Jun 22

Google Search Tips from Google Scientist

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Ready Reporter missed IRE’s annual conference but did catch a helpful tweet and blog by John Tedesco, @John_Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News, in which he listed tips for online searching from one of Google’s top researchers, Daniel Russell.  So if you want the best tips in the business, check out Dan’s  post here (see also the great puzzler at the start, too!)

Many of the tips in the list I use, but I’ll be testing out a couple new ones and post more details on some of them in coming weeks.  For today, check out the full list.

The one tip I’ll highlight is one I’ve forgotten about — searching for terms adjacent to each other.

Here’s how John explains it:

Find relational search terms: What if you’re curious about search terms that are near each other on a website?[keyword] AROUND(n) [keyword] is incredibly handy for finding related terms such as “Jerry Brown” near “Tea Party.” (“n” is the number of words near the search terms.) Typing “Jerry Brown” AROUND(3) “Tea Party” will show you all the websites where the phrase “Jerry Brown” was mentioned within three words of “Tea Party.”

Try it, to speed your searching.

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Jun 04

Research Studies Might Be Story Leads

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Barbara Fought

When you’re dry for story ideas, check out the Journalist’s Resource from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. It peruses news research curates it on its website. The staff tries to choose relevant topics to the news, so some of these studies become the basis for a good story. And then, as ReadyReporter loves, you have some real substance to put in your story.

The latest list, which I get via email, covers studies on IPOs, commuting’s effect on weight and health, and corruption in state capitals. I found the IPO study from The Journal of Finance particularly interesting as the Journalist’s Resource summarizes it in a headline, “Rocky IPOs More the Rule Than Exception in Tech Sector.”

The Shorenstein staff review the full study and pull out helpful key points for you. It explains that the studies are from authoritative institutions and “should be based on rigorous research, without bias or ideological motivation; be published in a peer-reviewed journal; and be timely and relevant, with public-policy applications.”

The Center says it promotes the concept of “knowledge-based reporting” which surely sounds like a good idea! You can read more about it from Professor Tom Patterson by clicking on the link.

See the info guide for journalists, as well as the list of topics. If you’re considering a story on a certain topic, plug it into the search bar at the top of the page  to see if there’s something current that might help.

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May 29

Find Environmental Problems in Your Area

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Barbara Fought

I live near the very beautiful, but polluted Onondaga Lake. That I knew, but I found out many other environmental concerns in my area by using mapping data on NEPAssist, from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The always-helpful Society of Environmental Journalists tipped me off to this new online resource in a post earlier this month called “cool data tools.”  As SEJ notes, “A new data tool can help reporters and public find and visualize the important issues that come along with sometimes-obscure environmental impact reviews.”

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that the federal government show how its decisions might affect the environment. Many years-worth of these impact statements (EISs) exist. This new tool helps you get a visual assessment of them, and allows layering of data, including demographic information.

Map created using NEPAssist.

The visual here shows the map of Onondaga Lake, in my home area, after I clicked in NEPAssist for “impaired waterbodies.” The code at the right told me that pink represented those waterways of concern. You can also ask the program to show you toxic releases, soil surveys, flood plains and more.

I strongly recommend you carefully read through the help guide, which helped speed my learning of how to create and interpret the map.

This visual data could help point you to new stories or be a reminder to check on ongoing concerns.  Let me know other online resources that help you in discovering stories.

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May 25

Use Kaiser Health News For Story Ideas

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Memorial Day brings thoughts of veterans and I was surprised to read in Kaiser Health News  (KHN) today that 10 percent of veterans under 65 go without health insurance. They’re not getting help through the Veterans Administration and they account for nearly five percent of the total uninsured in the USA.

When I’m trolling for story ideas I find the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report a great story-generator. Or maybe its easier to create beat lists in twitter and follow it there @KHNews .

One website story that caught my eye today was that school nurses are being let go.  This is one of its many curated posts, with information and links from several information sources.

Check out the list of topics at the right for background on each.  You also might find leads to follow up stories in its Health Care in the States section.

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit whose goal is in-depth coverage of health care policies. It’s related to the Kaiser Family Foundation of Menlo Park, Calif.

Leave a comment below about which online sites you find helpful for story generation.

Posted in Backgrounding for News Stories, Finding Sources, Finding Stories | Leave a comment
May 22

Use More Than Google for Searching

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Why use a spoon for every kitchen activity when sometimes a knife or a tongs would work a lot better? Or why use Google for every search?

Research shows most people type just a word or two into a search engine, usually Google. And then they skim through the top few sites and pick one.

You can be a more sophisticated searcher by picking good key words and by using more than Google.

Jason Jedlinski, @JasonJedlinski, VP of Digital Products & Platforms at Tribune Broadcasting, pointed me to this blog listing specialized search engines put together by Aussie Adam Vincenzini, a digital marketer, now working in the UK.  He lists  specialized engines for:

  • blogs
  • audio and video
  • images
  • music
  • flights
  • and more.

Check them out here.   I noted that since his post last month, some of the sites have been shuttered,  so don’t bother with BlogPulse, FileDigg or Podscope. Pipl seems to have changed in recent months and contains very little usable free information, so I don’t recommend it.  But there’s still many here to bookmark for quick searching on various topics.

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May 19

How to Find Crime Data

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Barbara Fought

All law enforcement agencies have to report certain crime statistics to the FBI which publishes them through the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  These Uniform Crime Reports, or UCRs, include the following crimes:

  • murder and nonnegligent manslaughter,
  • forcible rape,
  • robbery,
  • aggravated assault,
  • burglary,
  • larceny-theft,
  • motor vehicle theft.
The definitions for each of the crimes is listed, as well. You can find numbers for the country, states, counties, cities, tribal law enforcement, even universities. 

The data go back to 1958,  so you can make comparisons over time, or you can compare one crime, per capita, from your city/area to another area. So, if the public information officer tells you the murder rate in your city is much lower than another city,  you can pull the numbers and check it out.

Because it takes awhile to compile the figures, the data is generally a year old, so you may want to check with your police agency for the most recent year. And remember that this is reported  crime, which is not actual crime, but this is the best crime statistics available.

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May 14

Track how the feds are doing with TRAC

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Part of  a series on databases.

Tucked in a suite behind a non-descript beige door here at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University is an amazing group of people who crunch numbers and publish surprising statistics that help your readers/listeners/viewers gain insight into the performance of federal agencies and staff in your area.

David Burnham and Sue Long run TRAC and consult regularly with news organizations. Photo from TRAC.

It’s the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, TRAC, pairing the great minds of David Burnham, an investigative reporter, and Sue Long, a statistical whiz and professor.

The two did data journalism before the name existed!

They started years ago by analyzing IRS records to track who was getting audited. To this day,  dozens of media organizations (including the New York Times)  publish TRAC statistics each April 15 about which areas of the country are most and least likely to be audited by the IRS!

But TRAC has expanded over these 20 years and now provide access to multiple databases from the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies. With TRAC data you can find all types of statistics related to crime, justice and more, including:

  • a comparison of how often drug dealing is prosecuted in Northern New York compared to South Florida,
  • a comparison of the  the average sentence in Arizona (or any region)  for a certain white collar crime, compared to those in another part of the country,
  • a review of the activity level and effectiveness of a U.S. attorney’s office by looking at the  number of cases that office wins,
  • the number of persons accused of terrorism and whether that percent is increasing or decreasing over time.

And there’s much, much more. TRAC’s goal is to help the public understand the  staffing, spending, and enforcement activities of the federal government. And by looking at that, citizens can get some sense of priorities and whether they match up to the rhetoric of politicians and public servants!

TRAC is not a database for a quick-hit story, as it’s going to take some time on the TRAC website to understand the terms, learn to navigate the site, and make sense of the statistics. Much of the information is free, some is available for a fee to help underwrite the ongoing work.

Here’s your chance to get a taste of what TRAC is up to. The staff is doing a webinar this week Thurs., May 17 at 2 p.m. EST on immigration trends and data. Or you can watch previous webinars at the TRAC Webinar Page.

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May 08

If A Plane Crashes — Be Ready!

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Barbara Fought

from Landings.com

More than 470 people died in airline accidents in 2010, the latest year for which the National Transportation Safety Board reports. That’s many fewer lives than are killed each year on highways, nearly 33,000.  Still, you’ll probably have an airline crash to cover in your career.   Are you ready?

One of the mantras I distinctly being told in the TV newsroom when I first started: If there’s a plane crach, first at the scene, get the tail number.  The tail number is the key to finding much more. Plug that number into the online site, Landings.com and you can find the plane’s registration, model number, read any previous problems with the plane (known as service difficulty reports), and more.

The tail number begins with a N and you put it into the search box on this Landings.com page.  See the screenshot clip at the right for a list of lots of other helpful information at the Landings site.

Other websites to help in your reporting:

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May 03

Find Doctors In Your Area Paid by Drug Companies

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Part of a series on databases to help in daily reporting.

One important journalistic principle is avoiding conflicts of interest. We usually think about that for journalist avoiding ties that might taint their work. But I think it applies to sources as well –making sure we use independent sources or know their connections to any companies about which they speak.  Thus it might be helpful for you to know if any of the doctors you have used , or might use in a story about prescription drugs have been paid by drug companies.

The expenses may be legitimate.  Many would argue that doctors have a right to be reimbursed if they lead a seminar, for example, at an event funded by a pharmaceutial company. And such payments don’t mean their interview with you is necessarily tainted. But you’d probably rather know that have a reader, viewer, or listener point it out. 

Pro Publica took all the information it could find from drug companies about their payments to doctors, cleaned and standardized the data and published it as a searchable database, Dollars for Docs. It was not an easy task. But its database is easy to use.

Be sure to read the “about the data” section on the ProPublica site so you understand that database’s sources, coverage and classification system.

Some of the drug companies provided the information as the result of legal settlements with the feds. Pro Publica reports that the federal government will require all drug companies to do so beginning next year, and will put the information on a searchable databases for consumers.  Until then, check out the Dollars for Docs.

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Apr 30

Tracking Campaign Finance — and More

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Barbara Fought

Part of a series on how databases can add value to daily news stories. 

Have you heard the political drumbeat?  The national presidential race appears down to two contendors.  U.S. Senate campaigns are likely in full swing. And in some states, the politicing may be ongoing in state or local races, as well.  So campaign finance databases can be of great help in stories, and not just those about politics.  You can use them to:

  • find key contributors
  • track the industries supporting certain candidates
  • check candidate expenditures
  • check candidate and/or donor addresses
  • find interviewees who have an informed opinion on the race (because they’ve donated)

To underscore the latter point, it’s not just political stories where you can use this database. Sometimes hard to find a supporter of Candidate X, or someone from one of the alternative political parties.  To find those interviewees,  search for  donors to that candidate or donors to a previous candidate from that lesser-known party.

For federal campaigns, I recommend these two websites:

With a hat tip to news librarians MargotWilliams, Leigh Montgomery and Derek Willis , I also found some master sites that link to all state campaign finance reports by state. Some of the links I tested aren’t updated, so if you can’t find your state,  I would go to the state website, find the elections unit and go from there.

The latter is an amazing site and I got lost in wonder for 20 minutes!  So when you have an extra 20, take a look and learn it so when you need it in a pinch, you are already familiar with it.


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