Tips & Guides: Investigative Reporting

What sets investigative reporting apart from day-to-day reporting? In his introduction to The Reporter's Handbook: An Investigator's Guide to Documents and Techniques, Newsday Assistant Managing Editor Robert W. Green writes, "It is the reporting, through one's own work product and initiative, matters of importance which some persons or organizations wish to keep secret."

But there also is a broader view of what type of story is considered "investigative." Being an investigative reporter means being proactive rather than reactive, whether or not this entails digging up something secret. For example, a lot of raw data is now available on the Internet or in databases, which can be analyzed using software programs such as Excel and Access. Reporters using these databases have unearthed important investigative stories. The data was not secret, but no one had bothered to dig for it and analyze the numbers using computer assisted reporting (CAR) skills.

Essentially, investigative reporting means digging beneath the surface and telling your audience what is really going on by emphasizing the "how" and the "why" and not simply the "who," "what," "when," and "where." These tips can help you do just that.

1. Learn to dig up story ideas. They are all around you. The following strategies will help:
   
   • Ask a basic question: How well is a program, policy or department actually working?
     
   • Tips and sources: You may get tips via e-mail and telephone, but also keep track of the concerns of family, friends, bosses and co-workers.
     
   • Readings: Read, read, read. You might spot something that can be expanded upon or explained more in-depth.
     
   • Observation: Read bulletin boards or ads. Stroll through an unfamiliar neighborhood. Talk to people you meet there.
   • Personal experience: Are there parts of your life, or that of close family or friends, that might interest and educate others?
   
   
2. Develop a healthy skepticism. Do not get caught off guard just because someone seems sympathetic or a report looks official. Every person an agenda. It is your job to separate fact from fiction and really investigate the truth of every bit of information you get.
   
   
3. Use the Internet carefully. Check every fact and figure you pull from the Web, as well as the source of the information.
   
   
4. Work with research librarians. They are trained to track down information from federal agencies, commercial computer databases and government databases.
   
   
5. Learn basic computer-assisted reporting skills. These skills bolster traditional reporting methods with surveys, polls and statistical analysis.
   
   
6. Cultivate human sources. Records, documents, references and other background information are important, but so are the people involved in the story you are trying to tell.
   
   
7. Know the law. Check the laws in your area related to journalism. There may be laws that protect journalists, such as shield laws, or laws that help you get information, such as open meeting laws, campaign disclosure regulations, public licensing regulations and freedom of information acts.
   
   
8. Use key Web sites. They can provide good links and sources on a variety of topics - and answer many questions about the availability of public records and laws. Here are a few you should know about:
• A Journalist's Guide to the Internet - reporter.umd.edu.
• Investigative Reporters and Editors - www.ire.org/resourcecenter/. Check out "Tip sheets."
• FACSNET - www.facsnet.org. Check out sections on "Reporting Tools" and "Sources."
• Online Journalism Review - www.ojr.org. Check out "Resources."
• Poynter Institute - www.poynter.org. Check out "Resource Center."
• The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press - www.rcfp.org. Check out "Publications."
• Reporter.org - www.reporter.org. Includes links to several journalism organizations, reporting resources and publications.
• Student Press Law Center - www.splc.org. Check out "Resource Center." Offers legal information.
  
  
9. Be ethical. Newsrooms have their own ethical guidelines. To read those developed by the Society of Professional Journalists in the United States go to www.spj.org/ethics.asp.
   
   
10. Tell a good story. The goal of a good investigative story is to inform, educate and keep the interest of the reader, viewer or listener. In other words, you need to tell a compelling story. You are not writing an academic article or research paper. You must make people care about the topic you are covering, and the best way to do this is to weave in stories, anecdotes and quotes from people affected by this topic.

Developed by Laura Castañeda, assistant professor, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication (Los Angeles). Reprinted with permission.