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Posts Tagged ‘Behind the Story’
Behind the Story: NICAR data leads to OSHA investigation
In October, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting sent an email over its listserv announcing that updated data were available from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Ron Shawgo of the Journal Gazette of Indiana then realized the paper had never examined OSHA data for Indiana. So he requested the data. Through his analysis, he…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Orange County Register reporter stays patient and follows the money trail
Melody Petersen of The Orange County Register has two pieces of advice to offer reporters: stay patient and follow the money trail. Petersen investigated school bonds in Orange County after realizing schools were opting for expensive agreements that would push costs onto taxpayers decades after the initial bond was distributed. She found that school districts…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How Gannett Wisconsin Media gathered salary data from cities, counties and state agencies
In the wake of the budget reforms proposed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in 2011, known as Wisconsin Act 10, Eric Litke of the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team felt the public debate over salary was all rhetoric with little factual backing. In February, Litke tried to change the public dialog by publishing the salary data…
Read MoreBehind the Story: America’s Woman Warriors
Staff Sgt. Jessica Keown, with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas, served with a female engagement team, or FET, in Afghanistan. David Gilkey/NPR From the time NPR corresondent Quil Lawrence spent in Iraq before covering veterans issues, he could tell women in the military were doing more than…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Sweeping FOIAs, document-mining reveal problems with Norway kindergartens
By John Bones, Verdens Gang Rather than a traditional front page, VG created this cover, which reads “Mom and dad think I am safe in the kindergarten, but is it true?” It started like an ordinary news story last October. One of our reporters, Frank Haugsbo, made Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Tax forms and FEC filings reveal nonprofit’s political activity
Learning about sources of political spending can be “like unpacking a Russian nesting doll,” says Michael Beckel, a politics reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. Using tax filings as his primary source, Beckel investigated the third most politically-active nonprofit in 2012 as part of the Center for Public Integrity’s Consider the Source project. “In…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Simple math reveals errors in lucrative speed camera system
This car received a ticket from a Baltimore area camera while stopped at a red light. This case was one of the errors uncovered in the Baltimore Sun’s series on red light cameras. The Baltimore Sun’s investigation of red light cameras over the past year prompted changes to the system a city task force to…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel learned about an ATF sting gone wrong
Credit: Lou Saldivar, Journal Sentinel Graphics Editor John Diedrich and Raquel Rutledge of the Journal Sentinel had an opportunity to gain rare insight into an undercover government operation in 2012. Their watchdog reporting on the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ sting operation in Milwaukee revealed the operation may have done more harm…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Tackling the unusual, problematic ‘contract for deed’ housing deal
Minneapolis Star Tribune photoRon Folger of Minneapolis lost his rental license last year city and began selling properties to low-income families on a plan known as a contract-for-deed transaction. In January, Jeffrey Meitrodt, Investigations Editor at the Star Tribune, reported on problematic contract-for-deed sales of homes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. The sales are frequently used…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Questionable border patrol shootings
In December, Tim Steller, a reporter and now columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, reported on the increasing number of shootings occurring between Border Patrol and illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. The victims in some cases appear to have been unarmed. This fact and the lack of transparency in the investigations has cast doubt…
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