Investigative reporting:
a practical guide for beginners
Ziva Branstetter
Tulsa World projects editor
Ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
Earning time for investigative
reporting
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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.
Creating time for projects
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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. Don’t let projects sit without
stirring them.
Keep a running list of tasks to accomplish on
your mid-range and long-term projects. When
you’re waiting on phone calls or other actions
for daily stories, work on those items.
Gathering records before you
need them
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Always ask for more than you need.
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Take a records inventory of your beat.
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Request the whole database, not a printout.
Request every field of data, not just the ones you
need now.
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.
What to do with records once
you have them
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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
Don’t forget about human
sources
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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.
Is it worth a project or just a
daily story?
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Is the issue important? Are there real
victims?
Has the story been done before?
Can you break new ground by obtaining
records that haven’t been released?
Will it make a good human story with
characters and drama?
What results will likely follow?
Moving a project to the front
burner
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Collect your data and analyze it.
Spend some time pre-reporting.
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Bounce your theory off of the experts.
Look for real-world examples to back up your data. If you
can’t 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.
Organizing your project
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Build a team.
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Database or tech support
Graphics and design
Photo
Internet
Upper editors
Give your team a copy of the proposal
and update members regularly.
Managing the information
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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.
Now comes the hard part:
writing
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Create an outline.
What kind of presentation works best for your
story?
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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.
Writing projects
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The rolling investigation
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Go with your strongest angle. Keep working on
the follow-ups.
Write what you don’t 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.
10 issues that should be
investigated in Oklahoma
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Write what you know: oil, agriculture, tribal
issues.
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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?
10 issues that should be
investigated in Oklahoma
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Where does all the money go that tribes earn from gaming
revenues? Which tribes are open with that information and
which ones aren’t?
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 doctor’s license yanked in Oklahoma?
How does that compare with other states?
10 issues that should be
investigated in Oklahoma
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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?
10 investigative story ideas for
beat reporters
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Use your city’s 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 “100mile-an-hour club” or to find speed traps.
Use voter registration data to find the most faithful
voters, or to find elected officials who can’t 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.
10 story ideas for beat
reporters
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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.
How to get started
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Join IRE as a member and attend a
conference
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www.ire.org
Join a list-serv. IRE-plus and NICAR-L are
good ones. Just lurk even if you don’t
understand.
You must learn basic CAR skills.
Start asking for documents
Find a mentor in the business