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 some helpful primer sites to help you learn the laws — and thus work quicker, better, and smarter:

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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 things quiet.

Here are several resources to help you when you need to pry out information:

These resources are provided by helpful organizations: The Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press, Student Press Law Center and National Freedom of Information Coalition.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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 information see this Google users group or follow on Twitter @foiamachine.

Daily reporters often don’t think they have time to file FOIA requests. And if they do, it’s hard to keep track and follow up on them. Here’s a new tool that might help because FOIA requests can be a great story generators.  The Knight Foundation has funded a free, open-source FOIA Machine which is hosted by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Through it you can write requests and easily track them. It will help you stay organized!

The site is looking for some testers as it refines the system. If you’re interested, contact info@foiamachine.org or sign up on the homepage.  For more information here is the FAQ section  and the  users group on Google.

I hope it works!

Posted in Databases, Finding Stories | Leave a comment
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 reporter. How had he or she found that story?

One came from looking at a calendar source, Zapaday.  And that’s my tip of the day. This free online calendar combines events of all types of topics — from history to politics to the arts.

Last week it said that Sony was expected to beat Microsoft and premier its next generation Play Station, PS4, on February 20. The student, John Tummino, saw the post and pitched the story for that day. He interviewed a gaming prof and a retailer and came up with a good angle — that the new PS4 didn’t have the greatest business plan and in fact, sales might hurt other Sony products.

So check out Zapaday for tips on what is coming up in the future. It surely won’t work every day, maybe not once a week, but one day they’ll be something that clicks.

The other enterprise stories  came from a posting on facebook and a search of new bills introduced in the state house.

Posted in Finding Stories | Leave a comment
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 phrase searching is.

Most of them just plug several words into a search box. So to show them how effective phrase searching is, I had them pair up and put in two different searches.

I told them to pick a name or topic in the news. Each was to do a search for that name/topic but one was to make a phrase search, meaning to put it in quotes.   For example:

      • Oscar Pistorius versus “Oscar Pistorius”
      • Russian meteor versus “Russian meteor”

“Wow,” said one.  She got far fewer returns with the phrase search. And those returns are often quality returns.

This continues to be my No. 1 search strategy — put names or adjacent words into quotes and you’ll be a more effective searcher.

Posted in Searching | Leave a comment
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:

And I’ve notice over the years that many journalists aren’t familiar with religious terms, so this Religion Stylebook will help.  Two quickies:
  • Remember “catholic” means the universal church (even Protestants recite a creed acknowledging the catholic church, meaning all Christians),  but this denomination is the Roman Catholic Church.  
  • When referring to clergy the proper title is  “the Rev.”  The term  “Reverend” is not a noun so don’t write “the Reverend said…”  use the last name. 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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:

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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.  The follow-ups were very popular with viewers.

Here’s some tips for follow-ups:

  • Check newsroom records for the big story six months ago.  Use the electronic records of the assignment desk, the newsroom system or station archives.
  • Do the same for the big story a year ago. If you have access through a local library for the archives of the local paper, that’s a big help.
  • Talk to the weather staff about the biggest weather-related stories in the last three years.
  • Ask the web staff which stories garnered the most forwarded and shared in the last year.

You likely have good file tape from the story. Using your archival news video is a big plus and can bring a lot of viewer interest.  What about putting more file video online? Consider doing online video interviews with the reporters or anchors who covered the story as they can give insight, background or context about why this was such an important or memorable one. 

Poynter has a helpful article here on ways other news organizations have used archival photos and video to great advantage. Borrow some of its tips.

 

Posted in Finding Stories | Leave a comment
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 of the errors of sports journalists.  Here’s just one section from his blog:

  • “Manti Te’o did lose his grandmother this past fall. Annette Santiago died on Sept. 11, 2012, at the age of 72, according to Social Security Administration records in Nexis. But there is no SSA record there of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other. Her passing, recounted so many times in the national media, produces no obituary or funeral announcement in Nexis, and no mention in the Stanford student newspaper.”

To follow up on Brian’s points, here are some tips:

  • If your news organization doesn’t subscribe to a database such as Nexis to get Social Security (SSA) records, you’ll find it hard to access.  The Department of Commerce sells the SSA Death Master File but it’s a whopping $1000. The two websites who say they offer the database weren’t satisfactory in a test I ran today. Geneology.com‘s free service didn’t locate records for my relatives who died in 1983, 2011 or last month. Ancestry.com seemed to find the 1983 death record but wanted $13 for a 6-month subscription.  However, for a one-time check you can get a free 14-day trial.
  • Funeral homes now regularly put obits on line, and in my experience leave them up about a year. I’ve traced friends and family members this way through the local newspaper or by searching for funeral homes in the area and then checking each one for its obituary list.
  • Universities generally provide basic information about students including, name, age and rank.
  • Student newspapers are readily accessible via Newslink
  • Police, a coroner or medical examiner also may confirm deaths.
Posted in Databases, Searching | Leave a comment
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: “consumer price index” (with quotes) you will get those three words adjacent to each other. You won’t get every page that has the term consumer and price and index on it.  Vwah-la! You’ve just cut down the number of returns dramatically.

2. When you know the information you need is on a particular website then use this formula: keyword site:domain-name.  

For example let’s say I was looking for biographical information on Syracuse’s football coach who likely is leaving. I’d put in a search engine: “doug marrone” site:syr.edu.  Note that I also used the phrase search, tip # 2.  That would just give me those adjacent words, and only at any website with syr.edu in the address.

3. Search terms near each other.  Rather than just put all the words into a search engine, use this formula: [keyword] AROUND(n) [keyword].

For example, if I wanted to find information about defense secretary candidate Chuck Hagel and his position on Iraq I would type into a search engine: “Chuck Hagel” AROUND (40) Iraq ,   which would show me all the websites where the phrase “Chuck Hagel” is mentioned within 40 words of Iraq. 

4. If you find a helpful page and need more information, use a related search to find webpages with similar content. This formula is related:xxx.name.yy

For example if I find helpful agriculture and food information at the National Agricultural Statistics Service and want more similar information I would type this into a search engine: related:www.nass.usda.gov

5. Spend 5 minutes reading the help guide at your favorite search engine. You might learn more new tricks.

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment