CONTENTS

18 SPORTS INVESTIGATIONS: THE IRE JOURNAL STEPPING INTO THE RING Proving NCAA violations in Minnesota basketball TABLE OF CONTENTS By Emilio Garcia-Ruiz MARCH/APRIL 2000 Checking backgrounds can put boxing on ropes By Ken Rodriguez Georgia prep football is big business, big bucks 4 FROM THE IRE OFFICES IRE Contest shines with important work By Mike Fish By Brant Houston

5 NEWS BRIEFS AND MEMBER NEWS 6 Conference plans under way – IRE’s 25th anniversary to be celebrated in N.Y. By Kate Miller

8 Probing military dangers – Use of super ammo raises health concerns 28 “All we need is access…” By Kathleen Sullivan Wiener book, ordeal teach FOIA lessons By Steve Weinberg 29 GUEST COLUMN Rapid Response Unit to investigate murders By Tony Pederson 30 Woodward warns against ego – Remember, it’s the work that’s important not the person doing the work, he says By Kate Miller 32 Dirty secret – Government as likely to pollute as to enforce environmental laws By David Armstrong 10 Familiar tools – new media Making investigative reporting work online By Rose Ciotta Cover story page 18 Sports Investigations: Stepping 11 LEGAL COLUMN into the ring First Amendment projects the openness of civil trials By Mary Ellen Roy Cover photo illustration by 14 “Last Gasp” – EPA threatens to crack Wendy Gray, The IRE Journal down while problem denied locally By Rusty Cawley

16 IRE 1999 Contest Winners

MARCH/APRIL 2000 3 FROM THE IRE OFFICES THE IRE JOURNAL VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 IRE Contest shines IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brant Houston with important work

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS & EDITOR Len Bruzzese

ART DIRECTOR ive hundred entries and countless hours of judging have resulted in the selection of this year’s winners of the IRE Wendy Gray BRANT HOUSTON F Awards. SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR It is a stellar group that emerged from a particularly competitive Steve Weinberg field in newspapers and broadcast. “I thought this year’s entries were very solid,” said IRE board member and contest CONTRIBUTING LEGAL EDITOR David Smallman judge Joel Kaplan. “There was some exceptional stuff.” The five judges all commented on the depth and breadth of the stories they saw and the EDITORIAL INTERN commitment of time and energy that was required of the news organizations. Kate Miller WTHR in Indianapolis gave a reporter the time to develop his database of six years of DUI (driving under the influence) arrests. The Toledo Blade spent almost two years on its beryllium project. TV stations in smaller markets managed to find the time to do IRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS investigative pieces while meeting the daily demand. IRE board members and contest judges Mike McGraw and Roberta Baskin said PRESIDENT Judy Miller, The Miami Herald they were especially impressed by the entries in the broadcast category of TV stations below the top 20 markets. VICE PRESIDENT McGraw added that “the decisions in large and medium newspapers were very difficult. David Dietz, TheStreet.com They were exhaustive and well-written. I thought all the finalists were well-written this year.” TREASURER Kaplan also noted that this year’s winners “had huge impacts:” Shawn McIntosh, The Clarion-Ledger • The Washington Post winner “Invisible Deaths” led to major changes in the care of SECRETARY retarded citizens in Washington, D.C. Ed Delaney, Barnes and Thornburg • The Times Herald-Record of Middletown, N.Y., work on sheriff deputies’ time cards led to dismissals. Rosemary Armao, Sarasota Herald-Tribune • The Dayton Daily News’ work on unsafe military aircraft spurred revisions in the Roberta Baskin, ABC News repair system. David Boardman, The Seattle Times The judges also were impressed by the entries in the Freedom of Information Mark Lagerkvist, News 12 Long Island category. Rose Ciotta, The Philadelphia Inquirer “FOI is important to IRE’s agenda,” Kaplan said. “There were great stories and Lisa Getter, Los Angeles Times books in this category.” Stephen Miller, The New York Times Kaplan pointed out that the San Francisco Bay Guardian not only pushed to get access Joel Kaplan, Syracuse University to records, but showed how the records could be used for stories in the public interest. Mike McGraw, The Kansas City Star APBnews.com led the charge to place federal judges’ disclosure forms on the Web and this Drew Sullivan, The Tennessean month the judges announced they would do so after initially refusing to do so. The intrepid Willy Stern of The Nashville Scene won a second straight award in the Local Circulation Weeklies category. Russ Carollo of Dayton continued winning for his work on the U.S. military. WFAA in Dallas won two IRE certificates in one year. The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is pub- lished six times a year by Investigative The judges also were excited about the future of the online category in which they Reporters and Editors, Inc. 138 Neff gave a special citation to APBnews.com Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, “It’s clear that more and more will be entering the contest,” Kaplan said. Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. E-mail: [email protected]. Subscriptions are However, the judges were disappointed in the small number of entries in magazines, $40 in the U.S., $60 for institutions and those books, radio and student categories. outside the U.S. Periodical postage paid CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 × at Columbia, MO. Postmaster: Please send address changes to IRE. USPS #4516708 Brant Houston is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. He can be reached through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 573-882-2042.

4 THE IRE JOURNAL I R E N E W S New Census workshops Advanced CAR seminar will offer a head start planned for Chapel Hill MEMBER NEWS Census 2000 is about to kick off, but IRE and NICAR will hold an advanced you still have time to get ready to use this boot camp at the University of North Carolina nvestigative reporter Paul Adrian has once-a-decade flood of information. Become at Chapel Hill. The May 14-18 seminar is I moved from WTNH-TV in Connecticut to one of the smart reporters already getting aimed at strengthening the skills of reporters The News of Texas-TXN, headquartered in San ready by attending one of IRE and NICAR’s who want to move beyond basic computer- Census 2000 seminars. These intensive two- assisted reporting. Reporters should know Antonio. Adrian will be reporting out of Austin. day sessions will be a fast-track lesson on what spreadsheet and database manager applications Vince Beiser is now senior editor at Mother reporters need to know to start producing stories and have experience in computer-assisted Jones’ online sister publication, The MoJo Wire when the data begins to emerge. reporting. at motherjones.com. Richard J. Dalton Jr. Instructors will be Paul Overberg, a database Reporters participating in the seminar will now writes computer-assisted reporting stories editor at USA Today, and Steve Doig, the former be able to take statistics and craft them into Miami Herald staffer who now teaches computer- stories that count. for Newsday’s enterprise team. He previously assisted reporting at Arizona State University. Information is available at www.ire.org/ covered technology for the paper’s business The topics they’ll cover will include census story training/chapelhill.html on the IRE Web site. desk. Paul D’Ambrosio has been named ideas, the data rollout schedule, census definition investigations editor at the Asbury Park (NJ) Press, and geography, mapping, reapportionment, April Uplink addresses where he has been for 19 years. He will head a getting the data, making comparisons to 1990, gun-related databases three-member I-team. Prior to his appointment, the new race categories and the controversy over Gun laws and gun-related crimes are big he was the paper’s database editor. Norman using adjusted census counts. issues in newsrooms around the nation. The The first three workshops set are: April issue of Uplink offers some helpful Green was honored at the NAACP’s 31st Image • Tempe, Ariz. – April 8-9 computer-assisted reporting tips for reporters Awards for his MTV True Life investigative • Columbia, Mo. – Aug. 5-6 covering these issues. documentary, “Driving While Black,” which won • College Park, Md. – Dec. 9-10 David Olinger explains how he and fellow in the category of Outstanding News, Talk or More details are available at www.ire.org. reporters at The Denver Post used ATF data- Information Special. Phoebe Wall Howard bases to put together two three-day series on the New home mortgage data firearms trade. The first used the databases to is now political editor of The Fresno Bee where available in data library trace guns with high-capacity magazines back she has been since 1995. She is also a political The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to the police. The Post’s second series followed columnist at the newspaper. Susan Kelleher (HMDA) of 1975 requires all banks, savings the same guns through several transactions has left The Orange County Register and is now and loans, savings banks and credit unions and crime scenes. a reporter on the investigations team at The with assets over $10 million and offices in Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post metropolitan areas to report mortgage applica- describes a battle with the ATF over data on Seattle Times. AP correspondent John Kelly tions. Mortgage companies owned by deposi- crime guns and how this data can be useful has moved to the Champaign, Ill., bureau from tory institutions or their holding companies in tracing guns recovered by the police. Janet the Indianapolis bureau. He will cover east- also fall under the law. Independent mortgage Roberts of the St. Paul Pioneer Press details central Illinois. Jackie Koszczuk is the new companies must report if they made at least how her paper took the unusual angle of looking national congressional correspondent in the 100 home purchase and/or refinancing loans in at gun ownership by felons using hunting the previous calendar year. licenses. Knight Ridder Washington Bureau. Koszczuk HMDA data contains demographic informa- was a senior writer for Congressional Quarterly tion about loan applicants, including race, Improved readme files magazine, where she covered the congres- gender and income; the purpose of the loan available on data sets sional leadership and did investigative proj- (i.e. home purchase or improvement); whether NICAR has been working to improve the the buyer intends to live in the home; the ects. Polly Kreisman is now reporting for Readme files on all its data sets. Readmes now type of loan (i.e. conventional, FHA insured, WNBC-TV in New York. She leaves WWOR-TV, include more detailed information on how to etc.); and the outcome of the loan application also in New York, after six years and 14 use data sets, possible pitfalls as well as file (i.e. approved or declined). The data also numbers and descriptions of relevant articles Emmy awards for investigative reporting. includes information on institutions where loan available from the IRE Resource Center. Jonathan Krim, formerly assistant man- applications originate. You can also visit the NICAR Web site at The entire U.S. data set is available from aging editor at the San Jose Mercury News is www.ire.org/datalibrary/databases/ to download the IRE and NICAR database library for $200. now the executive editor at TheStreet.com. slices of data sets available from NICAR and The cost of state-by-state data varies by size CONTINUED ON PAGE 35 find information on what the data sets entail. If × of the news organization. The cost per state you have any questions or would like to order Send Member News items to Len Bruzzese at ranges from $50 to $100. data, call 573-884-7332. [email protected] and include a phone number for verification.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 5 FEATURES Conference plans under way

IRE’s 25th anniversary to be celebrated in N.Y.C.

BY KATE MILLER

RE will mark its 25th anniversary by attending the conference will be allowed to holding this year’s National Conference vote. That tradition may not be the case in I in New York City. The June 1-4 gathering the future, however, if an initiative allowing also will serve as the offical kickoff for absentee ballots is approved by the attending IRE’s multi-year endowment drive. membership this year. When IRE began in 1975, few predicted Another issue to be brought to the floor the feisty organization would is the clarification of member- survive much less thrive, says ship requirements. According IRE Executive Director Brant Conference: to IRE’s bylaws, only full-time Houston. But thrive it has. IRE National journalists and journalism educa- Membership numbers are the tors are allowed full member- highest they’ve been in years, Conference ship. Former journalists and he says. On-the-road training June 1-4, 2000 educators are allowed associate is expanding and dues remain New York membership with voting privi- among the lowest of journalism Hilton Waldorf-Astoria leges. But with members moving organizations. out into other fields such as Houston says while low dues private investigation, public increase access to the organization, they unfor- relations and various ideological foundations, tunately pay only 15 percent of operating costs. these definitions may require adjustment, The rest of the money has traditionally been Houston says. raised through services, training and grants. These changes also could affect bylaws The goal of the endowment drive is to raise regulating the makeup of the board. In 1993, several million dollars within five years and use IRE eliminated the limit placed on the number of the interest income from that money to support editors eligible for board membership, but a limit IRE’s core activities. A recent for journalism educators still letter to members announcing Costs: stands. Both issues are sure to plans for the endowment drive elicit strong opinions before the and asking for their support has Registration: $150 final vote is taken. Any changes unexpectantly drawn more than (students, $100) voted in will not be implemented $16,000 in donations. until the following year. As always, the national con- Optional CAR Day: The conference also will ference also will be a time for $50 (students, $35) offer a wide variety of panel taking care of organization busi- discussions and demonstrations. ness, including elections for the To attend, member- A Friday evening showcase board of directors. Board mem- ship must be current. panel, “The Future and Chal- bers whose seats come up for re- lenges for Investigative Report- election include Vice President ing” will feature Mike Wallace David Dietz, Treasurer Shawn McIntosh, of 60 Minutes, Stone Phillips of NBC, Bill Roberta Baskin, Lisa Getter, Joel Kaplan, Mike Keller of The New York Times, Ted Koppel McGraw and Stephen Miller. Declarations of of ABC, Diane Sawyer of ABC, and Adam candidacy, even by incumbents, have not yet Clayton Powell III of the Freedom Forum. been made. As in previous years, only members There will be several panels devoted entirely

6 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

to broadcast including “Storytelling Strategies staff members and other speakers will hold daily and Techniques” and “Tricks of sessions on computer-assisted RUNNING FOR THE the Trade: Going Undercover reporting (CAR) topics in the BOARD OF DIRECTORS the Right Way.” Panels featur- How to CAR demo area. The NICAR ing issues in international and register: staff also will offer an optional The IRE Board of Directors serves as the on-line journalism will be pre- day of CAR discussion and governing body of IRE and meets several sented, including “Journalists • Register online at demonstration on Thursday. times a year – both as a group and in confer- Under Fire” and “Presenting www.ire.org The conference will be held ence calls – to debate and vote on issues. the Investigative Story on the • Print form from at the Hilton Waldorf-Astoria. Directors serve on various committees Web.” Fast-track or shorter Members can register on-line Web site made up of board members and appointed panel sessions will discuss tips at www.ire.org. Registration non-board members to focus more closely for covering beats like educa- • Photocopy form will be open until June 1, but on such topics as diversity, publications, the tion, transportation and the found in this Journal you can save $15 by registering endowment and freedom of information. environment. before mid-May. IRE members considering running for The popular Broadcast Show Kate Miller is a graduate student at the Missouri the Board will have a shot at one of seven & Tell will allow journalists to screen their School of Journalism and an editorial intern for seats this year. While most incumbents will work for peers and pick up story ideas. NICAR The IRE Journal. seek re-election, a couple have indicated they may not. IRE National Conference • Hidden treasures: Databases you may not Although members have until June 2 to N.Y. Preliminary Program know exist get on the ballot, candidacy statements with brief biographical information will be (Check www.ire.org for latest updates) • The quick turnaround: Databases and Web sites to always have nearby posted on the IRE Web site as early as May THURSDAY, JUNE 1 • New School Program – Talk by Seymour 1 and accepted as late as May 25 for Web posting. (Also, material received by May 1 Optional Day, Computer-Assisted Reporting Hersh will be included in an IRE mailing.) • The best of computer-assisted reporting: An • Reception by Criminal Justice Center Candidates who wait until the confer- overview of the past year’s work ence to announce must deliver a one-page • Housing scams: Land flips and slumlords statement/bio to the IRE executive director • Making sense of environmental databases FRIDAY, JUNE 2 or deputy director by 5 p.m. eastern time • Responding to disasters: Databases to have • The best investigative projects of 1999 on June 2. These – along with the previous on hand, Web sites to know • Finding abuses in the inner city: Housing to Web announcements – will be posted on a • Census 101: Getting ready for the data workfare bulletin board in the main conference area. • Who’s behind the Web site? Ferreting out • The new world of security and espionage: At the Saturday afternoon (June 3) mem- bership meeting, candidates will need to what’s authentic, what’s not How to cover it be nominated and seconded from the floor • Building a newsroom pipeline: Using intranets • Broadcast – Tricks of the trade: Going under- by two other IRE members. There will be no to supply data to everyone cover and doing surveillance the right way nominating speeches, but candidates will • Uncovering disparity: Databases that reveal • Diagnosing the sick health system: From bad have two minutes to address their peers. racial profiling and edlining doctors to HMO abuses Voting will be by ballot at the membership • Census 202: The best stories to do first • Fast Track – Covering cities/counties meeting, with no absentee ballots. • Using CAR to track the illegal drug trade and • Fast Track – Covering courts Immediately following the Board elec- deaths • Doing the story no one wants to hear: Uncover- tions, there will be a separate election for IRE • Making sense of federal campaign finance data ing U.S. atrocities abroad and getting the Awards contest judges. Judge candidates will be nominated and seconded from the • Community change: Tracking sprawl and stories published floor. Voting will be by ballot. migration • Newly discovered perils in the nuclear industry • Mapping data 1: The latest and greatest uses • The Online Special: The challenge of doing • Training the Newsroom investigative work on the Web Board candidates wanting to appear on the IRE Web site or in the mailing should • Campaign finance: Working with state and • Broadcast – Hot New Stories submit a candidacy statement/bio limited • Beyond the Sopranos: The new organized local data to 350 words. Head shots are encouraged. • CAR on the local beat crime beat Send announcements via e-mail to Deputy • Mapping data 2: What’s ahead • Fast Track – Crime stats and databases Director Len Bruzzese at [email protected] along • Getting it accurate and getting it right: The • The ills of juvenile crime and punishment with contact information.

ethical uses of data CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 ×

MARCH/APRIL 2000 7 FEATURES

t was a reference to an Air Force A-10 in a New York Times story about NATO’s I war preparations that caught my attention at the San Francisco Examiner. The story said A-10 Warthog “tank killers’’ U.S. Air Force / DoD Force Air U.S.

were expected to take part in the attack on

Kosovo. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have paid any attention to a reference to a “warthog,’’ or an “A-10,’’ or any of the names given to military tanks, airplanes or helicopters. But after writing nearly two dozen stories Photo: Greg L. Davis Davis L. Greg Photo: about the health problems of Gulf War veterans, I knew that A-10s fired depleted uranium bullets – an ammunition prized for its ability to rip through armor “like a hot knife through butter’’ and deplored as a long-term threat to human health. “If the Air Force is sending in A-10s, it means they’ll be shooting depleted uranium in Yugoslavia,’’ I told my editor, Andy Pollack. He suggested I write a story explaining why it was likely the United States would use the ammunition, why its use was controversial, and then track the progress of the war to report if and when the United States fired it. Depleted uranium is a heavy metal, nearly twice as dense as lead. As a waste product of the nuclear weapons industry, it is cheap and plentiful. It is also radioactive, with a half life of 4.5 million years, and chemically toxic. It was used for the first time in combat during the Persian Gulf War by the United States and Britain. By the end of the 1991 war, 630,000 pounds of depleted uranium dust, fragments and penetrators – the ammunition’s spear-shaped projectiles – lay scattered over Iraq. Two U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts form up before dropping away from a tanker aircraft for a mission The Air Force’s A-10s accounted for the against targets in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in April 1999. The Warthogs and their crews are deployed lion’s share of the depleted uranium fired in to Aviano Air Base, Italy, from the 81st Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, in support of Iraq, according to “Depleted Uranium: A Case Operation Allied Force. Narrative,’’ a 235-page report by Dan Fahey, then a staff member at Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco veterans’ rights group. Fahey, an activist who has written and Probing military dangers spoken extensively on the topic, relied primarily on military documents – uncovered from a constant stream of FOIA requests – to write his Use of super ammo raises health concerns report. Fahey was well-informed, generous with phone numbers and information – he gave me copies of any documents I wanted from his vast collection – and dispassionate in his analysis of the facts. In short, a great source.

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN No warnings, no precautions The use of depleted uranium ammunition was considered controversial for several reasons. During the Gulf War, the Pentagon

8 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES loaded A-10s and Abrams tanks with depleted uranium ammunition, but didn’t tell American soldiers that inhaling, ingesting or absorbing its hazardous residue on the battlefield could cause cancer or respiratory, kidney and skin disorders. U.S. Air Force / DoD Force Air U.S.

So soldiers didn’t take any precautions to protect themselves from contaminated dust, tanks and wreckage. They climbed all over Iraqi tanks destroyed with the ammunition, hunting for souvenirs. They didn’t wash their hands before eating or smoking. They didn’t Davis L. Greg Photo: wear protective respiratory gear while working inside contaminated U.S. tanks – hit by friendly fire – readying them for shipment home. Army regulations require medical screenings for soldiers exposed to radioactive substances, but the military didn’t perform those tests on the men and women who had been stationed in the Persian Gulf. So active duty soldiers and veterans don’t know how much of the substance A-10A Thunderbolt ground crewmen run from the aircraft after performing final inspections and giving approval to launch from Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, in March 1998, for a combat patrol mission over they were exposed to in the desert. Iraq. The Thunderbolts of the 74th Fighter Squadron are deployed from the 23rd Fighter Group, Pope Today, Gulf War veterans worry that some of Air Force Base, N.C. their health problems may be linked to exposure to depleted uranium. In the years since the Gulf on Army regulations regarding medical test- were being sent out to attack their traditional War, concern about the health and environmental ing for radiation exposure. It also included targets – tanks and armored vehicles. effects of depleted uranium has grown around the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, it’s none of your At that point, reporters in Washington were the world, as more and more nations have added business” response to questions posed during asking Pentagon officials questions about it to their weapons arsenals. its daily news briefings about the mission of whether the A-10s would be put to use, but Iraqi doctors fear that an alarming rise in the A-10s. none was asking if they would shoot depleted leukemia and stomach cancer among civilians uranium. (The A-10 can also fire missiles, who live near the former war zone may be rockets and high explosives.) linked to depleted uranium contamination of Iraqi doctors fear that In my April story, I quoted NATO officials Iraqi farmland. In the United States, Pentagon – from wire reports – saying that the A-10s officials have consistently downplayed health } an alarming rise in had been unable to attack Yugoslav targets concerns over depleted uranium exposure, leukemia and stomach because of clouds and rain. NATO said the though the agency admitted in 1998 that A-10s, low-flying attack jets, could not fly thousands of American soldiers may have been cancer among civilians below the clouds because of the risk posed by exposed to its radioactive and toxic debris in who live near the former Yugoslav anti-aircraft missiles. the war zone. In the weeks that followed, I kept watching Eventually, I wrote two stories about the use war zone may be linked for indications that the weather had changed in of depleted uranium ammunition in Kosovo. to depleted uranium Yugoslavia and that the A-10s had been sent out The first, “Vets Rip Plan for Uranium Bullets,” to attack Yugoslav tanks. I also began pestering appeared on April 1, 1999, eight days after contamination of Iraqi Air Force and Army officials by phone. Each NATO launched attacks on Kosovo to punish farmland. time I called, the Air Force spokeswoman Yugoslavia for refusing to make peace with ~ politely said she had no reports of depleted its southern province. The story outlined why uranium firings. I called the Army because I the United States would probably use depleted “Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon knew its Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams uranium and why its use was controversial. It declined Wednesday to answer questions about tanks and Apache helicopters, which were included quotes from the executive director when or how A-10s will be used in Yugoslavia, stationed in Albania to provide “force protec- of the National Gulf War Resource Center saying such operational details were verboten tion” if needed, could also shoot depleted (an advocacy group for Gulf War veterans); from this podium,” my April 1 story said, uranium. from Dan Fahey and his report; from a senior quoting a wire story. “Oh – Kathleen Sullivan of the San Fran- fellow at the Center for Defense Information Since I was reporting from San Francisco, cisco Examiner, I’ve got your article right (an independent think tank in Washington, I was scanning the wires – national and inter- here,’’ said a lieutenant colonel in the public D.C.); a Canadian radiation health expert; national – for stories about the war against affairs office of the Army’s Weapons, Environ- and information from my earlier reporting Yugoslavia, looking for clues that the A-10s CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 ×

MARCH/APRIL 2000 9 FEATURES

Infrastructure: Familiar tools – “Traditional media companies generally lack the technical skills to compete effectively. New media companies often lack the journalistic skills to publish a quality product. The winning new media information companies of the future will be those that most effectively marry journalistic Making investigative reporting work online standards and objectives to technologies that make distributing information cost-effective and fast, BY ROSE CIOTTA and reach the largest number of audiences.” • Break down the walls so journalists understand technology and technology people understand nvestigative and computer-assisted report- and syndication as appropriate. They called for a journalism. ing not only have a place in the exploding demonstration project to test the idea. • Offer continuous technology training so news- I world of online journalism but can be the room journalists can do more to get stories and key to its success. Other recommendations include: That’s the conclusion of a special conference sponsored by IRE and the Poynter Institute held Business: CONFERENCE recently in St. Petersburg, Fla. “To succeed financially, an online news site PARTICIPANTS A group of 20 journalists from all corners of must create original content. Experience shows the industry came together to consider whether that investigative reporting packages attract · Jim Brown, Indiana Univ. School of investigative/CAR reporting can survive and visitors to the online sites and keep them coming Journalism thrive online. Four study groups looked at the back.” · Rose Ciotta, Philadelphia Inquirer, IRE major issues defined by the larger group: business, • Measure the impact of investigative reporting ethics, content and infrastructure. (with data on sales, viewers, pick-ups, mentions) Board At a time when content is king in cyberspace, so all would know the business value of their · Dan Colarusso, TheStreet.com these journalists concluded that investigative work. Decision-makers in business and editorial · Ken Doctor, Real Cities Network reporting was just the kind of original work that must review this information. Others can access (Knight Ridder) could bring viewers to their sites over and over it if they are interested. · Amy Gahran, Content Exchange again. Data lookups giving viewers information • Hire experienced and talented journalists and Contentious about their schools and their neighborhoods and create an equity culture in newsrooms so · John Garcia, WNBC-TV News, New York was just the kind of information that could help journalists know their value to the company’s · Rich Gordon, Northwestern Univ. newspapers do what they do best - serve their financial success. · Brant Houston, IRE and NICAR local communities. • Make localized data available and updated · Karl Idsvoog, APBnews.com Those working in online publications said online. See data as original content that has a in-depth work was a critical part of their business marketable value. Resale of public data would · Stephen Miller, New York Times plans. They also put a premium on preserving their be prohibited. · Mindy McAdams, University of Florida credibility. The best of them are implementing • Develop business strategies to connect with · Robin Palley, Healtheon/WebMD policies to apply journalism’s traditional ethical these visitors via email and other e-commerce · Nora Paul, Poynter Institute values to the new medium. options. · Robert Port, APBnews.com Despite the optimism, however, all agreed that · Adam Powell, Freedom Forum most media have yet to take advantage of online Ethics: · Jeff South, Virginia Commonwealth Univ. as a three-dimensional medium. And, at most “Ethical standards for online journalism are no · Tom Torok, New York Times companies, there is a gulf between the traditional different than traditional journalism… Standards · David Weir, Salon.com and Internet newsrooms. They urged training and for the intersection of content and commerce are · Mike Wendland, Poynter Institute other programs so print journalists could learn still evolving but the credibility of content must more about online and vice versa. not be compromised.” · Steve Yelvington, Cox Interactive Media On content, the group urged that investigative • Implement policies to ensure credibility and reports use all of the 3-D tools: audio, video, adopt traditional journalistic ethics. lookup data, interactive graphics and visitor • Guard the integrity of polls. For a full text, including the feedback. They also recommended that all • Guard privacy considerations regarding informa- task force reports, see investigative/in-depth packages be planned and tion collected from visitors. www.poynter.org. executed from the online perspective. In multi- • Disclose all business alliances. You can also link there from • Distinguish editorial from advertorial. media companies, they recommended locating the the IRE site, www.ire.org E-team (for enterprise) in the online operation. The • Require that sponsors have no control over project would be repackaged for print, broadcast content.

10 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

data online and the online staff know more about LEGAL COLUMN the reporting/editing process. • Create a technology infrastructure in newsrooms giving everyone personal computers, Internet First Amendment protects access and easy access to in-house data. • Locate “bridge people” in both online and the openness of civil trials traditional newsrooms to work with the other. • Have at least one (preferably more) trained in he United States Supreme Court repeat- the closure of the trial when server databases, Web programming, scripting edly has recognized that criminal trial one of its reporters received T proceedings should be open to the press a tip that a civil trial was languages and other computer languages such as Visual Basic, Java or Perl. and the public. In addition, most federal courts proceeding behind closed MARY ELLEN ROY • Evaluate the technical skills of your organization to have held that there is also a First Amendment doors in federal court. The ensure that Web-related tasks can be carried out. right of access to civil trials. reporter went to the courthouse, and a federal When the First Amendment right of access is marshal denied her entry to the courtroom. In Content: implicated, there is a strong presumption in favor addition to closing the trial itself, the court had “Opportunities to use the unique technology of of open proceedings. Thus, in order for even a sealed the entire record, including all of the the web are being missed. Too many news Web partial closure of a trial to survive constitutional parties’ pleadings, the court’s orders, the docket sites suffer from poor or confusing navigation scrutiny, the closure must survive the “strict sheet and even the caption of the case. After that fails to capitalize on the point and click nature scrutiny” test, which requires that closure be repeated unsuccessful efforts to gain access to of computer screens. Audio and video appear essential to a compelling public interest and the courtroom or even to obtain a copy of the haphazardly, sometimes overdone, sometimes not narrowly tailored so that only those portions of order closing the trial, the Times-Picayune filed present at all when they are the best suited means the proceedings absolutely essential to protect the a motion to intervene in the proceedings and to to convey snippets of a news experience.” interest are closed. open the trial proceedings and unseal the court • Take advantage of the 3-D medium: text, audio, It is not uncommon, however, for a court to records. video, animation, interactive tools such as close a portion of a civil trial to protect highly Lifemark opposed the motion on the grounds forums, chats, e-mail services; personalized confidential information. Although courts most that opening the proceedings and unsealing the data lookups, filters and links to documents, often order such closures in cases involving record would result in the disclosure of privileged transcripts, notes. trade secrets, closure orders are not limited to attorney-client communications which would • Set up quality control so data is fresh and story such cases. prejudice Lifemark’s fair trial rights in another links are maintained. Date content. Even more extraordinary, and virtually unprec- lawsuit also pending in federal court. After an open • Find new ways to organize text online including edented, is the drastic step of closing an entire hearing, the court initially denied the newspaper’s issues and creation of “theme parks” for ongoing civil trial. Recently, however, the U.S. District motion. Although the court acknowledged the reporting. Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana opted press’s strong First Amendment right of access • Create multi-level access to stories – i.e. the short for just such an extreme measure in Lifemark to trial proceedings, it balanced this right against take, long piece, text only and full multi-media. Hospitals, Inc. v. Jones, Walker, Waechter, et al., Lifemark’s fair trial rights and concluded that • Continuous editing desks in newsrooms to Civ. No. 94-1258 (E.D. La.), when it closed the Lifemark’s rights would be impaired if attorney- handle news updates. entire trial in a high-profile attorney malpractice client communications were disclosed. • Give prominence to investigative reports so they case. Although the court ultimately reconsidered The Times-Picayune moved for reconsideration can easily be found on the site. its order denying the motion that the New Orleans and argued, among other things, that the attorney- • Moderate forums and discussion groups tied to Times-Picayune brought to gain access to the client privilege, particularly once it is waived by investigative stories. trial, the newspaper obtained this relief only after the act of bringing an attorney malpractice action, the trial had nearly concluded. simply is insufficient to overcome the strong For observations from the participants see a presumption in favor of press access to civil trials. report from conference participant Amy Gahran The background The court ultimately granted the motion to open in Content Spotlight “Investigative Reporting: Lifemark filed an attorney malpractice action the proceedings and unseal the record. However, Salvation of Online News?” at www.content- under seal against Jones Walker Waechter by the time the court did so, the trial had nearly exchange.com/cx/html/newsletter/1-21/news1- Poitevent Carrere & Denegre, L.L.P., a large New concluded. Thus, although the court ultimately 21.5.htm. For a report from Mike Wendland, Orleans law firm. In essence, Lifemark alleged ordered that the trial transcript be released and former print and broadcast investigative jour- that Jones Walker was liable for millions of dollars the documents filed in the record be unsealed, nalist and Poynter fellow, see “News on the in damages because Jones Walker failed to timely this relief was no substitute for contemporaneous Net Excites Journalists,” at http://observer- reinscribe a mortgage. access to the proceedings. eccentric.com/columns/story3.shtml. The Times-Picayune first became aware of CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 × Rose Ciotta is the assistant director/Pa. of CAR and Mary Ellen Roy is a media lawyer who handles defamation, invasion of privacy, reporter’s privilege, analysis at the Philadelphia Inquirer and a member and access issues for newspapers, television stations and magazines. She is a partner at Phelps of the IRE Board of Directors. Dunbar, L.L.P. in New Orleans.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 11 FEATURES

uranium in its news briefing on May 3. to the region and more were expected to join Military Dangers Dan Fahey called me. I called up the 14-page peacekeeping forces) would once again be CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 × news briefing on Defenselink and found Major unknowingly exposed to depleted uranium, ment and Technology team, when I called a few General Chuck Wald’s confirmation on page 12. because they had not received training on how days after my first story appeared. “Somebody • “Q: General (Wald), there’s been some to minimize their exposure to the radioactive here in the building copied your story saying we concern raised in Europe about the possibility dust and debris left in its wake. shouldn’t use that stuff (depleted uranium) and of A-10s using the depleted uranium munitions, I called the Army again, even though their sent it around,” he said. “I guess I don’t have to especially when they go after the armor. Are spokesmen had told me over and over again tell you it’s radioactive and toxic, do I?” we using any of these munitions now against that the Bradleys, Abrams and Apaches would In a subsequent interview, the colonel said the…” not be using depleted uranium. the Army didn’t need to use depleted uranium • “Major General Wald: Yes. And the 30mm I happened to call on May 6, the day after ammunition against Yugoslav tanks, because on the A-10. I think it’s almost – I’ve heard that two American soldiers died when their Apache they were older-model Soviet tanks that could question a lot, and I’ve been thinking about it. helicopter crashed in Albania during a training be “killed” with high explosives. I’ve been around the A-10s for a long time. I run. I asked if the Apache that had crashed was know that I see the munitions handlers put these carrying depleted uranium. Before answering, Playing with Pentagon bullets in the aircraft, holding on to them for 20 the spokesman launched into a tirade about Nevertheless, I kept calling him and other how I didn’t care about the loss of American Army officials. I also continued watching the lives, only about depleted uranium. wires, calling Pentagon sources every few days, I got the story because trusted He told me once again that the Army had no and checking in with sources. The Pentagon, plans to use depleted uranium in Kosovo. After the usually eager to talk about the success of its } sources kept an eye on the April 1 story, I got calls from a New York radio weapons in combat, was still being coy. situation for me; because I didn’t station and from Fairness and Accuracy in Media, “The bottom line is I’m not going to get into a media watchdog group, and I helped them specifics about what the A-10s flew against,” believe the Pentagon would be pursue stories on the same topic. Other American Col. Steve Campbell, a Pentagon spokesman able to keep the use of depleted reporters were also writing about the issue. told me in an April 7 phone message. “I think The question the unidentified reporter asked everyone’s well aware of what their standard uranium ammunition a secret at the Pentagon’s briefing on May 3 reflected mission is,” he added. “I’d like to talk to until after the war; and because the fact that the topic had become an issue in you about why I’m not going to give you Europe. Reporters in Japan and in Canada also specifics. But I’m not going to try to do that my editor cut me loose from were following the story. in a voice mail. The bottom line is: I can’t get my normal GA duties to report I got the story because trusted sources kept into specifics about what they targeted and an eye on the situation for me; because I didn’t what they shot at and what they dropped and on something happening a believe the Pentagon would be able to keep the what they used. So if you’d like to talk some world away. use of depleted uranium ammunition a secret more about this I can go into more detail if ~ until after the war; and because my editor cut you call me.” me loose from my normal GA duties to report I did call Campbell, who told me that years, so they’ve done a lot of scientific studies on something happening a world away. revealing what the A-10s were shooting would on these things, and there doesn’t seem to be a Once the Pentagon confirmed it was firing jeopardize the safety of the troops – at the time, problem. So I don’t think there’s a problem at all depleted uranium, more reporters picked up the standard line from the Pentagon. Campbell with that, and it hasn’t been a problem for any the story. The international attention created said the information would be available after of us, so it’s kind of old news.” many ripple effects, Dan Fahey later told me. the war was over. The unidentified reporter returned to the It raised the visibility of the issue and widened I began checking the Pentagon’s daily same question a few minutes later: the scope of concern over the use of depleted news briefings every few days. The briefings • “Q: I just want to make sure that I understand uranium as a weapon. appeared on the Pentagon’s web site – General Wald on one point. The DU shells. Have “I think all the attention played some role in www.defenselink.mil – in a question-and- the A-10s actually been firing them in addition limiting the amount of depleted uranium they answer format. In the meantime, I returned to to simply carrying them?’’ used, because the stories generated so much my GA duties. • “Major Generald Wald: Yes.” public interest, particularly after the Pentagon My second story “U.S. Firing Radioactive My story, which appeared May 7, began: acknowledged using it,” he said. Ammo,” appeared more than a month after the “The Pentagon has confirmed that U.S. Air Force According to a Pentagon reply to Fahey’s original one, on May 7, 1999. I learned that jets are firing radioactive bullets in Yugoslavia, latest FOIA request, the Air Force shot 21,000 A-10s were firing depleted uranium when Tara reigniting concerns raised after the Gulf War pounds of depleted uranium in Yugoslavia. Thornton, an organizer at the Military Toxics about the hazards the ammunition poses to Project, an environmental group based in Maine, soldiers, civilians and the environment.” Kathleen Sullivan is a general assignment reporter e-mailed Dan Fahey in San Francisco. She said Much of the story was devoted to concern at the San Francisco Examiner where she has the Pentagon had confirmed using depleted that American troops (thousands had been sent worked since 1988.

12 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

Legal Column IRE Conference • International Track: Journalists under fire CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 × CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 × • Investigations in the business world Be prepared for closures • Great tips from great writers: Taking your stories • Editors Roundtable, Part I: Organizing and editing Although an extreme example, the Lifemark the next step and turning them into magazine the project case demonstrates it is vital that a reporter never pieces and books • Broadcast – Power of documentaries assume that if a court has closed all or a portion • Policing the police • Medical Research/Stories we’re missing of a civil trial, that the court has considered the • Investigations in entertainment and the arts • International Track: Journalists under fire constitutional ramifications of its actions and proceeded properly in closing the proceedings. • Broadcast special edition – An hour with 60 • Fast Track – Quick hits on the community Indeed, the best way to avoid an unjustified Minutes beat court closure is to try to anticipate when a court • Fast Track – Doing the education investigation • Recognition of IAPA Swat Team may close a proceeding and alert the editor or • An hour with 20/20 • Fast Track – Turning your investigation into news director immediately so that a lawyer may • Caregivers gone wrong: Exposing the abuses a book promptly prepare arguments and briefs. In a case • At what price the presidency? How to track the • International Track – International Roundtable where many motions are filed under seal and where big sell-off • Working a Wall Street Beat pre-trial hearings are held behind closed doors, for example, it can be anticipated that the court may • Covering terrorists and fringe groups • Great Tips From Great Writers, Part II: Crafting take the next step to close the trial itself. • Fast Track – Transportation safety the story In some instances, however, it is virtually • Broadcast special edition – An hour with Dateline • Broadcast – IRE Award Winners impossible to anticipate closure. In such a case, • Fast Track – Business: Tracking companies • The Death Sentence Stayed: Probing wrongful if a reporter is present in the courtroom when online convictions the court announces its intention to close a • Gotcha Journalism: How to fight the lowering • Fast Track – Non-profits proceeding, the reporter should identify himself • International – Digging into multinational to the court, request permission to be heard, and of standards object on his own behalf and that of the public. If • Winning strategies in freelance corporations, ferreting out international trade the court grants the reporter permission to speak, • The Cross-Cultural Investigation scams the reporter should object to the closure and • Finding investigative reporting’s place in history: The Latest on Libel, Reporters’ Privilege, and request a recess so that the news organization’s Looking at a century of muckraking Newsgathering attorneys can be called to address the court. In • Fast Track – Useful international online databases: • Investigating Immigration addition, the reporter should request that the court Health, crime, immigration • Broadcast – Test it Yourself: Investigations on make his objection part of the court record. the consumer beat If the court will not grant the reporter permis- • IRE Showcase Panel and fundraiser – New sion to speak – or if the courtroom already challenges in this century for investigative • Editors Roundtable, Part II: The top editors from has been closed – the reporter should write reporting NYC talk about investigative editing the objection on a sheet of paper and give it to • IRE fundraising reception – 25th Anniversary • Fast Track – Environmental reporting the judge’s clerk. If the clerk is in the closed Appreciation of Founders, keynote speaker • Membership meeting courtroom, give it to the bailiff at the door and • Bob Greene bus tour of New York ask that the request be delivered to the judge and SATURDAY, JUNE 3 be made part of the record. In any event, after the reporter leaves the • Online special – Presenting the investigative SUNDAY, JUNE 4 courtroom, he should immediately call the story on The Web: Challenges in writing and For educators and students: newsroom and, if appropriate, legal counsel. visualizing • Investigations on campus: Resources and censor- Finally, if a reporter discovers that a closed • Maintaining Free Speech in a Panic About Privacy: ship court proceeding is in progress or has been held Public records and the battle for access in the • Teaching investigative reporting: How to do it already, he should try to learn the nature of Information Age best the proceeding, the grounds for the closure and • The Challenge of Investigations at Small News • How students can get the best job whether the court held a hearing on closure. If the proceeding appears newsworthy, the reporter Organizations Poynter presents: should immediately call the newsroom about • Broadcast – Storytelling Strategies & Tech- • The Poynter report on online investigations: possibly challenging the closure. niques Strategies for success when you return It is often in litigants’ interest to try to close • The art of sourcing and interviewing • Presentation and ethics of broadcast investiga- trial proceedings to the press and the public. • Fast Track – Backgrounding businesses and tions While the Constitution generally requires that individuals • A Poynter course in writing trials be open, the press must remain vigilant to • Fast Track – A primer on contracts Conference ends protect this important right.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 13 FEATURES

effects of ground-level ozone on the health of “Last Gasp” local residents. Legal reporter Lisa Whitley would compare Dallas-Fort Worth’s situation with that of other major U.S. cities, particularly EPA threatens to crack down Los Angeles. Tarrant County bureau chief while problem denied locally Kerry Curry would gauge the concerns of leaders in Fort Worth. My job was to dig into the politics behind the state’s air-pollution policies, plus to use Microsoft’s Excel and Access software to sort through the hard data we knew we would compile. Work on the project began in April 1999. The first big break came when Allen discovered that two Austin-based watchdog groups, Public Citizen and The SEED Coalition, had compiled a massive collection of memos, data and reports on the statewide problem. Tom Smith of Public Citizen and Peter Altman of SEED traveled to Dallas to meet with us. They brought with them copies of the documents they had gathered through the Texas Open Records Act. BY RUSTY CAWLEY

Photo Illustration: Michael Samples Michael Illustration: Photo Within those watchdog files, we discovered several key items. We learned the TNRCC maintains a database that details the agency’s n August 1999, the Dallas Business learned that the EPA was running out of inspections of local plants that emit nitrous Journal published “Last Gasp,” its inves- patience with Dallas-Fort Worth’s political and oxide (NO2) and volatile organic compounds tigation of air quality in the Dallas-Fort business leaders, who had postponed dealing (VOCs), the components that create ground- I Worth Metroplex. The story revealed with the area’s ground-level ozone problems level ozone. This database would help us the seriousness of the city’s ground-level for 25 years. The message from the EPA now track down the most serious violators. Bishop ozone problem, the threat it posed to the local seemed clear: Cut down on your ozone levels immediately called the TNRCC for an electronic economy as well as to public health, and the or we’ll hit you with sanctions. copy that we could load into Microsoft Access. role that state politics played in creating the Those sanctions threatened to halt the But the TNRCC’s media officer denied the situation. Metroplex’s long-running economic boom. The database existed. When confronted with the The scope of the problem was so large federal government could cut deeply into $8 evidence from the watchdog groups, the media that the DBJ needed a package of 15 stories billion of highway funding planned for North officer claimed he could not give us a copy that to cover it adequately, but the investigation Texas over the next 20 years. It could restrict would work on our computers. Taking advice began with a tiny note hidden in a big boring D-FW companies from growing as quickly and from IRE, NICAR and the Texas Freedom document. as large as they wanted. It could micromanage of Information Foundation, Bishop pursued As the transportation writer for the Dallas the lives of local residents, right down to what the data. Business Journal, Margaret Allen must deal time they could drive to work and what days After almost a month of wrangling, we with all sorts of state and local agencies in North they could barbecue outdoors. received the database on a single floppy disk. It Texas. When Allen receives a meeting agenda, Allen’s first thought was to write a straight presented the usual headaches with dirty data. she often asks for a copy of the meeting’s news story. Then she realized the scope was But after another week of computer work, we support material. These are the documents far too large. So Allen proposed to the editors had hard evidence pointing to which companies that board directors and staff members use to that the staff tackle the story as an investigative are most responsible for the Metroplex’s ozone prepare for a public meeting. project. The staff decided to split up the work. problem. This provided the backbone for our In early 1999, Allen was at her desk, Allen would focus on what caused the ozone story. thumbing through a thick file from the North problem and what local leaders were doing, The watchdog files also turned up memos, Texas Council of Governments (NTCOG), if anything, to combat it. She also would deal e-mails and letters that detailed how the state’s a 16-county organization that orchestrates with the EPA’s threatened sanctions and their largest air polluters had colluded with the highway construction plans in and around the consequences. governor’s office, headed by GOP presidential Metroplex. Buried in these documents, she Real estate reporter Amanda Bishop would candidate George W. Bush, to stave off efforts found this note: The Environmental Protection look into how the state, especially the Texas in the Texas Legislature to deal with NO2 and Agency (EPA) had rejected the state’s latest Natural Resources Conservation Commission VOC emissions. plan to curb air pollution in Dallas-Fort Worth. (TNRCC), was dealing with the threat. Medical Of particular interest was a memo from a Allen asked her sources about the note. She reporter Stephanie Patrick would examine the chemical-industry executive, which detailed

14 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES how Exxon and Marathon Oil had called virtually ignored the industrial polluters. TIPS FROM TEXAS together the many other big polluters to a secret • That some local political leaders feared 1997 meeting in Houston with the TNRCC there would be fallout when voters finally So what advice would the reporters and the governor’s office. At this meeting, understood the depth of the problem and at the Dallas Business Journal offer to the big polluters cut a deal to make any new the seriousness of the EPA’s threat. Local journalists planning a similar project? air-quality program strictly voluntary. These leaders have insisted for years that the main memos led to my two stories describing Bush’s culprits are automobiles and other vehicles. • Define your story carefully. We wrote several- fealty to the big polluters, many of whom were We questioned that assumption. It turns out hundred column inches of copy on NO2 major contributors to Bush’s two gubernatorial to be true, but only if you take grandfathered and VOC emissions, which are just a part of campaigns and to his current presidential bid. industrial emissions out of the equation. the overall air-pollution problem in Dallas. Bottom line: For more than a decade, the local If we had taken on the entire question of … big polluters cut a leadership has misled the public on a crucial air pollution, we would still be working on policy issue. Indeed, the underlying theme this story. } deal to make any new for the package is that the Dallas-Fort Worth • Tap into the watchdog groups, which tend air-quality program leadership, both in politics and in business, to stockpile information on subjects that has failed its community. What’s more, Texas strictly voluntary irritate them. You’ll find they’ve often done the ~ leadership has failed the entire state. The time-consuming work of using open-records lead politician in the local effort to meet EPA law to pry loose the data you need. As with My toughest problem was getting responses standards, County Judge Lee Jackson, told us information taken from any source, use these from Exxon, Marathon Oil, the governor’s he fears the public’s reaction when it learns records with care and with skepticism. office, the Bush campaign, the TNRCC, the the true extent of the problem and the burdens lobbyists and the other big polluters. After that local residents will bear. “Elected officials • Don’t take “no” for answer from government three weeks of phone calls, I got no response in North Texas feel we’re going to be accused bureaucrats when it comes to getting a data- at all. Finally, I wrote a memo to each of the of dragging our feet,” he said. base you need for your story. They have parties, detailing exactly what I planned to • That the state has set up an elaborate trading the data. It belongs to the public. You are a say about them in the article. The governor’s system for polluters to buy and sell “air member of the public and thus have a right to office, the TNRCC and the lobbyists responded emission credits,” allowing companies to trade the data. Fight like hell. It’s worth it. the next day. Exxon and Marathon declined to for the rights to emit more NO2 and VOCs • Make sure someone on staff knows how to comment, as did the other polluters. I never than they could otherwise. work with database software. You can learn heard from the Bush presidential campaign. • That shortages in manpower at the EPA and Excel and Access as you go, but it slows your In mid-July, roughly three months after at state agencies are crippling enforcement of progress. Urge your editors to invest in the the project began, we started writing. Among existing air-quality laws. right software and in the proper training from our findings: • That when the laws are enforced, the largest IRE and NICAR. • That state political leaders could have avoided penalties are aimed at small business, not at • Make sure your editors understand how much the showdown with the EPA had they taken the major polluters. time it takes to complete a project like this one. serious action in 1990, when Texas adopted • That six of the Dallas-Fort Worth’s worst Editors always assume that information will be the federal Clean Air Act. Instead, these grandfathered pollution sites are located near readily available, sources will be cooperative, leaders chose to allow old industrial plants 65 elementary, middle and high schools. databases will be pristine and reporters will to continue to emit NO2 and VOCs at levels Reaction to “Last Gasp” was both mixed far beyond the standards set in 1990. The and curious. We sold out of the issue (about never ever suffer from writer’s block. It’s best leaders assumed that polluting companies 25,000 copies) almost immediately, but did not to prepare them before you start your work. would soon replace these out-of-date plants reprint the edition. Instead, we gave permission Follow Mr. Scott’s Law from “Star Trek.” Say it with more efficient facilities. By and large, to local groups to reprint and distribute the will take six months, do it in three and make that has not happened. stories. The NCTCOG, which is leading the yourself look like a miracle worker. • That “grandfathered” air polluters, those who regional effort to meet EPA requirements, • Complete and edit the story at least a week were exempted from the federal air standards reprinted the “Last Gasp” and is distributing it before it goes to press. Insist that your editors set in 1990, churn out more NO2 in Dallas- to the public. EPA officials sent copies to the read your copy as soon as it’s done. Don’t Fort Worth than do automobiles. The largest Texas congressional delegation and has referred let them wait until they’re on deadline. You of these grandfathered plants belong to some to the package several times in public. Overall, want to sort out all of the debates among of the biggest names in business, including we were amazed by the positive reaction “Last the reporters and with the editors as early as Exxon Mobil, Fina Oil, Lockheed-Martin, Gasp” got from all sides of the issue, especially possible. This approach keeps the deadline Occidental Chemical, Bell Helicopter Textron considering the lack of attention from other stress to a minimum. It also cuts down on and Kelly-Moore Paint. However, the state local media. the risk of a major foul-up, the kind that can has focused on getting 80 percent of NO2 damage your credibility or even land you reductions from automobiles, which produce Rusty Cawley is the finance reporter for the in court. about 40 percent of the emissions, and has Dallas Business Journal.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 15 FEATURES 1999 IRE CONTEST Winners named in WINNERS AND FINALISTS NEWSPAPERS 1999 IRE Awards LOCAL CIRCULATION WEEKLIES MEDAL “Above the Law,” The Nashville Scene, Willy he Washington Post, The Toledo Blade especially its efforts to gather and post financial Stern. and The Nashville Scene have taken top disclosure forms of federal judges. This is Stern’s second IRE award in as many years, a rare accomplishment. This time Stern used a wealth of documents honors in the 1999 IRE Awards. The Freedom of Information Award was given and sources to build a rock-solid case against abusive security T Winning the prestigious IRE medals to the San Francisco Bay Guardian for efforts by guards at a largely Hispanic apartment complex, guards were Katherine Boo of The Washington Post, Bruce B. Bruggman and the editorial staff to open who allegedly beat, abused and stole from tenants. He also revealed a sordid relationship between the security company Sam Roe of The Toledo Blade and Willy Stern of public records. They pushed for a ballot measure and the Nashville Police Department, which resulted in The Nashville Scene. to improve access when the mayor and governor double-dipping and compromised investigations of the abuse. The annual awards recognize were opposed to it. It won with The company went out of business and the series sparked outstanding investigative work in Copies of all contest 59 percent of the vote. local and federal investigations. Stern’s obstacles included attempts to intimidate him, The Scene, and their sources. entries are available from print, broadcast – and starting this “It was an excellent job of FINALISTS year – online media. the IRE Resource Center, combining advocacy for open • Fort Worth Weekly, Betty Brink, “Cruel and Unusual” The Post won in the large 573-882-3364. records with investigative report- Shoddy medical care at Carswell’s Prison Hospital turns newspaper division for “Invisible ing that shows what you can do women’s punishment into torture • Los Angeles New Times, Susan Goldsmith, “Kaiser’s Lives, Invisible Deaths,” in which Boo showed with those records,” said the judges. Dirty Secret” how a multi-billion dollar program to serve the • The Dallas Observer, Thomas Korosec, “Anatomy of most vulnerable in society had totally failed. The Others winning certificates: a Smear” contest’s judges called Boo’s reporting brilliant • The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y., • The Cleveland Scene, Mike Tobin, “Comrades in Crime” and writing passionate. for investigating the double-dipping of Orange SMALL NEWSPAPERS (UNDER 100,000) “The Post went to incredible lengths to County sheriff’s’ deputies. CERTIFICATE track retarded citizens being moved from large • The Dayton Daily News for exposing the record “Timecard Troubles,” The Times Herald- institutions to group homes,” said the judges. “It of the military in repairing and maintaining Record, Middletown, N.Y., Christopher found that many were sexually assaulted, used as its aircraft. Mele, Oliver Mackson. To look at their time cards it appears that Orange County laborers, even treated as slaves. Boo’s findings • The Chicago Tribune for a damning account of N.Y., sheriff’s deputies can be in two places at the same time, were so devastating that officials tried to shred how prosecutors routinely commit the worst kinds or at least get paid for it. This is well-told classic “gotcha” documents after she asked for them.” of deceptions in order to obtain convictions. showing how deputies double-dipped, working part-time jobs while on the clock elsewhere. Excellent reporting job that The Blade won in the medium-sized newspaper • 60 Minutes II for a compelling look at the just kept building and building. The stories sparked a state division for “Deadly Alliance,” in which Roe exploitation of children who make cigarettes investigation. They also generated a ticketing blitz against detailed how the use of beryllium in the making imported into the United States. the reporters and their newspaper. of nuclear weapons cost the lives of hundreds of • WFAA-TV in Dallas for two investigations. One FINALISTS workers exposed to the toxic metal. probed the consumer credit practices of First • The Press of Atlantic City, Michael Diamond and John Froonjian, prosecutors, defenders doing private work “It was an exhaustive piece that forced into the USA. The other exposed fraud among military on city time open embarrassing information that government recruiters who used diploma mills to qualify • The Colorado Daily, Brian Hansen, Pamela White, Terje and industry wanted hidden, using tragic tales of potential recruits. Langeland, Mark Collins and Amanda Hill, “Brave New CU: The university at a crossroads” people who spent years of their lives gasping for • WTHR-TV in Indianapolis for showing how • The Leader-Telegram, Eric Lindquist, Traci Gerharz Klein breath,” said the judges. drunken drivers are allowed to go free when and Dan Holtz, “Questionable Operators” The Scene won in the local circulation weeklies police officers fail to show up in court. • Stars and Stripes, Gregory Piatt and Derald Everhart, category for “Above the Law,” in which Stern • Alan Green, The Center for Public Integrity, for “Death on the Tracks” • The Waterbury Republican American, Sean Patrick Lyons, built a case against abusive security guards at a his book “Animal Underworld: Inside America’s “A System Padded with Patronage” largely Hispanic apartment complex and a sordid Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species.” relationship between the security company and • Mark Greenblatt, KOMU-TV in Columbia, Mo., MEDIUM NEWSPAPERS (100,000 THROUGH 250,000) the city police department. a student award for his report showing how MEDAL “Stern used a wealth of documents and sources mid-Missouri’s bridges are deteriorating and the “Deadly Alliance,” The Toledo Blade, Sam Roe. How government and industry chose weapons over workers. to build a rock-solid case,” said the judges, who improprieties in bridge repair. For decades, the U.S. defense industry has used beryllium also noted that it was Stern’s second consecutive The awards will be presented during a Saturday, in making nuclear bombs and other weapons. It was so key win in a category only two years old. June 3 luncheon at the IRE National Conference in to the nation’s defense, government officials said, that the industry and government sacrificed the health and lives of A special citation was awarded in the contest’s New York City. The conference, to be held June hundreds of workers exposed to the toxic metal. It was an new online category. APBnews.com was named 1-4 at the Hilton Waldorf-Astoria, will feature exhaustive piece that forced into the open embarrassing for its “pioneering work to gather data and post many of the winners speaking on the techniques information that government and industry wanted hidden, it on the Internet for the benefit of the public,” they used to develop their stories. using tragic tales of people who spent years of their lives gasping for breath. The Blade prompted two Congressional

16 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES investigations, generated three bills to compensate victims with U.S. teens, the reporters took us around the world, and FINALISTS revealed a tragic cost of the toil fueling this fad. The report and reopened a regulatory effort at OSHA. The series held up • WTVF Nashville, Jennifer Kraus, Mark Martin, Larry put names and faces on a problem that refuses to go away. It under intense scrutiny and an orchestrated attack by attorneys Brinton, Susan Niland, Mike Cutler and Paige Brown, helped prompt long-overdue action by the U.S. government representing the key subject. “Feed the Children” to ban one company’s importation of the cigarettes, and • WBAL Baltimore, Jayne Miller and Robert Moore, “Failure CERTIFICATE at the same time, revealed how our own infatuation with to Protect” “Falling from the sky,” The Dayton Daily News, bureaucracy and diplomacy allowed the continued importation • WKRC Cincinnati, Jeff Hirsh and Jeff Barnhill, “Dead Russell Carollo. of the cigarettes, and the exploitation of the children who Man Driving” When you join the military, you assume the enemy is your make them. greatest threat. But for the men and women who fly the • WTLV Jacksonville, Winston Dean, John Gardner and aircraft key to our armed forces, their greatest enemy is FINALISTS Laura Smith, “Condition Critical: Code of Silence” the shoddy work done to repair and maintain those planes • ABC News 20/20, Diane Sawyer, Victor Neufeld, Ira Rosen, and helicopters. Dozens of people have died from faulty Robbie Gordon, Sarah Walker, Phuong Nguyen, Jenny OTHER MEDIA military aircraft. The military kept this shameful record secret Motier and Mike Hardee, “Surgery Seminars” from the pilots who risked their lives to take to the air and • Dateline NBC, Neal Shapiro, Allan Maraynes, Lea MAGAZINE/SPECIALTY PUBLICATION the taxpayers who foot the bill for substandard work. The Thompson, Mark Feldstein, Tressa Verna, Rachel Burstein, reporter used persistence and great knowledge of his sources Liz Brown, Jon Fine, David McCormick and David Corvo, No winner to draw this story out, finding the details that proved the “Keeping the Peace?” FINALISTS • Dateline NBC, Colleen Halpin Rubino, Chris Hansen, Tressa cover-up and the people to tell the human stories. It prompted • City Limits, Kemba Johnson, “The Harlem Shuffle” Verna, Rachel Burstein, Adam Gorfain, Neal Shapiro and a call for Congressional hearings and changes in Defense • The Chicago Reporter, Danielle Gordon, “Death behind Marc Rosenwasser, “Body of Evidence” Department policies regarding maintenance. bars” • ABC News 20/20, Diane Sawyer, Catherine Harrington, • Bloomberg News Service, Ed Leefeldt, Adam Levy, FINALISTS Jason Maloney, Kate Hunt, Gary Fairman, Tony Wasser- “Selective Disclosure Series: Whispers That Roar, The End • Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Andrew Schneider, “Uncivil man, Irina Ratchkovskaya and George Englesos, “The of Earnings as We Know Them, Access Denied” Action: A Town Left to Die” Unwanted Children of Russia” • San Francisco Examiner, Lance Williams, “Outbreak” • St. Paul Pioneer Press, George Dohrmann, Judith Borger, RADIO David Shaffer and Blake Morrison, University of Minnesota TOP 20 MARKETS basketball scandal CERTIFICATE No winner “The Investigation of First USA,” WFAA Dallas, LARGE NEWSPAPERS (OVER 250,000) Valeri Williams, Lisa Hampshire, Meridith SPECIAL Schucker, Jesus Hernandez. MEDAL Excellent results. One of the nation’s largest credit card TOM RENNER AWARD “Invisible Lives, Invisible Deaths,” The Wash- companies ripping off millions of customers for billions of ington Post, Katherine Boo. dollars by charging often-fraudulent late fees and then upping No winner A stylishly written, searing series that shows how a multi- interest rates. While WFAA was not the only entity to report FINALISTS billion dollar program to serve the most vulnerable in society the story, the station was extremely dogged in pursuing it, and • Nashville Scene, Willy Stern, “Above the Law” had totally failed. Not only were people dying but the people it got results. The CEO resigned, numerous customers filed • Bergen Record, Thomas Zambito, Mary Jo Layton, Pia charged with keeping track of them failed to even keep suit and the company suffered on Wall Street. Sarkar and Robert Gebeloff, “Home Health Care in Crisis” track of their deaths. The Post went to incredible lengths to CERTIFICATE track retarded citizens being moved from large institutions “Armed Forces Recruiting Fraud,” WFAA. ONLINE to group homes. And it found that many were sexually Dallas, Byron Harris, P.V. Ward, Chris Johnson. assaulted, used as laborers, even treated as slaves. Boo’s Solid, traditional shoe-leather work here exposing blatant SPECIAL CITATION findings were so devastating that officials tried to shred fraud among military recruiters. Recruiters arranged with “Disclosure Denied,” and other work, APBnews.com, documents after she asked for them. Brilliant reporting; a diploma mill to print required high school diplomas for Amy Worden, James Gordon, Meek, Bob Port, Ben passionate writing. recruits with GEDs. Enterprise from top to bottom. The Lesser and Sydney H. Schanberg CERTIFICATE station showed how some recruiters profit personally from the For their pioneering work to gather data and post it on practice and nailed one recruiter red-handed. Judicious use of the Internet for the benefit of the public, especially their “Prosecutorial Misconduct ,” Chicago Tribune, efforts to gather and post financial disclosure forms of Ken Armstrong, Maurice Possley. hidden cameras. The series also showed how some recruits who later admitted they paid recruiters for their diplomas federal judges. A sweeping and damning account of how the people who are were instead rejected as drug users, so the military would not paid to seek justice throw it all away to win. This astonishing FINALISTS have to face up to the diploma scam. tale, told in classic Chicago style, shows how prosecutors • The Public I, Maud S. Beelman, “U.S. Support for Tobacco routinely commit the worst kinds of deceptions in order to FINALISTS Overseas: Going Out of Business?” obtain convictions. Among the reporters’ findings: Since • WMAQ TV Chicago, Dave Savini, Michele Rubenstein, • ESPN.com, Tom Farrey, “Memos uncover alleged UT 1963, homicide cases nationally against 381 defendants have Suzanne Richter, Mable Miller, Mark Ringo and Stephen violations” been thrown out because prosecutors concealed evidence Davis, “Kids in Confinement” • APBnews.com, Jim Krane, “The Graying of America’s suggesting the defendants’ innocence or presented evidence • WCCO Minneapolis, Julie Kramer, Julie Jacoby and Kevyn Prisons” they knew was false. Burger, “Fighting for a Smile” FOI AWARD FINALISTS • KTRK TV Houston, Wayne Dolcefino, Steve Bivens, “Spotlight on Secrecy,” San Francisco Bay Kent Stallings and John Mubarak, “Classrooms Become • Minneapolis Star Tribune, Chris Ison, Paul McEnroe and Guardian, Bruce B. Bruggmann and Bay Guard- Crime Scenes” Randy Furst, “Investigating the U” ian Editorial Staff • The Houston Chronicle, Mark Smith and Jim Morris, This is the latest in a long history of fighting for access “Texas Medicaid” BELOW TOP 20 MARKETS to public records. Shows why it is important to have open • The Baltimore Sun, James Haner, “Zombieland” CERTIFICATE records. Uses concrete examples focused on showing the “Case Dismissed,” WTHR Indianapolis, Jeremy public why openness is important. They took the lead in Rogalski, Kathleen Johnston, Gerry Lanosga. pushing for a ballot measure to improve access when the TELEVISION mayor and governor were opposed to it. It won with 59 A great job of exposing a failure in the criminal justice percent of the vote. Excellent job of combining advocacy for system that allowed drunken drivers to go free. The NETWORK/SYNDICATED open records with investigative reporting that shows what reporter developed his own database of six years of DUI you can do with those records. CERTIFICATE arrests that showed 10 percent of cases were dismissed “Tobacco Slaves,” 60 Minutes II, Bill Owens, because police officers failed to show up in court. The FINALISTS Margaret Ebrahim, Scott Pelley. reporter did an excellent job of getting the faces of DUI • “Disclosure Denied,” “APBnews.com, itself, as a news This powerful piece brought the issue of child labor to life in perpetrators and the victims who were affected by the organization,” Amy Worden, James Gordon Meek, Bob a compelling way. Taking a simple object, a cigarette popular systemic failure. CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 ×

MARCH/APRIL 2000 17 It’s no secret that college, professional and, to some extent, high school sports are more than just games. They can be major money-making or ego-gratifying enterprises for their schools and communities. They are important enough to warrant their own section in newspapers, regular airtime in newscasts, specialty magazines and niche networks. Yet, it’s easy to get caught up in play by play and box scores under the heavy deadline pressure placed on sports desks. When sports reporters get some non- game reporting time and investigative techniques are brought to bear, read- ers and viewers can get to see the true costs and impact of sports on communities, schools and athletes. Here are some of the recent best. Mike Fish of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recounts the outrageous amount of money spent by Georgia par- ents and taxpayers to fund high school football teams. He found parent-driven booster clubs paying millions for high school sports stadiums and high school coaches making higher salaries than principals and high-level state officials. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz tells how a team of St. Paul Pioneer Press reporters found widespread academic fraud in the University of Minnesota’s successful basketball program. The scandal the journalists uncovered led to a huge monetary loss by the university and lost careers for some coaches. Ken Rodriguez of The Miami Herald did some groundbreak- ing work investigating corruption in the world of boxing. Fake hits, thrown fights and untrained prostitutes drafted into the ring were just some of his findings.

Illustrations by Wendy Gray, The IRE Journal So for more than three months, reporter George Dohrmann set out to find irrefutable proof of academic fraud. That meant that although his reporting could have led to publishing dozens of other possible allegations, he had to stay the course. BY EMILIO GARCIA-RUIZ The result was a two-story package on March 10, 1999, that detailed When the St. Paul Pioneer Press first learned that members of the how almost two dozen basketball players had their course work done University of Minnesota basketball team might be guilty of academic for them by an academic counseling office manager who later became a fraud the newspaper set one goal for itself: Only evidence that school and tutor. But the far more significant result was that the school’s subsequent NCAA investigators could not refute would appear in print. nine-month, $1.5 million investigation backed up almost every major Without that sort of proof, there would be no story. Too many newspaper point of the first story. And heads rolled. investigative pieces into alleged NCAA violations ultimately fizzle out. • Four players were immediately suspended from the NCAA Either the school does an internal investigation that finds nothing, or the tournament. NCAA hands down what amounts to a meaningless wrist slap. Continued on page 20 4

Johnson and Iran Barkley. By the time the stories broke last October, I had documented more than 30 fights that were fixed or tainted with fraud dating back to 1988. There were more, dozens more. So many, in fact, it would have taken years to BY KEN RODRIGUEZ chronicle them all. A tip from a little known prize fighter over lunch in 1997 started me The tip over lunch led me to review the performances of some on a two-year journey through the darkest side of professional boxing: opponents who fought George Foreman. Foreman became a national choreographed falls, fake knockouts and fixed fights. icon, I was told, on a series of questionable fights. I tracked down a few What I discovered was the stuff of movies and professional wrestling men who had fought Foreman in 1987 and 1988, just before he captured – a shadowy world of felons, fall guys and deal-makers. I found a trail the heart of aging, overweight America. Each opponent said Foreman of fraud that extended from sparsely attended club fights to nationally scored clean knockouts. televised bouts involving fighters who lost to some of boxing’s biggest I remained suspicious. What to do? stars – George Foreman, Eric “Butterbean” Esch, Frans Botha, Kirk Continued on page 22 4

It was an invitation from the pastor of a congregation in Macon, writing in his capacity as secretary/treasurer of the Westside High School football booster club. The club, he explained, wanted to show off its new football complex. And if The Atlanta Journal-Constitution BY MIKE FISH newspapers were so inclined, the In the small towns and one-school communities across Georgia, life has boosters would gladly take a reporter up in a helicopter for a bird’s-eye historically revolved around the fate of the high school football team. view of the complex. I was already kicking around the idea of a season-long package that The thought of parents raising almost $2 million to build a football would reveal just how important the game is to these communities – the complex – not on school property but rather on land owned by its football role of parent-run touchdown clubs; the level of local and state tax monies booster club – was enough to convince the newspaper’s editors that this spent on football, particularly for coaching salaries; and the status enjoyed was a story worth pursuing. by high school football coaches. The idea behind “Pay Dirt! The Big Business of High School Football” Then, the letter came across my desk. Continued on page 26 4 C O V E R S T O R Y

by Jan Gangelhoff, the academic counseling office manager who later became a tutor. The letter was vague. It did not specify the violation Gangelhoff com- mitted or give any hint to its scope. But it was news. The newspaper could have reported it as such. Instead, the newspaper decided to continue digging. Gangelhoff, at first, said she had CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 no idea why the letter was sent and denied doing anything wrong. But Dohrmann stayed • The school self-imposed a ban on post- in touch with her and continued working other season play for this season and put itself on sources, who soon suggested that Gangelhoff probation for an undetermined length. might know more than she was letting on. • Coach Clem Haskins was dumped, albeit with a $1.5 million contract buyout. • It was revealed that 18 players over With $1.5 million paid to five years had committed fraud or NCAA } Haskins, $1.5 million for violations. • Five athletic department officials, includ- the investigation and $2 ing the athletic director and the vice president million in TV payments for athletics and student development, were told their contracts would not be renewed when that are expected to be they expired this year. forfeited because the Staying the course school used ineligible What made this story different from players, the scandal will others? Patience. have cost the university Early in his probe, in late November, $5 million. Dohrmann acquired a copy of a letter from the ~ school to the NCAA self-reporting a violation For two months, Dohrmann stayed in touch with Gangelhoff until one day she finally admitted that she had done course work. But she offered no proof. And under the newspaper’s guidelines, the word of one former tutor wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until weeks later that Dohrmann, pressing Gangelhoff for proof, finally struck

Photo: St. Paul Pioneer Press Pioneer Paul St. Photo: gold. Gangelhoff said she had done the course- work on her computer and offered to allow Dohrmann to download the material so he could examine it. The hundreds of examples of the coursework that Dohrmann received on March 1 proved daunting. First, all the pieces had to be read, catalogued and cross-checked. The latter effort proved critical when matching passages were found in different papers. The duplication and other grammatical and spelling errors shared by the papers indicated the work had indeed been done by one person. The four suspended players cheer – Broxsie, Stanford, Tarver, Clark during the second half of the But how could the newspaper be certain the UM loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA first round at Key Arena in Seattle. coursework was legitimate?

20 THE IRE JOURNAL C O V E R S T O R Y

Again, nothing would be published until Newspaper staffer Rick Linsk established the proof was irrefutable. Dohrmann flew to a spreadsheet that analyzed every aspect of North Dakota and Indianapolis to interview two the course work, by course number, by player former players. Both confirmed Gangelhoff’s and by any other manner deemed necessary. admission. Two other sports writers interviewed Shaffer worked with a Knight Ridder sister former players who also said Gangelhoff did paper, The Kansas City Star, to borrow its work for them. exclusive database of NCAA graduation rates All that remained now was contacting the to analyze the rates of all schools in the Big Ten Press Pioneer Paul St. Photo: school for comment. Unfortunately, all that Conference. While the NCAA publishes every hard work took time and the basketball season school’s graduation rate, it does not compare was almost over. schools within a conference. Shaffer’s analysis The story ran three days after Minnesota showed Minnesota was easily the worst in received an NCAA bid and one day before its the Big Ten. first game against Gonzaga. The newspaper was Kris Pope tapped his university sources to immediately accused of damaging the home obtain players’ academic information that the team and of timing the story to coincide with newspaper’s legal experts would not allow in the NCAA tournament. More than 600 readers print. But the data served as critical background canceled their subscriptions and Minnesota information that guided the team to various Gov. Jesse Ventura called the newspaper stories and, more importantly, away from Kevin Clark throughs up two during a team “despicable.” Attacks from former Gov. Arne others. practice. Carlson continued well into 2000. Shaffer was put in charge of one of the More important for the newspaper, just most difficult aspects of the story: Organizing about every other media outfit in the state the myriad data practices requests that the mobilized to chase the story. newspaper filed with the university. They became so numerous they overwhelmed the years earlier, he had taken the team to the Mobilizing the team university’s public relations staff. Final Four and was named national coach of With a hornet’s nest stirred, Dohrmann Judith Yates Borger handled all coverage the year. shared the story with a newsroom-wide team, of university administrators as the story shifted With $1.5 million paid to Haskins, $1.5 turning over source lists, phone numbers, all from the athletic department to the higher million for the investigation and $2 million in the documents he had acquired. He gave some echelons of the school. TV payments that are expected to be forfeited of the leads he intended to pursue to colleagues Three months after the story broke, with the because the school used ineligible players, and then convinced his sources to trust the official university investigation only half over, the scandal will have cost the university $5 paper’s other reporters so they could continue university President Mark Yudof waved the million. his work. white flag, announcing that thePioneer Press’s Shortly after the first story broke, a Good The team stayed focused on academic fraud allegations were true: The Gopher basketball Morning America anchor asked Gangelhoff and academic fraud alone. While other media team was guilty of “numerous instances” of why she had decided to come forward now. outlets went in other directions, the team set academic cheating. “Because,” she told the country, “a St. Paul Pio- out to question something new: Did Haskins Yudof also negotiated a stunning $1.5 neer Press reporter named George Dohrmann know about the fraud? million buyout of Haskins’ contract and fired asked me to.” Dohrmann reported that Haskins had once the basketball team’s academic counselor, But while that may have been true in getting written a letter of recommendation for Gangel- Alonzo Newby, who had refused to speak to the story, it took much more to grow it. hoff at a time he claimed to not know her. investigators. It was a shocking end to Haskins’ Emilio Garcia-Ruiz is sports editor of the St. Dohrmann’s tip led two other reporters, Dave 13-year run as Gophers head coach. Only two Paul Pioneer Press. Shaffer and Blake Morrison, to Alexandra Goulding, a tutor who admitted writing a player’s paper and telling Haskins about it. Shaffer found past documents showing depart- ment leaders had plenty of warning that this might happen. And finally, Shaffer badgered the university into turning over a document that proved Haskins, who had denied any knowledge of wrongdoing, had used a personal check to pay for Gangelhoff to accompany the team to Hawaii, which Gangelhoff said proved he knew what she was doing.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 21 C O V E R S T O R Y

Admitting to participation in a fixed fight is minor compared with plead- ing guilty to assault, battery and trafficking cocaine. Smiley was in for cocaine possession and fraudulent use of a credit device. He was finished boxing. He had never spoken with a

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 reporter. He was the perfect person to break open the story. I turned my attention from glamorous fighters to gritty ones. If some fights had been tainted at Making the unreliable credible the highest, most publicized level, surely many The only problem was Smiley’s credibility. were rigged in the shadows of small clubs. Could a convicted felon be trusted to tell the truth I sought out boxing insiders, sources I about boxing’s ugly secret – the fixed fight? had developed in two years on the beat. They Hours after meeting with Smiley, I visited directed me to a network of fall guys stretching Baker. He robbed a bank almost 20 years ago, from Ashtabula, Ohio, to Central Florida. Each served time, then violated probation by leaving interview produced new suspects, men allegedly Missouri to fight Butterbean in California in paid to throw fights. I checked boxing records, 1996. He served more time, was released to a tracked down opponents, followed new leads. halfway house, then sent back to prison after Then, an unexpected break. A tip from getting in more trouble. a high-ranking boxing official that at least Baker refused to admit any wrongdoing for one fight involving Eric “Butterbean” Esch 45 minutes. Then I told him about my interview was tainted. James Calvin Baker, I was told, with Smiley. “Your brother told me that you became the quickest of Butterbean’s 40-plus threw several fights,” I began. knockout victims, falling in 18 seconds. A Baker nodded. Then he rattled off the bogus knockout, I was told. details, confirming each fixed fight described I tracked Baker to a halfway house in by Smiley. Baker even acknowledged throwing Missouri. He denied throwing a 1996 fight his match against Butterbean. to Butterbean, a 315-pound cult hero with a Later that day, I visited Missouri boxing shaved head and punishing jab. commissioner Tim Leuckenhoff. He told me I dug into Baker’s past. A half-brother, about a fighter named Darryl Becker who once Andre Smiley, also fought as a heavyweight. fought Butterbean under an alias in Iowa. Maybe he could provide some answers. He Leuckenhoff played a videotape of the fight. did – from prison in Jefferson City, Missouri. You can hear the ring announcer introducing Smiley spilled everything during several phone Butterbean’s opponent as “Jack Ramsey.” interviews: the thousands of dollars he made Lueckenhoff knows Becker well, having attended throwing 14 fights, all the matches Baker threw, several of his fights in Missouri. Butterbean including the one to Butterbean. knocked out Becker with a glancing blow to the I flew to Missouri to get Smiley’s story on shoulder. Lueckenhoff called it a dive. tape. He cooperated and provided revealing Lueckenhoff also recalled a fight between detail. Why? Smiley and Ross Purrity, one of the world’s Boxers are among the world’s most candid top-ranked heavyweights. Lueckenhoff told me athletes. Many have extensive criminal records. he suspended Smiley for taking a dive. Smiley told me he was paid to fall. Purrity said it was entirely possible. Smiley had become a credible source. I turned my attention back to Butterbean. I began calling opponents, asking if any had deliberately lost to The Bean. Nothing. Then I checked to see if any of Butterbean’s opponents appeared on the national suspension list. There were several, but two caught my attention: Richard Davis and Bill Duncan. Davis had been suspended for one year by the Illinois Boxing Commission. No reason

22 THE IRE JOURNAL C O V E R S T O R Y given. Duncan had been suspended indefinitely firmed his account with me during a telephone and nude dancers. A disgusted champion tired in Oklahoma after fighting Butterbean. An interview. Gibbons denied the accusations. of pummeling opponents from strip joints. unspecified medical reason was given. Other fighters supported the accounts of Smiley The women’s boxing project took six The Illinois boxing commissioner told me and Smith off the record. months to report, one week to write, and became that Davis faked an injury to the groin in a I now had ample evidence of fraudulent the first of seven investigative stories I produced 1998 match with Tony Velasco. “A dive,” matches. But one nagging question persisted: in 1999 on corruption in prize fighting. the commissioner said. Davis denied the Did anyone fake a knockout against George I began with a small idea and let it grow, commissioner’s allegation but admitted that he Foreman? one interview at a time. The story evolved didn’t give his best effort against Butterbean. I called more opponents. Finally, one of from a report on the growing popularity of “I gave up too soon,” Davis said. “I’ve never them, Tony Fulilangi, said he took a dive women’s boxing to an examination of the told anyone this. I just didn’t get up. If you see against Foreman in 1988. Fulilangi’s manager hapless opponents who prop up the sports’ the fight, that will explain it.” confirmed it. I wondered: What if someone biggest stars. has a videotape that shows a clean knockout? As I interviewed one prominent fighter after The cover of boxing’s I found a videotape. And just as Fulilangi another, the name of one woman kept surfacing described, Foreman missed with a roundhouse – Bethany Payne. The good fighters said she } biggest secret was blown right. Fulilangi fell and never got up. was a call girl with minimal boxing skills. with routine reporting: a Fulilangi insisted that no one paid him to And they complained that there were too many fall down. He also refused to identify the person women like her in the sport. review of public records who paid his purse for fear of retaliation. I called Fight Fax, Inc., the official keeper of More digging revealed that Foreman fought all prize fighting records, and learned that Payne and more than 60 one opponent, Frank Lux, who competed fought out of Atlanta with a terrible record: one interviews with fighters, under phony names (Frank Williams and Frank victory in seven fights. More importantly, she had Albert) and an embellished record. Lux fought made her professional debut against Christy Martin, promoters, matchmakers, Foreman as Frank Williams in 1988 with a the world’s best-known female boxer. That’s managers and state record of 33-13-3. Had any reporter bothered to like an amateur taking on the world heavyweight check, the world would have known that Lux champion in his first professional fight. commissioners.~ was 14-28 when he met Foreman. Further checking revealed that Payne fought Further digging revealed that Foreman Martin on national pay-per-view as a prelude The Oklahoma commissioner told me that fought other men with inflated records. to the first match between Evander Holyfield Duncan tanked his bout with Butterbean. Fear- The cover of boxing’s biggest secret was and Mike Tyson. ing legal reprisals, the commissioner said, he blown with routine reporting: a review of public Two questions came to mind: How could a described the suspension as “medical.” records and more than 60 interviews with woman with no boxing experience land a match The list of fixed or tainted fights was grow- fighters, promoters, matchmakers, managers against the world’s most glamorous fighter on ing. A dozen more were about to emerge. and state commissioners. a card that would be seen in 1.6 million homes? While reviewing old notes, I recalled that How could a promoter sell that? the former Florida athletic commissioner had Women in the ring Newspaper accounts of the fight provided once invited me to his Tallahassee home to Before I completed that project, another the answer. Virtually every story said that review his files on fixed fights. tip led me into the seamy world of female Payne’s loss – a first-round knockout – was I flew to the home of Don Hazelton. He boxing. only the second in 17 career fights. handed me a 1993 sworn statement from Sonny A mysterious character in Atlanta, I was Barch, a journeyman boxer-turned-matchmaker. told, managed a vast network of prostitutes Checking the records Barch told Hazelton that he once “bought”’ 10 and exotic dancers, and entered them into More digging yielded a press kit handed to or 11 victories for a little known heavyweight professional matches with little or no training. reporters covering the fight. Included was a named Mitch Sammons. Sometimes these opponents, also known as phony biography of Payne, listing 15 victories Barch confirmed the details of his sworn tomato cans, fought on national pay-per-view and one defeat (before the loss to Martin). I statement in an interview with me in Fort telecasts. The opponents rarely won. They asked Fight Fax editor Phil Marder how many Lauderdale. And he identified the man behind weren’t supposed to. The object was to turn writers double-check records of fighters with the fraud – Rick Parker, an Orlando-based a quick buck (from $400 to $6,000 per fight), his company. promoter who was shot to death in 1995. build the record of a contender or champion “You and three or four other guys,” Marder The name of one other deal-maker emerged and escape serious injury. said. “That’s how they get away with this stuff. in my investigation: Sean Gibbons, a match- The tip proved accurate and led to a story far Nobody checks records.” maker for Top Rank, Inc. in Las Vegas. Smiley more important and revolting than anything I I wanted to know who got Bethany Payne the told me Gibbons encouraged him to throw had imagined. Hookers and strippers with little fight. And that’s when I heard about Mezaughn fights for cash. A second fighter, Mike Smith, or no boxing experience routinely competing Kemp. Once a renowned trainer in Cincinnati, provided a sworn statement to an Oklahoma against highly skilled fighters. A convicted sex Kemp moved to Atlanta and began working exclusively with women. He managed a stable investigator telling a similar story. Smith con- offender managing the careers of prostitutes Continued on page 254

MARCH/APRIL 2000 23 C O V E R S T O R Y of 22 fighters, none very good. dancer Taywana Broxton, three times. Sal- Kemp told me a matchmaker called him amone had little choice. “There are only two COLLEGE DOCUMENTS in 1996 looking for an opponent for Christy types of fighters – horrible and great,” she Martin. Kemp ventured to Stewart Avenue, a told me. “There’s nothing in between like in AND SOURCES notorious street in Atlanta’s red-light district, men’s boxing.” and found a woman “with pretty legs.” He Before confronting Kemp about his criminal • The NCAA Web site at www.ncaa.org asked her if she’d like to make some money past, I wanted to know who manufactured includes, under membership services, fighting. She agreed and 2 1/2 weeks later, Payne’s biography and those 15 victories before a database of infraction cases for all Bethany Payne collected $6,000 for one round her pro debut. “I’ve been known to pull a lot member schools. with Martin. of things in boxing,” he said without further Fortunately, Kemp was candid about his explanation. • The Kansas City Star’s “Star’s Money job. He admitted scouring streets and strip clubs One other thing bothered me about Payne’s Games” Web page at www.kcstar.com/ for bodies to lace on gloves. No experience record – her one victory. Fight Fax records ncaa/ also includes an infractions data- necessary. show she won a decision over Lisa McFarland, base as well as other databases. “I think I should be nominated for a Nobel a legitimate fighter, in 1997. Suspecting a Prize for as many women as I have pulled off fix, I met with McFarland and appealed to • The NCAA puts out a three-volume rules the streets,” he told me. her pride: How could you, an accomplished manual and the National Association I asked to interview Payne. She refused. fighter, lose to a former prostitute with no Kemp said she was a former prostitute – but boxing skills? of Collegiate Directors of Athletics puts I needed more than his word. I called Atlanta McFarland said in a tape-recorded interview out a National Directory of College police and criminal courts and got proof: a that she faked a second-round knockdown and Athletics. 1993 guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of threw the fight. Why? She needed the money: prostitution. $1,000. • The athletic department’s and confer- Suspicious, I ran a background check of McFarland refused to identify the person ence’s audited financial report. Kemp in Atlanta. Nothing. I checked Ohio. who asked her to throw the fight and insisted Bingo. Three arrests for sexual misconduct, Kemp was not involved. Kemp also denied • The university’s gender equity report, including one for assaulting a female fighter. A knowledge of any fix. But I kept working on which includes financial data, including teen-age girl accused him of rape twice – and him for weeks until he admitted: “I’ve got girls comparative salaries for men and recanted twice. Another teen-ager, a 13-year-old who can perform better than they can fight. women coaches. female fighter, also told police Kemp sexually They should win an Oscar for acting. I’ve got assaulted her. A grand jury indicted him. Kemp fake blood. I carry it all the time. I’ve got the • Conflict-of-interest forms from the state received a two-year suspended sentence, then works, man. I can have girls eat stuff before a ethics agency, if there is one. fled Ohio with a dirty little secret – a felony fight that will make their faces swell up during conviction for corrupting a minor. the fight. … This is nothing new. This has been • Reports of NCAA committees, self- I checked with Miami boxing promoters. going on for years. Money can make anything reported infractions, academic reports, All knew about Kemp and his ability to supply happen.” compliance reports, certification docu- bodies on short notice. None professed to know Ken Rodriguez is an investigative sports writer ments and more can be obtained using about his criminal past. Melissa Salamone, the at The Miami Herald. Ken has covered a variety open-records laws with member schools International Women’s Boxing Federation, junior of sports, including college and professional and FOIA with service academies. lightweight champion, complained about having football and boxing. He has won a number of to fight Kemp’s girls. “A lot of my opponents national awards, including Best Investigative • Form 990s for the booster club and – come from topless bars,” she told me. Story in the 1995 Associated Press Sports Editors if it is a separate nonprofit entity – the contest. Salamone fought one Kemp fighter, former school’s athletic department.

• Copies of reports on file that are required by NCAA rule 11.2.2. That rule requires that coaches get approval from school presidents for any outside income. Some schools keep them on file, others try to get around the rule under a verbal interpretation that permission can be given without a document being pro- duced.

Continued on page 234

24 THE IRE JOURNAL C O V E R S T O R Y

TIPS ON INVESTIGATING COLLEGE TEAMS • Check on whether student athletes have mul- tiple tutors while non-athletes have to wait for By Mike McGraw tutor availability. Some kind of college team exists in nearly every journalist’s coverage area, but • All Division I schools get money each year they’re rarely covered adequately beyond feature stories and accounts of games. It from the NCAA for academic enhancement, may be time your newsroom got started on meaty investigative stories about college but many schools spend the money on other sports in your region. things. Check with the athletic academic First, get over the notion that college sports are amateur sports. While players aren’t adviser. supposed to get more than tuition, board and books without jeopardizing “amateur” status, college sports constitute a multi-billion-dollar industry, with some college teams 5. Infractions valued at more than pro teams. • Check your school’s overall infraction record on The irony is that, despite huge revenues, most Division I college athletic departments the NCAA or Kansas City Star Web sites. See spend more than they earn. Consequently, they must depend on subsidies financed where weaknesses are and look for continuing with tax dollars, higher tuition and higher student fees, often paid for with cutbacks problems. Also look for a weakening of rules in academic programs. under a new, reorganized NCAA. The governing body, marketer and collection agent for college sports is the 900-member • Some schools require car registrations by stu- National Collegiate Athletic Association, a private, nonprofit, unincorporated association dent athletes to be filed with the athletic based in Indianapolis. department. Ask to see them, or check with the Issues to explore: state. employees (the company that re-roofs the bas- • Always look for signs of activity by boosters, ketball arena also re-roofs the athletic director’s agents, runners and/or gamblers. Athletes’ nice 1. Finances home, etc.). cars, expensive jewelry, frequent trips home, • Does your athletic department run annual defi- nice apartments, etc. cits? Where do subsidies come from and what, if 3. Student Welfare any, other university programs suffer? The NCAA was established in 1906 for the 6. Equal Treatment • How much do booster clubs contribute and sole purpose of cutting down on student athlete • Compare male and female team facilities, equip- what’s in it for them (are some boosters injuries and deaths and still claims student ment, travel modes and policies. also vendors)? Do boosters travel at taxpayer athlete welfare is its top priority. See if officials • Check salary differentials between men and expense? Check travel records to see whose mean it. women coaches travel expenses the school pays for. • Check school injury records, especially for spring • Check the NCAA gender equity certification • How much do coaches get in perks and outside football, and talk to current and former injured documents for your school. The NCAA almost income? Who provides it and why? Is it required student athletes and their parents about medi- always certifies schools for gender equality, yet to flow through the university or does the coach cal care and insurance coverage. most schools don’t meet Title IX requirements. get it directly? Is the coach allowed to use uni- • Talk to trainers to see if there is an adequate • How much are students, who often help subsi- versity facilities for outside endeavors such as number and whether they are properly trained. dize college sports teams, required to pay for basketball camps? Some states have passed laws requiring trainer tickets? What kind of seats do they get? Are they • How much does the school pay compliance offi- certification. allowed to use sports facilities for which they cers and outside lawyers to stay out of trouble • See if coaches are CPR and/or first-aid certified. help pay? with the NCAA? Ask for billings. • How many foreign students are recruited for • How much does the school spend on travel 4. Academics various teams, especially track and tennis? costs for teams, including the costs of the school The NCAA also says academics is a top prior- Do in-state students get the same chance at plane? ity, but many professors on most Division I sports scholarships as non-tax-paying foreign • Chart the growth of athletic costs over time and campuses laugh at the notion. students? compare to growth in inflation/tuition. • Check athlete graduation rates for your school, • Check building permits. College sports is in the and whether they are better than the student 7. Criminal Behavior midst of an arena and stadium arms race, often body as a whole. Look at the majors of student Criminal activity by some star athletes has partially funded with taxes, with costs rivaling athletes; are they plugged into easy majors with gotten to the point where at least one state bars those seen in the pros. little value in the job market? Check rates by student athletes with criminal records. • So much money flows into the untaxed business race and major sports. • Check for athletes in city and campus crime of college sports, that the Internal Revenue • Interview former student athletes who didn’t go reports and see if athletes get special treatment. Continued on page 27 Service announced last month that it’s going pro about the value of their degrees. • Check for high-powered lawyers representing 4 to begin questioning some of the tax-exempt • Interview professors in required courses about student athletes. Who pays their fees? If it’s the earnings of college sports. pressures to pass star athletes. school, or the service is free, it could violate • Talk to clerks in the registrar’s office and NCAA rules unless such representation is avail- 2. Conflicts of Interest elsewhere about special breaks and technical able to all students. • Check the state ethics agency, building permits advice for meeting academic requirements Mike McGraw is a special projects reporter and and university purchasing documents for given student athletes by athletic department reporting coach for The Kansas City Star and a conflict cases involving athletic department academic advisers and others. member of the IRE Board of Directors.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 25 C O V E R S T O R Y

The “proof sheets” were then mailed back to the school districts for verification of the information. The AJC sent out a third round of mailings and made numerous telephone calls to obtain 100 percent compliance. The last survey was faxed to the newspaper by a secretary just prior to leaving her office to attend her mother’s funeral, the day before publication. While Milliron handled the survey and data collection, I spent my time interviewing coaches, administrators and booster club members. Many schools and administrators thought we were prying CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 and refused to cooperate, but some expressed pride in their accomplishments. I eventually was to explore what separates the winners from narrowed my reporting to three schools to the losers, the box-office successes from the illustrate how the big business of high school failures. To do so, I teamed up with David football has evolved in Georgia. Milliron, the newspaper’s director of computer- What the newspaper found was a startlingly assisted reporting. We built a comprehensive well-financed support system for the game, one database of the nearly 2,400 high school football rivaling the model found on big-time college coaches and assistant coaches in the state. football campuses. Statistics suggest that interest in high school football is waning nationwide, Forming a game plan but that certainly isn’t true in Georgia. The Since teacher salary and personnel informa- established programs in southern Georgia tion is kept at the local school district level, the continue to drum up huge financial and fan newspaper compiled an electronic database from support. But increasingly, the Friday night fever information obtained from each of the state’s has spread to the wealthier Atlanta suburbs, 180 school districts – including payroll records, evidenced by the fancy stadiums – some with teaching certificates and teaching assignments. their own lounge boxes, spiffy weight rooms and The AJC also obtained in electronic form the well-appointed booster club headquarters. state’s annual school report card data, which contained such information as school enroll- The final score ments and average district salary data for teach- Georgia may still struggle to shore up a ers, administrators and support personnel. The comparatively weak public school academic database was built in Microsoft Excel and the record, but schools and taxpayers spare little analysis performed in Microsoft Access. expense to field competitive football teams. Our The data were collected using the state’s package questioned whether education is being Open Records Act, which mandates the release compromised for playing games. Consider: of such information. Once each school district • Nearly $80 million in state tax dollars went responded, the data were entered into the to pay coaches’ teaching contracts last year, computer, and a “proof sheet” was then printed although nearly a third have minimal or out for each of the state’s 180 school districts. no teaching workload. Georgia taxpayers contribute through local school taxes another $9.6 million annually in supplemental pay for football coaches. • Head football coaches make an average salary of nearly 55 percent more than the average for the state’s teachers – $55,686 compared with $36,042. • The earnings of 10 individual coaches each exceed the $75,724 annual pay for the state’s lieutenant governor. • Two coaches were found to earn higher salaries than their school principals, putting the schools

26 THE IRE JOURNAL C O V E R S T O R Y

at odds with certification standards of the districts refused to comply or said it would Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. cost hundreds of dollars for them to produce (It’s likely both principals will be getting the information. We gathered information right raises.) until the last hour. A lot of data were returned • Seven percent of all state coaches are either incomplete – either they didn’t list a coach’s ineligible to teach or hold conditional or name, omitted their teaching responsibilities or probationary teaching certificates. failed to differentiate football earnings from base • Many parent-run booster clubs provide cash teaching salary. We constantly faxed and mailed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Atlanta The

bonuses to coaches. The more successful requests to the districts. Finally, we shipped coaches are rewarded with vacation trips and our data to the individual school districts and the keys to leased vehicles. These football had them sign off on the accuracy of what we booster clubs routinely operate as non-profits planned to publish regarding their coaches. outside the jurisdictions of the schools, and The booster or touchdown clubs posed a at least one club was found to have run afoul different problem because they are set up outside of IRS guidelines. the school as private nonprofits. We got a grasp Johnson D. Kent Photo: on budgets and annual income from reviewing IRS Form 990 tax records. But in almost all cases, Georgia may still struggle to it came down to piecing together information } shore up a comparatively from a variety of current and past club officers, coaches and athletic directors. weak public school academic In the end, trying to get a reaction from record, but schools and educators and public officials proved a surpris- ingly daunting chore. Outgoing Gov. Zell Miller, taxpayers spare little expense who championed education and promoted the state lottery to fund the state Hope Scholarship to field competitive football Program, said it was too hot a subject to tackle teams.~ in his last days. Lt. Gov. Pierre Howard didn’t respond to interview requests. And Linda The investigative package brought a huge Schrenko, head of the state Education Depart- readership response, both from the daily publica- ment, turned down repeated interview requests tion and the newspaper’s Internet site. Some 300 on the subject, including a final personal visit e-mail messages, phone calls and letters showed to her office two days before the articles were up in the newsroom. And the newspaper’s published. Internet site – with a searchable database of all the football coaches’ salaries and data – received Tips for next time an average of 1,300 hits an hour during the week Next time, we’d allow more lead-time to of publication. gather and obtain the relevant documents and As a result of the AJC inquiry, the touchdown records requests. It requires a great deal of club at a suburban Atlanta high school – with diligent follow-up to get a 100 percent response an annual budget in excess of a quarter-million when requesting information from 312 schools. dollars and that raised $2.5 million for its new We were able to publish the entire database of football complex – retained an attorney and 2,400-plus coaches on the Internet so the public accountant to get the organization in compliance could perform its own searches. with state and federal tax laws. The Secretary of It’s also important to clearly define early on State previously dissolved the nonprofit organiza- what you’re seeking in the open-records request. tion for failing to file annual reports and theAJC We’d probably have been better served to start found the touchdown club hadn’t filed tax returns with a small sample of a dozen schools to get a with the IRS for at least three years. better understanding of what kind of information The package also alerted the IRS to the many we could expect to get back. Then you can perfect taxable perks afforded some coaches – from cash your request for data relatively easily. bonuses to vehicles to vacation trips. Mike Fish has been at the Atlanta Journal-Consti- Stumbling blocks tution for 10 years as sports projects/investigative Gathering salary and teaching assignment reporter. Database editor David Milliron also information from all 312 public high schools worked on the project. The AJC package is acces- proved to be a daily battle. Initially, some sible online at http://www.ajc.com/reports/paydirt

MARCH/APRIL 2000 27 BOOKS

benefit even more from the book than I did. Here is my extraction of tips from the text, not “All we need necessarily in order of significance: • Be reasonable when making a request to an agency. Wiener and his lawyers knew they is access…” would never see the names of confidential informants in the documents. So rather than going for all or nothing, they made it clear to the Wiener book, ordeal FBI that the request did not seek those names. teach FOIA lessons As Wiener writes, “We were not seeking the names of informers, but we were seeking the information they provided.” BY STEVE WEINBERG • Look for alternate routes. Wiener and his lawyers knew that judges had been reluctant to hen former Beatles lyricist John sued the FBI with help from the American Civil overrule the FBI or any other agency on national Lennon died from a murderer’s bullet Liberties Union. What should have been a no- security grounds. But they also knew that the in 1980, history professor Jon Wiener brainer release of information turned into 14 U.S. president has the ultimate authority to W did what a few smart investigative years of litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme determine what constitutes damage to national journalists traditionally do after the death of any Court, wasted precious time and dollars, while security. So they consulted the presidential controversial figure – requested his file at the eroding the FBI’s credibility among not only the executive order explaining what national Federal Bureau of Investigation, pursuant to the plaintiffs but also among the larger citizenry. security documents could be declassified in U.S. Freedom of Information Act. After the various judicial rulings along the the public’s interest. Wiener argued to the FBI Congress enacted the FOIA in 1966, and way, Wiener ended up with all but 10 of the that release of the Lennon files would benefit has more or less supported its purpose ever documents originally withheld, and the FBI (via the public interest far more than it would since, which is to give requesters of informa- the taxpayers) shelled out $204,000 to the ACLU harm the national interest. The language of the tion a window on federal agencies. (In its for attorneys’ fees and court costs. president’s executive order became the alternate hypocritical wisdom, Congress exempted itself Wiener’s book on the case has just been route to bypass the formidable blockage of the and the judicial branch of government from published. It is titled Gimme Some Truth: The FOIA’s national security language. the disclosure requirements of the law. But John Lennon FBI Files (University of California • When an agency is intransigent, insist – Congress and the judiciary have traditionally Press, $17.95). informally or through a lawsuit – on a Vaughn been more open to public scrutiny than executive Journalists could read the book as an amusing index, named after an important court ruling. branch agencies.) sidelight to FOIA battles on weightier topics. The purpose of the index is to give a FOIA Wiener, who teaches at the University of Optimists among journalists could read it as a requester a meaningful opportunity to rebut an California-Irvine, received a response from saga of a determined individual prevailing over agency’s case for disclosure. When an appeals the FBI. But most of it consisted of blacked- a ridiculously stubborn bureaucracy. Pessimists court first required a Vaughn index in 1973, out paragraphs or no paragraphs at all. The among journalists could read it as a saga of the reason was obvious: How can a requester FBI, citing the national security exemption how bureaucracies will almost always delay challenge the basis for withholding a document to disclosure, told Wiener that many pages in granting the simplest FOIA request, so why when the document’s precise contents are the Lennon file could cause harm to the U.S. even bother. unknown to the public? The index is supposed government if released. With straight faces, The best way for a journalist to read this to delineate, document by document, an FBI sources told Wiener, his lawyers and judges valuable book, however, is as a primer in legal agency’s explanation for secrecy. that the agency’s surveillance of Lennon, a maneuvering, persistence and recognition of the • Look for agency rationales so over the top that British citizen, was a legitimate law enforcement public’s right/need to know. In short, Gimme even a judge unsympathetic to the requester activity rather than an abuse of power. Some Truth is one of the most important books might say enough is enough. In the Lennon The FBI cited two other exemptions to ever published about the FOIA. It wins bonus case, the FBI said some documents had to disclosure (of nine total in the law) when points for being delightful to read while being be withheld because they involved a foreign replying to Wiener. Some documents might educational. government that might retaliate militarily invade the privacy of individuals named therein. The text, mostly chronological, runs 104 upon disclosure of the information. As Wiener Furthermore, release of certain documents in full pages. Reproductions of the most important comments, “...it seemed unlikely that British might compromise the identities of confidential documents Wiener extracted from the FBI take citizens would attack visiting American tourists sources. up more than 200 pages. The combination works or government personnel in retaliation for The national security rationale seemed beautifully. the release of information [about a singer- unlikely, Wiener thought. So he appealed the Wiener conveys numerous tips of use to songwriter] gathered by British authorities” on withholding within the agency, as required by investigative journalists. As a veteran user, behalf of the FBI. law if further action is contemplated – to little I knew most of them, but found them to be • Request information from field offices and avail. In 1983, frustrated and angry, Wiener excellent refreshers. A first-time user would regional offices as well as agency headquarters.

28 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

Wiener found that FBI offices in Houston and GUEST COLUMN Miami had obtained information on Lennon, as well as the Washington, D.C., field office, which was distinct from headquarters in the Rapid Response Unit same city. • If litigation is necessary, provide the court with to investigate murders a context for why release of the information is important. Wiener did that via affidavit, stating murder of a journalist has a silencing the murder was prosecuted why, as a professional historian, he desired to effect far beyond the actual death. When in November but declared A a journalist is killed, the recorder of not guilty for reasons of learn more about Lennon generally, as well as the government’s treatment of the former facts is muted. But with the murder comes “legitimate defense.” Even TONY PEDERSON Beatle. Wiener’s declaration “concluded that the the intimidation and stifling of other voices though there was no convic- Nixon administration’s persecution of Lennon of journalists who see the crime as a threat to tion for the crime, this case has created an was one small part of a massive, illegal effort to their existence. important precedent because it is the first time a ensure Nixon’s re-election, one example of an With the Impunity Project, the Inter American trial of this nature has been heard. abuse of power that eventually led Congress to Press Association (IAPA) in the last 10 years We have progressed as well in other areas. We move toward Nixon’s impeachment ...” has recorded more than 200 cases of journalists have created a journalistic network to respond • Know the law and the judicial precedents it in the Americas being murdered. Virtually all of quickly and meaningfully to crimes against has spawned inside and out. One of Wiener’s these cases remain unresolved. journalists. A wide network of investigative arguments was that the FOIA allowed for This double tragedy brings into focus the reporters, the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), segregability, which meant non-sensitive plight of thousands of men and women in the will be in place and operating this year. The portions of otherwise sensitive documents news business who risk their lives in Latin mission of these journalists will be to help could be made public. American countries. investigate the murders of colleagues. We will • While waiting and hoping for victory, publicize Since the IAPA and the Knight Foundation gather information independently and to some the FOIA request because new information started the Impunity Project in 1995, many extent conduct parallel investigations. Our goal might emerge from unexpected quarters. cases that had been languishing in obscure is to make certain that information is gathered Because of Wiener’s visibility in the media police offices have now been moved forward. quickly after the crimes and that authorities during the FOIA litigation, he heard from a We have persisted in our efforts to record and do not simply neglect the matters or overlook woman who had been an FBI informer regard- develop information on the fatal attacks against obvious leads or clues. ing Lennon and political activists working in journalists. The RRU will operate out of Mexico, Brazil tandem with the singer on a number of causes. This task has resulted in the publication of and Colombia, nations that hold the highest press The woman’s information helped Wiener with Impunity No More, a book that records the most crime rate. In the medium to long term, the RRU his litigation, while simultaneously assisting recent cases investigated by the IAPA. The should be able to raise, through its investigations him in learning as much as possible about book focuses on journalists Jairo Márquez and and reports, general awareness of the situation, Lennon for books and magazine articles. Gerardo Bedoya, of Colombia, and Zaqueu de which in turn should lead to wider condemnation • To gather evidence concerning an agency’s Oliveira and Aristeu Guida da Silva of Brazil, of crimes against journalists and help create a reasons for resisting disclosure, seek a judge’s killed in 1997 and 1995 respectively. strong deterrent to these types of crimes. consent to conduct discovery. Wiener and his The detailed probe of these cases was pre- The key element in the success of these lawyers wanted to question FBI authorities sented last year to the Interamerican Human investigations is exposure. We want to expose and other government officials about whether Rights Commission of the OAS, which will the facts to the general public and to the media the Lennon files had truly been compiled pursue its own investigation. The cases them- and to spur government and law enforcement for law enforcement purposes. If it could be selves are representative of the problems found officials into action. Disseminating the results of demonstrated that the real reason had been in a number of Latin American countries. The investigations has been a powerful instrument in political surveillance and harassment, the law practice of journalism is often dangerous, bringing about results in many IAPA projects. enforcement exemption to the FOIA would particularly when journalists do what they do best We are also setting up a bilingual Web site no longer apply. When the judge granted the in terms of investigative journalism that exposes containing all existing data about the Impunity discovery motion, Wiener and his lawyers corruption or illegal practices in government. Project with the objective of making it avail- were able to seek information from those on And as we have seen in so many Latin American able to the general public and for specialized the other side, speaking under oath. One of the countries, there often exists neither the will research. reasons the FBI finally settled with Wiener was nor the means to conduct competent criminal This will ensure that the message reaches not to stop revelations from the discovery sessions investigations and bring those responsible to only the parties concerned, but also – and most that the agency deemed damaging. justice. importantly – anyone who cares. These objec- As a result of IAPA’s efforts in the most recent tives conform to the IAPA’s mission statement Steve Weinberg is a senior contributing editor cases, the Zaqueu de Oliveira case reached a to defend freedom of the press and freedom of to The IRE Journal, a professor at the Missouri provincial court in Brazil. The man charged with expression in every part of the Americas. School of Journalism and a former executive director of IRE. Tony Pederson is president of the Inter American Press Association.

MARCH/APRIL 2000 29 FEATURES

current environment, if newspaper reporters Woodward warns have a story, the question by editors will be, ‘Can we have it on our Web sites by noon?’ It’s a completely different atmosphere.” According to Woodward, the sophistication against ego of the government’s defensive mechanisms toward the media has also changed dramati- cally. Remember, it’s the work that’s important “I think that on the national level, particu- larly when it comes to the White House or not the person doing the work, he says political campaigns, that what the investigative reporter finds is that ... the apparatus to deal with and divert somebody who might look at BY KATE MILLER something they don’t want examined is very sophisticated,” he said. “It’s a full-time effort and it makes it very, very difficult to get to t’s hard to imagine legendary investiga- you’re not cute about it, and you don’t talk the bottom of many of the things that might tive reporter Bob Woodward ever feeling about the Constitution.” go on.” small in the face of a big story, but that’s While the principal features of investiga- Speaking of things the White House would I just how he felt back when Watergate tive reporting may be the same, Woodward rather journalists hadn’t looked into, Woodward was a story in progress instead of a legend. acknowledged the operating environment ardently defended the role of the media in the In his January keynote address at the IRE within which investigative journalists work Lewinsky scandal. Regional Conference in Washington, D.C., has changed dramatically since the days of “It looked like overkill, but it was a very Woodward explained the makings of the Watergate. serious criminal investigation of a sitting Watergate story were largely the same as any One of the biggest changes has been speed. president…,” he said. “The problem was, as other investigative story and not the stuff of Woodward recalled the cautious pace of the evidence came out, there was no strong movies. Watergate and the impossibility of that luxury witness. It was rightly covered, but it was “In journalism, you are confronted with today. rightly covered downward. There were no the inconceivable and unlikely constantly,” he “It was a completely different environment secret tapes. There was no witness.” said. “You are often on a course that you don’t where editors could say ‘wait, you don’t have it Woodward attributed much of the post- understand at all, your information incomplete; yet, go back.’ We could wait days, sometimes Lewinsky public and official backlash toward you’re swimming in very murky waters, and weeks between stories,” he said. “Now in the the media not only to the uneventful outcome of the investigation, but also the attitude and

behavior of many journalists covering the story. “Much of the opprobrium that has been directed at the news media, I feel has to do with the tone and the way questions are asked – the shouting at a president from the rope

Photo: Marshall Cohen Marshall Photo: line; the very aggressive, tough, almost hostile stance reporters take sometimes during press conferences and so forth,” he said. “That ought to be chilled out and eliminated entirely.” Woodward cautioned journalists against exaggerated feelings of self-importance. “We’re always in danger of taking ourselves too seriously. The way to fix that is to get our heads down and take the work seriously, but not ourselves,” he said. “The work is important, not who’s doing it.” Woodward said he believes the best way to combat the backlash is with quality. Just like the selling of toothpaste or cars, he said, “if the quality is good, you will like it.” Bob Woodward delivers the keynote address at the IRE Regional Conference in Washington, D.C. Some key elements of quality work, he explained, are careful planning, generous

30 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES reporting time allowances and careful internal Houston column Articles related to this year’s work scrutiny. include: “Where some of these long-term projects CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 × • A story in the September 1999 IRE Journal on or investigative stories go astray I think is that McGraw and Kaplan said they know there is reporting on nuclear energy noted The Toledo reporters and editors don’t send out scouting significant work being done in these categories Blade’s work parties. They don’t take the time to think ‘is and they want the chance for IRE to recognize • A story in the January-February Uplink by Russ that really a story we want our reporters to that work. They asked that members send them Carollo on military aviation databases used in spend two years on?’” he said. “We must be ideas on how to attract more entries. the Dayton Daily News series willing to take a week or two to go make a And, of course, the contest committee had to • A story in the same Uplink by Mark Greenblatt preliminary examination of something and say deal with the trend of corporations and their law about his award-winning broadcast on danger- ‘is this really obtainable, are we going to make firms making pre-emptive strikes against contest ous bridges entries. This year the committee spent significant • A story in the August 1999 IRE Journal No one likes what we do time examining a detailed letter and a hundred spotlighting Kate Boo of The Washington Post, pages of attached documents sent by a law firm who wrote “Invisible Lives” } and [we’re] always challenging one of the finalists. In the coming months, more articles on award uncomfortable with it, but winners are expected in both the Journal and What makes IRE’s contest different Uplink. it is the discomfort which McGraw also thanked all the entrants for gives impulse and comfort taking the time to fill out IRE’s contest forms. Plaudits for the new IRE Journal “Even though some people complain they We have received many compliments during really to knowing that we are onerous, they are blueprints that teach IRE the past few weeks on the newly revamped have made a real sincere members how to do investigative stories,” he Journal. We appreciate the great response and said. pledge to continue our improvements. effort to not just do the The entry form asks contestants to explain how I would like to especially thank Len Bruzzese surface of something but to they did stories, what documents and databases and his staff for the terrific dedication and work were used, what human sources were found, and that created the new Journal. As director of get very far into its insides.~ what challenges were faced and overcome. publications and now editor of the Journal, With this year’s entries, the IRE Resource Len has spent countless hours on this project, Center (indexed at www.ire.org) has grown to bringing to it the expertise and care that comes this understandable and can we really get to nearly 17,000 stories, most them accompanied naturally from 20 years of newspapering. the bottom of it?’” by the filled-out entry forms. I also want to thank former editor Steve Once a project is decided on, Woodward In addition, many of the editors and reporters Weinberg, now senior contributing editor, for his believes reporters must be allowed to submerge who did the stories have spoken at IRE confer- continuing work, and former managing editor Jan themselves in the project completely and not ences (from which tipsheets are available) or Colbert, who oversaw the production of the Journal just for an afternoon or a week. Once a project written stories for our publications. on very limited resources for many, many years. is completed, strict internal scrutiny should be conducted on every aspect of the work to ensure quality. The options of eliminating weak portions of a project or even the entire IRE 1999 Awards project when findings are insufficient must CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 × FINALISTS • Charles C. Thompson II, W.W. Norton, “A Glimpse of Hell: The Port, Ben Lesser, Sydney H. Schanberg, APBnews.com. be left open. Explosion on the USS Iowa and Its Coverup” • Florida Times-Union, Joe Adams, “The Florida Public In closing, Woodward reminded the audi- • Joe Jackson and William F. Burke, Jr., Times Books, “Dead Run” Records Handbook” ence that the goal of investigative reporting is • The Daily News, The New York Times Co., Newsday, A.P. not to make friends. and the NY Press Club for lawsuit against Rudolph Guiliani, STUDENT “No one likes what we do and [we’re] Howard Safir and the City of New York. CERTIFICATE always uncomfortable with it, but it is the “Troubled Bridges,” KOMU-TV, Channel 8, BOOK Columbia, MO., Mark Greenblatt. discomfort which gives impulse and comfort CERTIFICATE Enterprising use of computer-assisted reporting, sourcing and really to knowing that we have made a real “Animal Underworld: Inside America’s Black internal documents to show that mid-Missouri’s bridges are sincere effort to not just do the surface of Market for Rare and Exotic Species,” Alan deteriorating and placing drivers in dangerous situations. Also Green, The Center for Public Integrity. uncovered improprieties in which tax dollars were used to repair something but to get very far into its insides,” a bridge used by a private firm. Partly as a result, two Missouri With a passion for detail and an even-handed approach, this he said. lawmakers have proposed the Emergency Bridge Repair and book documents the sophisticated business of laundering Replacement Fund to address the problem which would appropriate exotic animals and the paperwork that’s supposed to keep $25 million for the kinds of problems documented in this report. Kate Miller is a graduate student at the Missouri track of them. Showed hypocrisy of animal conservationists School of Journalism and an editorial intern for who are opposed to “canned hunts” but who participate in FINALISTS The IRE Journal. them. The book also documented the hypocrisy of zoos and • University Daily Kansan, Emily Hughey, “Coach Under Fire” animal rights groups who pretend to be opposed to many of • The Columbia Missourian, Lynn May, Jeff Walling and Claire their own business practices. Hunt, “The Sturgeon Disaster: Twenty Years Later”

MARCH/APRIL 2000 31 FEATURES

The polluting by the federal government Dirty secret extends beyond our national borders. Dozens of countries across the world are trying to clean up or control hazardous waste generated by the Government as likely to pollute U.S. military and other agencies. In the Philip- as to enforce environmental laws pines, for instance, children are drinking from wells contaminated with mercury, gasoline and other waste dumped into the ground by BY DAVID ARMSTRONG the U.S. Air Force. We found there are two sking two questions about the enforce- enforces against private industry. sets of rules for polluters: ment of the country’s environmental Several newspapers have produced excellent } laws can lead to good stories at the stories regarding hazardous waste contamination one for federal agencies A local, regional or national level: at some large military bases and Department of First, is the government enforcing the laws to Energy plants. But the pollution extends beyond and one for everyone the extent it says it is? And secondly, is the those large facilities and often overlooked is else.~ government itself abiding by the same laws it the fact that special exemptions immunize the is charged with enforcing? The answer to both government from penalties levied under some To its credit, the EPA and some of the other questions is often no. laws, including the Clean Water Act. federal agencies have made a great deal of It was information provided by an EPA We found there are two sets of rules for information, including searchable databases, official who was concerned about his own polluters: one for federal agencies and one available via the World Wide Web. Several of agency’s inaction that prompted The Boston for everyone else. The government receives these sources allow for checking on government Globe to investigate the answers to these breaks from both the officials charged with polluting in your area. The EPA’s Office of questions. enforcing the environmental laws, and from Federal Facilities has some good data on federal When it comes to polluting, the federal Congress, which has failed to close loopholes polluters, some of which can be accessed via government is in a league of its own. From that grant special status to federal agencies. its Web site. The EPA also has an enforcement military bases to nuclear weapons plants to the Among the federal agencies that have violated database called IDEA (Integrated Data for nation’s parks, the government is a pervasive environmental laws are the U.S. Mint, NASA Enforcement Analysis) that members of the polluter that often violates the same rules it and even the EPA. public can subscribe to via the National Techni- cal Information Service. A Windows version

of the product is now available and allows users to isolate violations against government agencies by region or agency. A deposit of $200 is necessary to access IDEA. The EPA also allows searches for government-owned The Boston Globe Boston The

Superfund sites. In several instances, federal agencies generate reports of their own environmental wrongdoing. The Department of Defense Inspector General, for instance, offers a search- Photo: Tom Herde Herde Tom Photo: able database of its reports, several of which have examined environmental cleanups and spending by the military.

Neglected sites While military bases, particularly those about to close, receive most of the scrutiny and funding when it comes to environmental issues, two other areas have been largely neglected even though they impact just about every nook and cranny of the country. The first is called Formerly Used Defense Range Officer Glen Morin walks past UXO’s (Unexploded Ordinance) on the firing range at the Sites or FUDS. These sites were operated by Mass. Military Reservation. The EPA closed the range to artillery and mortar fire in 1997. the Department of Defense prior to the first round of widespread base closings beginning

32 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

in 1982. Many of these sites have been forgot- hate this kind of question and the comparisons ten or transferred to private owners or other that result. government entities. One reason this inquiry is so loathsome is In many cases, residents and local officials it allows reporters to question what is truly The Boston Globe Boston The

are unaware of these sites even though they a priority for any of the 93 U.S. attorneys may still present an environmental danger. To across the country. A U.S. attorney may say search for FUDS in your area check with the environmental crime is a priority, but when his Army Corps of Engineers. Also check with or her record is compared to similar regions, or state officials responsible for federal facility other federal districts in the same state, the data enforcement. They often know of FUDS sites may call that assertion into question. Herde Tom Photo: that the military has neglected to list in its The best resource for federal prosecution records. data is the Transactional Records Access Clear- The other area worth exploring in your inghouse at Syracuse University (trac.syr.edu). region is UXO sites – military jargon for Working with TRAC, we analyzed the enforce- bombing and munitions ranges. The federal ment of environmental laws in every region government is just now trying to figure out of the country since 1993. TRAC can provide what to do with the more than 50 million acres regional or state specific information as well. in this country contaminated by heavy metals, The data showed many federal prosecutors chemical residue and other byproducts littering were doing little or no environmental enforce- the ranges. An EPA official, in a memo to his ment. Reporting on the data also showed what superiors, warned that cleaning up these ranges many prosecutors were reluctant to admit: represents the largest cleanup program facing enforcing these laws is a matter of priority. U.S. Elvira Taruc with her 5-year-old son Abraham in their home at the Madapdap Resettlement the country. Yet the military is turning many of attorneys do not have unlimited resources and Center. He is one of hundreds of seriously ill Filipino these properties over to private owners, without have to make decisions: Are drug prosecutions children born or raised near Clark Air Force Base . doing a full clean-up. There is no easy way more important than corruption cases? Are to search for range sites on the Internet, but white-collar crimes more of a priority than time environmental crime prosecutors in the regional EPA officials are likely to have an pollution cases? office and most of the environmental referrals inventory of UXO sites that can be requested In South Florida, for instance, the U.S. were handed out to lawyers in the economic through the Freedom of Information Act. attorney has one of the highest per-capita rates crimes section. of environmental prosecutions in the country. Overall, the TRAC data was a key element The prosecutors The office has a full-time environmental crimes in helping us determine that environmental What is the federal government doing about unit, with a section chief and five lawyers. enforcement was both lax and haphazard environmental crime in your region? Federal Massachusetts, by comparison, had one of the nationally. Human sources were key to telling prosecutors and the Department of Justice lowest prosecution rates. There are no full- this story as well. The story of two federal

Estimate of cleanup costs IN BILLIONS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE The nation’s largest employer, the The department supports Dept. of Energy DOD provides the military forces agriculture production, man- Dept. of Defense needed to deter war and to protect ages the food supply, and Dept. of the Interior the security of the United States. provides economic opportu- The DOD operates in more than nities for farm and rural resi- Dept. of Agriculture 140 countries. dents. NASA Most common type of contami- Most common type of contam- nation: Fuels, solvents, industrial ination: Hazardous waste, waste, upexploded ordnance mining waste, chemical waste Major source: Underground stor- Major source: Abandoned Estimated number of age tanks, landfills mines, landfills potentially contaminated sites DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NASA Dept. of Energy Manages and dismantles excess As the nation’s principal conserva- The agency operates nine field nuclear weapons, disposes of sur- tion agency, the DOI has jurisdic- centers, the contractor-operated Dept. of Defense plus fissile nuclear materials, and tion over about 450 million acres Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Dept. of the Interior ensures the security of nuclear of federal lands and has employees Wallops Flight Facility. NASA Dept. of Agriculture assets. who work at more than 4,000 sites explores space for human enter- Most common type of contami- across the country. prise, and develops advanced aero- NASA nation: Radioactive waste, haz- Most common type of contam- nautics technologies. ardous waste, mixed waste, fis- ination: Mining waste, municipal Most common type of contamina- sile material waste, industrial waste tion: Fuels, solvents, industrial waste Major source: Former weapons Major source: Abandoned mines, Major source: Underground stor- production facilities oil and gas production age tanks, spill areas

MARCH/APRIL 2000 33 FEATURES environmental prosecutors, in different regions RESOURCES of the country, demonstrated how politics played a role in scuttling environmental cases. One warning: The people at TRAC are Office of Federal Facilities Department of Defense highly skilled and incredibly helpful. However, (http://es.epa.gov/oeca/fedfac/ Environmental Cleanup you still need to know how the data is collected, oversight/oversight.html) Home Page what information is contained in the data and Some good data on federal polluters in (http://www.dtic.mil/envirodod) what is not. Find out who determines how crimes are classified and categorized. Also, talk different areas. to the agency you are reporting about and ask Scorecard Home them for feedback on your findings. National Technical Information (http://www.scorecard.org) The environmental crimes section of the Service Database that maps toxic releases by state Justice Department, for instance, complained (http://es.epa.gov/oeca/idea) or region. about the way the environmental crimes were classified by TRAC. In reality, TRAC was not Holds enforcement database called IDEA – Right to Know classifying the crimes, but using the classifica- Integrated Data for Enforcement Analysis. tion codes created by the Executive Office for Allows subscribers to isolate violations against page with environmental United States Attorneys. It turns out this was government agencies by region or agency. databases an internal fight. Nonetheless, we decided to (http://www.rtk.net) do all of our analysis based on the criteria used Federal Superfund sites Searchable databases for toxic releases, by the environmental crimes section. The data, hazardous waste spills, and chemical acci- and rankings, did not change markedly, but (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/ we eliminated the most persistent criticism of index.htm) dents. the data. There was not one word of complaint Allows search for government-owned Super- about the comparisons we published. fund sites. Enviro$en$e Link to all EPA enforcement areas/ The regulators Databases In some cases, the performance of prosecu- Department of Defense tors can be traced to the performance of Inspector General (http://es.epa.gov) regulators. (http://www.dodig.osd.mil/audit/ Search many EPA databases at this site. In Massachusetts, for instance, the local reports/index.html) criminal EPA agents produced the fewest Offers a searchable database of its DoD Environmental Protection referrals, per capita, in the country. Perhaps and Pollution Resource it should not be surprising the U.S, attorney’s reports, several of which have examined Sites on the Web office in Massachusetts ranks near the bottom environmental cleanups and spending by in per-capita environmental prosecutions. the military. (http://www.familyhaven.com/ The EPA Criminal Investigation Division InternetReferenceDesk/enviropro.html) produces an annual report on the work of Formerly Used Defense Sites criminal agents in every part of the country. (http://pirs.mvr.usace.army.mil/derp/ Federal Agency At the same time, we found that some of the Environmental criminal agents were engaged in inappropriate, fuds/fuds.htm) and perhaps illegal, activities. Some of the Search for FUDS in your area on a site Homepages allegations against the agents, culled from designed by the Army Corps of Engineers. http://www.envirosense.com/development/ court records, included altering records and november/cfa/link.htm withholding evidence. Department of Energy Good links to federal agency environmental Another source for checking on the work programs. of regulators is the EPA Inspector General, (http://cid.em.doe.gov) who audits the performance of both civil This is a new site put together by the Depart- and criminal agents and various enforcement ment of Energy. The first page displays a EPA Inspector General programs. map of the United States, allowing users to http://www.epa.gov/oigearth/ David Armstrong is a reporter for The Boston click on areas of interest. The site contains A source for checking on the work of regula- Globe. His stories have won several awards, data on waste management and cleanup tors. Audits the performance of both civil including the Polk Award and the IRE Award. and criminal agents and various enforce- This latest series of stories can be found at activities at DOE sites. http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/ ment programs. pollution/day1.htm

34 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES MEMBER NEWS IRE SERVICES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 × Alla Lora has joined the MSNBC management INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND EDITORS, INC. is a grassroots nonprofit organization team as senior producer. She was previously dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting within the field of journalism. IRE was formed in 1975 with the intent of creating a networking tool and a at WTNH-TV in New Haven. Tony Mauro forum in which journalists from across the country could raise questions and exchange left USA Today for a newly created position of ideas. IRE provides educational services to reporters, editors and others interested in Supreme Court correspondent at American investigative reporting and works to maintain high professional standards. Lawyer Media, which includes Legal Times and Programs and Services: legaltimes.com. He covered the Supreme Court IRE RESOURCE CENTER – A rich reserve of print and broadcast stories, tipsheets and guides to help and legal affairs for USA TODAY and Gannett you start and complete the best work of your career. This unique library is the starting point of News Service for 20 years. Brian Melton is the any piece you’re working on. You can search through abstracts of more than 15,000 investigative new managing editor of The Macon Telegraph. reporting stories through our Web site. Contact: Noemi Ramirez, [email protected], 573-882-3364 He leaves The Charlotte Observer where he was the investigations editor. Dion Nissenbaum DATABASE LIBRARY – Administered by IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. The library has copies of many government databases, and makes them available to news is now an investigative reporter at San Jose organizations at or below actual cost. Analysis services are available on these databases, as is help in Mercury News where he will be covering state deciphering records you obtain yourself. government and politics. He leaves The Press- Contact: Jason Grotto, [email protected], 573-884-7711 Enterprise in Southern California where he was CAMPAIGN FINANCE INFORMATION CENTER – Administered by IRE and the National Institute of a special projects reporter. Jill Spielvogel Computer-Assisted Reporting. It’s dedicated to helping journalists uncover the campaign money has moved from The Press-Enterprise to The trail. State campaign finance data is collected from across the nation, cleaned and made available San Diego Union Tribune where she will cover to journalists. A search engine allows reporters to track political cash flow across several states in federal and state races. education. The Fund for Investigative Journal- Contact: Cindy Eberting, [email protected], 573-882-1982 ism, a Washington based non-profit, has given REPORTER.ORG – A collection of Web-based resources for journalists, journalism educators and its first annual book award to IRE member others. Discounted Web hosting and services like mailing list management and site development Charles C. Thompson II and former member are provided to other nonprofit journalism organizations. Roger Charles. The book award of $25,000 Contact: Ted Peterson, [email protected], 573-884-7321 will supplement the authors’ advance for a Publications non-fiction book examining hostilities in the THE IRE JOURNAL – Published six times a year and contains journalist profiles, how-to stories, Persian Gulf that led to the 1988 U.S. Navy reviews, investigative ideas and backgrounding tips. The Journal also provides members with the attack on an unarmed Iranian passenger plane. latest news on upcoming events and training opportunities from IRE and NICAR. Todd Wallack is now a business reporter Contact: Len Bruzzese, [email protected], 573-882-2042 at the San Francisco Chronicle covering mainly UPLINK – Monthly newsletter by IRE and NICAR on computer-assisted reporting. Often, Uplink telecommunications and computer network- stories are written after reporters have had particular success using data to investigate stories. The ing. He was a technology writer and weekly columns include valuable information on advanced database techniques as well as success stories written by newly trained CAR reporters. columnist for the Boston Herald for two Contact: Mary Jo Sylwester, [email protected], 573-884-7711 years. Michelle Williams is the new news ON-THE-ROAD TRAINING – As a top promoter of journalism education, IRE offers loads of training editor for the Nashville AP bureau. She was opportunities throughout the year. Possibilities rangefrom national conferences and regional formerly correspondent in the San Diego workshops to weeklong bootcamps and on-site newsroom training. Costs are on a sliding scale and bureau and has been with AP for 10 years. fellowships are available to many of the events. Lisa Zagaroli of The Detroit News shared Contact: Tom McGinty, [email protected], 573-882-3320 first prize in the news reporting/newspapers For information on: category of The Detroit Press Club’s 2000 Inter- MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS – John Green, [email protected], 573-882-2772 national Wheel Awards honoring excellence CONFERENCES – Lisa Barnes, [email protected], 573-882-8969 in covering the automobile industry. Zagaroli BOOT CAMPS – Laura Ruggiero, [email protected], 573-884-1444 shared the prize with James R. Healy of USA LIST SERVES – Ted Peterson, [email protected], 573-884-7321 Today. They also shared the Golden Wheel award Mailing Address: honoring the best among all print categories. IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia, Mo. 65211

MARCH/APRIL 2000 35 Come Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of IRE in New York NATIONALNATIONAL CONFERENCECONFERENCE IRE NEWNEW YORK,YORK, JUNEJUNE 1-41-4

At the historic Hilton Waldorf-Astoria

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM Please write carefully! This information will be used to make your nametag. IRE Membership Status (required) To attend this conference, you must be a Name: ______current IRE member through 7/1/00. _____ I am a current IRE member Affiliation: ______through 7/1/00. _____ I need a new or to renew a Address: ______professional IRE membership, $40. _____ I need a new or to renew an international IRE membership, $55. City, State: ______I need a new or to renew a stu- dent IRE membership, $25. Zip Code: ______- _____ E-Mail: ______Conference Registration (required) Phone:______Fax: ______$150 _____ I would like to attend the main conference days June 2-4 as a professional or international TO REGISTER Mail this form with your credit card information or a IRE member. check made payable to IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Missouri BY MAIL School of Journalism, Columbia, MO, 65211. $100 _____ I would like to attend the main conference days June 2-4 as a TO REGISTER Fax this form with your credit card information student IRE member. BY FAX to (573) 882-5431. CAR Day (optional) TO REGISTER Fill out IRE’s online conference registration form at Thursday, June 1 is the optional Computer- www.ire.org. Assisted Reporting Day and requires an BY THE WEB additional fee. If you would like to attend, please check one of these options: To pay for your registration by credit card, you must have a Visa or Mastercard. We do not accept American Express. $50 _____ I would like to attend the CAR Day June 1 as a professional or international IRE member. Visa or Mastercard #:______Exp. Date:______$35 _____ I would like to attend the CAR Day June 1 as a student IRE Card Holder:______Signature:______member.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS: To receive the reduced room rate, contact The Hilton Waldorf-Astoria as soon as possible, toll-free at 1-800-WALDORF or direct at Total Fees (required) 212-355-3000. The Hilton Waldorf-Astoria is located at 301 Park Ave., New York, NY $15 _____ Late fee for registrations 10022 and rooms will be available at a reduced rate of $215.00 single/double (plus 13.25% postmarked after May 18, 2000 state and local taxes and $2.00 occupancy tax per night) until May 16, 2000. $ _____ Total Fees

For more information, call IRE at 573-882-2042 or watch the IRE web page at www.ire.org