NLGJA 2006

Session offers tips on sleuthing

By Emily Alpert
NLGJA Reporter Staff Writer

On the surface, it looked like a simple news brief: bank robber arrested, identified by witnesses outside. But April Hunt smelled smoke, requested a charging document and got fire.

Pants on fire, in fact.

Emily Alpert /NLGJA Reporter

Jane Daugherty, associate professor of journalism at Florida International University, reveals ways to hunt down information.

“He was running down Orange Street, and his pants burst into flames,” explained Hunt, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. The thief had stuffed the money into his pants. As he sprinted away, an exploding dye pack, intended to mark stolen money, ignited his cotton underwear. The flustered robber turned himself in, begging for help.

“Now, isn’t that better than a news brief?” Hunt asked, chuckling.

Panelists at “Taking On Troublemakers: Investigative Secrets the Bad Guys Don’t Want You to Know” shared quick tips to make sleuthing simple, from exposing sleazy nonprofits to getting that priceless police blotter detail.

For instance, nonprofits and government agencies have to submit a bond prospectus, a publicly available document, every time they borrow lots of cash, Hunt said.
“It’s the most honest document [the] government ever produced,” she said. “They have to tell the truth to investors.”

The bond prospectus, along with budgets and audits, form the “holy triumvirate” of investigating governments, she said. On audits, she recommended, look for the words “unqualified opinion or no opinion.”

“That’s the kiss of death,” Hunt said. “It means their finances are a train wreck.”
The essential tool for government reporters is a Records Retention Schedule, said Neil Reisner, formerly of the (Bergen, N.J.) Record.

“Make it your first records request,” Reisner said. The list, which specifies how long records must be kept, functions as an inventory of every record an agency keeps.
To uncover charities’ dirty secrets, use an IRS Form 990, advised Jane Daugherty, a former investigative reporter with the Miami Herald and an associate professor of journalism at Florida International University.

“If you have suspicions about a nonprofit, you can readily see irregularities in this form,” said Daugherty, displaying the 990 filed by a foul-playing Florida blood bank. Plus, “if they leave out parts or black things out, it immediately tells you you’re on to something.”
To organize all that data, Reisner recommends becoming spreadsheet-savvy — fast. At Investigative Reporters and Editors boot camps and workshops, offered throughout the country, reporters can hone those skills. But sleuthing savvy isn’t just about technology.
Reisner urged attendees to break their Google-dependency and employ low-tech tools such as the library to turn up dirt.

Likewise, Jennifer Christensen has simple advice: Just be nice, especially to the underpaid underlings that nobody’s nice to. The scoop will follow.

“It’s not brain surgery,” said Christensen, a CNN investigative field producer. “But if you take the time to do it, it really does work.”

Web Resources: