If you're interested in investigative reporting check the Center for Campus Investigations, a new blog created by Marcy Burstiner, an assistant professor of journalism at Humboldt State University.
The blog offers a week-by-week, step-by-step plan for carrying out an investigation at a campus newspaper, from forming an investigative team to outlining the story to developing sources to visualizing the story.
Burstiner, who teaches investigative reporting and advises The Lumberjack at the Northern California university, is collecting investigative projects done by campus newspapers. If you have something to share send it to her at mib3@humboldt.edu.
Showing posts with label investigative reporting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label investigative reporting. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Thursday, November 15, 2007
November Story of the Month
OK, we've been a little behind on the Story of the Month, but we've got a doozy for you now. This week the Daily Bruin at UCLA broke a major investigative story on preferential admission practices by the university's prestigious orthodontics residency program.
In an investigation that took more than four months, Robert Faturechi, the newspaper's enterprise editor, found that the residency program had violated University of California policy and standards governing public schools by giving special admissions consideration to relatives of major donors.
"In this unprecedented practice within the School of Dentistry, applicants related to donors giving six-figure gifts were automatically advanced over other students despite their lower test scores and grades," the story said.
"This was definitely the hardest story I’ve ever done," said Faturechi, a senior who has worked on the Daily Bruin since his freshman year. "It was several months of really hard work."
The university had already investigated the allegations and found “no credible and convincing evidence that deals were made or understandings reached to admit an applicant in return for donating money to the school,” according to an internal audit.
But the Daily Bruin found evidence, including e-mail messages and internal documents, showing that the orthodontics program had systematically advanced applicants related to major donors over more qualified students.
The Daily Bruin Web site included links to documents, including the audit and a letter of resignation from a faculty member who quit in protest of the university’s inaction on the allegations of admissions impropriety. It also included graphs depicting the university's increasing reliance on private donations.
No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry, said in a prepared statement that the admissions program was fair and based on merit.
"While an independent investigation requested by Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams found no credible and convincing evidence to support allegations of a legacy program in the orthodontics admissions process," Park said, "it did provide us with an opportunity to review our admissions policies and procedures and make improvements in the areas of oversight and transparency."
The story was picked up by several major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and even The Drudge Report.
Faturechi said he first learned about the story from an e-mail tip.
"Most of the time when you get e-mails like that there’s nothing to them," he said. "I gave the guy a call and he sounded fairly legitimate so I drove out to his house. He had some documents to support what he was saying."
Faturechi said it was a difficult story to report, because many of the key sources declined to be interviewed or were hesitant to talk. "I had to be persistent," he said. Others, however, were outraged and willing to share their views.
"Some of the folks I talked to take great pride in the program and they were frustrated with what they had seen had happen. They wanted to clean things up."
Faturechi said investigative stories like this one renew his faith that journalism is alive and well.
"A lot of folks say good print journalism is dying," he said. "If my friends are any indication, that’s not true. My editors and fellow reporters at the Daily Bruin are incredibly committed to covering our community well. There is still a passion for print journalism."
In an investigation that took more than four months, Robert Faturechi, the newspaper's enterprise editor, found that the residency program had violated University of California policy and standards governing public schools by giving special admissions consideration to relatives of major donors.
"In this unprecedented practice within the School of Dentistry, applicants related to donors giving six-figure gifts were automatically advanced over other students despite their lower test scores and grades," the story said.
"This was definitely the hardest story I’ve ever done," said Faturechi, a senior who has worked on the Daily Bruin since his freshman year. "It was several months of really hard work."
The university had already investigated the allegations and found “no credible and convincing evidence that deals were made or understandings reached to admit an applicant in return for donating money to the school,” according to an internal audit.
But the Daily Bruin found evidence, including e-mail messages and internal documents, showing that the orthodontics program had systematically advanced applicants related to major donors over more qualified students.
The Daily Bruin Web site included links to documents, including the audit and a letter of resignation from a faculty member who quit in protest of the university’s inaction on the allegations of admissions impropriety. It also included graphs depicting the university's increasing reliance on private donations.
No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry, said in a prepared statement that the admissions program was fair and based on merit.
"While an independent investigation requested by Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams found no credible and convincing evidence to support allegations of a legacy program in the orthodontics admissions process," Park said, "it did provide us with an opportunity to review our admissions policies and procedures and make improvements in the areas of oversight and transparency."
The story was picked up by several major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and even The Drudge Report.
Faturechi said he first learned about the story from an e-mail tip.
"Most of the time when you get e-mails like that there’s nothing to them," he said. "I gave the guy a call and he sounded fairly legitimate so I drove out to his house. He had some documents to support what he was saying."
Faturechi said it was a difficult story to report, because many of the key sources declined to be interviewed or were hesitant to talk. "I had to be persistent," he said. Others, however, were outraged and willing to share their views.
"Some of the folks I talked to take great pride in the program and they were frustrated with what they had seen had happen. They wanted to clean things up."
Faturechi said investigative stories like this one renew his faith that journalism is alive and well.
"A lot of folks say good print journalism is dying," he said. "If my friends are any indication, that’s not true. My editors and fellow reporters at the Daily Bruin are incredibly committed to covering our community well. There is still a passion for print journalism."
Monday, September 03, 2007
September Story of the Month
Yes, I know we said we’d be accepting nominees for Story of the Month through Sept. 4, but this one was so good and so timely we decided to publish this Story of the Month today. We’ll still review -- and possibly share -- other submissions as they come in!
The Daily Egyptian, the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, got the school year off to a bang with an investigative report detailing allegations that university President Glenn Poshard had lifted portions of his 1984 dissertation without proper documentation.
The package of stories that ran on Aug. 30 (and follow-up stories that ran the following day) was produced by Daily Egyptian staffers Jordan Wilson, Joe Crawford, Brian Feldt and Sean McGahan.
The newspaper's report was based on a copy of Poshard's dissertation that was given to the newspaper by an unnamed source. The manuscript had sentences and paragraphs highlighted to denote potentially plagiarized sections. The source also provided photocopies of source material from which Poshard's dissertation may have been taken. The Daily Egyptian verified the validity of the source's documents by obtaining the originals and even checking with the author of one book. The newspaper published a two-page spread comparing the sections of the dissertation with the other documents.
In addition to stories about the allegations and the graphic representation of the plagiarism charges, the paper ran stories about other instances of plagiarism at the university, a timeline chronicling the “Journey of a President” and a reasoned, carefully worded editorial that avoids judgment, letting readers draw conclusions for themselves.
The story was picked up by professional newspapers around the state and beyond, including the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Kudos to The Daily Egyptian for its excellent reporting on this story. We’d love to learn how the reporters got the story, but they haven’t responded to our emails yet. Guys, we want to hear from you! Post a comment here or send an email to collegenewspaper@gmail.com.
The Daily Egyptian, the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, got the school year off to a bang with an investigative report detailing allegations that university President Glenn Poshard had lifted portions of his 1984 dissertation without proper documentation.The package of stories that ran on Aug. 30 (and follow-up stories that ran the following day) was produced by Daily Egyptian staffers Jordan Wilson, Joe Crawford, Brian Feldt and Sean McGahan.
The newspaper's report was based on a copy of Poshard's dissertation that was given to the newspaper by an unnamed source. The manuscript had sentences and paragraphs highlighted to denote potentially plagiarized sections. The source also provided photocopies of source material from which Poshard's dissertation may have been taken. The Daily Egyptian verified the validity of the source's documents by obtaining the originals and even checking with the author of one book. The newspaper published a two-page spread comparing the sections of the dissertation with the other documents.
In addition to stories about the allegations and the graphic representation of the plagiarism charges, the paper ran stories about other instances of plagiarism at the university, a timeline chronicling the “Journey of a President” and a reasoned, carefully worded editorial that avoids judgment, letting readers draw conclusions for themselves.
The story was picked up by professional newspapers around the state and beyond, including the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Kudos to The Daily Egyptian for its excellent reporting on this story. We’d love to learn how the reporters got the story, but they haven’t responded to our emails yet. Guys, we want to hear from you! Post a comment here or send an email to collegenewspaper@gmail.com.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Investigative Reporting for College Newspapers
One of the best ways to distinguish your student newspaper is to take on some investigative stories. Such hard-hitting stories will bring attention to your paper--and possibly even awards. Don't forget it's your job as a student newspaper to serve as watchdog for your campus. If the cafeteria is cited for health violations or a campus official is embezzling money or the university president is sleeping with students you should be telling the world.
But investigative stories don't just come out of thin air. You have to look for them and when you find them you have to be ready to report them in a thorough and responsible manner. Here are some tips to get your newspaper started on an investigative path:
1.If you don’t already have one, create an investigative team with some of your newspaper’s most experienced reporters. Pick one or two manageable projects to start with. Invite a professional investigative reporter to act as mentor for the team.
2.Look to Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. for inspiration. The Web site of the nation's leading investigative journalism organization is chock full of examples of great investigative stories. (Look in particular for student award winners.) Send a delegation to an investigative reporting conference or training workshop. (IRE. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting each hold an annual national convention and many regional workshops throughout the year.) Have participants share what they learned in a workshop for the staff.
3. Organize a brainstorming session for editors or for the whole staff focused on investigative reporting. Have people throw out ideas around the theme “What’s not working on campus?”
4. Organize an investigative reporting workshop for your staff or regional or state college press association. The IRE Web site has information on how to do this. You might be able to collaborate with professional newspapers or other student papers in your area.
5. Invite an investigative reporter from a local news organization to give a lecture or workshop for your staff.
6. Find an interesting database (faculty salaries, campus crime statistics, parking ticket fine information) and assign a team to crunch the numbers in Excel or another spreadsheet program. Have them look for possible story ideas.
7. Get a copy of your school’s most recent budget and one from five years ago and assign a team of reporters to delve into it in search of story ideas. Which programs are getting more funding, and which programs have been cut?
8. Run key school officials--the chancellor, president, provost, deans, controversial professors--through a criminal records check. Do the same for high-profile students, such as members of the football team or student governing board or leaders of student groups.
9. Check health inspection reports on the cafeterias and other food service establishments on or near campus. Find out which popular bars near campus have been cited for serving underage drinkers.
10. Request salary data for all faculty members. Find the highest paid professors and compare how professors in different departments are paid. Look for patterns. Are women or minority professors paid less than white men? Does the average English professor make half the salary of the average business professor? Your readers have a right to know.
But investigative stories don't just come out of thin air. You have to look for them and when you find them you have to be ready to report them in a thorough and responsible manner. Here are some tips to get your newspaper started on an investigative path:
1.If you don’t already have one, create an investigative team with some of your newspaper’s most experienced reporters. Pick one or two manageable projects to start with. Invite a professional investigative reporter to act as mentor for the team.
2.Look to Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. for inspiration. The Web site of the nation's leading investigative journalism organization is chock full of examples of great investigative stories. (Look in particular for student award winners.) Send a delegation to an investigative reporting conference or training workshop. (IRE. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting each hold an annual national convention and many regional workshops throughout the year.) Have participants share what they learned in a workshop for the staff.3. Organize a brainstorming session for editors or for the whole staff focused on investigative reporting. Have people throw out ideas around the theme “What’s not working on campus?”
4. Organize an investigative reporting workshop for your staff or regional or state college press association. The IRE Web site has information on how to do this. You might be able to collaborate with professional newspapers or other student papers in your area.
5. Invite an investigative reporter from a local news organization to give a lecture or workshop for your staff.
6. Find an interesting database (faculty salaries, campus crime statistics, parking ticket fine information) and assign a team to crunch the numbers in Excel or another spreadsheet program. Have them look for possible story ideas.
7. Get a copy of your school’s most recent budget and one from five years ago and assign a team of reporters to delve into it in search of story ideas. Which programs are getting more funding, and which programs have been cut?
8. Run key school officials--the chancellor, president, provost, deans, controversial professors--through a criminal records check. Do the same for high-profile students, such as members of the football team or student governing board or leaders of student groups.
9. Check health inspection reports on the cafeterias and other food service establishments on or near campus. Find out which popular bars near campus have been cited for serving underage drinkers.
10. Request salary data for all faculty members. Find the highest paid professors and compare how professors in different departments are paid. Look for patterns. Are women or minority professors paid less than white men? Does the average English professor make half the salary of the average business professor? Your readers have a right to know.
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