Author Archives: Barbara Fought

Jul 07

Five More Tips from #IRE

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Barbara Fought

Here are five more tips from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference: In a breaking news situation, use life360.com to keep track of where all your reporters are and to keep them organized. Designed for families, but who says newsrooms … Read More →

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Jun 30

Top Tips From #IRE14

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Barbara Fought

One of the best conferences each year is at the 2014 IRE Annual Conference. Here are five great tips I picked up last week: 1. If you need to search Instagram, try iconosquare.com 2. Trying to check family relationships from … Read More →

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Jun 24

It’s No Longer Hard to Email A Congressmember

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Barbara Fought

I didn’t know that it wasn’t easy to email members of Congress directly or that most members don’t publish an email address. You have to go to their websites and fill out a form. Apparently one of the reasons is … Read More →

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Jun 20

Writing a FOIA Letter is Easy

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Barbara Fought

I’m about to head to Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference next week and remembered that last year I vowed I would write several FOIA letters, both to see what databases I could get, plus to model good practice for students. … Read More →

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Jun 11

Needs Stats on Occupations or Job Salaries?

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Barbara Fought

I did a double-take at the info from Kate Martin, government reporter at the  Tacoma News Tribune.  There’s almost five public relations specialists for every reporter, she noted in a posting on the website for Investigative Reporters and Editors. It’s actually … Read More →

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Jun 03

Killer App for Searching the Web is MindMeld

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Barbara Fought

So how great would it be if you would just talk about what you need to know and immediately your hand-held device would interpret what you say and send you relevant information about places, subjects and facts that you’re talking … Read More →

Posted in Finding Sources, Finding Stories, Searching | Leave a comment
May 29

Foursquare Splits in Two. Less Helpful for Sources.

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Barbara Fought

I loved the technique I discovered of how journalists could find a good source for a story that related to a particular location.  The person who checked in at a venue the most — and thus might be a good … Read More →

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May 22

Symbaloo Offers A Webpage of Bookmarks

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Barbara Fought

I’m in a week of training on better ways to teach with technology and one of the cool tools I’ve learned is Symbaloo.  If you’re like me you run out of bookmark tabs on your browser and it’s a hassle … Read More →

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May 09

Ways to Search for Journalism Jobs Online — for Free

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Barbara Fought

It’s graduation season, which means a lot of job-hunting is going on. Of course those looking for their first journalism job are on the market, but so may be those who got their first job a year or two ago … Read More →

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Apr 30

Get Inspired: Storytellers Showcases Stories and Tips

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Barbara Fought

It’s going to rain all week where I live in Syracuse:  Spring blahs with summer not quite here. It’s a  time for inspiration and we all need inspiration in our work. I found it at the TV Storytellers facebook page … Read More →

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