to the agency holding the information. The format for this letter is on the next slide.

Freedom of Information Information Request Format: –Use official letterhead –Refer to the FOIA in the first sentence. –State what you are willing to pay or request the fees be waived (if the information is of direct benefit to the public). –Specific description of the documents. –Remind the agency that they have 10 days to comply with the request.

Freedom of Information Go to pages in the textbook and look at the FOIA letter format used by Mark Lagerkvist to obtain information about insurance company kickbacks paid to doctors for not providing proper care to patients.

Government Reports Government reports are a good starting point for investigative reporting. The information found in these reports may prompt a reporter to file an FOIA request for further information.

Government Reports Reports and sources for reports: –General Accounting Office –The Code of Federal Regulations –The Congressional Record –The Federal Regional Directory –The Federal Register –The Federal Regulatory Directory –The U.S. Bureau of Census Publications –The U.S. Government Manual –The Washington Information Directory

Business Publications For investigating corporations, the following sources are useful: –Dun & Bradstreet’s Directory –Standard & Poor’s Register of Corporations –Thomas Register of American Manufacturers

Business Publications To gain the industry perspective on an issue look at: –The Wall Street Journal –Forbes –Fortune –Business Week

Databases Library resources such as LexisNexis, InfoTrac catalog hundreds of academic journals, newspapers, trade publications, and magazines. These are essential in supplementing your findings and providing background to your story, and fact checking.

Other Public Files Police Records, Court Records, Birth and Death Records, Licenses, Land Records, Financial Records, Tax Records, and City Directories can also be of tremendous use to the investigative reporter. Cultivating a good relationship with employees at these offices goes a long way toward what you will have access to.

Computer-Assisted Reporting Computer-Assisted Reporting is “the acquisition and analysis of electronic information.” Accessing and constructing databases for fast and easy access to information is the main activity of this type of reporting.

Three Basic Tools There are three basic tools in Computer- Assisted Reporting: –Online Resources (websites and databases) –Spreadsheets (Excel) –Database Managers (Access)

Online Resources Search Engines –Yahoo, Google, Ask Use Boolean Logic (“and,” “or,” “not”) for precise results. Read the directions offered for advances searches because they vary among search engines.

Online resources Finding People –Yahoo People Finder –Switchboard.com Businesses – (EDGAR database)

Online Resources Some other resources –(Congress) –(Elections) –(Environment) –(Defense) –(Crime)

Spreadsheets Information from online sources can often be downloaded and imported into spreadsheets for further calculations.

Database Managers Database managers enable reporters to use the information obtained from online sources and cross-reference them with other files. Database managers can effectively search, summarize, and compare information. Database managers also permit reporters to construct their own databases.

Conclusion There are a number of excellent resources for learning computer-assisted reporting. Two are listed below: –Houston, B. (1999). Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide. Bedfort/St. Martins. –