Computer Assisted Journalism

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By Barbara Semonche

Excerpted from News Media Libraries: A Management Handbook , Barbara Semonche, Editor.

News librarians have been following with interest the development of computer-assisted journalism projects in their organizations. In some situations, the librarians have been playing central roles in these projects. Principle players include George Schlukbier with the Sacramento Bee library, Bob Jansen with the Minneapolis Star Tribune library, Cary Kenny and Deborah Wolfe with the St. Petersburg Times library, Aurora Davis with the Kansas City Star Library, M. J. Crowley with the Philadelphia Newspapers library, Mary Ann Skinner with Newsday and Lany McDonald and Teresa Leonard with the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer research library. This list is not all inclusive. Part of the difficulty in identifying which news libraries are actively involved in CAJ is identifying what role(s) they can and should be playing. Currently, there is considerable individuality. For the most part, CAJ seems to be an extension of news libraries normal, if episodic, involvement in investigative reporting.

The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina bears careful consideration. The N&O is a medium-sized newspaper, around 150,000 circulation. Many newspapers with much larger circulation have not yet undertaken computer-assisted investigative reporting projects. How the N&O came to do so is worth studying.

N&O reporter Pat Stith and news research director Lany McDonald came together in late 1989 and early 1990 to discuss what the N&O might do with computer-assisted reporting techniques. Stith had become an enthusiastic convert after attending an 1989 conference in Philadelphia. Elliot Jaspin was a conference speaker. Jaspin's presentation ignited an unflagging interest in Stith. Stith, in turn, had no difficulty capturing McDonald's interest. She had already been aware of developments in this area. McDonald conferred with her chief library researcher, Teresa Leonard, and soon collaborative efforts on computer-assisted reporting were underway. Identifying goals, clarifying responsibilities and designing programs needed shared attention between the news staff and the research center. They were breaking new ground. There was not much precedent to follow. Checking with other news librarians who were involved with CAJ projects helped, but there was still much information to be gathered. The central key was a positive attitude. (Note: check with Lany and Teresa on the specifics here.)

Stith engaged his newspaper's top management support along with his news library's collaboration in launching computer-assisted reporting projects. The N&O's progress in this area, according to Stith, is attributable to strong management commitment, skilled news library support, systems staff expertise and reporter enthusiasm.

In an interview with Stith, he makes it clear that newspapers don't need computer- assisted reporting (CAJ) projects for "bragging rights." Potential stories must be newsworthy and demonstrate value for the amount of time and money spent on news research. That is, if CAJ might improve a story it also must be economically feasible. In fact, many times all a reporter has to do to get information (in a desired arrangement and format) from a government agency is simply to ask. Stith recommends just requesting that the agency run the query in its database in such a fashion as to yield the desired information. If the request works and there is no reason to mistrust the agency's report, then time and money is saved.

CAJ for the N&O was a cooperative venture. Online database access was already well established in library services. Their database experience made the news research librarians a natural for cataloging, maintaining and supervising the North Carolina state data tapes. Originally the news research staff was charged with locating and obtaining the tapes from individual state departments. It turned out that Stith, with his long-time contacts covering the state beat, was able to make greater headway in collecting the tapes.

In two years time, the N&O acquired and indexed nearly 3,000 N.C. state government tapes from a wide spectrum of departments and divisions. During that time several dozen CAJ stories were published. One of the most noteworthy was the analysis of Labor Department safety inspection records. The series of articles followed up on the tragedy of 26 deaths as a result of an September 1991 fire in a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, NC. In the 12 years the plant had been operating in North Carolina, the state safety inspectors had never inspected it.

The sequence of CAJ projects begins with a check of the library's directory of state government databases. The library maintains an index to over 30 of them. Selecting a likely database, reporters examine the record layout described by the index. Next, if the tape is available in the library, it is loaded on the file server ready for analysis. If it is not yet a part of the library's catalog of tapes, the tape is requested from the appropriate state government department. The average response time is 7 to 10 days. The cost is negligible, rarely exceeding the cost of the actual tape itself on which to capture the data.

The N&O has 15 PC computers (486s) distributed among the newsroom and the library staff. A Contech tape drive plus appropriate software complete the configuration. The N&O uses NineTrack 2 to load the tapes into the tape drive, FoxPro database management software to index and query the tapes, and Report Writer to generate data reports.

To enhance software capability in data analysis, the N&O employs an outside programming consultant. That additional support has created a special computer program "took kit." These programmed "tools" can arrange special record sorts, do random record selection and create multi-file record match-ups.

Federal and state government computer tapes are the newest in a growing collection of information resources for reporters, but there is more on the list. In addition to commercial online databases, reporters and news researchers are looking toward linking up directly to county and municipal government databases. For example, the N&O can presently dial in directly to Orange County (NC) Tax Records, the Wake County Board of Elections and others once proper protocols have been established. Stith is looking forward to plugging into local government databases collecting information from courts, bankruptcy and corporate records. More will come.

Stith sums up CAJ by recommending that news organizations consider carefully what they want to accomplish, who is going to take responsibility for getting the project off the ground, what kind of support can be offered to keep it going, who is going to collect and maintain the tapes and databases, what kind of training will be offered to the news staff and how hardware and software is selected and upgraded.

(Note: This is where the 3 "Team Journalism" graphics will go. Check with Wolfe re size, credit lines and brief descriptions.)

News librarians who are not actively involved with computer-assisted investigative reporting may be interested in articles and research on the topics. Besides NEWS LIBRARY NEWS (SLA's News Division's quarterly publication), there are several other periodicals filled with valuable information about CAJ. Included are: UPLINK and the IRE JOURNAL (from the Univ. of Missouri School of Journalism), ONLINE and DATABASE (from Online, Inc.), DATABASE SEARCHER (from the Meckler Corp.), ELECTRONIC LIBRARY (from Learned Information), LINK-UP (from Learned Information, Ltd.), and ONLINE ACCESS (from Online Access in Chicago.)

CAJ Guidelines for News Research Managers

Managers of news research departments looking toward actively participating in computer-assisted journalism projects in their news organizations need to do their homework first.

• Learn who are the key players on your organization's special investigative projects' team. If one does not exist, discover who might be interested in CAJ. Indicate your interest. Offer to attend meetings on investigative research. Keep track of past investigative projects. Study them carefully. Keep them handy for ready reference. Note if special research is required.
• Read as much of the professional literature as you can about CAJ. Develop CAJ contacts at other news organizations. Join the News Division of the Special Libraries Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors and your state press association. Support the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press. Attend national seminars on the topic. Contact Learned Information in Medford, New Jersey, about appropriate national online seminars. Check the appendixes of this chapter for guidance. Collect examples of published CAJ projects.
• Discover your state's laws on access to computerized government records. Keep them on file. Find out who are the gatekeepers of your state and local government records. Visit them in their agencies. Invite them to visit your organization. Examine their records online if possible. Cultivate their knowledge. Keep lists, perhaps an index, of what computerized records are available and how to gain access.
• Become familiar with Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) law and how to use it. Develop sources for finding and using federal agency databases. Investigate availability of local university statistical consultants and mainframe computers to analyze massive federal databases.
• Study database-management software programs. A list is provided in this chapter's Appendix A. Experiment with some of them. Talk with systems people in your organization about areas of their expertise. Develop a collegial mentality. Encourage collaborative efforts between the news research department, editorial and systems staffs. Examine the St. Petersburg Times's guidelines for team journalism.
• Consider what changes are needed in news research staff responsibility to further investigative research goals. What additional training, software packages and computer equipment are required in the news research department to facilitate CAJ projects? What are the management responsibilities? What are the costs? What are the benefits/savings?
• Expand news research database searching skills. Take advanced training. Experiment with electronic mail, particularly J-Forum on CompuServe.
• Reach out, read, study, learn, plan, experiment, cooperate, communicate and evaluate.

Computer-assisted journalism is not a well-defined process or product. CAJ operates in a variety of formats with a variety of players. News researchers will have a role to play, but they may have to create it themselves.

Database Management

Database journalism practitioners are doubtless more numerous in news libraries than those involved in computer-assisted investigative reporting, although there are only a few studies that yield research in this area. Ward and Hansen researched information retrieval technologies and databases are causing the work of newspaper reporters and librarians to merge and blend. Their survey of 105 larger daily newspapers revealed that 90% subscribed to at least one database, with a median number of four taken. In 60% of newsrooms equipped with personal computers, reporters searched public records electronically. This study also discovered that at least four of ten newspapers that sell information from their own electronic databases are making money.

That database experience has yielded some valuable insight for making the most productive use of the online search management and enhancing library staff contributions to investigative reporters. among the many. Culled from these experiences are the following recommendations:

1. Discover how reporters, particularly investigative reporters think, ask questions, collect and verify information themselves. Then, begin to "think like a reporter" as well as a research librarian. An excellent book to help develop this "reporter frame of reference" is The Reporter's Handbook: An investigator's Guide to Documents and Techniques by Ullmann and Colbert. Published in 1991 by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., it is the combined knowledge of some of journalism's best investigative minds.
2. Anticipate newsworthy topics and events. Be prepared with examples of appropriate information retrieved from print and online sources. Be timely and specific.
3. Become familiar with public records, what they look like, what kinds of information one can find in them and where they are located. If you don't know what a financial disclosure sheet or an annual corporate report or a credit report or a death record contains, you will have difficulty in recognizing their significance to a news investigation. Build your own networks of public records librarians who can help you retrieve this information.
4. Databases facilitate the search, of course, but not all records are online. An excellent source is the book, Confidential Information Sources: Public and Private by John M. Carroll. This 1991 book published by Butterworth-Heinemann reveals sources for personal records, credit- reporting agencies, law enforcement information systems, motor vehicle and other government records, medical records and student records. The author has a useful chapter on privacy issues affecting public records. Appendices offer examples of various types of records.
5. Learn how to interview reporters. Learn the meaning of their "code" words in phrasing reference questions. Demonstrate to reporters how one type of question gets one type of information, while a differently worded search strategy yields different, sometimes more precise results.
6. Offer to sit in on news staff meetings. This is where the editors and key reporters discuss ideas for special projects and investigative series. Listen, make notes and later come up with ideas and proposals about how the library can research these topics. Meet with news departmental editors such as the metro or special projects editors. Attend periodic newsroom staff meetings.
7. Learn which news staff and systems people are involved in investigative teams. Indicate your interest and ability in participating. Give samples of how the library can do research, not only in online databases, but in data management, analysis and report generation. Maintain lists of news staff special beat assignments. Keep up to date with their projects. Library research may not be necessary in all investigative projects, but it is difficult to figure out which ones would be the exceptions without keeping close to the action.
8. Keep the entire library research staff up-to-speed on special investigative projects. Elicit suggestions from the staff concerning likely but little-known avenues of research. Establish a structure for investigation and report generation within the library. Don't neglect library statistics on research costs and benefits. A library manager never forgets that a well-informed, involved staff contributes insight, talent and energy to the total research enterprise. Acknowledge superior effort and results.
9. Prepare documentation (written reports with examples and statistics) on the news library's contribution to investigative reporting. It's good for top management to note the library's contributions, but perhaps it is even more important to chart the library's progress and note areas worthy of further investigation.

Not all news library research plays a dramatic role in investigative reporting. But whatever the results, it is obvious that online databases make significant contributions, especially when access to vital records is difficult.

Summary (Where do we go from here?)

Computer-assisted journalism has not dominated the reporting and research efforts of news organizations, but its impact is growing. CAJ owes its current influence to the long and distinguished history of investigative reporting as much as to the electronic wizardry of computers. News research librarians, alert to their potential role in CAJ are exploring techniques and resources beyond database journalism. While most news librarians are not centrally involved in this area of investigative reporting, they are keeping current with development by attending workshops and seminars as well as by keeping up to date with the growing literature on CAJ.

Gradually, news organizations will expand their acquisition and analysis of local, state and federal government electronic records. Promoting legislation on public access to computerized records will increase. CAJ training will continue. The prospect of dropping or ignoring this investigative technique in favor of returning to old-fashioned "beat" journalism is not realistic. The doors have been opened. The connection made. While not every news organization will enter and break new ground, there is mounting evidence that the trend is toward using CAJ as one of many tools in investigative reporting. News research librarians are ready and able to make substantial contributions in supporting journalism's fundamental mission.