Spring 2010 Volume 33 Number 2 New models of collaboration TRACKING OFFICIALS SPORTS MEDS CATCH AND RELEASE How to keep tabs NCAA lacks rules Uneven punishment on flights and cars on use of painkillers of drunken drivers of political leaders by college athletes shows system failure ENTER TODAY! BARLETT & STEELE AWARDS for INVESTIGATIVE BUSINESS Deadline: Aug. 2, 2010 JOURNALISM Facebook: BizJournalism GOLD AWARD: $5,000 SILVER AWARD: $2,000 APPLY AT BUSINESSJOURNALISM.ORG FREE workshops in Tell the INVESTIGATIVE readers BUSINESS JOURNALISM something � May 7: Portland, Ore., with Pulitzer winner they don’t Gary Cohn and former Washington Post know.” reporter Alec Klein — Don Barlett � June 9: Las Vegas, just before IRE and Jim Steele, Conference, with Klein two-time Pulitzer winners Seats are limited. Register today at BusinessJournalism.org! Donald W. Reynolds Andrew Leckey for , President National Center [email protected] Business Journalism 602-496-9186 TWITTER: "):*/52.!,)3-sFACEBOOK: BIZJOURNALISM Entries must have been published online or in print in the year ending June 30, 2010. CONTENTS THE IRE JOU R NAL 16-28 SPRING 2010 16-28 17 Collaborations spread quickly, giving stories a broader reach By Brant Houston 4 Can’t we all just get along? University of Illinois By Mark Horvit IRE Executive Director 19 HOW TO GET ALONG Learn newsroom culture, build trust 6 2009 IRE AWARD WINNERS and agree on a detailed battle plan By Stephen Engelberg 12 BIG BUSINESS, BIG INFLUENCE ProPublica Supreme Court case fuels need for transparency in donations, lobbying 21 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS By Charles N. Davis Collaboration in California gives investigative National Freedom of Information Coalition stories greater reach and impact By Robert J. Rosenthal 13 IRE budget includes new programs Center for Investigative Reporting By Mark Horvit IRE Executive Director 23 FORMER RIVALS SHARE CONTENT IN OHIO 13 Snapshots from our blogs By Benjamin Marrison The Columbus Dispatch 14 Five lessons from investigating a governor 25 POWER IN NUMBERS By Andy Curliss Reporters unite in one city The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) to cover health care access By Jacob Kushner University of Wisconsin 27 NEW ORLEANS EXPERIMENT TV station joins forces with online investigative site By Lee Zurik (WVUE-New Orleans) and Steve Beatty (The Lens) ABOUT THE COVER The landscape for investigative 29 NURTURING SOURCES reporting is changing quickly with By Jim Schaefer collaboration once unimaginable Detroit Free Press among print, broadcast and online 30 PAIN MANAGERS newsrooms. NCAA has no rules on meds, injections for college football By Gene Sapakoff Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier Illustration by 32 ON THE ROAD AGAIN Wendy Gray,The IRE Journal Drunken drivers escape punishment in Missouri By Joe Mahr and Jeremy Kohler COVER STORIES: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Pages 16-28 34 Author reflects humility, empathy in masterful profiles By Steve Weinberg The IRE Journal THE IRE JOU R NAL FROM THE IRE OFFICE VOLUME 33 | NUMBER 2 MA N AGI N G EDITOR Doug Haddix Can’t we all just get along? ART DIRECTOR Wendy Gray CO N TRIBUTI N G LEGAL EDITOR BY MARK HORVIT David Smallman IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE or most of the history of our profession, the answer among journalists at various news organizations Alecia Swasy F has been “absolutely not.” IRE Collaboration traditionally wasn’t high on the priority list of newspapers and television stations. And in many ways, that was a good thing. Competition was a healthy motivator. It led to aggressive reporting and higher staffing levels, in part because it served as a great way to pry cash from the tight fists of editors IRE EXECUTI V E DIRECTOR Mark Horvit and owners who didn’t want to get beaten by the newsroom across town. As this issue of the Journal makes clear, times have changed in some fundamental ways. For example: BOA R D OF Dire CTO R S In Ohio, a group of newspaper editors from publications that had been longtime competitors throughout PRESIDE N T the state started a cooperative agreement in which they went from sharing stories to working together on Alison Young, USA Today investigative projects (page 23). Nonprofit investigative centers are finding outlets for their work in traditional media. And increasingly VICE PRESIDE N T they are pairing up to work on stories together, both regionally (page 21) and nationally (page 19). Lea Thompson, broadcast journalist/producer Creative partnerships are forming at the local level as well. In New Orleans, the Fox affiliate has part- nered with a newly formed online site to work on investigative projects (page 27). TREASURER So why have we gone from crushing the competition to sleeping with them? David Cay Johnston, author Initially, it has mostly been born of necessity. The new economic realities, including smaller news staffs and less money for enterprise work, have led editors to reconsider working with others and also have cre- SECRETARY ated a new willingness to take someone else’s excellent work and highlight it. Duff Wilson, The New York Times Additionally, the rise of the nonprofit investigative center has reshaped the landscape in a way that facilitates collaboration. Some of the best investigative reporters in the country now work for organiza- Robert Cribb, Toronto Star tions that not only aren’t driven by profit, but that actually score points with supporters (and funders) by Leonard Downie Jr., The Washington Post, sharing their content. Arizona State University This new mindset has led to some great journalism. Manny Garcia, The Miami Herald In the past two years, several partnerships have won IRE Awards, including the “Disposable Army” Stephen C. Miller, freelance reporter/editor project involving ProPublica, the Los Angeles Times and ABC News; “The Tobacco Underground,” which Lise Olsen, The Houston Chronicle brought together a consortium of journalists from throughout the world; and the Chauncey Bailey Project, Cheryl Phillips, The Seattle Times a joint effort by journalists in the Oakland, Calf., area. The competitive spirit remains very much intact. Mc Nelly Torres, freelance Investigative units at traditional media and new online-only organizations still jealously guard their Lawan Williams, E.W. Scripps secrets when they’re not working together. The same two news organizations that work together on one Phil Williams, WTVF-Nashville project can easily find themselves competing the next time around. How those conflicting goals will play themselves out over the long haul will be interesting to watch. For now, in many ways we’ve got the best of both worlds. Elsewhere in this edition of the Journal, we have a couple of important pieces of IRE business. Some highlights of the 2010-11 IRE budget appear on page 13. You can read the complete budget – and download a copy – from the IRE Web site at www.ire.org. The Board of Directors will vote on the budget at their June 10 meeting in Las Vegas, where we’ll be holding the annual conference. The meeting is open to members. The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is published Also in Vegas, members will vote in the Board of Directors election, which will be held on Saturday four times a year by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. 141 Neff Annex, Missouri School of evening, June 12. For all the details, see page 5. Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. And don’t forget another big reason to come to Vegas – the chance to network with other likeminded E-mail: [email protected]. U.S. subscriptions are journalists. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to set up a collaboration of your own. $70 for individuals, $85 for libraries and $125 for institutions/businesses. International sub- scriptions are $90 for individuals and $150 for Mark Horvit is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. He can be all others. Periodical postage paid at Jeffer- reached at [email protected] or 573-882-2042. son City, Mo. Postmaster: Please send address changes to IRE. USPS #451-670 © 2010 Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. 4 THE IRE JOU R NAL IRE NEWS Seven seats up for election on IRE board MEMBER NEWS The filing period has begun for those planning to run for the IRE Board of Directors. Seven seats on the 13-member board are up Greg Borowski has been promoted to senior editor-projects and investigations at for election. The election will be held June 12 at the IRE annual the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, overseeing the newspaper’s award-winning Watch- conference in Las Vegas. The IRE Board serves as the governing body of IRE and generally dog Team. meets in person twice a year to discuss and vote on IRE business. One of the meetings is at the annual IRE conference in June. The Several IRE members were awarded the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards: board periodically has conference calls. Directors serve on committees and task forces made up of • Kristin Carlson and WCAX-TV, Burlington, for “Foreigners on the Farm.” board members and appointed non-board IRE members. The seats are for two-year terms, and incumbents may seek re- • Mark Greenblatt and KHOU-TV, Houston, for “Under Fire: Discrimination and Cor- election to the board. A board position is unpaid; board members ruption in the Texas National Guard.” and their news organizations are expected to pay all, or a substan- tial amount, of travel expenses to board meetings. IRE will provide • Tony Kovaleski and KMGH-TV, Denver, for “33 Minutes to 34 Right.” limited help in cases of need. Candidates must be IRE members in • Michael Montgomery, Joshua E. S. Phillips, American Public Media and American the professional or academic category.