| Other author/creator | Houston, Brant. |
| Other author/creator | Bruzzese, Len. |
| Other author/creator | Weinberg, Steve. |
| Other author/creator | Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. |
| 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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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 -- Human sources -- 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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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 -- |
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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. |
| General note | Sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. |
| General note | Rev. ed. of: The reporter's handbook. 3rd ed. c1996. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (p. 547-560) and index. |
| Other title |
Reporter's handbook. |
| LCCN | 2001095266 |
| ISBN | 0312248237 |
| ISBN | 9780312248239 |
