Author Archives: Barbara Fought

Mar 14

Where To Learn about Open Records and Open Meetings

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Barbara Fought

Since it’s Sunshine Week, how about taking 40 minutes to study up on the open meetings laws and public records laws in your state(s) so the next time you need to stand your ground, you’re sure of yourself. Here are … Read More →

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Mar 11

Let the Sunshine in — FOIA and Open Meetings

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Barbara Fought

This week is a  good time to recommit to letting your readers, listeners, viewers know more about how government works. It’s Sunshine Week — time for the sunshine to be that disinfectant so needed when government workers try to keep … Read More →

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Mar 05

Help For Tracking FOIA Requests

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Barbara Fought

update: I received an email after  I registered saying the project is still in development and only a few beta testers are using it now and others of us can test it out in a month or two. . For more … Read More →

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Feb 25

Calendars Can Tip You to Story Ideas

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Barbara Fought

I tell my students that it’s the hardest thing we do: Find a good story.  So when three of the reporters in class had enterprise stories — not done even by the commercial media in town — we debriefed each … Read More →

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Feb 18

Best Search Tip Ever – Use Phrase Searching

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Barbara Fought

Students are supposed to be high-tech and know how to use technology, right? I just led a session for students on how to be a better online searcher and was surprised that they were surprised to find out how effective … Read More →

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Feb 11

Covering the Pope Resignation

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Barbara Fought

I was surprised to hear the news in the last hour that Pope Benedict  is resigning in a few weeks.  Here are some resources to help as you cover this story today: List of  Jesuit colleges  and Roman Catholic seminaries in the U.S., … Read More →

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Feb 07

Help for Covering the Blizzard

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Barbara Fought

The Northeast is on watch for the blizzard-of-the-century so check out these resources that might provide tips or factoids for all those doing  coverage: state emergency preparedness offices your local utility company website for power outages or how-tos, for example, National … Read More →

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Jan 29

TIP: Build Stories with Follow-Ups and News Archives

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Barbara Fought

One of my first jobs in TV was to work the Follow-Up Desk, a franchise segment reported and fronted by one of the anchors.  I had to come up with two follow-up or “what ever happened to ____” each week. … Read More →

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Jan 17

Lessons to Learn from Te’o Story Errors

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Barbara Fought

The Manti Te’o story all over the media today points out some lapses that journalists didn’t see. Many recounted the story, and perhaps should have done more fact-checking. Brian Moritz,  in his Sports Media Guy blog,  aptly points out some … Read More →

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Jan 07

Top Five Search Tips for 2013

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Barbara Fought

Here are five of my best tips for more effective searching online with search engines: 1. Put adjacent words or phrases in quotes. Put phrases in quotes.  The search engines all put an “and” in between words so if you type: … Read More →

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