Details

Subject(s)

• Investigative reporting—Handbooks, manuals, etc [Browse]
• Public records—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc [Browse]
• Computer network resources—Directories [Browse]

Related name

• Houston, Brant [Browse]
• Bruzzese, Len [Browse]
• Weinberg, Steve [Browse]
• Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc [Browse]

Library of Congress genre(s)

• Directories [Browse]

Notes

• Sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.
• Rev. ed. of: The reporter's handbook. 3rd ed. c1996.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (p. 547-560) and index.

Contents

• pt. 1. The basics : how to investigate anyone or anything
• Introduction : paper trails and people trails : an overview
• Choosing a subject for investigation
• The research hypothesis
• The outer ring : secondary sources
• Having a "documents state of mind"
• Human sources
• Research techniques
• Organizing the information, writing and rewriting
• Thinking through the conventional wisdom
• The Paul Williams way
• Step 1 : conception
• Step 2 : feasibility study
• Step 3 : go-no go decision
• Step 4 : basebuilding
• Step 5 : planning
• Step 6 : original research
• Step 7 : reevaluation
• Step 8 : filling the gaps
• Step 9 : final evaluation
• Step 10 : writing and rewriting
• Step 11 : publication and follow-up stories
• Using all these procedures in the real world
• Pat Stith's version of the Paul Williams way
• Books with insight into the investigative process
• 1. Secondary sources : working from the outside in
• Using newspapers
• Broadcast and cable sources
• Magazines and newsletters
• Reference books
• Dissertations and theses
• Books and libraries
• Secondary sources on databases
• The Internet
• Database searching in the real world of journalism
• 2. Primary documents : obtaining the best evidence
• Primary documents on commercial databases
• The government's own databases
• The three I's
• Box : the social security number as door opener
• Primary documents as entry points
• The Uniform Commercial Code
• From UCC filings to tax documents
• Birth and death records
• Depository libraries
• The National Archives system
• Box : putting it all together with primary sources --
• 3. Computer-assisted reporting
• The basic tools of computer-assisted reporting
• Box : George Landau on software
• CAR training
• Finding and deciding on what databases to use
• Databases to have on hand
• Demographic data
• State data sources
• Local data
• Other tips
• Federal
• State and local
• Intranets
• Building your own database
• Box : gaining access
• 4. Crossing borders : international investigations
• The World Wide Web
• International reporting at home
• Box : international coverage on a hometown budget
• Starting points
• Networks of journalists
• Guides to reporting
• Specific resources
• The national security obstacle
• Archives
• Box : personal papers and oral histories
• 5. People trails : finding and interviewing sources
• Locating and interviewing sources
• Tools for finding people
• Telephone directories
• City directories
• Workplace directories
• Life patterns, common sense and documents
• Other documents and records
• Whistle-blowers
• Outside experts
• Box : power structures, obvious and obscure
• Interviewing those in and out of power
• Interviewing
• The research stage
• Looking for credentials fraud in résumés
• Getting ready to pop the questions
• Box : getting in the door
• Asking the questions, dealing with the answers
• Note taking and other matters of accuracy --
• pt. 2. Investigating individuals, institutions and issues
• 6. Investigating government : the legislative branch and those who try to influence it
• Following the dollar
• Campaign finance records
• State and local coverage
• Box : the many pockets of a politician's coat
• The world of lobbyists
• Financial disclosures of legislators
• Resources and perquisites in office
• Constituent service and reelection
• From a bill to a law
• Authorizations and appropriations
• Legislating through committees
• Committees and the function of oversight
• The connection between legislating and personal character
• Using congressional information for all manner of investigations
• The research arms of the legislature
• 7. Investigating government : the executive branch
• Probing an agency's mission
• Probabilities of corruption
• Uncovering conflicts on interest
• Scrutinizing the top executive
• Cabinet secretaries and regulatory commissioners
• The permanent bureaucracy
• Public affairs personnel as a gateway to the bureaucracy
• The budget and management watchdog
• Making sense of agency budgets
• Who gets the money, and how
• The contracting process
• Informal cost estimates
• Notice of bid
• Bid specifications
• Request for proposals
• Product preferences
• Minority contracting requirements
• Audit requirements
• Bid and performance bonds
• Change orders
• Executive branch thievery
• The twilight zones of government : public authorities and self-regulatory organizations
• Inspectors general
• Box : using the federal register --
• 8. Investigating government : education
• Visiting the schools
• Covering compulsory education versus higher education
• Local education
• Student test scores
• School violence and discipline of students
• Student retention
• Teacher and administrator competency
• Instructional materials, tracking and class sizes
• Special-needs students
• Desegregation, multiculturalism and gender equity
• School choice
• Nonteaching employees
• School buildings
• Who pays for education?
• Box : private schools
• Home schooling
• Higher education
• Crime on campus
• The big picture
• University revenues and expenditures
• Students
• Faculty
• Support staff
• Administrators
• Governing boards
• Accreditation documents as a source of information
• 9. Investigating government : law enforcement
• Monitoring individual law enforcement officers
• Recruitment
• Police academy training
• Raises and promotions
• The top command
• Discipline of wayward law enforcement officers
• Box : Edna Buchanan's tips
• Evaluating an agency : preventing and investigating crimes
• Murder
• Juvenile criminals
• Rape
• Domestic violence
• Narcotics
• Vice
• Organized crime and white-collar crime
• Missing persons
• Stolen property
• Arson
• Bombings
• Traffic patrol
• Canine (K9) corps
• Civil rights and community relations
• Process servers and fugitives
• Evidence rooms
• Crime site technicians, crime laboratories
• Patrol officers, dispatchers and 911 operators
• Records divisions and public information officers
• The meaning of crime statistics
• Law enforcement budgets
• People trails
• Paper trails --
• 10. Investigating government : the judicial system
• The judicial system as a political system
• Corruption in the courts
• Between arrest and first court appearance
• Making bail
• Initial appearance in court
• Pretrial hearings
• Assigning cases to judges
• Investigating judges
• Investigation prosecutors --Investigation defense attorneys
• Choosing a jury
• The trial
• Box : wrongful convictions
• The victims of crime
• Sentencing
• Appeals
• Probation, parole, commutations and pardons
• Prisons
• Juvenile cases
• Civil cases
• Specialized courts
• Traffic court
• Municipal court
• Divorce court
• Probate court
• Small claims court
• U.S. tax court
• U.S. bankruptcy court
• U.S. court of appeals for the federal circuit
• U.S. military courts
• Court budgets, court operations
• Using courts for other stories
• 11. Where government and the private sector meet : investigating licensed professionals
• Licensing as a window into the world of professionals
• Uncovering individual fraud or misconduct
• The process
• Step 1 : licensing
• Step 2 : performance standards
• Step 3 : complaints and investigations
• Professional associations as sources
• Investigation the protectors --
• 12. Investigating the private sector : for-profit businesses and their workers
• Investigating a takeover : one prototype
• Companies whose stock is traded publicly
• Other SEC documents
• Resources outside the SEC
• Federal agencies
• State and local agencies
• Pulling it together on the paper tail
• Management-worker relations
• Labor unions
• Medication, conciliation and arbitration
• Safety and health in the workplace
• Wage enforcement
• Pension, health and welfare plans for workers
• State employment security divisions
• Labor lawyers and the courts
• Box : the Mintz way
• 13. Investigating charities and other nonprofits
• Box : beyond the bottom line
• The bottom line of charities
• Foundations
• Fund-raising techniques and conundrums
• Federal, state and local government regulation
• Box : summing up : Boys Town and the Sun Newspapers
• 14. Investigating health care
• Hospitals
• Veterans administration hospitals
• Emergency medical services
• Health maintenance organizations
• Nursing homes
• Mental health institutions
• Home health care companies
• Medical laboratories
• Blood banks
• Drug companies
• Pharmacies
• Medical device companies
• Individual health care providers
• Box : general reference sources --
• 15. Investigating insurance
• Investigating the sellers : insurance companies and agents
• Finances
• Looking at the agents
• Health and disability insurance
• Box : crashing for cash
• Life insurance
• Automobile insurance
• Investigating homeowners' and other property insurance
• Investigating commercial and professional insurance policies
• Investigating the regulators : state insurance commissioners
• Investigation the government as insurer
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Workers' compensation
• Insurance sources to use over and over
• 16. Investigating financial institutions : banks, savings and loans, credit unions, investment companies and their mutual funds
• Government regulators as sources of information
• Banks
• Savings and loans
• Credit unions
• Credit cards
• Farm credit banks
• Mutual funds and other investment company products
• Redlining by all types of financial institutions
• Insider transactions
• High-risk transactions
• Box : money laundering
• 17. Investigating energy and communications utilities
• Heating and cooling utilities
• Box : nuclear power plants
• Water utilities
• Polluting the environment
• Cultural and property value impact
• Communications utilities
• Cable systems --
• 18. Investigating transportation
• Aviation safety
• Pilots
• Air controllers and on-the-ground problems
• Drugs and alcohol
• Following an investigation
• Land transportation
• Cars
• Driver's licenses and inspections
• Trucks
• Buses
• Taxis and limousine services
• Railroads
• Hazardous waste
• Mass transit
• Water transportation
• Commercial shipping
• Boating accidents
• Other transportation investigations
• 19. Investigating real estate : housing, commercial uses and zoning
• Who owns the land?
• How much is the land worth?
• Box : landlords and tenants
• Changing how the land is used : zoning and rezoning
• Low-income housing and homelessness
• Land and housing fraud
• 20. Investigating environmental issues
• Government regulation of the environment
• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Soil pollution
• Box : paper trails, databases and human sources
• 21. Investigating the world of the disadvantaged
• Documenting the world of poetry
• Temporary assistance for needy families
• Child-support enforcement
• Food stamps
• Child and family nutrition programs other than food stamps
• Box : the never-ending bureaucracy
• Children and families --
• pt. 3. Putting it all together
• 22. Writing compelling projects
• Getting the details while reporting
• Avoiding stereotypes while collecting details
• Writing from an outline, a chronology or both
• Tension and resolution
• Leads : the opening sentences
• Middles : flow and momentum
• Finding the appropriate point of view and tone
• Endings
• Box : story structures
• Literary journalism as a discipline
• 23. The ethics and accuracy of investigative journalism
• Obtaining information covertly
• Ambush interviews
• Exposing private behaviors of public figures
• Unidentified sources
• The golden rule
• Fairness, accuracy and the law
• Box : prepublication review
• The line-by-line accuracy check.

Show 367 more Contents items

Other title(s)

Reporter's handbook.

ISBN

• 0312248237
• 9780312248239

LCCN

2001095266

OCLC

49630858

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