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THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOL. 62 NO. 1 SPRING 2008 VOL. 62 NO. 1 SPRING 2008 2008 SPRING 1 NO. 62 VOL. 21 ST CENTURY MUCKRAKERS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY ATHARVARD FOUNDATION NIEMAN THE MUCKRAKERS CENTURY ST

21st Century Muckrakers Who Are They? How Do They Do Their Work?

Words & Reflections: Secrets, Sources and Silencing Watchdogs Journalism 2.0 End Note

went to the Carnegie Endowment in New York but of the Oakland Tribune, and Maynard was throw- found times to return to Cambridge—like many, ing out questions fast and furiously about my civil I had “withdrawal symptoms” after my Harvard rights coverage. I realized my interview was lasting ‘to promote and elevate the year—and would meet with Tenney. She came to longer than most, and I wondered, “Is he trying to my wedding in Toronto in 1984, and we tried to knock me out of competition?” Then I happened to keep in touch regularly. Several of our class, Peggy glance over at Tenney and got the only smile from standards of journalism’ Simpson, Peggy Engel, Kat Harting, and Nancy the group—and a warm, welcoming one it was. I Day visited Tenney in her assisted living facility felt calmer. Finally, when the interview ended, I in Cambridge some years ago, during a Nieman am happy to say, Maynard leaped out of his chair reunion. She cared little about her own problems and hugged me. Agnes Wahl Nieman and was always interested in others. Curator Jim Tenney was a unique woman, and I thoroughly Thomson was the public and intellectual face of enjoyed her friendship. After my Nieman year, while the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation the Nieman Foundation; Tenney was its warm I was working in Washington, she happened to heart. —Michael McDowell, NF ’79 be in town, and I invited her for dinner. We had fun that evening, comparing New England and In our 1979 class, there were four women. I think Southern food, plants, cooking and other interest- it was a record number back then, as Curator Jim ing differences. I will never forget Tenney. She was Thomson was working hard to expand the number thoughtful, much loved, and very dear. of women Niemans. The four of us—Peggy Simpson, —Kathryn Johnson, NF ’77 Kat Harting, Nancy Day, and I—decided to devote Vol. 62 No. 1 Spring 2008 an entire issue of Nieman Reports to women’s issues Tenney was the inspiration for the [Summer 1979] in journalism. Tenney, then its editor, was entirely issue of Nieman Reports devoted to women in jour- Nieman Reports supportive of this takeover and cheered us on as nalism. Those of us in our class were among those The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University we made efforts to include every woman who had who worked on the issue and, at least in my case, won the award previously. I think we dedicated wrote a retrospective article about my coverage of the issue to Agnes Wahl Nieman, because so few the women’s movement and my own observations people outside the circle knew that it was a woman about the barriers facing women who wanted to be Bob Giles | Publisher who started and funded the fellowships. hard news reporters. That article was among those Melissa Ludtke | Editor Tenney was the warmest friend you could have in chosen as the best in the half-century of writing Cambridge. Her passion for words, birds, gardens— for Nieman Reports, and I always hoped Tenney Lois Fiore | Assistant Editor but most of all Nieman Fellows—was legendary. We got the credit due her, for that and much more. Sarah Hagedorn | Editorial Assistant believed she secretly liked our class best, a fiction She might have looked the genteel New Eng- undoubtedly believed by every class she touched. I land lady but, in my mind, she was ahead of the Diane Novetsky | Design Editor will miss her Christmas letters and talking baseball curve in spotting news and in helping make good with her. Next time I’m in Cooperstown, I’m going articles happen. She was a bastion of good sense, to look for the glove her namesake grandfather, a humor and a sort of serenity during our somewhat lefty pro player, developed. chaotic Nieman year. I also thought that she grew, Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial Tenney was a big reason the Nieman Fellowships with us, in confronting those bumps in the road. in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 are so beloved by several generations of journalists. —Peggy Simpson, NF ’79 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: —Margaret Engel, NF ’79 One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected] As with Michael McDowell, it was Tenney Leh- Subscriptions/Business Internet Address: Tenney Lehman was such a grand lady. Remember man who told me I had won the Nieman. The call Telephone: 617-496-2968 www.nieman.harvard.edu that easy smile and twinkle in her eyes? It reminded reached me in the Senate Press Gallery in 1978, E-Mail Address: you that she knew more than she let on but wasn’t and I closed the door to one of the old telephone [email protected] Copyright 2008 by the President and giving away any secrets. Tenney was New England booths in the gallery as Tenney told me that Har- Fellows of Harvard College. to the core, wise, kind, fun, smart. She was den vard was offering me a Nieman Fellowship and Subscription $20 a year, $35 for two years; add $10 per mother and mentor and, over wine at a North End wanted to know if I would accept. year for foreign airmail. Single copies $5. Second-class postage paid at Boston, restaurant, drinking buddy as well. When I look “Sweet Jesus, yes!,” I replied (or words to that Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Massachusetts and additional entries. back on my Nieman year, I will always see the face effect). of Tenney Lehman. —David Lamb, NF ’81 What I recall most is Tenney’s gentle admonition Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to that I refrain from telling anyone until the official and change of address information to Nieman Reports, It was during my interview for a Nieman Fellowship announcement. Sorry, Tenney, but within 24 hours P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, when Tenney Lehman’s warmth and compassion I had told the known universe. ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. first became apparent to me. That was also the first Rest in Peace. time I had ever met her. The selection committee —Frank Van Riper, NF ’79  that year included Robert Maynard, then publisher

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 109 Vol. 62 No. 1 Spring 2008 Nieman Reports THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

4 21st Century Muckrakers

6 Publisher, Editor and Reporter: The Investigative Formula | By Steve Weinberg Watchdogs in Washington

8 The Press and the Presidency: Silencing the Watchdog | By Murrey Marder 10 Decision-Making: A Visual Journey Inside the Iraq War | By Michael Kirk and Michael Wiser 12 Determining the Reliability of a Key CIA Source | By Bob Drogin 15 Digital Records Reveal Corruption on Capitol Hill | By Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer 19 Classified Documents: Secrecy vs. Citizenship | By Steven Aftergood 21 Investigative Reporting About Secrecy | By Ted Gup Nonprofit Approach

23 Seeking New Ways to Nurture the Capacity to Report | By Charles Lewis 27 New Sources of Funding, New Sources of Reporting | By Gilbert Cranberg 30 Going Online With Watchdog Journalism | By Paul E. Steiger 32 Watchdog Reporting: Exploring Its Myth | By Florence Graves 36 Understanding the Value of Investigative Reporting | By Bill Buzenberg 38 When a Few Dollars Make a Big Difference | By John Hyde 41 Transparency Increases Credibility | By Mark Schapiro 43 Good Journalism Can Be Good Business | By Daniel Brogan The Digital Transformation

45 Digital Journalism: Will It Work for Investigative Journalism? | By Barry Sussman 47 Reporting With the Tools of Social Science | By Stephen K. Doig 50 Reporting Is Only Part of the Investigative Story | By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele 52 When Video Is King | By Stuart Watson 54 Are Reporters Doomed? | By David Leigh

Cover Photo: Nieman Reports Online Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler used an octopus to represent the Standard www.nieman.harvard.edu Oil Company. 1904. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Newsroom Investigative Reporting

55 Changing Equations in Investigative Reporting | By John Robinson 58 Instilling a Watchdog Culture in the Newsroom | By Lorie Hearn 60 Redefining a Newspaper’s Watchdog Approach | By Les Zaitz and Brent Walth 62 A Vital Responsibility in Need of Support | By Rick Rodriguez 65 Using Expertise From Outside the Newsroom | By Betty Wells Global Watchdogs

67 Beacons of Hope: Investigative Journalism Centers | By Brant Houston 68 Confronting Pressure From Donors | By Aung Zaw 71 Global Efforts at Investigative Reporting | By Fernando Rodrigues 73 Squeezing Substance Into the ‘Sensational and Superficial’ | By Sheila S. Coronel 77 Circumventing Censorship With Technology | By Karl Idsvoog 78 The Investigative Journalist’s Digital Tool Kit | By Joe Murray 79 Democracy Can Complicate the Job of Journalists | By Dharma Adhikari

82 Words & Reflections

83 Secrets and the Press | By Walter Pincus 85 Loud Noises, Sharp Elbows, and Impolitic Questions | By Jim Boyd 87 Urgent Issues the Press Usually Ignore | By Danny Schechter 90 Intimidation and Convictions of Journalists | By Morton Mintz 93 Teaching Multimedia Journalism | By Rebecca MacKinnon 96 Journalism 2.0—And Then What? | By Christine Gorman

3 Curator’s Corner: Recognizing Excellence | Bob Giles

97 Nieman Notes | Compiled by Lois Fiore 97 Journalists Portray a Complex, Self-Destructive Texas Politician | By Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson 100 Class Notes 108 End Note: Tenney Lehman: Inspirational Editor and ‘Warm Heart’ of the Nieman Foundation | Remembrances by Nieman Fellows

2 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Curator’s Corner

Recognizing Excellence The Nieman Foundation becomes a home for two investigative journalism awards.

BY BOB GILES

nvestigative reporting has always been central to the by the trustees of the Worth Bingham Fund. In recent Nieman experience. Journalists specializing in inves- years, the Worth Bingham Prize has been among several tigative work continue to populate Nieman classes. journalism honors given at the National Press Foundation’s ISpeakers address the topic at seminars and workshops. annual February dinner in Washington, D.C.. Beginning The Nieman Watchdog project (www.niemanwatchdog. in 2009, the prize ceremony will be presented at a dinner org) offers a platform to reinforce an essential element of at Walter Lippmann House that will feature a lecture on watchdog reporting: asking probing questions. For more investigative reporting by the winner. than 60 years, Nieman Reports has published stories ex- The I.F. Stone Medal is a new award to be presented amining the craft of investigative journalism, and in this annually to a journalist whose work captures the spirit of issue it carries forward that tradition under the theme of independence, integrity, courage and indefatigability that 21st Century Muckrakers. characterized I.F. Stone’s Weekly, published 1953-1971. The This legacy influenced recent decisions by the Nieman I.F. Stone Medal will be awarded at an event in Washing- Foundation to administer two awards that honor indepen- ton that will include a talk by the winner and a workshop dent investigative journalism: discussion on journalistic independence. Izzy Stone was a model of the resolute, provocative jour- • The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting nalist who worked against injustice and inequity and was • The I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. not afraid to dissent from conventional wisdom. Creating a forum to honor and encourage journalistic independence The press remains an essential national institution in recognizes that the qualities his work represented are now its job of independently probing for facts about wrongdo- under stress—qualities that seem especially essential dur- ing or information the government wants to shield from ing a time of war in which a nation pays a heavy price its citizens. Its watchdog role is never more vital than for secrecy and deception when used to justify military during a national crisis. In a time of economic challenges actions. for news companies, however, deep concern is emerging We believe that the Nieman Foundation can use its that a commitment to such public service journalism is bully pulpits—through Nieman Reports and the Watchdog waning. Shrinking news staffs and diminishing reportorial Journalism Project in tandem with the influence of the resources are worrisome indicators that many daily news Worth Bingham Prize and the I.F. Stone Medal—to draw organizations will no longer support a serious investment attention to the need for continued excellent investigative in investigative reporting. reporting and courageous journalistic independence.  Linking the Nieman name with these awards is an opportunity to reinforce independent investigative report- ing by recognizing excellence. To be sure, the awards are distinctive in their purpose. The Magazine’s Redesign The Worth Bingham Prize honors newspaper or magazine investigative reporting of stories of national significance During the past year, our designer, Diane Novetsky, where the public interest is ill served. Worth was heir to has guided our journey toward what she describes his family’s newspaper holdings in Louisville when he as Nieman Reports with a “simpler, cleaner, more was killed in an automobile accident in 1966. The Worth contemporary feel.” In earlier issues, more subtle Bingham Memorial Fund was established, and the initial design changes were made, but with this issue—from prize was given the following year. its cover to its End Note—a central element in our Joan Bingham, Worth’s widow, and their daughter Clara, redesign emerges with our new fonts. The fonts who have overseen the prize program, approached us a year were chosen with ease of reading foremost in our ago with the idea that the Nieman Foundation might have minds and for the elegant, fresh look we feel they an interest in creating an archive for the winning entries. give our pages. Our goal has been to preserve the As these discussions moved along, they led to a broader magazine’s basic features while updating its style, discussion about establishing the Nieman Foundation as and we hope you agree that we’ve succeeded.  home for the prize. Proposals were exchanged over several —Melissa Ludtke months; agreement was reached and approved recently

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 3 21st Century Muckrakers

Watchdog reporting resides at the core of what journalism does. Its roots dig deeply into the common ground uniting the muckrakers’ unearthing of public and private scandals a century ago with what investigative reporters are illuminat- ing today. Though reporting and distribution of this news is very different in the digital era, unfortunately the human conditions requiring press scrutiny are not. These include patterns of corruption and malfeasance among those holding pow- erful positions of public and private trust. These circumstances and the behavior of others who endanger people’s health, safety and well-being continue to be brought to public attention through the effort of journalists. It is this effort, most of all the resources of time and money needed to sup- port it, that journalists are now scrutinizing, as they contemplate whether emerg- ing business models for newsgathering and distribution will buttress—or possibly eviscerate—this core role. Digital technology can be an investigative reporter’s closest ally—with its ever-strengthening capacity to locate and search records, cre- ate and use databases, and share information in documents—but in tugging eyes and advertising dollars away from print and broadcast media, the financial frame- work to pay for news reporting is in need of innovation. In this issue of Nieman Reports, reporters and editors peer into the future of investigative reporting to let us know possibilities they see ahead. For some, their outlook is shaped by their ongoing work in a newspaper’s newsroom or at a TV station. Others speak about what they see through the lens of nonprofit jour- nalism, whether they’ve been there for a few months, as is the case for Paul E. Steiger at ProPublica, or a few decades, as it has been for Charles Lewis. Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity, is now starting a new enterprise, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Even as they consider the future, they remember the past. The reporting team of Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele observes: “With a few notable excep- tions, even in the best of times investigative reporting was little more than win- dow-dressing in the American press …. Investigative stories often were published only when indefatigable reporters spent nights and weekends pursuing leads after covering their regular beats. A favorite line of editors was, ‘Why don’t you spend a little of your time and see what you come up with?’” Despite this attitude—and other obstacles—examples of good investigative reporting emerge often enough to remind people of its essential role in our de- mocracy. Journalists, too, are reminded of its merits through awards bestowed on stellar work. Recently, two Nieman Fellows—WCNC-TV investigative reporter Stuart Watson and Charlotte Observer Associate Editor Mary Newsom—read or watched nearly 140 entries as judges for the 2008 Goldsmith Prize for Investiga-

4 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 tive Reporting award given by the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. After being immersed in contemporary examples, Watson and New- som reflected on what they saw and heard. “Obviously, reports of the death of investigative journalism have been exag- gerated,” Newsom wrote to me, calling her judging experience “inspiring.” It had “for a time at least counterbalanced the ubiquitous pessimism haunting America’s newsrooms,” she said, but acknowledged “the not-so-pretty truth hiding under that huge stack of inspiring contest entries.” Severe staff reductions in newsrooms mean that because “many of the best investigations emerge from routine coverage, close but skeptical, a reporter who isn’t covering county governments closely isn’t likely to flush out crooked county commissioners,” Newsom wrote. For Watson, his intense focus brought to mind a newsroom boss who had a category he called “little i investigative reporting.” By this he meant reporting that let readers know, for example, the safety record of a chemical plant that just ex- ploded. “Once upon a time, not too long ago,” Watson writes, “there was another phrase for that kind of deadline journalism—we used to call it ‘reporting.’ Calling plain old backgrounding ‘investigative reporting’ so inflates and cheapens the cur- rency of the term as to render it meaningless.” With similar blending of remembrance and forward thinking, voices and expe- riences of investigative journalists carry us through this issue of Nieman Reports. In the three other editions to be published this year, smaller collections of stories about various aspects of investigative reporting will appear. Each article will mi- grate from our print magazine to our Web site (www.nieman.harvard.edu) where they will be assembled as a valuable resource for journalists, for those who teach journalism, and for those who study it. Our visual journey moves from the late 19th and early 20th century muckrak- ing era to the Watergate coverage of the early 1970’s, which swept into news- rooms a wave of young journalists hoping to do watchdog reporting during a time when newspapers and network TV news were thriving. We thank author Ann Bausum for generously supplying us with several Library of Congress images that appeared in her book, “Muckrakers,” and for her willingness to let us borrow the timeline compiled for her book, and we thank National Geographic, the book’s publisher, for allowing us to reprint the timeline. Our gratitude extends to The Associated Press for giving us the ability to reprint several of the more recent watchdog images, and to the Newseum—Karen Wyatt, Director of Collections and Visual Resources, and Peggy Engel, Managing Editor, in particular—for locating and granting permission for the use of memorable images from its collection. 

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 5 21st Century Muckrakers

Publisher, Editor and Reporter: The Investigative Formula Looking back to the early 1900’s—to Ida Tarbell and S.S. McClure— offers valuable lessons for watchdog journalism in the 21st century.

BY STEVE WEINBERG

WATCHDOG GALLERY contemporary investigative jour- During an era when women nalism more than anything else rarely attended college, Tarbell ever published. did, and graduated. She failed, The 800-page book, with its at least by her standards, in a title masking the fierce exposé brief career as a schoolteacher. tone and devastating evidence, In her late 20’s, knowing she did is “The History of the Standard not want to marry or mother Oil Company.” The author is children but otherwise unsure Ida M. (for Minerva) Tarbell. how to fulfill her intense desire The genesis of the book was a to make the world a better place, series of articles by Tarbell in Tarbell fell into a job proofread- McClure’s Magazine. The epony- ing an educational magazine mous owner, S.S. (for Samuel called The Chautauquan, based Sidney) McClure, also played a in Meadville, Pennsylvania, the huge role in the development of same town where she had at- what in the opening decade of tended Allegheny College. The the 20th century lacked a name, editor gave her opportunities to but today goes by “investigative report and write; Tarbell excelled reporting.” in those roles. After a decade, she If the past is prologue (which left the magazine to freelance in I believe is true without quali- Paris, France. fication), and if history is a As for McClure, he arrived good teacher (which I believe is from Ireland as a schoolboy, ac- sometimes true, depending on companying his widowed mother the mindset of the pupil), then and his siblings. Impoverished, Tarbell (1857-1944) and McClure he managed to barely avoid (1857-1949) offer vital, timely les- starvation until graduation from sons for investigative journalism high school. At the urging of circa 2008. an uncle, McClure moved to Galesburg, Illinois, where odd The Tarbell-McClure jobs allowed him to earn tuition Connection for Knox College. Ending up on Muckraker Ida Tarbell (1857-1944). The Ida M. Tarbell the East Coast after graduation, Collection, Pelletier Library, Allegheny College. Tarbell grew up amidst the oil McClure located employment at fields of rural northwestern Penn- a bicycling magazine that taught sylvania. (For readers lacking in him the business side, then wenty-five years ago, I their oil history, the first U.S. in the early 1890’s started his read a book published 104 well began gushing oil in 1859, own general-interest magazine, years ago. It contributed near Titusville, Pennsylvania.) a risky venture made all the Tmightily to my education as an But despite her deep and broad more treacherous by a national investigative journalist. Beyond knowledge of the fledgling oil economic downturn. Over and that contribution to my personal industry, she never expected to over, it appeared the magazine education, the book invented write about it. would descend into bankruptcy,

6 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Investigative Journalism but McClure’s clever managing of the afloat and pay himself a large enough budget plus outstanding editorial salary to support his family while also content staved off failure. paying his staff well, which is exactly McClure happened to see some of what he did. Never did he place the Tarbell’s freelancing from Paris, finding maximizing of profit ahead of sound himself so impressed that he traveled journalism in the public interest. there to meet her. She started free- lancing for his magazine, a few years The time equals truth formulation later leaving France to join the staff can still work. It is vital to develop in New York City. During the last half lots more publishers who subscribe of the 1890’s, she achieved renown by to the notion.  carrying out two assignments dreamed up by McClure—serialized biographies Steve Weinberg is the author of seven of two deceased, controversial, famous nonfiction books, including his most men—Napoleon Bonaparte and Abra- recent, “Taking on the Trust: The Epic ham Lincoln. Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. By 1900, McClure realized that Rockefeller,” published by W.W. Norton his magazine must tackle one of the in early 2008. He is a former execu- most difficult topics around—corporate tive director of Investigative Reporters giantism and rapacity in the form of and Editors, Inc., and teaches maga- “trusts” (think of the word “antitrust”). words as of 1900, but McClure perhaps zine journalism at the University of The Standard Oil Company, founded heard them in his mind: “Time equals Missouri School of Journalism. and controlled by John D. Rockefeller, truth.” (I first heard that formulation represented the biggest, most infamous from Robert Caro, author of remark- trust of all. McClure asked Tarbell to able journalistic biographies of Robert write a proposal for tackling the topic. Moses and Lyndon Baines Johnson.) She did, and the rest, pun and cliché Tarbell spent time in archives seeking both intended, is history. personal correspondence, visited out- A Personal Note of-the-way towns to interview women Essential Historical Lessons and men never before approached Plenty is wrong with book pub- by a journalist, queried government lishing in general. Still, lots of Superb editorial content gets attention agencies for documents, and entered publishing houses are willing and sells magazines. McClure intuited courthouses to track down litigation. to advance money to journalists that well-researched, well-written ac- She accomplished her remarkable who say they will deliver a book counts of Napoleon Bonaparte and research during an era when long- manuscript on a vital topic for Abraham Lincoln would increase cir- distance travel was slow, without the society. That is what happened culation. He was right; the circulation aid of photocopy machines, audio with my book at W.W. Norton, of the magazine shot up measurably tape recorders, the Internet, or digital where Robert Weil, among oth- with each installment of the lives of cameras. ers, acquires books on searing Bonaparte and Lincoln. The serializa- topics every year, risking the tion of Standard Oil’s rise, thanks in Support from editors and publish- company’s cash. Norton, not large part to the brilliant and often ers is vital. No topic is too large or so incidentally, is one of the predatory tactics of John D. Rock- too risky if editors and publishers few major book publishers that efeller, resulted in massive circulation will support their reporters’ quest has remained independent of gains, too. Those circulation gains for information with resources and corporate giantism. Because my meant McClure could appeal more time. Imagine how appreciative con- book advance would not sustain convincingly to lenders, investors and temporary readers would be if more me for the number of years I potential advertisers. magazines, newspapers, broadcast needed—I am either plodding networks and stations, and cable out- or thorough, depending on the Time spent reporting pays dividends lets and Web sites (posting original perspective—I supplemented and leads to uncovering the truth. content), had reporters delving into the advance with a generous McClure, while sometimes expressing Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Microsoft, the grant from the Alicia Patterson impatience at Tarbell’s pace, nonethe- Department of Homeland Security, the Foundation, presided over by less understood that for his reporter Department of Defense, and other ri- journalist/administrator Peggy to turn up new, compelling material, diculously powerful, nearly unchecked Engel. —S.W. she would need time. Lots of time. institutions. McClure wanted to earn Perhaps no journalist had spoken these enough money to keep his magazine

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 7 21st Century Muckrakers

WATCHDOGS IN WASHINGTON The Press and the Presidency: Silencing the Watchdog ‘President Bush was obsessed from the beginning of his administration with what he regarded as unjustified intrusions by the press.’

BY MURREY MARDER

he Bush administration will leave The Sleeping Watchdog what scrutiny existed came suddenly the White House with relations with national preoccupation over the between the presidency and the Even before President Bush took office, 9/11 attacks, and those were soon fol- Tpress in shambles. No other president the print and broadcast press corps lowed by anthrax powder attacks on has set out so determinedly to discredit in Washington, D.C. were far more Capitol Hill. In political terms—with the role of the press as a watchdog on advocates of watchdog reporting than Republicans in control of both houses the transparency and accountability of they were performers of it. Congress of Congress—these threats on public government. Sadly, during the Bush similarly was often delinquent in its safety virtually immunized the Bush presidency the American press side- fundamental oversight role of main- administration from criticism for the stepped the administration’s hypocrisy taining checks on executive power. wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq. of fighting a war to bring a free press There is still little public understand- During this time, the press remained to Iraq, while seeking to reduce its ing that the press and Congress have the one potential counterweight that oxygen in the United States. a symbiotic relationship. In fact, few could have publicly explored what was One of the first decisions President editors realize that if they do not later revealed to be grievous misjudg- George W. Bush made was to issue send reporters to cover hearings at ments in launching the Iraq invasion an executive order tightening controls the Capitol, there might not be hear- without preparation for its aftermath. on the release of presidential and ings, because Congress survives on the But no attempt at watchdog reporting vice presidential records. To begin publicity such coverage brings. was made by a major news operation, his presidency with secrecy as his This interaction was underscored with the exception of the excellent priority was no accident. Bush was in the report of the special 9/11 com- reporting done by the then-Knight a neophyte in federal government, mission on the terrorist attacks of Ridder Washington bureau. In general, thrust totally unprepared into the role September 11, 2001, which pointed it can be said that the press was actu- as “leader of the free world.” His vice out that, congressional committees ally in a supportive relationship with president, Dick Cheney, however, had “are often spurred into action by the the Bush administration regarding the three decades to observe presidents work of investigative journalists and invasion of Iraq; subsequent to the close-up and had concluded that they watchdog organizations.” The report invasion, The New York Times and had unwisely yielded power to others, ruefully added, “In recent years, tra- The Washington Post published mea thereby diminishing the presidency. ditional review of the administration culpa explanations about their lack Cheney took office as Bush’s mentor in of programs … has been replaced by of aggressiveness in reporting on the Washington’s odd ways, determined to ‘a focus on personal investigations, lead-up to the war in Iraq. roll back what he construed as crippling possible scandals, and issues designed inroads on presidential power. to generate media attention.’” The White House View Years before most of the press had As financial pressures have inten- any idea of the scope of Cheney’s reach sified on news organizations—with The Bush administration’s objective behind the scene, he was the most widespread cuts in staff and newsroom appeared not simply to contain or powerful vice president in American resources—both congressional and counter criticism from these quarters, history. Bush and Cheney, in the name press scrutiny of the executive branch but to blot it out. In April 2004, at a of restoring power to the White House, has been severely diminished. Even White House barbecue for the press, had undercut the prime objective of though there was already less press Ken Auletta of The New Yorker wrote, the U.S. Constitution’s creators: to scrutiny due to the transformational a reporter asked the president how prevent the abuse of power. In the times in which the press was operat- he could know “what the public is shock of two wars, in Afghanistan ing, President Bush was obsessed from thinking” if he did not read news- and Iraq, the Congress and press both the beginning of his administration papers or watch the TV news, as he defaulted as counterweights against with what he regarded as unjustified had earlier claimed. Without missing the power grab. intrusions by the press. Relief from a beat, Bush replied, “You’re assuming

8 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Watchdogs in Washington that you represent the public. I don’t cited several landmark cases in which accept that.” the Supreme Court had upheld the It soon became clear that Bush’s right of the press to function as a response was no fleeting barb. It check on official power, including the clearly reflected a determination to 1971 Pentagon Papers case involving obliterate the long-held assumption top secret papers on the Vietnam that in the United States a free press War initially published by The New is a recognized watchdog agent for York Times and The Washington Post. holding public officials accountable The high court struck down restrain- for their policies and actions and for ing orders—requested by the Nixon demanding transparency of public administration and issued by federal records. Senior officials in the White judges—which had stopped both of House, including Chief of Staff Andrew those presses. Card, were authorized to explain to In 1964, in New York Times Co. v. those who headed news organizations Sullivan, a libel case, Supreme Court the challenge the Bush administration Justice William J. Brennan delivered was putting forth: In essence, it was what still stands as the most sweeping denying that the press has any check interpretation of “the right to criticize and balance role to play in the Ameri- government … [as] the central mean- can system of government. ing of the First Amendment.” Brennan This timeline presents a sampling of As press observer and New York wrote that there is “a profound national muckraking journalism from 1858- University journalism professor Jay commitment to the principle that de- 2007. It is reprinted with permission Rosen summarized the stand-off on bate on national public issues should of the National Geographic Society April 25, 2004 on “PressThink,” his be uninhibited, robust and wide open, from the book “Muckrakers” by Ann Weblog: “What the Bush people say and that it may well include vehement, Bausum. Text copyright © 2007 Ann is, ‘We don’t accept that you have a caustic and sometimes unpleasantly Bausum. check and balance function. We think sharp attacks on government and that you are in the game of ‘Gotcha.’ public officials.” 1858 Oh, you’re interested in headlines, and The most unexpected disagreement you’re interested in conflict. You’re not with President Bush about the press interested in having a serious discus- came from within his cabinet in 2007, An article called “The Swill Milk sion … and exploring things.’” from newly appointed Defense Secre- Trade of New York and Brooklyn” Rosen went on to write that “genera- tary Robert M. Gates, who replaced runs in the May 8 issue of Frank tions of journalists have been taught controversial Donald Rumsfeld, who Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, to believe differently. Their sentences was a major influence in the decision exposing the production of poor- start like this, ‘In our system the press to launch the Iraq War. Gates, who quality milk among city-raised cows describes the role of journalism as a had served four presidents in high that are fed swill (a byproduct of check on power, which is quasi-Con- intelligence posts, had to be talked fermentation) instead of adequate stitutional only because another part into leaving the leadership of Texas grain. of the Constitution, the First Amend- A&M University to take this job. He ment, says you can’t legislate the role retained enough independence in the of the press.…” Bush, Rosen continues, process to tell a U.S. Naval Academy 1859 “rejects this idea. That theory has gone graduating class that in devotion to down,” he says. “And you guys don’t freedom, “The press is not the enemy, have that kind of muscle anymore.” and to treat it as such is self-defeat- The first oil well is drilled near ing.” Gates urged the new graduates Titusville, Pennsylvania. The Fourth Estate “to remember the importance of two pillars of our freedom under the The publication of Charles Darwin’s Other sources disagree totally with the Constitution: the Congress and the “Origin of Species” prompts many Bush White House on the Founders’ press. Both surely try our patience intellectuals to emphasize the philo- concept of the role of the press. In a 1974 from time to time, but they are the sophical teachings of the Bible and speech, then-Supreme Court Justice surest guarantees of the liberty of the defer to Darwin for scientific expla- Potter Stewart said that the “primary American people.” nations about the origins of life. purpose” of the First Amendment was Gates’s bold outspokenness coin- “to create a fourth institution outside cided with evidence in parts of the the government as an additional check nation of a growing turn against the on the three official branches.” Stewart Bush administration’s polarizing po-

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 9 21st Century Muckrakers

litical strategy over the Iraq War. In $l0 million-a-year financing pledged and stocks, layoffs and takeovers of the House of Representatives, in the by philanthropists. With former Wall publishers that a decade ago seemed earlier stages of the war, some had Street Journal Managing Editor Paul impregnable ....” stooped to the lowest level of equating E. Steiger as its editor, the publication An observer might add, what an dissent with disloyalty. But in more that will debut later this year will also irony it would be if President Bush’s recent times, instead of reinforcing the be an experiment in transcending attempt to shrink the influence of the Bush administration’s demeaning of a ideology, since the donors who make press boomeranged into one reborn watchdog press, an opposite effect has its existence possible are strongly and more powerful than ever.  begun to emerge in some arenas with anti-Bush. In addition to its Web site, a surge of concern about the loss of ProPublica intends to offer “temporary Murrey Marder, a 1950 Nieman watchdog reporting. exclusives” of its investigative report- Fellow, is a former chief diplomatic Now, arriving in the mix of new ing to “existing news platforms” that reporter with The Washington Post. media outlets, comes the nonprofit offer the best visibility for a particular He is also the sponsor of the Nieman journalistic venture called ProPublica, story. Steiger has said that he felt Watchdog project (www.nieman- dedicated to investigative journalism impelled to act and innovate because watchdog.org) through the creation (“reporting on abuses of power by any- “today, all around me is an industry of The Murrey and Frances Marder one with power”) and supported with in upheaval, with slumping revenues Fund at the Nieman Foundation.

Decision-Making: A Visual Journey Inside the Iraq War ‘… it remains the job of journalists to do more than report the “stuff” that happens or bring to the public the “first rough draft of history.”’

BY MICHAEL KIRK AND MICHAEL WISER

early seven years after Septem- situation in Iraq, but Rumsfeld was of policies that have come to define ber 11th, it is not hard to find also signaling that it would be a this war. Our films straddle the fence reporting about our nation’s mistake to assign responsibility for between journalism and history—as Nresponse to that tragic day. The wars in it. Looting was simply something that Emmy Awards in both journalism and Afghanistan and Iraq, WMD and Abu happened. For quite some time, the history attest. No matter the label, Ghraib, Fallujah and insurgents, war- press acquiesced. their focus remains on revealing how rantless wiretapping and inadequate This moment was indicative of how key decisions were made by those who medical care for veterans seem like the news media have seemed unwill- were in the position to do so. familiar stories. An incalculable num- ing to challenge the “stuff happens” ber of newspaper articles and dozens assertions of those who hold positions Portraying the Powerful of books—we count more than 50 on of power. Events are reported, then our bookshelves—and thousands of new ones transpire, and they push the Last October “Frontline” Executive hours of television and radio coverage older ones out of the headlines, rarely Producer David Fanning asked us to have been done on them. On the PBS to resurface. Journalists often lack the take on the project of producing a series “Frontline,” where we work as time and resources to provide much- single film about the war by meshing producers, more than 40 documentary needed context or to probe deeply new interviews and reporting with the programs about such subjects have into motivations and actions of the series’ massive archive of hundreds of been aired since 9/11. Why then did people involved so as to shed light interviews and thousands of hours of we decide to add to this mix a four- on those who bear responsibility for footage. While we’d told parts of the and-a-half hour program detailing events about which they are report- story before, neither “Frontline” nor what some call “the war on terror” but ing. On television, in particular, such any other news organization had at- what we entitled, “Bush’s War”? reporting is all too rare. tempted to portray the Shakespearean In the spring of 2003, while the During the years since 9/11, we’ve dimensions of the full story of how looting in Iraq was growing out of produced 10 films for “Frontline” that decisions by the most powerful people control, Secretary of Defense Donald chronicle the epic struggles over policy in our government led us to the situ- Rumsfeld famously remarked, “Stuff inside the Bush administration. These ation our country confronts today. happens!” His words were said to films have examined in depth how We knew from our prior reporting indicate callous indifference to the these battles resulted in the emergence that decisions about interrogation

10 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Watchdogs in Washington

WATCHDOG GALLERY 1872

In “The King of Frauds,” the New York Sun details the unscrupulous dealings of financiers through Crédit Mobilier during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Published on September 4, the article implicates more than a dozen U.S. congressmen and prompts a federal investigation of the scandal during 1873.

1887

Nellie Bly spends “Ten Days in a Mad-House” disguised as a patient in order to observe mistreatment of the mentally ill as background for her series in the New York World, which starts on October 16. In 1890 Jacob Riis (1849-1914) published “How the Other Half Lives,” including his photo- graph of children sleeping on the streets of New York. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. 1888 techniques, war plans, the power of Rice. We wanted to examine how On September 2, the San Francisco the presidency, domestic spying, and bureaucratic battles among them led Examiner publishes “Overboard: An military strategy were not discrete to some of the critical events and/or ‘Examiner’ Man Tests the Life-Sav- stories but part of a single, fascinat- decisions in the Iraq War. ing Gear of the Ferry.” ing narrative waiting to be told about To tell the story of the failure of the interplay among the most senior diplomacy in the run-up to the war, administration officials. We knew that for example, we focused on the long- 1890 our greatest challenge would be finding standing, multifaceted and always a way to translate the massive amount fascinating relationship between of material we’d accumulated into an Secretary of State Powell and Vice Scribner’s publishes “How the Other accessible and comprehensible story. President Cheney. Their strained re- Half Lives,” a study on ghetto life in So we drew boxes, stacking them lationship reached back to the Gulf New York City by Jacob Riis. to indicate how one event followed War when Powell served as Chairman another chronologically. We whittled of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under then down our starting list of hundreds Secretary of Defense Cheney. From 1892 of key events to fewer than 100 of the moment Bush announced Powell’s what we saw as more important mo- appointment, Cheney had worked to Ida B. Wells (later Ida B. Wells- ments. Into the boxes that remained, marginalize Powell’s influence, primar- Barnett) reports on May 21 in the we plugged in the behind-the-scene ily by bringing on Rumsfeld, a personal Memphis newspaper Free Speech stories we’d discovered about the key friend of Cheney’s, as Secretary of players involved. Our focus remained Defense. Rumsfeld and Cheney worked about the horror and injustice of on President George W. Bush, Vice together to counter Powell’s attempts racially motivated lynching. After President Richard Cheney, Secretary to moderate administration policy. her newspaper offices are destroyed of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secre- As many Americans know already in retaliation, she leaves the South tary of State Colin Powell, Director from reporting done primarily after and takes her story to the New York of Central Intelligence George Tenet, Powell left the administration, he was Age. and National Security Advisor and effectively cut out of key decisions, later Secretary of State Condoleezza ambushed in speeches, and attacked

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 11 21st Century Muckrakers

by anonymous administration officials Powell’s Chief of Staff Larry Wilkerson, same time obligated—to be able to in the press. Deputy Attorney General Jack Gold- shine our light in the dark corners of A focus on key people—on their smith, NSC staffers Philip Zelikow and what is probably the most important temperaments, personalities and in- Franklin Miller and others—and with story of our time. In future years, teractions of powerful people such journalists who originally reported historians will have their turn; un- as Powell, Cheney and Rumsfeld—is much of this story—Dana Priest, Steve doubtedly they will rewrite the story simply good storytelling. Often view- Coll, Bob Woodward, Thomas Ricks, based on new information that will ers get drawn into caring about poli- Karen DeYoung, Ron Suskind, Barton surely be uncovered. For now, how- cies and events they might otherwise Gellman, Elisabeth Bumiller, Michael ever, it remains the job of journalists not engage with through gripping, Gordon and others—it has been pos- to do more than report the “stuff” insightful portrayals of characters sible to piece together the dramatic that happens or bring to the public such as these. But such a focus is events that happened out of sight (and the “first rough draft of history.” At about more than producing a good sound) of the public. its best, journalism provides citizens television show; it is about fulfilling Once our narrative course became with enough information to make the presumed role of a free press in clear, we dug inside our archive of 4,000 an informed judgment about who is a democracy by explaining how and hours of videotape, hundreds of pho- responsible for decisions made about why our elected leaders and their ap- tographs, and numerous documents so policies conducted in their name.  pointees acted as they did. we could make visual the stories we’d This has been a daunting story to tell. decided to tell. This time-consuming Michael Kirk, a 1980 Nieman Fellow, Rarely could we find footage of times final stage is what rewards us—and is a founding producer of “Frontline,” when these many decisions were being our viewers—with the fascinating now in it’s 25th season. He is the made behind closed doors. Often the intersection and sometimes jolting producer/director/writer and Michael principals were reluctant to talk. With juxtaposition of voice, document, film Wiser is field producer of “Bush’s War,” interviews with key deputies—Deputy and photography. which was first broadcast on PBS on Secretary of State Richard Armit- In reporting and producing “Bush’s March 24-25, 2008. Wiser is a 2003 age, Army Secretary Thomas White, War,” we feel privileged—and at the graduate of Harvard Law School.

Determining the Reliability of a Key CIA Source After his newspaper story exposed the CIA’s reliance on a con man to determine if Iraq had WMD, a journalist dug deeper to unravel the mystery.

BY BOB DROGIN

A year ago in Nieman Reports, Steve overcome three decades of newspaper terrifying account soon reverberated Weinberg, the former executive direc- writing before I could even begin. through U.S. intelligence channels. tor of Investigative Reporters and My story focused on a young Iraqi By the fall of 2002, the Bush admin- Editors, wrote an article entitled “The chemical engineer who sought po- istration had latched onto Hussein’s Book as an Investigative Vehicle for litical asylum in Germany in 1999. supposed weapons of mass destruc- News,” about books being written by He brought no documents or other tion as a pretext for war. President journalists that are providing in-depth proof, but the smooth-talking defec- Bush directly warned of Iraq’s deadly accounts of Iraq War policy and deci- tor convinced Germany’s spy service bio-trucks, among other dangers, in sion-making. Now Los Angeles Times that he had helped design and build his 2003 State of the Union speech. reporter Bob Drogin describes some of secret biological weapons factories on More memorably, Secretary of State the challenges he found as he trans- trucks and trains for Saddam Hussein’s Colin Powell vividly cited Curveball’s formed his investigative reporting regime. A local U.S. intelligence team “eyewitness” account and displayed into a book about a CIA source code issued his wonderfully apt code name: drawings of the sinister trucks when named Curveball. Curveball. he argued the case for war to the U.N. Few outsiders then believed that Security Council. urning a lengthy newspaper in- Hussein directly imperiled Western As a reporter on the intelligence vestigation into a book couldn’t security. But after the 9/11 attacks, CIA beat in the Washington bureau of be that difficult. Or so I thought. officers in Washington re-evaluated the Los Angeles Times, I had helped TI soon discovered that I needed to the German reports and Curveball’s “truth squad” White House claims on

12 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Watchdogs in Washington

WATCHDOG GALLERY 1893

S.S. McClure founds McClure’s Magazine in New York, N.Y., with J.S. Phillips and associates.

1894

Henry Demarest Lloyd writes a docu- mentary about J.D. Rockefeller and the development of Standard Oil.

1895

Theodore Roosevelt is appointed a commissioner of the New York City Police Board. Lincoln Steffens cov- ers Roosevelt’s reform efforts for the Commercial Advertiser. Roosevelt resigns in April 1897 to become President William McKinley’s Assis- Ida M. Tarbell grew up near oil derricks in Western Pennsylvania and later investigated the tant Secretary of the Navy. practices of the Standard Oil Company for McClure’s Magazine in November 1902. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. 1898 Iraq, raising doubts when the evidence his name before the war. The Senate appeared weak. But Powell’s U.N. Select Committee on Intelligence and The Spanish-American War is presentation convinced me that the other investigations soon confirmed fought to determine the indepen- CIA possessed indisputable proof. I and expanded our information. Finally, dence of Cuba. Theodore Roosevelt went to Baghdad after the invasion in April 2005, John Carroll, then our participates as a colonel, leading and spent a month covering the hunt editor, urged me to focus full-time on for WMD. Day after day, U.S., British the Curveball case. He could sense a his regiment of Rough Riders. War and Australian teams raced across the bigger story. coverage becomes increasingly sen- baking desert to search suspect fac- During the next six months, I made sational and provocative, prompting tories, arsenals, pesticide plants, and two trips to Germany, one to England, Joseph Pulitzer to retreat from his other facilities. They came up with and numerous visits to the United commitment to print shocking and zilch. I returned home determined to Nations in New York. I reached out exaggerated news. discover how the CIA had gotten such to intelligence sources and former crucial intelligence so catastrophically weapons inspectors and other experts wrong. around the world. I hooked up with 1899 In March 2004, a year after the John Goetz, a freelance reporter based invasion, my colleague Greg Miller and in Berlin, to help track down the Ger- “Packingtown,” an early exposé I helped find the answer. We broke man side of the saga. Our 8,000-word about the meatpacking industry in the news that the prewar intelligence story led the paper and filled three had relied on the unconfirmed account inside pages on November 20, 2005.1 Chicago by Algie Simmons, is pub- of a dubious defector in Germany. We couldn’t find Curveball (who is lished by Charles H. Kerr & Co. Worse, we wrote, U.S. authorities never under the protection of German intel- The Chicago Daily Tribune gath- interviewed Curveball, never verified ligence), but we traced the astonishing ers statistics on injuries caused by his information, and didn’t even know screw-ups, bureaucratic rivalries, cult- fireworks in an article warning of their use during Independence Day 1 http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/latimes935.html celebrations.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 13 21st Century Muckrakers

like attitudes, and spineless leadership Vietnam. I could see why. Unlike him, challenged my earlier reporting. I that plagued the case. It was hard to my meter was running. worked seven days a week, usually 15 overstate the scope of the disaster. If Most Washington reporting is or more hours a day. I vowed never U.S. intelligence authorities famously conducted by telephone, press confer- to write another book if I survived failed to connect the dots before 9/11, ence, or computer research. Each day, the ordeal, and my worried family in Curveball, they made up the dots. reporters offer insight into meetings eagerly agreed. Several publishers and Hollywood they can’t attend or scramble for re- To my surprise, I met my deadline studios contacted me after the story ports written by others about events for the manuscript. My leave had ran. Random House quickly offered far away. Now I reverted to my early expired, and I wearily returned to a contract to write a 100,000-word days as a police reporter. I knocked work the same day at the Los Angeles book, and Focus Features bought the on doors, begged invitations to din- Times. At nights and on weekends option for a film. The paper granted ner, and otherwise sought face-to-face over the next six months, I desperately me a book leave. I was thrilled. I meetings. Sources needed to know I cut chapters and rewrote others. Like already had reported on Iraq’s WMD wanted the truth, not a sound bite. most new authors, I was stunned to for three years. I was obsessed by Our newspaper story, I realized, had discover that the publisher offered less the topic and had files bulging with only sketched a skeleton of a story. editing on a 300-page book than my notes and reports. A book would let I set up a basement office with a newspaper normally provided for a me provide context and perspective, a computer but no telephone. I arranged 30-inch story. So I nervously passed way to crosscheck competing accounts, 12 large boxes of notes and documents drafts to friends and colleagues and something newspapers never could do. on the floor behind me. And I froze. incorporated their suggestions into With the benefit of hindsight, and more What was my lede? Did a book have a my manuscript. I was frustrated at my reporting, I could connect the proper lede? I tried writing a detailed outline, failure to find several key documents dots. I’d never written a book before, with 20 chapters, but tossed it away. or officials. But I took solace in Bob but how hard could it be? It was too formulaic, too flat. I wanted Woodward’s description of his work as something more organic, more lifelike. the “best available version of the truth.” Reporting Begins Anew I not only had the defining story of No book about an intelligence opera- one of America’s worst intelligence tion is ever 100 percent complete, but I I soon found out. My story involved failures. I had a great yarn to tell. I felt sure I more than met Woodward’s a confirmed liar, at least four rival wanted to provide the voice and the investigative standard. spy services, and officials desperate authority it deserved. That meant I “Curveball” arrived in bookstores in to hide their culpability for an in- needed to relearn my craft. October 2007, and more than a dozen telligence fiasco. Even the classified I built chapters around dialogue and newspapers and magazines responded documents were filled with errors. A scenes. I described not just what people with very favorable reviews. The New newspaper story didn’t have to answer said and did, but what they thought York Times Sunday Book Review called every question; a book should at least and why. I let the details emerge as it “worthy of Somerset Maugham or try. Frantic, I went back to my earlier clues to a puzzle, not an assembly Graham Greene.” I was blown away. sources and pleaded for help unrav- of facts. I sketched in the history to Translations are underway in Holland, eling the case. I switched on a tape explain how attitudes and biases had Germany, Japan and other countries. recorder, which I rarely use for news developed. I ignored outside experts Even better, I was invited to launch interviews. Transcribing the material and pundits. My characters were real the book on “The Colbert Report.” later, I was shocked to discover how people, with real motives, emotions, Little impresses my teenage kids, but much I had missed when I only lis- hopes and dreams. I let their story seeing their dad mocked on late night tened for cogent quotes. unfold in real time, largely in their TV did the trick. I might even write Now, the underbrush of detail helped own words, building suspense toward another book.  explain the why and how, not just a dramatic conclusion. what had happened. I identified new It was brutal. Over the next nine Bob Drogin, a reporter in the Wash- sources in Washington and returned to months, I wrote and rewrote every ington bureau of the Los Angeles Europe and the United Nations. I filed word, paragraph and page several Times, is the author of “Curveball: a half dozen Freedom of Information times. Despite the endless space a Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Act requests (all were denied) and book potentially offers, I learned that Caused a War,” published by Random found new clues in old documents. less often is more. I vastly overwrote House. His Web site is www.curveball- Three months passed. I kept find- some sections, then slashed them back book.com. ing more people to interview, more to keep the story moving. I used end- documents to chase. I recalled that notes to cite every source and moved Neil Sheehan spent 16 years writing text there that bogged down the main “A Bright Shining Lie,” arguably the narrative but still deserved attention. best nonfiction book about the lies in I rewrote sections as new information

14 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Watchdogs in Washington

Digital Records Reveal Corruption 1901 William McKinley is assassinated on on Capitol Hill September 14; Theodore Roosevelt becomes the nation’s 26th President. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting was awarded to the staffs of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service, “with notable work by Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer,” given in recognition of “their disclosure of 1902 bribe-taking that sent former Representative Randy Cunningham to prison in disgrace.” In separate articles that follow, Stern and Kammer describe how, in “Tweed Days in St. Louis” runs working on aspects of this story of Congressional corruption, they went about their investigative reporting and built on the work being done by one another. in the October issue of McClure’s Magazine as the first installment of what becomes known as “The Shame of the Cities,” by Lincoln Combining investigative techniques and Steffens. Book is published in 1904. technology, a reporter unearths a scandal. The first installment of Ida Tarbell’s “The History of the Standard Oil BY MARCUS STERN Company” appears in the November issue of McClure’s Magazine. The collected articles are published as a n May 2005, Randy Cunningham came out thanks to relentless digging two-volume book set in 1904. was seen by his supporters as a by journalists, bloggers and federal larger-than-life fighter pilot, war investigators. But no suspicions swirled Ihero, and ardent pro-military keeper around Cunningham until a newspaper 1903 of the conservative flame. As a Re- article published on June 12, 2005 publican member of the U.S. House, showed that a defense contractor The January issue of McClure’s he had steered hundreds of millions named Mitch Wade had purchased of federal dollars to his San Diego Cunningham’s Southern California Magazine includes an editorial call- congressional district and political home at a highly inflated price. The ing attention to its three articles contributors. The lawmaker who called sham home sale paved the way for about “American Contempt of the himself Duke, serving his 16th year in Cunningham to upgrade from a house Law.” They are authored by Ray the House, was politically invincible. to a mansion and Wade’s defense firm Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, He could keep his seat for life. to go from having no federal prime and Ida Tarbell. That was then, before Cunningham contracts to a portfolio exceeding $100 was disclosed as the most corrupt million within two years, according to member of Congress ever caught, the article. 1904 both in dollar amount and audacity. As the writer of that story, I’m As it turned out, he and his cronies asked frequently how I got onto it. Wall Street insider Thomas Lawson had been secretly acquiring boats, Most are surprised to learn that no mansions, Oriental carpets and other tip was involved. The break came from writes a tell-all exposé called “Fren- antiques as they traveled by limo and a time-honored reporting practice: zied Finance” for the August issue private jet to resorts where they wined, kicking over stones. Or in a digital of Everybody’s Magazine. dined and soaked in hot tubs with parlance, what I did might be called Edward Bok publishes a series of prostitutes. They paid for their lavish “clicking over stones,” since a lot of editorials warning about “The ‘Pat- excesses by systematically plundering hunting around in cyberspace is what the military-intelligence budget each revealed early on the threads I used ent-Medicine’ Curse” in the Ladies’ year. The former war hero’s corruption to weave this story together. Home Journal. earned him the longest prison term Early in May 2005, as I sat in my Republican Party candidate Theo- ever meted out to a member of Con- office of the Copley News Service on dore Roosevelt becomes the first gress—eight years and four months. the 11th floor of the National Press President by succession to gain out- And it helped put the spotlight on Building, no suspicions swirled around earmarks, the currency of congres- Cunningham. He had taken two trips right election to the presidency with sional corruption. to Saudi Arabia in the previous year, his defeat of Alton Brooks Parker, a The darker side of Cunningham and I hadn’t believed his explanation Democrat.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 15 21st Century Muckrakers

then: He said he wanted to improve I found MZM’s corporate Web site, not fit their “corporate or security relations between the Kingdom and where I learned it was a fast-grow- interests.” So Wade put it back on the the United States. But after a wide- ing defense company that had gone market without ever actually seeing ranging swing through public records, from no prime contracts to more it. He could not account for the loss I had nothing to debunk the reason he than $100 million within the rough in value at a time when home values gave. I decided to do one last thing: time frame of the house sale. Cun- were exploding upward. to see if the congressman had updated ningham, as a senior member of the When I called Cunningham, he his living accommodations. defense appropriations subcommittee, acknowledged that he had supported An online search of property re- had substantial influence over defense Wade’s efforts to get defense contracts, cords found that Cunningham and his spending. And the defense contractor but he insisted that help had noth- wife had purchased a $2.55 million who bought his Del Mar house for ing to do with the house transaction. mansion in the pricey neighborhood $1.67 million was suddenly swimming When asked what cynics might think, of Rancho Santa Fe 18 months ear- in defense contracts. Cunningham said this: “My whole life lier. That price seemed way beyond Next, I looked to see what Wade I’ve lived above board. I’ve never even the reach of a couple living on the did with Representative Cunningham’s smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don’t salaries of a lawmaker and a public Del Mar Heights house. Another quick cheat. If a contractor buys me lunch school administrator. Another search search of property records found that and we meet a second time, I buy the showed that Cunningham had sold his he had put the house right back on lunch. My whole life has been above house in Del Mar Heights for $1.67 the market for roughly the same price board, and so this doesn’t worry me.” million—$1.3 million more than he he’d paid for it. It languished on the Later, he added, “The last thing I had paid for it about 15 years earlier. market for eight months before selling would do is get involved in something Perhaps that put him in position to at a $700,000 loss. During that same that, you know, is wrong. And I feel buy the mansion. period, San Diego home values had very confident that I haven’t done But something else caught my eye: appreciated in double-digits. anything wrong.” He didn’t sell the house to an indi- Over the next couple of weeks, I On June 12, 2005, the Union-Tri- vidual. He sold it to something called was able to review “comps” for houses bune in San Diego published the story 1523 New Hampshire Ave. LLC. That sold in Del Mar Heights during the laying out the details of the home sale sounded to me like a Washington, period that Cunningham sold the house along with the explanations offered D.C. address. An electronic search to Wade. It confirmed that Wade had by the lawmaker and the defense found that the buyer was a company substantially overpaid. contractor. Five days later, a federal registered in the state of Nevada to a When I called MZM, a spokesman grand jury began issuing subpoenas. man named Mitch Wade. The search told me that the company had pur- Five months later, Cunningham tear- also showed that Wade had a second chased the house to boost its presence fully pleaded guilty to taking more company registered in Nevada: MZM in San Diego. But after the sale went than $2.4 million in bribes. Today, Inc. through, the company decided it did he sits in jail.

Congressional Earmarks: Revealing Who Really Benefits

BY JERRY KAMMER

arcus Stern’s explosive story lobbyists in a sleazy loop of influence money and fuel an incumbency pro- about a defense contractor’s buying and selling. tection machine. purchase of Duke Cunning- One of that culture’s most prominent Earmarks in defense bills became Mham’s home at a grossly inflated price features is the earmark, a line item the currency of Cunningham’s cor- propelled us, in the Copley News inserted into a spending bill, often ruption. They were his side of a quid Bureau, into a series of investigative with little or no oversight. Earmarks pro quo arrangement that brought stories showing that Cunningham’s cor- have been around for a long time, and him a mansion, Rolls Royce, luxury ruption, while outrageous, was not truly many serve legitimate public purposes. vacations, a series of boats, and the extraordinary. During the next several But they didn’t proliferate nor become prostitutes, who last year wrapped months, our reporting unearthed a an open invitation to fraud until the up prosecutors’ bribery case against permissive Capitol Hill culture that 1990’s, when members of Congress one of Cunningham’s vividly decadent unites congressmen, contractors and fully recognized their power to raise bribing benefactors.

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San Diego congressman WATCHDOG GALLERY 1905 and member of the ap- propriations commit- tee. Lowery, a cynical The British medical journal The man who, according Lancet publishes “The Dark and to friends, despises the Insanitary Premises Used for the press and wryly notes Slaughtering of Cattle and Hogs,” by that his job is guaranteed Adolphe Smith on January 14. by the citizen’s right to petition on the Congress, The Appeal to Reason begins se- refused to talk. rial publication of Upton Sinclair’s Lowery had retired novel, “The Jungle.” The final in- from Congress in 1990 af- stallment appears on November 4. ter news accounts about his close ties to one of the Ray Stannard Baker examines cor- more corrupt figures in rupt “Railroad Rebates” in the the national savings and December issue of McClure’s Maga- loan scandal. As a mem- zine. Four additional articles follow, ber of the House Banking including one called “Railroads on Committee, Lowery had Trial” in the March 1906 issue. enthusiastically sup- ported the S&L deregu- Thomas Lawson examines fraud in lation that facilitated the life insurance industry through that multibillion-dollar a series for Everybody’s Magazine. plundering of federally insured institutions. Af- Publication begins in Collier’s maga- ter leaving Congress, he zine of a serial by Samuel Hopkins immediately became a Adams about “The Great American lobbyist, following the Fraud” of patent medicines. path from Capitol Hill to K Street that has Charles Edward Russell examines In this issue of McClure’s Magazine, the first installment of become routine among the meatpacking industry in his Ida M. Tarbell’s “The History of the Standard Oil Com- retiring public servants book, “The Greatest Trust in the pany” appeared. lured by the financial World,” published by the Ridgeway- charms of service to Thayer Co. special interests. Lowery specialized in During the past decade, earmarks getting earmarks inserted into spend- 1906 became central to the legalized brib- ing bills supervised by his close friend ery of the campaign finance system. from the desert east of Los Angeles, Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” is In many ways, it is an astonishingly Rep. Jerry Lewis. By 1999, when Lewis permissive system; it serves sponsors became chairman of the defense ap- published as a book by Doubleday, of congressional earmarks by ensuring propriations subcommittee, Lowery’s Page and Co., during February. that their campaign coffers are filled satisfied clients were paying him mil- Cosmopolitan Magazine begins by grateful lobbyists as it responds lions of dollars every year. One of his publication of the “Treason of the to the requests of the recipients with first clients was Brent Wilkes, a former Senate” series by David Graham largesse. By giving members a personal accountant and someone who saw how stake in spending bills, it also helps easily the system could be prostituted. Phillips in March. assure passage. No matter how much Wilkes bought Cunningham, hired President Theodore Roosevelt wasteful spending the bill contains, a Lowery, contributed liberally to a coins the term “muckraker” dur- “yes” vote is assured. Earmarks also host of key appropriators, and began ing a speech in Washington, D.C., consume enormous amounts of staff getting multimillion dollar earmarks on April 14, having first tested his time that could be directed to more stuffed into spending bills to pay for legitimate needs. his services converting government remarks on March 17 at a private To peer into this world of influence documents into digital format. dinner for journalists who were and affluence, I focused a lot of my My reporting drew on three principal members of the Gridiron Club. reporting on Bill Lowery, a former sources of records:

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 17 21st Century Muckrakers

1. Lowery’s lobbying disclosure forms was Keith Ashdown, the burly and WATCHDOG GALLERY revealed his clients and the fees he brilliant earmarks’ watchdog at Tax- charged them. payers for Common Sense. Ashdown 2. The conference reports of spending has no equal in the forensic science bills helped us compile a partial of tracking earmarks that lobbyists list of the earmarks these clients and congressional staffers try to bury received. like dog bones. It was news coverage 3. Campaign finance records assembled of the Cunningham scandal, he says, by the Center for Public Integrity al- that made the corruption of earmarks lowed us to tally the contribution comprehensible to the general public. checks to political campaigns that “Before Cunningham, it was more of were written by Lowery, his associ- a budget wonk thing, it wasn’t any- ates, and clients. thing that grabbed you by the throat and made you pay attention,” he told !he most interesting pattern that us during additional reporting we emerged involved Lewis’s 1999 to did for the book we wrote about the 2005 chairmanship of the defense scandal.1 “A lot of people thought that appropriations subcommittee. While earmarking was just something that Lewis green-lighted hundreds of mil- congressmen are supposed to do.” lions of dollars in earmarks for Wilkes The Lewis-Lowery relationship and other Lowery clients, Lowery di- is being probed by federal criminal rected a fundraising machine pumping investigators, who confront the chal- hundreds of thousands of dollars into Muckraker Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936). lenge of determining just how far Lewis’s campaign coffers. Photo by Edward Weston. the influence trading can go before Lewis didn’t need the money to it crosses the legal line. Whether or defend his reliably Republican seat. not it is criminal, there is vivid evi- But in 2004, these funds allowed While I relied heavily on public dence—revealed in the Cunningham him to write checks for $650,000 records, I received valuable help from saga, the Lewis-Lowery relationship, in “excess campaign funds” to the several human sources. A few Capitol and the extensive coverage of Jack Republican war chest to fund vulner- Hill insiders helped us to flesh out the Abramoff’s schemes—that Congress able incumbents. In this case, money Lowery-Lewis relationship with details now often practices governance not spent on other party members’ races about their patronage of Capitol Hill envisioned by President Abraham purchased Lewis the best seat at the restaurants and Lewis’s role as the Lincoln at Gettysburg. What we have table. A few months later, Republican best man in Lowery’s second wedding. is government of the lobbyist, by the leadership awarded him the coveted Having this personal testimony about earmark, for the campaign cash—and chairmanship of the full appropriations him added to what I’d gleaned from the occasional, more explicit bribe of committee. He called the honor “the court records of his two divorces. the sort preferred by Randy “Duke” highlight of my career.” Few members of congressional staffs Cunningham.  were willing to talk with me for this Records Reveal, Sources story, either on or off the record. I Jerry Kammer, a 1994 Nieman Fel- Confirm received important help, however, from low, and Marcus Stern each agreed to a few former staffers, especially Nathan a buy-out arrangement with Copley Our reporting also revealed a lot about Facey, who helped me understand the News Service in 2007. Kammer hopes Lewis and Lowery’s exchange of key mechanics and the appropriations to write about immigration, which he staff members. We observed that their culture. Facey was disillusioned by first reported on as a correspondent in offices had become “so intermingled his service on Capitol Hill, especially Mexico in 1986. Stern is working as a that they seem to be extensions of the punch-your-ticket-and-cash-in media consultant. Information about each other.” Two Lewis staffers who mentality of congressional staffers the book they wrote with two Copley had shepherded earmarks into bills for who view public service as vocational colleagues, based on their reporting Lowery later joined his lobbying firm, school for K Street. The opportunistic about Randy Cunningham, is found where they earned millions of dollars virus of Lowery’s cynicism has spread at www.thewrongstuff.net. and became frequent contributors to its infection across Capitol Hill. their former boss. One of our more valuable sources

1 “The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught,” by Marcus Stern, Jerry Kammer, Dean Calbreath, and George E. Condon, Jr., was published by PublicAffairs in 2007.

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McClure’s Magazine publishes an Classified Documents: Secrecy vs. examination of “The Story of Life Insurance” in a series by Burton J. Citizenship Hendrick beginning in May, 1906. In the digital age, there is an appetite ‘for direct Former staff members from Mc- access to source documents.’ Clure’s Magazine reorganize under the banner of the American Maga- zine during July. Their first issue is BY STEVEN AFTERGOOD published in October.

Edwin Markham writes a series hen the Justice Department Use of Classified Information about child labor entitled “The Hoe- announced the indictment Man in the Making” beginning with in August 2005 of two pro- McNulty’s words are worth pondering the September issue of Cosmopoli- WIsrael lobbyists and a Department because they encapsulate some dis- tan Magazine. of Defense analyst for mishandling turbingly prevalent attitudes towards classified information, the prosecu- classified information, the press, and George Kibbe Turner writes about tor, then-U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty, the public. In his view, classified in- the commissioner form of govern- solemnly explained that “Those not formation is assumed to be uniformly ment in “Galveston: A Business authorized to receive classified infor- sacrosanct and categorically off limits. Corporation” for the October issue mation must resist the temptation He does not admit the possibility of McClure’s Magazine. to acquire it, no matter what their that information might be classified motivation may be.” unnecessarily, or in error, or out of I remember being startled by the malign self-interest. 1907 severity of that statement, particularly But experience—and declassifica- since I frequently pursue the tempta- tion—teaches otherwise. The universe tion that McNulty warned against. In of classified information includes not George Kibbe Turner’s article on fact, it occurred to me that I had per- only genuine national security secrets, vice in the city of Chicago, pub- sonally committed most of the “overt such as confidential intelligence sourc- lished in the April issue of Mc- acts” that were alleged against the es or advanced military technologies, Clure’s Magazine, helps prompt defendants: I had asked government but an endless supply of mundane Illinois to establish the first state officials questions on topics that I bureaucratic trivia, such as 50-year-old minimum wage laws. knew to be classified; I had occasion- intelligence budget figures, as well as ally received classified information for the occasional crime or cover-up. The American Magazine publishes which I was not authorized, and I had Nor does McNulty consider that Ray Stannard Baker’s article in May, communicated it to others who were sometimes there might be a public entitled “Clash of Races in a South- likewise unauthorized. interest in disclosure that outweighs a ern City,” as part of a series on race Of course, inquiring into classified legitimate security interest in secrecy. relations that is later published by government information and disclosing Should the press have resisted the Doubleday, Page and Co., as “Fol- it is something that many national se- temptation to discover that “numer- lowing the Color Line” (1908). curity reporters and policy analysts do, ous incidents of sadistic, blatant and or try to do, every day. And with a few wanton criminal abuses were inflicted Brand Whitlock writes a novel con- narrow exceptions—for particularly on several detainees” at Abu Ghraib demning capital punishment called sensitive types of information—courts prison, as the Taguba report revealed “The Turn of the Balance.” have determined that this is not a in 2004, just because that report and crime. (To convict the pro-Israeli lob- that sentence from it were clearly byists when their case comes to trial classified “Secret”? 1908 this spring, the judge ruled that the Remarkably, there is a popular prosecution must show that the de- school of thought in support of this fendants did more than simply traffic point of view, and those who believe The June issue of Everybody’s Mag- in classified information. They must this scorn disclosure of any classified azine carries Charles Edward Rus- also have sought to harm the United information. Former education sec- sell’s exposé about how the state of States or advanced the interests of a retary and conservative commentator Georgia leases its prisoners to con- foreign power and must knowingly have William Bennett decried the 2006 tractors as free labor in exchange engaged in criminal activity, among award of the Pulitzer Prize to New for providing their room and board. other limiting conditions.) York Times reporters James Risen and

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Eric Lichtblau for their coverage of Many readers don’t merely want to be WATCHDOG GALLERY intelligence surveillance activity and to told what some new official document Dana Priest of The Washington Post says, they want to see the document for her reporting on CIA detention for themselves. sites abroad. Tens of thousands of readers visit my These reporters, Bennett said, “took organization’s Web site daily for this classified information, secret informa- kind of access, and many newspapers tion, published it in their newspapers, have started to offer online access to against the wishes of the President. As newsworthy documents to supplement a result, are they punished, are they their reporting. Publication of source in shame, are they embarrassed, are documents does not obviate the need they arrested? No, they win Pulitzer for reporting, since mere disclosure Prizes, they win Pulitzer Prizes. I don’t leaves key questions unasked: Who think what they did was worthy of prepared the document? Why, and an award. I think what they did was to what end? Who dissents from its worthy of jail,” he said in April 2006 conclusions? And so on. in a radio broadcast reported by Edi- But in a virtuous circle, the direct tor & Publisher. access to such documents creates an His words echo the implicit view that expectation and a demand for greater classified information is sacrosanct by McClure’s Magazine, November 1903, availability. Meanwhile, the still-matur- definition and is not to be disclosed featuring an article by Lincoln Steffens. ing blogosphere permits new forums under any circumstances. Bennett for public engagement with national adds to this view the flourish that “the policy—some of them quite sophisti- wishes of the President” ought to be do so), I have chosen not to repub- cated—and enables active citizens to decisive in the matter. lish documents such as these on our establish contact with like-minded Yet to reject this view does not mean Web site. individuals. one is indifferent to national security Even with this technology available, or blind to the fact that disclosure of The Nature of Citizenship I find that most newspapers do not some types of classified information offer such “tools for citizenship” to the can put lives at risk. Just as not all Interwoven into this broader issue same extent that their business pages classified information is genuinely seem to be divergent perspectives offer tools for investing, for example, sensitive, it might be noted that not on the nature of citizenship and, by with their detailed daily statistics all unclassified information is harmless implication, of journalism. Is a citizen on the performance of thousands of or risk-free. As someone who spends basically a spectator and an object of stocks. In most papers—and even on his days gathering government records policies that are authored by profes- their Web sites—it is easier to find the from obscure places—and publishing sionals? Or can a citizen aspire to be an daily batting averages of one’s baseball them on a Web site operated by the active participant in the policy process? team than the daily voting records of Federation of American Scientists1—I The passive spectator might easily be one’s congressional delegation. Why frequently find unclassified documents satisfied with whatever information should that be so? that arguably do not belong in the authorities decide to disclose and is To demand robust access to govern- public domain. I’d include among likely to defer to “the wishes of the ment information, together with the them instructional manuals prepared President.” But the active participant rights and responsibilities of active by the U.S. government on the follow- will favor maximum disclosure and citizenship, still involves swimming ing sorts of topics: view sweeping claims of secrecy with against the tide. Even so, something skepticism. pushes many of us to believe the fight • The preparation and use of impro- In our time, the activist concept ap- is still worth waging.  vised explosives pears to be a minority view, swamped • The training of snipers by an insatiable appetite for entertain- Steven Aftergood directs the Project on • The operation of shoulder-fired mis- ment and diversion. But some coun- Government Secrecy at the Federation siles. tervailing trends are noteworthy. of American Scientists and writes the From my vantage point—as a close Secrecy News e-mail newsletter and Though I am not in the business observer of the online dynamic—I no- blog. of withholding information from the tice an increasing public appreciation public (it goes against my grain to for direct access to source documents.

1 www.fas.org/blog/secrecy

20 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Watchdogs in Washington

Charles Edward Russell explores Investigative Reporting the hypocritical connection between Trinity Church and the huge rev- About Secrecy enues it nets as owner of extensive slum tenements in New York City. ‘With some noteworthy exceptions, secrecy is The piece runs in the July 1908 is- rarely tackled head-on in the press.’ sue of Everybody’s Magazine; simi- lar pieces appear in other muck- BY TED GUP raking magazines around the same time.

Edward Bok examines the taboo The real intent of the First secrecy as a principle instrument of subject of venereal disease in a Amendment was to prevent governance, a way to impede scrutiny, obscure process, avoid accountability, photo-illustrated series for the La- national suicide by making it suppress dissent, and concentrate dies’ Home Journal. Subscriptions difficult for the government to power. The tendency to abuse secrecy fall by 70,000 readers in protest, operate in secret, free from the is as old as power itself, but prior to but the series leads ultimately to 9/11 it was usually checked, and even greater openness about discussing scrutiny of the press. its abuses were cyclical. sex. Too often today this broader use —I.F. Stone, October 3, 1966 of secrecy escapes our attention, or at least our reporting—especially when as 1909 nvestigative reporters are all too reporters we fail to prevail and obtain familiar with secrecy. They know it the information sought. On the rare as the obstacle that stands between occasion that secrecy itself is granted Documentary photographs by Lewis Ithem and the object of their interest. center stage, it is often so closely tied Hine of children working in facto- Everything about investigative report- to the particulars of a given story that ries contribute to the demand for ing reinforces the notion that secrecy the context is lost. Readers encounter child labor protection laws. is but an impediment to be overcome. the subject of secrecy almost always in In November McClure’s Magazine We celebrate our triumphs over secrecy isolated settings—this official refused with prizes, promotions and public to disclose, that official declined to exposes the white slave trade of im- accolades. But secrecy is more than a comment. migrants caught up in prostitution mere roadblock to successful report- Our own reportorial frustrations in “The Daughters of the Poor” by ing, and the conventional treatment have sometimes been allowed to color George Kibbe Turner. of secrecy may inadvertently play into our judgment and blind us to the news; the hands of those who seek to keep we personalize secrecy. Because we are the public in the dark. stymied in our quest for information, 1911 With some noteworthy exceptions, we view the story as a dry hole. There secrecy is rarely tackled head-on in the is a professional reluctance to write John A. Fitch writes about the 12- press. Rather, it crops up in stories as about secrecy per se, in part because hour workday of the steel industry an incidental—a fleeting denial of ac- it is seen as self-serving or whining, in “Old Age at Forty” for the March cess, a closed door, a call not returned, an admission of our own shortcom- a stalled Freedom of Information Act ings as reporters. Writing about intact issue of the American Magazine. (FOIA) request. Secrecy itself gets short secrets somehow smacks of defeatism. S.S. McClure retires as editor of shrift. It is endemic to the culture Great reporters, we might imagine, McClure’s Magazine. The magazine of investigative reporting to see it in would not stoop to carping about survives until 1929. terms that are defined by our own such conditions, equating secrecy with ability or inability to surmount the professional adversity; they would rise obstacles before us. above them, or so the argument goes. 1912 In so doing we have tended to Watergate and the Pentagon Papers overlook one of the more significant remain the template, stories steeped stories of our lifetime—an emerging in secrecy, but in which the reporters Former chief executive Theodore “secretocracy” that threatens to trans- emerged triumphant. The closest we Roosevelt stages a political come- form American society and democratic come to recognizing secrecy as an back as the Progressive Party candi- institutions. Systemic or indiscriminate integral element of the story is when date for President. He garners more secrecy involves the calculated use of it is cast as a cover-up.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 21 21st Century Muckrakers

Obstacles to Reporting on ment that comes with cutting through designations on documents, thereby Secrecy resistance and secrecy is undeniable. removing them from public scrutiny But cumulatively, such breakthrough even as they admit them to be unclas- There are other reasons why secrecy stories may have left readers/citizens sified. Those labels have brought about is rarely taken on directly. To expose with the dangerous misimpression that a sea change in the availability of ma- broad patterns of secrecy requires few secrets can withstand our reporto- terials and in our ability to track the reporters to cooperate across beats rial onslaught, that the republic still policies and practices of government and to subordinate sensitivities over enjoys a robust albeit begrudging trans- and industry. It is a subject familiar turf to news values. There is also the parency, and that the government’s to the coalition of interest groups and fear that an examination of secrecy or industry’s feeble attempts to ward journalists who care so deeply about is for policy wonks and political sci- us off and conceal their actions are such affairs, but it remains widely entists, not journalists, and that it is ultimately to no avail. In short, we unknown to most Americans. too abstract to be of much interest to have telegraphed to the electorate, the Secrecy is increasingly a problem in readers. But it is no more so than a consumer, the patient and the litigant, the courts as well, as fewer cases are host of other topics we routinely cover, that they are in possession of all the adjudicated in open court and more including economics, science, health vital information they need to make and more cases go the way of alterna- or politics (and secrecy involves them informed choices. tive dispute resolution and are sealed. all—and more). That does not comport with my In the federal courts, fewer than two The key, here as elsewhere, is to experience as a reporter. Nor does it, percent of cases go to a full and open show who benefits and who suffers I believe, reflect the reality of America trial. This might sound like an arcane and how secrecy is the lubricant for in 2008. Silly as it might sound, we subject, but it has very real public all manner of chicanery. Nothing so also do the nation a service when we implications as tort litigation over discredits legitimate secrets as the admit what important information potentially dangerous products—autos, profusion of counterfeit secrets. Most we do not possess and cannot acquire tires, medications, machinery—medi- importantly, we should be detailing because it has been denied us. cal malpractice, gender, age and race how indiscriminate secrecy threatens discrimination, and a slew of other to profoundly alter our entire system of Secrets Not Shared topics that directly affect the public’s governance, neutering oversight efforts safety and well-being, are increasingly and marginalizing citizens. Secrecy writ In truth, secrecy has migrated well settled out of sight.1 large can hijack democracy itself. beyond the historic reservoirs of na- In my book on secrecy, “Nation of Finally, while journalistic enter- tional security as the nation’s entire Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and prises have targeted secrecy at the infrastructure has been considered a the American Way of Life,” I reported publishers’ and trade association level, potential terrorist target. All the state, that the software system used in all individual papers are often squeamish county and metropolitan authorities federal courts is designed to spit out about working in concert with one that intersect with those sites—as well “No Such Case Exists” when anyone another, eschewing campaigns out of as the private industries that operate queries cases that have been sealed. fear that they compromise objectivity. them—have increasingly come under [See page 83 for a reflection by Walter One week a year, a coalition takes up the mantle of secrecy. Communica- Pincus of Gup’s book.] But outside of the subject and spotlights individual tions intercepts have brought the lawyerly publications, such matters states’ compliance or lack of compli- telecommunications companies into rarely receive notice in any systemic ance with sunshine provisions, but the security fold. context. otherwise it is a topic left to ad hoc Formal secrecy, as all investigative I recognize that the economy has efforts linked to specific reporting reporters know first hand, is only a thinned the reportorial ranks, but challenges. fragment of the problem. Hundreds given the wild proliferation of secrets Historically, reporters have indulged of thousands of officials, senior and in both the public and private spheres, themselves in reporting almost exclu- junior, as well as contractors, pos- it would be a terrific investment of sively on those secrets that they have sess the ability—without any formal reportorial resources, not to mention penetrated. Everyone reports on a leak, training or authorization—to scribble a valuable public service, to dedicate but too few notice the dam looming “Sensitive But Unclassified,” or “Official an entire beat to secrecy. If nothing behind them. The sense of accomplish- Use Only,” or any one of many other else, it would produce some remark-

1 In an award-winning series of investigative articles, The Seattle Times examined how King County judges had improperly sealed hundreds of court files holding secrets of potential dangers for the public. This series, entitled “Your Courts, Their Secrets,” was written about by one of its reporters, Ken Armstrong, in the Winter 2007 issue of Nieman Reports and can be read at www.nieman.harvard.edu. The original series of articles can be found at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/yourcourtstheirsecrets/.

22 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach able stories, and it might just help the was a start.  votes than Republican President public grasp the wider implications of William Howard Taft but is defeat- unchecked secrecy. Ted Gup is the author of “Nation of ed by Democrat Woodrow Wilson. When I began working on my Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and secrecy book, I asked a ridiculously the American Way of Life” (Double- simple question that produced some day, 2007) and is the Shirley Wormser 1913 extraordinary responses. The ques- Professor of Journalism at Case West- tion: “May I have a list of everything ern Reserve University. His e-mail is I am not allowed to see?” At least it [email protected]. The ratification of the 17th Amend- ment places the election of U.S. Senators into the hands of voters, not state legislators, as had previ- ously been stipulated in the U.S. NONPROFIT A PPROACH Constitution.

Seeking New Ways to Nurture the 1914 Capacity to Report ‘Without an independent news media, there is no Edwin Markham writes an exposé about child labor, “Children in credibly informed citizenry.’ Bondage.”

Margaret Sanger campaigns for BY CHARLES LEWIS greater access to information about birth control by founding the Wom- You journalists live in the real- and reckoning so fundamental to an an Rebel. Her periodical is labeled ity based community. [But] open democracy. obscene, and Sanger is forced to flee We expect in an open, pluralistic the country or face imprisonment. that’s not the way the world society, in a democracy, that journal- really works anymore.… When ists will safeguard the broad public 1916 we act, we create our own reality interest and ultimately provide truth and accountability to citizens. But … we’re history’s actors … and unfortunately, in this 24/7 “warp Outside investors assume control you, all of you, will be left to just speed” information age, the myriad of the American Magazine; it folds and imaginative ways in which to study what we do. soon after. propagate a palatable but false reality —Unidentified senior advisor to Presi- have substantially increased in recent dent George W. Bush, as quoted by decades, far outpacing the ability 1919 Ron Suskind in The New York Times of reporters and other independent Magazine, October 17, 2004 truth-tellers to hold those lies up to the harsh light of day. Sports fan and journalist Hugh Each successive White House Fullerton questions: “Is Big League ontrolling information and occupant has been more adept at Baseball Being Run for Gamblers, public perceptions is hardly a controlling the message of his admin- With Ballplayers in the Deal?” His new phenomenon; a powerful istration, technologically but also in story appears December 15 in the few have been doing this literally for terms of additional public relations C New York World and prompts an centuries. But the global reverberations money and personnel and “outreach.” investigation; revelations follow that and almost immediate human impact And the intricacies of the Bush White of decisions made by those now in House communications efforts, spe- White Sox players had deliberately power is new. And when the truth cifically the extent, substance and lost the 1919 World Series as part of is deliberately, effectively obscured sophistication of its “on message” a betting scheme. by secrecy, lies and public posturing, coordination and internal discipline, it distorts the government decision- remain substantially murky thanks making process, mutes popular dis- in no small part to the apparent and sent, and sometimes fatally delays the possibly illegal destruction of millions inevitable, cold dawn of logic, reason of White House e-mails. We do know

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 23 21st Century Muckrakers

that, as Newsday reported, the Bush vertising revenue must increase con- with each passing year. What gnaws administration in its first term hired siderably if newsrooms are going to is the realization that there ought to an additional 376 public affairs officials be able to remain near their current be more, much more, of this unprec- to package information at an annual editorial payroll levels. That prospect edented quality of journalism. Thus cost of $50 million. is uncertain at best, and layoffs in the far, however, most of the emerging And, separately, $254 million was immediate years ahead seem likely. And online commercial media ventures spent on “faux news” contracts, nearly international reporting and investiga- are noticeably light when it comes to double what the Clinton administra- tive reporting, always time-consuming their commitment or their capacity to tion spent during the preceding four and expensive, increasingly have come publish original reporting. years. Positive video news releases were to be regarded by management as The highly successful Web search sent out to hundreds of commercial high-risk, high-maintenance, high- engines, such as Google or Yahoo!, TV stations, viewed by millions of priced impracticalities. merely aggregate, automate and re- Americans, often with no on-air iden- package other people’s work. While the tification or disclosure. Government world’s blogs continue to proliferate WATCHDOG GALLERY Accountability Office Comptroller and will develop further as a content General David Walker criticized the form before our eyes, hardly any of practice as “illegal propaganda,” and them at present are solely devoted to the Federal Communications Com- responsible reporting and “fact-based mission recently has begun issuing journalism.” Perhaps new stand-alone, fines to broadcasters who have aired advertising-supported, profitable, it without disclosure. original newsgathering and storytelling Unfortunately, the problem of find- venues—beyond password-protected, ing verities instead of verisimilitudes subscription-based, specialized niche beneath the varnish has been exac- publishing—will robustly evolve in erbated in recent years throughout the digital age, but that hasn’t really America because there are, quite happened yet. simply, fewer varnish removers—in- vestigative reporters—actually devoted Wither the Resources? daily to monitoring those in power. Of course we all know too well that If, like an endangered species, there meticulous information-gathering and will be fewer sightings of serious, inde- editorial quality-control essential for pendent, high-impact “truth-to-power” serious, high quality news require time national reporting, will this kind of and money—finite resources that many vital, no-holds-barred truth-telling news organizations are increasingly become a thing of the past, like the unable or unwilling to expend. dodo bird? No, but what is needed are new, sustainable economic models Doing Less—With Less for in-depth news and a new, much On assignment for the journal Appeal To greater ownership and management Indeed, in recent years nearly all of our Reason, Upton Sinclair visited meatpack- commitment to publishing it “without media corporations have been reduc- ing firms in Chicago and wrote about his fear or favor.” ing their commitment to journalism, findings in novelistic form in his 1906 In a 2004 State of the News Media reducing their editorial budgets, early book, “The Jungle.” survey (by the Project for Excellence “retiring” thousands of reporters and in Journalism) of 547 journalists and editors from their newsrooms in order news media executives, 66 percent to keep their annual profit margins high The global reach of the new tech- felt that profit pressures were hurting and their investors happy, harvesting nologies, the versatility, range and national coverage—up 25 percent since their investments from a “mature” in- depth of what is possible journalisti- the question was first asked in 1995. dustry. The net result of this hollowing cally because of multimedia conver- As the world is becoming infinitely out process: There are fewer people gences, computer-assisted reporting more complex, 86 percent of national today to report, write and edit original and other technical advances, the ease journalists whose newsrooms have news stories about our infinitely more and relative affordability of high-speed undergone staff reductions believe the complex, dynamic world. communications in this information news media is “paying too little atten- While more and more newspapers age, are all terrifically exciting and tion to complex stories.” It is deeper transform themselves into “print-Web historically unprecedented. And the than just numbers, though. hybrids,” as columnist Robert Kuttner quality of some of the best report- My particular interest has been very and others have written, online ad- ing and writing breaks new ground simple since 1977, when I began work-

24 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach ing as an off-air investigative reporter, information. 1931 hired by ABC News in Washington in Such uncharacteristic humility does the wake of the Watergate scandal, later not ameliorate the tragic consequences as a producer at “60 Minutes,” and for of an unnecessary war and the tens Drew Pearson publishes “Washing- 15 years as the founder and execu- of thousands of slain or wounded ton Merry-Go-Round” and goes on tive director of the Center for Public soldiers and innocent civilians, in- to prepare a regular column with Integrity. All I have wanted to do is cluding women and children. Could that name for The Washington Post; find an unfettered place to investigate such a controversial war of choice in it he exposes political corruption and expose abuses of power. have been prevented if the public during a reporting career that spans I became frustrated in the 1980’s had been better informed about the four decades. and quit commercial journalism to specious official statements, faulty start a nonprofit investigative reporting logic, and breathtaking manipulations organization. Too often, investigative of public opinion and governmental 1938 reporting did not seem to be par- decision-making processes? On the ticularly valued at the national level, five-year anniversary of the invasion regardless of media form. Occasion- of Iraq, that might be too searing a George Seldes founds In Fact, a ally I had seen investigative reporter question to ask, but it nonetheless weekly newspaper, to avoid censor- friends’ and colleagues’ stories unjus- will likely haunt our profession for ship in the mainstream media. He tifiably resisted, reduced or rebuffed years to come. uses this forum to help expose the by their respective news organizations. hazards of cigarette smoking. National news organizations often When Profit Isn’t the Motive seemed to only reactively report the various systemic abuses of power, trust All of this underscores the fundamen- 1939 and the law in Washington—from the tal necessity of serious journalism to Iran-Contra scandal to the Housing any functioning democracy predicated and Urban Development scandal to upon self-government of, by and for “The Grapes of Wrath” calls atten- the Defense Department’s procurement the people; without an independent tion to the hardships of migrant prosecutions, from the savings and loan news media, there is no credibly labor when John Steinbeck’s novel disaster to the “Keating Five” influence informed citizenry. But what does is published by Viking Press. scandal to the first resignation of a it say about the current state of the House Speaker since 1800. commercial news media today that it In Washington, there was very little took a nonprofit investigative report- 1942 aggressive investigative journalism ing organization to research and post about these or other subjects and, online all of the Iraq and Afghanistan Publication in November of a report equally galling to me, smug denial contracts and the windfalls of war about Nazi death camps by the Jew- by the incurious national press corps to the penny, company by company, despite its underwhelming, lackluster first revealing Halliburton’s bonanza? ish Frontier fails to gain the atten- pursuit of these major instances of Why did it take that same nonprofit tion of the mainstream press. Not political influence and corruption. organization to analyze all of the 935 until the ending of World War II Regarding the decision by George false statements made by the President in 1945 would the full story of Nazi W. Bush and his administration to and seven of his top officials over two concentration camps be reported. initiate a preventive war in Iraq in years about the supposedly imminent March 2003, it was unfortunately threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, not particularly surprising that most in a 380,000-word, searchable, online 1952 national reporters and their news public and private Iraq War chronol- organizations were figuratively em- ogy? [See box on page 26 for more Reader’s Digest publishes “Cancer bedded in official propaganda and information on this project.] by the Carton” in its December is- misleading statements. There were a It was the Center for Public Integrity sue, an article by Roy Norr about few notable exceptions in Washington that posted those massive reports in to this pattern, certainly, such as the 2003 and 2008. the health hazards of smoking fine independent reporting by the Why in the Philippines was the cor- cigarettes. Knight Ridder bureau. Some major ruption of the President, spending tens news organizations have publicly eaten of millions of dollars to build lavish crow, acknowledging without neces- mansions for his mistresses, uncov- sarily apologizing that their coverage ered and documented by a nonprofit was perhaps not sufficiently critical investigative reporting organization, of government pronouncements and the Philippine Center for Investigative

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 25 21st Century Muckrakers

Selling the Iraq War: Unearthing False Advertising For three years, I have been conducting destruction (WMD) and the al-Qa- subject, published between 9/11 and research for a new book about truth, eda-Saddam Hussein-Iraq link. Since the end of 2007. The summary report, power and the role of journalism 2004, numerous government reports written by Lewis and Reading-Smith, today. In the summer of 2005, for a have conclusively found there were and the unprecedented 380,000-word, chapter about the Iraq War, I asked no WMD in Iraq and no significant online searchable, public and private researchers, led by Mark Reading- al-Qaeda ties to Iraq. Iraq War chronology, including the Smith, at the Fund for Independence Their analysis found that 935 public statements interlaced with in Journalism, to begin tracking every false statements were made by these the internal knowledge, discussions, single utterance by eight of the top top officials over the two years. The doubts and dissent known at the time, U.S. officials (President George W. number of statements spiked dramati- was offered to the Center for Public Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, cally upward in the weeks prior to the Integrity (www.publicintegrity.org) for Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sec- Iraq War resolution vote in October public release. retary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 2002 and before the November 2002 For the first time, five years after Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul mid-term elections, and were twice as the start of the Iraq War, journalists Wolfowitz, National Security Advisor high in the January-March 2003 days and citizens can view what the most Condoleezza Rice, and White House before the invasion of Iraq. Separately, prominent Bush administration offi- press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott for context, they gleaned revelatory cials said publicly, juxtaposed against McClellan) made from September 11, material from more than 25 govern- what they knew internally, day to day, 2001 through September 11, 2003, ment, whistleblower and credible prior to the March 19, 2003 invasion regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass journalist-reported books about this of Iraq. —C.L.

Journalism, resulting in his removal power essential to any democracy does University of California (Berkeley), at from office? [See an article by Sheila not occur. These trends are universal, Brandeis University, and at Columbia S. Coronel about this reporting on irrespective of geography, climate or University. [See accompanying box page 73.] the country’s economic or democratic on page 27.] There are many nonprofit orga- condition. The possibilities represented by nizations committed to investigative Yet amidst the current, deteriorat- these new approaches explain why— reporting in the United States and in ing state of original, investigative and working closely with veteran reporter, the world, none older than the Center otherwise independent journalism in editor and American University for Investigative Reporting, begun in America, new, very energizing forces journalism division director Wendell California in 1977, and none newer are at play. There are talented and Cochran and the dean of the School than ProPublica, which just emerged highly motivated journalists, mindful of Communication, Larry Kirkman—I in January 2008, with former Wall of the stakes involved; entrepreneurial have decided to start and lead, as Street Journal managing editor, Paul nonprofit and for-profit leaders with executive editor, an exciting new en- Steiger, as its president and editor vision, a commitment to commu- terprise, the Investigative Reporting in chief. [See articles on pages 30 nity, and financial wherewithal; new Workshop at American University in and 41.] All are limited in various media platforms and technologies Washington, D.C.. Not only do we ways, from the caliber or number of revolutionizing the means and cost intend to do significant, original, na- experienced personnel to the quality of production and, every day, more tional and international investigative and frequency of their publications or and more signs of what is possible reporting for multimedia publication documentaries, to their ability to fully journalistically, particularly with the or broadcast, the workshop also will utilize the exciting new technologies new social networking connectivity serve as a laboratory “incubator” to and means of distribution. of the Web and related, constantly develop new models for conducting The net result is that important improving technologies. and delivering investigative journal- subjects desperately requiring respon- All of this has set the stage for the ism. We will also partner with other sible investigation and public education recent emergence of some new hybrid nonprofit institutions or with investi- simply go unaddressed. When that hap- entities to emerge, such as cluster re- gative journalists. pens, the public is not as well informed lationships between university-based What both journalism and democ- as it could be, important truths do not centers and major commercial news racy need right now are new economic emerge in a timely, relevant fashion or organizations committed to high qual- models—fit to meet the full range of at all, and accountability of those in ity journalism that have occurred at the our contemporary challenge—to sup-

26 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach port the work involved with bringing Charles Lewis is Distinguished Jour- 1953 forth in-depth, multimedia news. nalist in Residence and professor at These models will succeed if they can American University and president nurture a more hospitable milieu for of the Fund for Independence in Jour- On October 20, Edward R. Mur- investigation and exposure of abuses nalism in Washington, D.C.. A for- row initiates his hard-hitting look at of power and provide real-time truth mer producer at “60 Minutes,” Lewis Senator Joseph McCarthy for “See It and accountability to citizens. Because founded and for 15 years directed the Now” on CBS-TV. A noted episode no one in power should ever be able Center for Public Integrity, where he runs on March 9, 1954. His series to create their own false reality, or to coauthored five books. leads to the senator’s censure and  even think it is possible. helps to end his sensational hunt for Communist sympathizers.

Universities and Investigative Journalism 1959

The University of California at Elaine and Gerald Schuster Institute “The Safe Car You Can’t Buy” ap- Berkeley Investigative Reporting for Investigative Journalism became pears in The Nation on April 11 as Program is directed by investiga- the nation’s first such center to be an early exposé by Ralph Nader tive producer/correspondent Lowell housed at a university (Brandeis) about automobile design flaws. Bergman and houses the West Coast and is directed by its founder, editorial and production facilities investigative journalist Florence for the PBS programs “Frontline” Graves. [See her story on page 32.] 1960 and “Frontline/World,” as well as And the newest of these, the Stabile the three Investigative Reporting Center for Investigative Journalism Post Graduate Fellows who receive at Columbia University, is headed In April, Sepia magazine begins stipends during their year of study by Sheila S. Coronel. [See her story publishing a series of articles by and training at the journalism on page 73.] —C.L. John Howard Griffin, a white re- school. In September 2004, The porter who spends five weeks dis- guised as a black man to examine race relations in the South.

1962 New Sources of Funding, New Michael Harrington’s study of pov- Sources of Reporting erty in “The Other America: Poverty As nonprofit investigative models take shape, a in the United States,” is published journalist surveys emerging possibilities. by Macmillan. “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson prompts government action on en- BY GILBERT CRANBERG vironmental protection following its publication by Houghton Mifflin. hen I left The Des Moines what could be regarded as an inves- Register in 1982, I did not tigative reporter. 1963 leave journalism. I simply The downsizing of editorial staffs Wmoved from the daily newspaper’s around the country has turned loose a anonymous editorial essay to other lot of people capable of doing similar Simon and Schuster publishes “The forms, including newspaper op-ed work. Margaret Engel, who directs the American Way of Death” by Jessica pages, magazine articles, and books. Alicia Patterson Foundation, which Mitford, an exposé of fraudulent Without the daily deadline and the makes grants to support in-depth practices in the funeral industry. imperative to fill space, I could spend reporting, says, “Get those journalists the time it took to explore issues of the money.” And it’s not only money interest that the local news media that makes the difference. Jon Saw- ignored or underreported. I became yer, director of the Pulitzer Center

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 27 21st Century Muckrakers

during his time there for the staff or grants—the work produced WATCHDOG GALLERY quality of its work and for not will stand or fall on its quality. At a having an ideological ax to time when the buzz words in journal- grind. (Steiger, of course, had ism are local-local and news holes nothing to do with the Journal’s are shrinking, it could be a difficult editorial page.) environment for ProPublica’s work to Unlike some nonprofits that thrive, especially the long-form pieces work through providing grants ProPublica is likely to do, even if they to journalists—perhaps most are given away. famously, investigative reporter Foreign subjects would seem an Seymour Hersh was assisted in especially hard sell. But the Pulitzer uncovering the atrocity at My Center on Crisis Reporting, which spe- Lai by a $2,000 travel grant cializes in global reporting, has been from the Fund for Investigative successful in obtaining space even for Journalism—ProPublica will lengthy take-outs. The center, which have much of its work done by is financed mostly by members of the 24 full-time staffers working out Pulitzer family, gets a lot of mileage out of its office in Manhattan. That of its modest annual budget—$315,000 sounds like an expensive way to in 2006, $560,000 for 2007. “Our do investigative reporting, but experience shows it is possible to find ProPublica spokesman Richard good platforms for important stories,” Tofel says annual “news costs says Sawyer. Examples of reporting it Making sausage in a Chicago meat factory was a will be about 60-67 percent has supported include these: topic of Upton Sinclair’s writing. Photo courtesy of of the total [of $10 million] Library of Congress. when we’re up and running, • A four-part series in the Salt Lake with ‘news’ including salaries for Tribune spotlighting working con- reporters, editors and research- ditions in Chinese factories.2 The on Crisis Reporting,1 says finding the ers” and items directly attributable to articles took up more than a page of space—offering the promise of drawing news accounting for the bulk of the newsprint each day. For this story, the attention to the finished product—to budget. Tofel says the split—60-67 center funded five trips to China by publish what reporters find is as much percent news vs. 40-33 percent for Loretta Tofani, who won a Pulitzer of a challenge as the money. all the rest—“compares to about 15 Prize for investigative reporting she Enter ProPublica, the new non- percent for news (defined this way) at did at The Washington Post. [See profit news organization dedicated to a leading newspaper or magazine.” more about Tofani’s reporting on investigative, public service journalism The expense of launching and page 42.] generously financed by a California operating a newsroom in New York • A story about HIV in the Caribbean couple, Herbert M. and Marion is considered worthwhile to foster was displayed on more than three Sandler. ProPublica has both money, a “newsroom culture.” Whether that full pages in The Palm Beach Post up to $30 million over the next three culture will matter or be evident to in November 2007.3 Post reporter years, and the prestige to make a ProPublica’s outlets remains to be Antigone Barton’s travel costs were persuasive pitch for space. seen. Most of the work produced by paid for by the center, which also ProPublica begins life with a ProPublica’s in-house staff will be commissioned the video documen- question mark because of the liberal offered without charge, exclusively taries and interactive Web materials causes supported by its benefactors, initially, to news organizations where that go along with the online display the Sandlers, but also with the pre- publication is likely to have the great- of her article. sumption of credibility by being run est impact. by Paul E. Steiger, former managing Other nonprofits, notably the Center Unlikely Sources editor of The Wall Street Journal. [See for Public Integrity, also maintain in- his article on page 30.] The news side house staffs of investigative reporters. When I look at my own experiences of the Journal was widely respected Regardless of the model—in-house after leaving daily journalism, I find in

1 The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting was established in 2006 as a division of the World Security Institute to sponsor independent reporting of global issues that “have gone unreported, underreported or misreported in the mainstream American media.” 2 http://extras.sltrib.com/china/ 3 http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/palmbeachpost/hiv/index.html

28 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach some of them the potential for other being produced on the nation’s college 1965 ways of promoting and supporting and university campuses. such reporting—even when it does not Steiger has written that ProPublica necessarily get done by people who will report on “abuses of power by any- Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe At Any refer to themselves as a “reporter.” one with power: government, business, Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of When I taught journalism part-time unions, universities, school systems, the American Automobile” is pub- at the University of Iowa, I cowrote doctors, hospitals, lawyers, courts, lished in November by Grossman two books with Randall Bezanson of nonprofits, media.” His words recall Publishers. His revelations prompt the law school and John Soloski, my the ethics statement of the American the federal government to establish 4 colleague at the journalism school. Society of Newspaper Editors, which its first automobile safety standards It was a revealing experience. What I states that the press was made free “to by the next year. called “legwork” my coauthors called bring an independent scrutiny to bear “research.” They do footnotes. Together on the forces of power in the society, we did extensive digging and, with including the conduct of official power 1969 the help of a couple of foundations, at all levels of government.” our books were published, as well as In practice, the for-profit, institu- a large number of articles. tional press focuses overwhelmingly Seymour Hersh breaks the story of Bezanson is a powerhouse. During on “official power,” giving short shrift the My Lai massacre from the Viet- the past 10 years he has published four to power wielded within the private nam War through a November story books (another is on the way), three sector. This seems an anomaly con- distributed by the Dispatch News book chapters, 20 academic articles, sidering that we have a free market Service. and 20 shorter pieces. I discovered economy in which the actions of the that he is one of the best investigative private sector arguably touch the lives reporters I know. Others on the faculty of people as much, if not far more, 1971 also do outstanding investigative work, than actions taken by our government and certainly this is the case at other do. Such neglect of the private sector universities, as well. Let me put forth consequently caught much of the press Reporting for The New York Times, a few examples. flatfooted before the savings and loan Neil Sheehan discloses on June 13 crisis emerged, Enron collapsed, and the existence of a Vietnam War • Erik Lie, a professor in the Iowa the predatory lending scandals started study by the Pentagon. A court business school, played a pivotal role to unravel. battle ensues before the Supreme in putting the spotlight on the back- Private-sector muckraking is hard Court asserts the newspaper’s First dating of executive stock options. and time-consuming work, made Amendment right to publish the • Gary Wells, a psychology professor much more difficult by the absence Pentagon Papers. at Iowa State, has investigated police of a legal right of access to corporate line-ups and other police identifica- meetings and documents. The Wall tion practices and shown how they Street Journal has shown, brilliantly, 1972 too often produce mistaken eyewit- that such reporting can be done. ness testimony. The combination of Steiger’s experi- • David Baldus, a colleague of Bezan- ence and the Sandlers’ millions hold Writing for The Washington Post on son’s at the law school, has revealed the promise of being a potent pair. February 29, Jack Anderson reveals striking evidence of how the death Perhaps together they will lead the the connection between a corporate penalty has been applied in racially way to showing how, in this new era campaign contribution to the Re- discriminatory ways. of journalism, more of this kind of publican Party and the subsequent reporting can be done and brought dismissal of an antitrust suit against All of their research, and much more, into public view.  that company by the Republican would be Pulitzer Prize material if administration of President Richard produced in newspaper newsroom set- Gilbert Cranberg, former editor of The M. Nixon. tings. ProPublica intends to publicize Des Moines Register’s editorial pages, investigative journalism by others in is George H. Gallup Professor Emeri- On June 19, Carl Bernstein and an online Romenesko-type format. It tus at the University of Iowa. Bob Woodward publish their first would be a major service if it tapped cowritten article in The Washington into the rich vein of such “reporting” Post of a two-year series of stories about a June burglary of offices at the Watergate Building. Their re- 4 “Taking Stock: Journalism and the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company” (2001, Wiley- Blackwell). “Libel Law and the Press: Myth and Reality” (1987, Free Press). ports contribute to the resignation

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 29 21st Century Muckrakers

Going Online With Watchdog Journalism ‘… investigative reporting itself is also on the cusp of major transformation ….’

BY PAUL E. STEIGER

s I write these words late in models. Others—such as the Center for reaches its audiences, how news and January 2008, at ProPublica, Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, information is gathered and distrib- we are working our way through California, and the Center for Public uted, and the topics on which it is Amore than 850 resumés from journal- Integrity and the Pulitzer Center for focused. ists seeking to join our new nonprofit, Crisis Reporting, both in Washington, nonpartisan, investigative reporting D.C.—have been at it longer and do Reaching Audiences: Only at our peril team. I am learning two things. One significant work. They could do more do we ignore Dave Barry’s message— is that there is no shortage of very if, as I hope will be the case, they are “Caution! Journalism Prize Entry! Do talented reporters and editors eager able to attract more funding. Not Read!” The five-part series or the for an opportunity to expose abuses huge takeout (10 inches on the front of power. The second is that many see page jumping into a double-truck little hope of carrying forward this or more inside) still works for some work at a whole range of newspapers readers but for an ever-smaller share and other news organizations where … opportunities are of them. More creative communication just a few years ago they would have techniques—humor, irony, photogra- been delighted to spend the rest of increasing for enterprising phy, video, animation—are necessary to their careers. reach readers and viewers with shorter By now, everyone who cares about diggers to reach pay dirt. attention spans. This doesn’t mean journalism and its role in society merely adding a couple of pictures understands that the business model and a graph or two to a newspaper that for four decades handsomely narrative and running the package supported large metropolitan news- on the Web in much the same form papers has crumbled as readers and And while most of the big metro as it would appear in a newspaper. advertisers flock to the Internet. The papers are shrinking their newsroom It means rethinking the entire way a result is a curious mixture of glut and staff, many still channel major re- story is told—screen by screen—and shortage: an explosion of certain kinds sources into sustained investigation adding in video clips and interactive of information available instantly and of issues vital to their local audiences. graphics at the precisely right mo- free of charge on the Web—spot news, For example, the Los Angeles Times, ment. These typically must be backed stock prices, weather, sports, the lat- which has lost its top editor three up with such elements as sustained est doings of celebrities and, most of times in the past three years amid narratives, interview transcripts, and all, opinion—offset by an accelerating management’s insistence on successive supporting statistics and data sources shrinkage of foreign reporting and waves of newsroom cuts, nevertheless that the infinite capacity of the Internet in-depth investigation. mobilized a large brigade of reporters makes feasible. Some audiences will This doesn’t mean that investiga- on the Norman Hsu story last summer read them first; some will skip them tive reporting is going to disappear. and fall, breaking significant news entirely—but it’s important that they It remains an important part of what about the fugitive funder of Senator be there. many national publications and news Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The con- programs have to offer. Their audi- tinuing story was of special importance Reporting Tools: Today’s investiga- ences expect it, and many of them to the Times’s readers; many of Hsu’s tive reporters have a dizzying array will give up other things before they activities and legal problems were in of computer-aided devices at their cut it back. California. disposal—if they have the initiative to Similar approaches to ProPublica’s master them. True, we are working in have attracted much interest—and Transforming Investigative challenging times, when some of the funding—from philanthropists and Reporting traditional techniques of investigative foundations. ProPublica is the brain- reporting are being undercut. Court child of California philanthropists Even as news organizations are experi- documents, for example, are increas- Herbert and Marion Sandler and encing business upheaval, investigative ingly being sealed. Hedge funds and becomes the most recent and the reporting itself is also on the cusp of private capital, which have ever-greater largest experiment in using nonprofit major transformation—in the way it influence on the economy, face far

30 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach fewer public disclosure requirements for abuse or fraud, like the elderly and of President Richard M. Nixon on than publicly traded corporations and immigrants. August 9, 1974. traditional banks and brokers. Even so, We now look out at a landscape of opportunities are increasing for enter- many crucial topics ripe for investiga- “Syphilis Patients Died Untreated,” prising diggers to reach pay dirt. tion and at a likely smaller number of reports Jean Heller in an Associ- This came home to me power- well-trained reporters to do this work. ated Press story from July 25. The fully last fall, when I dropped in on Does that mean we have a recipe for story reveals that African-American a brown-bag lunch seminar for about disaster or, at least, disappointment? men unwittingly participated in a 20 Wall Street Journal reporters and Not necessarily. The opinion-rich 40-year experiment to study the editors. It was led by the youngest domain of the blogosphere doesn’t characteristics of syphilis when it is person in the room, Vauhini Vara, a offer much in the way of experience- treated and when left untreated. San Francisco-based reporter just a few laden reporting. But as bloggers have years out of Stanford. The topic was demonstrated, some have the ability how to use Facebook in combination to spot—and mercilessly publicize—er- 1974 with other databases to find sources rors they detect in what traditional inside major companies. I watched news organizations publish. Bloggers jaws drop all around the table as she also have the ability to add informa- Seymour Hersh uncovers the prac- demonstrated in two or three minutes tion and insight to build on what tice of illegal domestic spying by the that she could identify a dozen pres- reporters have unearthed. Each con- CIA in a New York Times story on ent or former employees of a given tribution—when its accuracy has been December 22. company who were all within two tested—can enrich public knowledge degrees of separation of a reporter in in a way that is many times more the room. She convinced many veteran powerful than a letters column in a 1975 reporters that these people could be newspaper or a magazine. reached through friend-of-a-friend contact instead of being cold-called. In hope of participating in this Ms. magazine publishes a report in Presumably the approach would work process, ProPublica will launch a blog its April issue by B.J. Phillips about just as well with a government agency. of its own this spring, which will be the mysterious death of Karen What I particularly liked about Vara’s aimed at aggregating any noteworthy Silkwood following her investigation approach was that it is an aid to investigative reporting that we can into radiation exposure as a nuclear old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, find that day. In some cases we will power plant employee. except that it permits vast reductions add brief or extended comments; with in the amount of leather expended per other items we find and display we will interview. Couple this with the more suggest avenues of follow-up or get 1983 familiar techniques of database min- to work on doing more investigative ing as ever more information becomes reporting on the story ourselves. In ad- Larry Kramer widens public aware- digitized, and you have an environ- dition to publishing and archiving this ment in which the ability of reporters content on our Web site, ProPublica’s ness of the spread of AIDS through to find important information grows team of 24 journalists will offer tem- a story called “1,112 and Counting” exponentially. porary exclusives on our investigative for the March 14-27 issue of the reporting to existing news platforms New York Native. Topic Choices: Most investigative that we think can give it the greatest reporting focuses on government or visibility. We will also follow-up our business or their intersection, because own work assiduously. Our goal is 1985 that is where the bulk of the power to reach not necessarily the largest resides. ProPublica certainly hopes possible audience but the audience The National Catholic Reporter be- to do its share of exposing abuses by that can best effect solutions to the gins reporting about child abuse by bureaucrats and plutocrats, cabinet problems we identify. The challenge priests and a church cover-up of the secretaries and army generals. Many is exciting.  other areas seem ripe for probing, matter in its July 7 issue. however. Other institutions and cadres Paul E. Steiger, the former managing with great power of their own often editor of The Wall Street Journal, is 1986 get a pass these days—unions, school the editor in chief of ProPublica, which systems and universities, doctors and is based in New York City. hospitals, lawyers and courts, non- Syndicated columnist Jack Anderson profits and the media. Other large discloses that the administration of groups of people are frequent targets

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 31 21st Century Muckrakers

Watchdog Reporting: Exploring Its Myth ‘The myth of journalists doggedly uncovering all the facts is both important— and dangerous.’

BY FLORENCE GRAVES

nce upon a time, the nation was 1960’s—before Watergate—that WATCHDOG GALLERY crawling with brave and well- commitment was already dissipating funded investigative reporters early in the Reagan years. Owho found and exposed wrongdoing wherever it occurred. From Ida Tarbell Government Watchdog to Bob Woodward, journalists crusad- ing for truth bravely defended democ- The myth of journalists doggedly racy from the incursions of corruption uncovering all the facts is both im- and undue influence. Alas, how we portant—and dangerous. “What is have fallen from those mighty days! As most important to journalism is not newsrooms slash budgets and publish- the spate of investigative reporting ers demand higher profits, investigative or the recoil from it after Watergate,” journalism is under attack. wrote Schudson, “but the renewal, re- It’s a great narrative. But it’s a invigoration, and remythologization of myth. muckraking.” This helps all of us aim The profit pressures on journalism higher and dig even more deeply. are very real. In fact, that is one reason Here’s the danger: Many Americans I founded the Schuster Institute for naively believe that Watergate spawned Investigative Journalism in 2004, as hordes of investigative reporters who one of the emerging nonprofit models are urgently ferreting out all waste, for investigative journalism. And the fraud and abuse of power in the public David Graham Phillips (1867-1911). In urgent need to expose undue influence, interest. This fosters a false and com- 1906 Cosmopolitan Magazine published tainted decision-making, and hidden placent public impression that if there “Treason of the Senate,” a nine-part series malfeasance is real. Those are among is any wrongdoing by government or exposing patterns of corruption among the main goals of the Schuster Institute corporate officials, heroic journalists senators. Photo courtesy of Library of at Brandeis University, and it’s also are doing everything they can to track Congress. why I founded and ran Common Cause it down and report it. Magazine with a focus on investigative While the Washington press corps reporting during the 1980’s. We can nalism for a century, even though has grown mightily, is it adequate? admire—and aim at—this goal without its practice is the exception, not Most medium-sized newspapers have believing the myth. The truth: Even the rule.” He points out that “in the a Washington presence, but these when news organizations were flush, time between Lincoln Steffens, Ida reporters often focus on the same in-depth investigative reporting has Tarbell, and Ray Stannard in 1904 few issues and the same few people been more an ideal than a reality. and Woodward and Bernstein in at the top—leaving significant issues Consider the research done by 1972 and 1973,” muckraking had and agencies uncovered. Those U.S. Michael Schudson, professor at the “no culturally resonant, heroic ex- news organizations that do assign a University of California at San Diego emplars.” full-time reporter to an agency “beat,” and at the Graduate School of Jour- • In analyzing myths generated by usually assign them only to a handful nalism of Columbia University, and Watergate, Schudson concluded of big beats such as the Pentagon, published in his books “The Power that “the press as a whole during Department of Justice, Department of News” and “Watergate in American Watergate was—as before and of State, and Treasury. Those “beats” Memory: How We Remember, Forget since—primarily an establishment usually involve tracking major policy and Reconstruct the Past.” institution with few ambitions to decisions and rarely leave enough time rock establishment bonds.” While he for reporters to make connections • In “The Power of News,” Schudson concluded that many news organiza- between these policies and relevant wrote, “The muckraking theme has tions’ commitments to investigative influence-peddlers or to dig deeply into been powerful in American jour- reporting began to increase in the other agency business. It is extremely

32 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach difficult, if not impossible, for these • No full-time reporter: Veterans Af- President Ronald Reagan has sold reporters—as well as those who are fairs ($46 billion budget) and the weapons to Iran in order to influ- assigned to cover several agencies at Nuclear Regulatory Commission ence the release of political hostages one time—to cover the “official” daily ($482 million budget) in the Middle East. news and the insider machinations • Two full-time reporters: Department about decisions and also track the of Interior ($10 billion budget) influence of hundreds of well-paid • Three full-time reporters: Agri- 1987 lobbyists and well-staffed PR firms culture ($73 billion budget), Envi- dedicated to protecting huge corpo- ronmental Protection Agency ($8 rations’ interests and who have vast billion budget), and Social Security Bob Woodward exposes question- access to policymakers. This doesn’t Administration ($7 billion budget) able policies and practices at the even take into account the increased • Four full-time reporters: Labor De- CIA in “Veil: The Secret Wars of the difficulties reporters confront when partment ($39 billion budget) and CIA 1981-1987,” published by Simon facing the recent and unprecedented Internal Revenue Service ($9 billion & Schuster. government clampdown on the re- budget). lease of information and deliberate slowdowns in response to Freedom of Congress is where laws are passed, 1989 Information Act (FOIA) requests, the but it is within these agencies that increasing trend of the government the laws are shaped into realities that issuing subpoenas to journalists to affect our lives. Are only three full- Jerry Mitchell reports on Octo- disclose their confidential sources, and time reporters enough to oversee all ber 1 in the Jackson, Mississippi, the threat posed by libel suits. of the government’s decision-making Clarion-Ledger that the 1964 trial Contrary to the myth, only a skeleton about environmental protection and of the man accused of assassinat- crew of reporters is trying to find out monitor all of what lobbyists do to ing civil rights leader Medgar Evers how Americans’ daily lives—what they shape those regulations behind closed was rigged with jury tampering. His eat, the medicines they take, the prod- doors? Consider, too, the spectacular story leads to the reopening of the ucts they use, and the environmental growth in sophistication and influence case and a murder conviction. Other conditions in which they live—are be- of a vast number of power centers— civil rights cases from the era are ing affected by hundreds of lobbyists, multinational corporations, global reexamined and retried. dozens of partisan and “Astroturf” financial institutions, international think-tanks, scores of federal agencies, governments, and nongovernmental and hundreds of officials all defended organizations. Then there is coverage 1993 by the ironically named “public in- of local and state news, when editors formation officers” who prevent the and publishers are subjected to even flow of many important facts out of greater pressure from special inter- Eileen Welsome exposes “The Plu- their offices. ests—commercial and otherwise—in tonium Experiment,” a federal study To get a sense of just how bad the their community. involving plutonium injections problem was becoming, in 2001 The Increasingly bereft of key resourc- conducted without patient knowl- Project on the State of the American es—time, people and money—to do edge. It runs on November 15 in the Newspaper surveyed newspapers and in-depth reporting, journalists have Albuquerque Tribune. wire-services to determine which ones become much more dependent on leaks “regularly cover” 19 federal depart- and tips from people who usually have ments and agencies.1 The survey found an agenda that might not always be 2001 that apart from the major departments so obvious. One resulting paradox is such as defense, state, justice and that while more reporters than ever treasury—which are comparatively are covering Washington, we really Eric Schlosser examines the health well covered by reporters—a surprising know less about many very important hazards of convenience foods in number of agencies with huge budgets things. Consider the press’s spectacular “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side had either no reporters or just a few, failure to find out the truth about the of the All-American Meal,” pub- including the following: administration’s claims about Iraq. Or lished by Houghton Mifflin.

2004 1 An article about the project’s original 1999 survey is available at www.ajr.org/Article. asp?id=3269. The survey was updated two years later by Lucinda Fleeson, and the new results appear with the original AJR article written by John Herbers and Seymour Hersh collects a series of James McCartney in “Breach of Faith: A Crisis of Coverage in the Age of Corporate Newspapering,” edited by Gene Roberts and Thomas Kunkel. articles written for The New Yorker

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 33 21st Century Muckrakers

how long it took to unmask Congress- Arguably, corporate titans might be in focus specifically on situations involv- men Tom Delay and Randy (Duke) a better position to abuse the public ing corporations. Cunningham. Or the overlooked warn- trust than many government officials. Even in flush times, the job of sys- ings about today’s subprime crisis—and While numerous outlets cover business tematically and thoroughly covering the in earlier years the Savings & Loan and report on corporate news, most government, the corporate sector, and crisis, the Department of Housing and of what reaches the public is aimed the nonprofit sector would have been Urban Development scandal, and the at investors, usually indicating whose a mammoth David-takes-on-Goliath Iran-contra arms deals. business is up and who’s is down. The effort. But these are not flush times This is not to say that investiga- New York Times then-media reporter for the news business. And that’s why tive reporters have been failing. Press there’s such an urgent need for what investigations have recently revealed Chuck Lewis, founder of the Center unacceptable conditions for Iraq War for Public Integrity, has been calling WATCHDOG GALLERY veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical the new nonprofit journalism. [See Center, the CIA’s abuses in prisoner Lewis’s article on page 23.] Each of interrogations, the use of warrantless us who launched one of these new wiretaps of citizens’ phones by the U.S. nonprofit models did so independently, government, and other memorable albeit with similar reckonings about watchdog stories. We can find plenty the need. None of us pretend to be of other examples of superb investiga- the solution to the ongoing financial tive journalism—likely more and better crisis that has led many newspapers than a decade ago—but that doesn’t to eliminate or cut back their invest- mean there’s enough of it. ments in investigative reporting. But In our news media’s daily practice all of us want to contribute to the and performance, watchdog reporting solution—albeit in slightly different is not keeping pace with the growing ways and with somewhat different need. While powerful institutions— areas of focus. government, corporate and nonprofit, both U.S. and global—that need to Schuster Institute for be watched are multiplying and get- Investigative Journalism ting richer and more sophisticated, precisely the opposite is happening The Schuster Institute for Investigative in journalism: The number and avail- Journalism is the nation’s first—and ability of reporters who have the time, only—investigative reporting center institutional backing, and resources based at a university (in our case, to be effective watchdogs are getting In 1906, Collier’s published E.W. Kemble’s Brandeis University) that is intended pinched. Nor does it seem that this “Death’s Laboratory,” an investigative to help fill the increasing void in trend is about to change given the article about the sale of alcohol and chemi- high-quality public interest and in- faltering financial resources available cal-laced medicines. Courtesy of Library of vestigative journalism. As journalists, at most news organizations—and the Congress. we research, report, place and publish ways in which these resources are be- or broadcast our work. Our ongoing ing used in this era of celebrity and interaction with students comes in entertainment journalism. Felicity Barringer pointed out a few working closely with those we hire to years ago that “more than 250 Pulitzers assist us with our investigations; we Uncovering Corporate in journalism have been awarded since get superb research assistance, while Malfeasance 1978. Business figures prominently in we mentor them and offer an inti- about 10.” She then asked, “But what mate sense of what is required to do Meanwhile, news organizations have about corporations and industries? Are in-depth reporting. We also reveal to never been very committed to exposing there some comfortable folk there who them the value this kind of reporting corporate wrongdoing. A convincing could do with some afflicting?” holds for our nation. No matter what argument could be made that today Our own survey of the Pulitzers these students end up doing, whether corporations effectively run the coun- revealed that out of the 90 Pulitzers it’s journalism, law, business or politics, try—including what happens in Wash- given for public service journalism, they take with them an understanding ington, D.C.—through their campaign only about a handful involved pri- of—and appreciation for—the impor- contributions, opposition research, marily an investigation of corporate tance of a free and unfettered press careful spin-doctoring, sophisticated power. And of the 25 Pulitzer Prizes in a democracy. public influence campaigns, heavy- awarded for investigative journalism, Our goal is to explore in-depth sig- hitting lobbyists, and still more tools. in just two of them did the reporters nificant social and political problems

34 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach and uncover corporate and government relationship than any citizen would magazine about the government’s abuses of power and reveal what we want to exist, and I uncovered half a Iraq War policy into a book called find through “impact journalism,” in dozen other stories I’d like to pursue “Chain of Command: The Road which our in-depth projects break when I have more time. from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.” important news and jump-start public There are certainly other ways to policy discussions about underreported do this work—and plenty of room for social and political injustices important many more news organizations and 2005 to a democracy. The three prime areas journalists to commit to doing it. The of our interest are: breadth of global “beats” is only going to expand, while it appears likely that Dana Priest, reporting in November 1. Political and Social Justice crucial stories simply are not going for The Washington Post, uncov- 2. Gender and Justice to be done. Last fall, the Columbia ers the existence of secret overseas 3. The Justice Brandeis Innocence Journalism Review editorialized that, detention centers maintained by the Project. “As newsroom resources continue to CIA for its fight against terrorism. contract—foreign bureaus close, staffs Our investigations reach the public shrink, travel budgets evaporate—pro- via broadcast, the Web, and in news- ducing a broad, deep and authoritative 2006 papers and magazines that have a news report day in and day out may in proven ability to inform the public.2 some cases require that news opera- In collaboration with The Washing- tions join forces.” The Schuster Institute William Glaberson writes a three- ton Post, I explored a whistleblower alone—or even in concert with every part series for The New York Times lawsuit against Boeing. In reporting other nonprofit investigative journal- about the “Broken Bench” of New that story, we found that Boeing—with ism entity in existence today—will York State’s system of 1,250 town what seemed like almost a wink from never be able to fill the growing gap. and village courts. the Federal Aviation Administration Doing so is going to require innovative (FAA)—was installing unapproved ideas matched with unprecedented Bob Woodward publishes “State of (and potentially dangerous) parts on cooperation and collaboration among Denial,” the third book in his in- its planes. With the freedom I have journalists and a commitment to this vestigative look at the planning and through my association with this job by all of us.  execution of the Iraq War under institute,3 I was able to delve deeply the leadership of President George for months. Few reporters would Florence Graves is the founding direc- W. Bush. He documents systematic have had the time to study the FAA’s tor of The Schuster Institute for Inves- negligence and misjudgment. regulations and requirements deeply tigative Journalism at Brandeis Uni- enough to be able to challenge its versity in Waltham, Massachusetts. spin. “Boeing Parts and Rules Bent, She was founder of Common Cause 2007 Whistle-Blowers Say,” appeared as Magazine and has been an investiga- an above-the-fold Page One story in tive reporter for nearly three decades. April 2006 and was picked up around In a follow-up report for The New the world.4 While reporting the story, York Times, William Glaberson I discovered many indications that reveals widespread fraud and mis- Boeing and the FAA have a tighter management of the millions of dol- lars exchanging hands each year in New York State’s small-town courts.

2 The institute pays for the in-depth research that goes into our preliminary proposals Washington Post reporters Dana and investigations; for our placed articles, we accept freelance fees, which pay for a Priest and Anne Hull expose wide- fraction of our research costs. In the past year, our work has appeared in such media outlets as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Columbia Journalism Review, and spread problems with outpatient Good Housekeeping (U.S. and international editions), and has been featured in various care at the Walter Reed Army Med- NPR radio and TV talk shows. Our investigative work has been picked up by news ical Center for soldiers wounded in organizations such as The China Post, The San Jose Mercury News, ABC News online, the Iraq War.  Chicago Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Standard (Hong Kong), and linked to or commented on in more than 150 blogs. —F.G. 3 Brandeis University provides our institute with a home firmly placed within an academic tradition that honors freedom of inquiry and independence from government influence and corporate control, with an explicit dedication to social justice and to the pursuit of truth wherever it might lead. —F.G. 4 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/ AR2006041600803.html

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 35 21st Century Muckrakers

Understanding the Value of Investigative Reporting A nonprofit director feels frustrated by how difficult it is to find ‘adequate resources for independent investigative reporting.’

BY BILL BUZENBERG

Watchdog” and “muckraker” are Bedroom’s high-roller guest list in public through a first-of-its-kind, wonderful words, reflecting both the Clinton administration and have detailed, searchable database of some the greatest challenge of a free posted—against the explicit wishes of $55 million in travel expenses—pay- “press and the most compelling need the Justice Department—the previ- ments for which sponsoring lobbyists in a free and open society. When done ously undisclosed Patriot II legislation presumably had more in mind than the well, investigative journalism improves crafted by the Bush administration. scenery. As a result of making these lives and strengthens our republic, as Altogether, CPI has issued 400 investi- records transparent—and the 1,200- demonstrated by the groundbreaking gative reports and 17 books, including plus articles written as a result of our work of Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil), the 2004 best seller, “The Buying of findings—congressional travel behavior Upton Sinclair (meatpacking), Lincoln the President.”1 changed sharply; most notably, lobby- Steffens (urban corruption), Edwin ist-paid travel plummeted. Then, one Markham (child labor), and other Digital Documentation year ago, Congress toughened the law standard-bearers of the craft. Certainly, in an attempt to close this influence modern-day muckrakers continue in After more than a quarter-century in loophole. this grand turn-of-the-20th century public radio, including 16 years as head During this first year I’ve been at tradition. While hard-fought, indi- of the news operations at National CPI, by relying on the Chuck Lewis- vidual battles to ferret out information Public Radio (NPR) and Minnesota method of unassailable, no-stone- to tell an important story are being Public Radio (MPR), known nationally unturned, investigative journalism, I won again and again, the broader war as American Public Media, I was ea- had a front-row seat to observe the for transparency and accountability is, ger—to borrow author Kevin Phillips’s impact this kind of reporting can have I fear, being lost. As Joseph Pulitzer description of CPI’s work—to shine a on government’s performance. What once said, “Our republic and its press brighter light of truth “into so many follows are two examples of projects will rise or fall together.” Washington dirty laundry baskets.” released last year: At a time when the American press I knew, too, that digital journalism’s had largely abandoned muckraking tools and technology have enabled us Superfund Project: CPI exposed the and our republic was in dire need to open up new avenues of in-depth state of toxic-waste cleanup by the of greater transparency, I took the reporting and global distribution of Environmental Protection Agency’s reins at the nonprofit, nonpartisan what we find, which has increased stalled Superfund program. As part Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in the scope of our reporting and the of our massive report, “Wasting Away: Washington, D.C.. That happened in breadth of its influence. Superfund’s Toxic Legacy,” we revealed January 2007, nearly two decades In 2005, I had collaborated with CPI the names and political contributions after Charles Lewis, its visionary while running American RadioWorks, of polluters, complete with maps, a builder, founded CPI, which has set public radio’s documentary unit based listing of contaminants, and other the benchmark for solid investigative at MPR. After a year of working to- data for all 1,624 Superfund sites. A journalism. [See article by Lewis on gether with Northwestern University’s large amount of our Web traffic for page 23.] As an online pioneer, CPI Medill News Service to collect travel this project comes from inside the has put millions of words, thousands data from the basement of the Capitol, EPA, which claims no comparable, of documents, and scores of databases our three organizations published an searchable database. on the Web, most of it made easily online report called “Power Trips.”2 searchable by journalists, policymak- Every lobbyist-funded trip during the Financial Disclosure Information: On ers and citizens. CPI’s investigations previous five years for members of the state level, CPI has for years have broken news about the Lincoln Congress and their staffers is made made available a variety of financial

1 For CPI’s work on the 2008 presidential campaigns, see www.buyingofthepresident.org. 2 This project and others mentioned later in this article can be found on the CPI Web site at www.publicintegrity.org.

36 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach disclosure information. Our most re- including the following projects: able database of nearly 400,000 words cent release is an updated “States of provides documentation that tracks the Disclosure” project, which provides Contractors and Contributions: In 935 false statements spoken publicly information on every governor, su- 2003, for example, after hundreds of by George W. Bush and seven of his preme court justice, and legislator in Freedom of Information Act requests, administration’s key officials from all 50 state capitals. We also grade the “Windfalls of War” project tallied 9/11 through the start of the Iraq War the states to show which have the the dollar amounts paid to contractors, and beyond. Statements are deemed weaker and stronger disclosure laws. totaled their political contributions, false when the speaker unequivocally Time after time, CPI has seen state and identified the former U.S. military stated that Iraq had weapons of mass legislatures use our data to address officials on their boards or in senior destruction or that Iraq was linked to their failing grades. management positions. Late last year, al-Qaeda. CPI updated that project by naming the International Reporting current top 100 Iraq and Afghanistan Funding Investigative contractors and posted online their Journalism Ten years ago, Lewis also launched even more lucrative contracts. It was the International Consortium of this project that first revealed that With the Bush administration out- Investigative Journalists sourcing government to an (ICIJ), a global member- WATCHDOG GALLERY extent never seen before— ship network whose ranks private contracts have now include nearly 100 more than doubled in the journalists in 50 countries. past five years, with billions [See the article by Fer- of dollars being contrib- nando Rodrigues on page uted to political campaigns 71 about his investigative and with 35,000 lobbyists reporting as part of ICIJ.] in Washington spending “Collateral Damage,” the more than $3 billion an- most recent ICIJ project, nually—there is no lack of was released last spring topics to explore. While our after more than a year of work at CPI is going well, reporting and research, I’ve been frustrated in my which required comb- new job by how much we ing through thousands of aren’t able to do because foreign lobbying records. of the difficulty in finding This project relied on the adequate resources for collaborative effort of 10 independent investigative investigative journalists on reporting. four continents. What CPI During the 16 years I ultimately published is one In 1929, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Paul Y. Anderson won the spent as vice president of the most comprehensive Pulitzer Prize for Reporting for “his highly effective work in bringing of news in public radio, accounts of U.S. military to light” hidden details of the Teapot Dome oil-lease scandal. A gas I helped to raise tens of aid and assistance in the station owner in Zillah, Washington, was so outraged by the corrupt millions of dollars from post-9/11 era—a project dealmaking that he built his station to look like a teapot in protest. foundations—a task I can that now features a unique Courtesy of the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, now appreciate as being database that combines Washington State Department of Community Development. relatively easy. Trying to U.S. military assistance, raise funds to support foreign lobbying expendi- CPI’s work, I can make tures, and human-rights abuses into Halliburton, and its former subsidiary a crystal-clear case about the need a single, accessible tool kit. By being KBR Inc. (Kellogg, Brown & Root), for tough investigative journalism, able to see all of these dollar figures have by far won the most lucrative but I find that resources to sustain in the same database, CPI was able to contracts in Iraq. the work we do are much harder to reveal for the first time how Pakistan’s come by. Although my former public $9 million in military assistance for False Statements: In late January, CPI radio colleagues will protest that they three years before 9/11 had jumped released another data-rich, innovative are only an on-air pitch break away to $4.6 billion, with only minimal project on Iraq called “The War Card: from going off the air, NPR, MPR, and Pentagon oversight. Orchestrated Deception on the Path to many major public radio operations Other efforts have dug deep into the War.” [See related box about reporting are fairly dependably well resourced. war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, on this project on page 26.] A search- With its endowment of more than

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 37 21st Century Muckrakers

$200 million, and annual budgets of we recognize how unlikely it is that CPI is seeking its sustainability model roughly $150 million, NPR is not a newspapers and broadcast entities by raising a larger endowment. As we struggling news organization. Nor is will be able to support efforts such as do so, words that the late historian MPR, with an endowment and an- these. CPI is embarking on a major Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a founding nual budget more than half that of campaign to dramatically increase its CPI advisory board member, used to NPR’s, though certainly each could endowment. A day of great jubilation describe our organization are ones I do even more with a greater amount would be when we raise the necessary will carry with me and use as I try to of financial resources. funds to allow us to devote more of convince others of the value of what Unlike public radio, CPI takes no our energy and attention to our in- we do. As Schlesinger said of CPI, it government money. While it earns vestigative work rather than to our is “an indispensable truth-teller in a some of its revenue, CPI relies heavily operating budget each year. treacherous time.”  on foundations and major individual In his 2004 book, “The Vanishing donors, but without the advantage Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Bill Buzenberg became the executive of on-air pledge drives. It is my wish Information Age,” University of North director of the Center for Public Integ- that more foundations and individual Carolina professor Philip Meyer writes, rity in January 2007. He had been donors could appreciate how critical “The only way to save journalism is to vice president of news at Minnesota their support is for sustaining the develop a new model that finds profit in Public Radio/American Public Media high-quality investigative reporting truth, vigilance and social responsibil- for the previous nine years. For 18 done by CPI and other independent, ity.” Meyer cited two examples of what years he was at NPR, including seven nonprofit journalism organizations. In he meant—NPR and CPI. The public as vice president of news and 11 years the challenging economic environment radio model has proved its sustainabil- as a foreign affairs correspondent and of today’s for-profit news industry, ity, and the smaller, but equally vital, London bureau chief.

When a Few Dollars Make a Big Difference The Fund for Investigative Journalism enabled Seymour Hersh to report on the My Lai massacre; since then it has funded many other investigative stories.

BY JOHN HYDE

n 1969, as the Vietnam War raged could to fund projects designed to a huge and influential story when 36 on, a dogged young reporter named alleviate poverty and others to battle newspapers in the United States and Seymour Hersh thought he was against racism, corporate greed, and abroad bought the rights to reprint Ionto something. He had learned that government corruption. Over time, he it. Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for there might have been a massacre of became convinced that by putting a International Reporting in 1970, and Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers small amount of money into the hands public opinion about the Vietnam War in the village of My Lai. Knocking on of aggressive reporters, he could do was profoundly affected. one door after another, Hersh asked an immense amount of good toward “Think of it,” Stern later wrote, “a editors at mainstream news organiza- achieving these goals. mere $2,250 in fund grants enabled tions to buy him a plane ticket so he For Hersh, that small amount of Seymour Hersh to leverage a whiff into could pursue this lead—and, if proven money—the first grant given out by a colossal stink and contribute might- correct, this publication would be the fund—was $250, which he used ily to the change in how Americans able to offer the story to its readers. to pay for his reporting trip to Indi- viewed the war in Vietnam.” One after another, they rejected his ana. Hersh returned feeling certain request. that he had a story, so the fund gave Courageous Pursuit of Stories Hersh then stumbled across a fledg- him an additional grant of $2,000 to ling organization called the Fund for pursue it further. When he finished his Since then, the work of investiga- Investigative Journalism (http://fij. reporting, the magazines to whom he tive reporters who have received the org/). This fund had been established offered the story turned him down. fund’s grants has been recognized by Philip Stern, a progressive-minded After a friend who operated Dispatch by the award of nearly every major philanthropist who had spent a lifetime News Service, a small newspaper prize in journalism: There has been trying to, in his words, “balance the syndicate, agreed to run his piece, another Pulitzer, two National Maga- scales of justice.” He’d done what he the scandal he’d unearthed became zine Awards, the George Polk Award,

38 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach the Raymond Clapper Award, and the board of directors whose idea led to this role the fund plays. The support it Frank Luther Mott Award. There have $25,000 award. It gives authors who provides, he said, “is absolutely essen- also been plenty of other courageous are writing investigative books financial tial for nonestablishment journalists reporters whose work we’ve funded assistance during times when it can be working on stories that—believe me, I who have not won prizes but who have a struggle for them to complete their know—99 percent of managing editors endured harassment and imprison- projects. Our most recent recipient would have passed up.”  ment and risked their lives in pursuit was Jessica Snyder Sachs, a science of what they knew was an important journalist whose book, “Good Germs, John Hyde is the part-time executive story to tell. Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a director of the Fund for Investigative Journalists who’ve headed out to Bacterial World,” details how the “war Journalism. He has been a reporter do reporting we’ve funded have been on germs” threatens a massive public and editor for several newspapers, in- beaten up, shot at, and run out of health crisis as microbes become re- cluding the Des Moines Register, where town. In 2001, Argwings Odera was sistant to antibiotic drugs.1 he served in the Washington bureau forced to flee his native Kenya after Many years after the My Lai mas- for 12 years. the nation’s president went on national sacre story made him famous, Seymour television and accused him of treason Hersh looked back on the important because of his stories about govern- ment corruption. Robert I. Friedman, a freelance author, was sent into hiding after his book, “Red Mafiya,” earned him a death sentence from the Russian Fund for Investigative Journalism: mob. After he received a subsequent fund grant to investigate human traf- Practices and Policies ficking in India, he contracted a rare As a nonprofit, nonpartisan orga- resumé, a budget for the project, disease during his time there and nization, the fund operates frugally a sample of published work, and died. In honor of his work, the fund so it can give out as many grants a “letter of interest” from an edi- created the Robert I. Friedman Award as possible. Its 12-member board tor or producer stating that if the for International Investigative Report- of directors, composed of distin- finished product meets their edito- ing to honor him. Eliza Griswold, who guished working journalists who rial standards, they will consider was the first winner of the Friedman serve without compensation, meets using it. Award, was detained and subsequently several times a year to weigh grant Half of the grant is given at the ushered out of Pakistan while she was proposals. Frugality is a necessity, start and half when the project is reporting on Waziristan, a remote since the fund accepts no money completed. Other than this finan- tribal area thought to be the hiding from corporations, labor unions, cial assistance, the fund exerts no place of Osama bin Laden. special interest groups, or govern- editorial control over the project, There was Lesley McCulloch, a Scot- mental agencies. Most of its fund- nor does it monitor how the grant tish journalist, who was arrested and ing comes from foundations and money is used. Its interest is in good jailed for five months while reporting individual contributors. journalism, not reviewing expense on the conflict in Banda Aceh. The Grants, ranging from $500 to reports. The fund does not offer Indonesian government originally $10,000, are awarded to U.S. and scholarships or training programs. threatened to charge her with treason, foreign journalists, and projects in Its sole purpose is to promote tough, a capital offense, but later backed away all media are considered, including honest investigative journalism by when international opinion coalesced newspapers, magazines, broadcast, putting money into the hands of in her favor. Unknown to her jailers, books and the Internet. Applicants reporters eager to shine light into McCulloch had smuggled a cell phone state in a letter what they propose to dark places. And, in that respect, into her cell and gave a series of in- investigate and how they intend to it is often the only game in town. terviews to the BBC. go about it. They also submit their —J.H. Our annual book award is named in honor of legendary editor Gene Roberts, a longtime member of the

1 Previous winners include Stephanie Mencimer for “Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue,” about tort reform, and “Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II,” by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, which details sexual misconduct by a secretive sect within the Catholic Church and an effort to cover it up at the Vatican’s higher levels.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 39 21st Century Muckrakers

Seeking Support for Investigative Projects These foundations and centers offer about topics and issues that are often financial support for journalists. ignored by mainstream media.

Alicia Patterson Foundation The Pulitzer Center on Crisis www.aliciapatterson.org Reporting This Washington, D.C.-based fund http://pulitzercenter.org/ (Click on provides six-month and one-year grants “Grants”) to working investigative reporters who The center funds international travel want to pursue independent investiga- costs associated with reporting projects tive projects. Grants can be as much on topics and regions of global impor- as $35,000 and are awarded based tance. While broad in its description, on an annual competition. the center has supported investigative WATCHDOG GALLERY pieces “with an emphasis on issues that Center for Investigative Reporting have gone unreported or underreported http://centerforinvestigativereporting. in the mainstream American media.” org/projects/thedickgoldensohnfund. The grant amount depends on the The Dick Goldensohn Fund makes specific project and detailed budget small grants to cover research, re- planning and ranges from $3,000 to porting and travel costs for freelance $10,000. Some have been as much as journalists working on international $20,000. All journalists, writers or investigations. filmmakers, both freelance and staff of any nationality, may apply. Fund for Investigative Journalism www.fij.org University of California at Berkeley, Based in Washington, D.C., the Fund Graduate School of Journalism for Investigative Journalism gives http://journalism.berkeley.edu/. grants of up to $10,000 to investiga- E-mail Marlena Telvick at investigati- tive reporters who are working outside [email protected]. of major news organizations. Types The university offers three yearlong of investigations the fund supports postgraduate fellowships in investi- include corruption, incompetence and gative reporting that are open to all societal ills. working journalists but with preference In 1931, Drew Pearson (1897-1969) pub- given to graduates of U.C. Berkeley’s lished “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” Investigative Reporters and Editors program in journalism. Selection will which became the name for his Wash- (IRE) be based on qualifications as well as ington Post column in which he exposed www.ire.org/training/fellowships. potential and on the proposed areas political corruption. LBJ Library and E-mail Jennifer Erickson at jennifer@ of investigation. Fellows will be pro- Museum/Courtesy Newseum. ire.org. vided with office space, phones and In a new program, IRE will offer basic expenses and will be considered grants to freelancers working on in- employees of the university with an vestigative stories. IRE will distribute annual salary of about $45,000.  a limited number of annual fellowships of $1,000 to $2,000. Applications are This information was compiled by due on May 1st each year, and fellows Rachel Schaff, who is in her second will be announced at IRE’s annual year of the Masters of Library Sci- conference in June. ence program at the University of Missouri-Columbia and has worked The Nation Institute in the resource center of Investiga- www.nationinstitute.org/ifunds/ tive Reporters and Editors for several The Nation Institute’s Investigative years while attending Missouri. She Fund provides grants for research- will join the staff at the library at U.S. ing investigative stories. The fund is News & World Report after she gradu- designed to support work on stories ates in May.

40 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach

Transparency Increases Credibility A Web site and television show reveal how investigative journalists do their jobs.

BY MARK SCHAPIRO

nvestigative reporters are rarely words started to seem like an accurate Each episode tells through video the beloved. In making it our business observation about the constellation of story-behind-the-story by showing in to reveal the often uncomfortable sometimes gruff, always driven jour- detail an investigative reporter’s me- Itruths behind the public reality, why nalists who pursue this line of work. thodical—often dramatic—assemblage should we be? But to be understood They actually believe that bringing of evidence. The program peels away is another matter. real information to the attention of layers of the often-mystifying process Early in 2006, the Center for Inves- the public might prompt change—in of doing investigative reporting. tigative Reporting (CIR) and WNET, government policy, in the fate of politi- In the first season, for example, the the PBS station in New York City, program portrayed the extraordi- joined forces to begin produc- nary efforts of the investigative tion of the television program, team in St. Petersburg, Florida to “Exposé: America’s Investigative Taking people inside the work of reveal FEMA’s ineptitude in han- Reports.”1 Our goal was to illus- dling the destructive after-effects trate through this television show investigative reporters increases the of Hurricane Rita, months before what it takes to do investigative Hurricane Katrina devastated reporting by retracing the steps story’s credibility and illuminates the New Orleans and every newspaper of some of the best in the busi- immense effort that journalists put in America was on FEMA’s trail. ness at newspapers, magazines, The segment followed the South television and radio stations across into such coverage. Florida Sun-Sentinel’s I-Team the country. By revealing how it’s as they pursued one Freedom of done, we thought that the show Information Act (FOIA) request might contribute to taking some after another with FEMA and of the taint off the plummeting constructed a scathing portrait of public image that the profession has cians and government officials, in the the federal agency’s incompetence by endured—not to mention tell some behavior of corporations, in individuals comparing official documents with the dramatic tales. or in entities with a link to power. His experiences of local residents. In preproduction, WNET sent out observation certainly offered a contrast In its second season, “Exposé” fol- veteran producer Tom Casciato to get with the public’s typical view of inves- lowed James Steele and Donald Barlett a sense of the media terrain. Casciato tigative journalists, who tend to rank as they evoked the relentless document had put his documentary skills to work somewhere between lawyers (another and source trail they developed for on behalf of ABC News, National Geo- profession given an arguably bad rap) investigating the defense department’s graphic, and Bill Moyers before taking and repo men (who might deserve it). largest contractor, Science Applications the job as executive producer of Exposé. And the 24/7 news cycle hasn’t helped International Corporation, for a story He came back from that initial foray when anyone from Katie Couric to the that appeared in Vanity Fair. [See Bar- and reported, “You’re all optimists!” local cable correspondent staking out lett and Steele’s article on page 50.] The belief that the “system can and pot dealers across from a local high Like many other pieces shown as part should work” was a common quality school can label him or herself an of this series, this one demonstrated he noticed in the many interviews “investigative reporter.” how these two veteran reporters went he had conducted with investigative How is the public supposed to about gathering information. What journalists, editors and producers at recognize the “real” thing? they did and how they did it involved news organizations, small and large, We hope the program, Exposé, now the use of tools and strategies that across the country. in its third season and being aired as the investigative journalists use all This surprised me; I’d never heard part of Bill Moyers Journal, can height- the time, but this story gave a gritty any of my colleagues or peers define en viewers’ ability to differentiate the glimpse of the process to those who themselves using quite such buoyant real from the not-so-real by providing are unlikely to think much about how terms. Upon reflection, however, his the critical dimension of transparency. stories like this one are reported.

1 www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 41 21st Century Muckrakers

WATCHDOG GALLERY Tofani then wrote about what pulled her back into journalism. Later she described what she went through in reporting the story of what was hap- pening in these Chinese factories. A few of her words follow:

The store made me an importer, so I often traveled to China, where I had been a foreign correspondent for four years during the 1990’s for The Phila- delphia Inquirer. As a businessperson, I saw a different side of Chinese factories than those I had been allowed to see as a foreign correspondent. Back then, I received the usual ‘foreign journalist as spy’ treatment: I was escorted by half a dozen Chinese officials who had prescreened the factories and preinter- viewed the workers and managers. But as a businessperson, on a new passport, I had relative freedom to choose the factories I wanted to see, unencumbered by government escorts. What I saw—and my inability to stop thinking about what it meant and George Seldes (1890-1995). In 1938 he founded a weekly newspaper, “In Fact,” in which he what the stories would say—caused wrote frequently about the hazards of smoking cigarettes during a time when other publi- me to close my store and return to cations refused to print such stories. Loren Ghiglione/Courtesy Newseum. journalism. My series … showed that millions of Chinese factory workers were touching and/or inhaling carcino- gens—nickel, cadmium, lead, benzene, “Exposé” also tracks what happens endeavor to use whatever journalistic toluene, n-hexane, mercury—as they after a story is published or broadcast: tools we can to let readers have as made products destined for the United It then shares with viewers what hap- much clarity as possible about how States. While Americans worried about pened to targets of an investigation we report our stories; sometimes lead on toys imported from China, and victims of malfeasance months this means revealing the step-by-step Chinese workers were dying from lead after the initial story appeared. The process that leads to a revelation. Or and other toxins. They were paying the show also is able to give a second life reporters explain how they got the real price of cheap American imports. to revelations whose initial impact story in the first place, or where their Using shipping documents, I linked might have been limited to a local journey in putting together its many specific American imports to specific market. pieces led them to go. Loretta Tofani Chinese workers dying of fatal occu- wrote on the CIR Web site about her pational diseases. I interviewed the Using the Web to Expose series, “American Imports, Chinese workers and obtained their medical Reporting Deaths,” that appeared last October in records. The series raised questions: the Salt Lake Tribune. This Pulitzer If we protect American workers from Developing such themes on “Exposé” Prize-winning journalist first explained fatal occupational diseases, shouldn’t has enhanced the investigative jour- how she’d left journalism in 2001, when Chinese workers making American nalism we do and support at CIR, a cuts at The Philadelphia Inquirer led products also be protected? 31-year old nonprofit organization that her to take a buyout and open a store produces investigative stories for all in Salt Lake City that sold Chinese We are putting CIR’s Web site to media. At CIR, reporters and editors ethnic furniture.2 use in other ways, too. It provides

2 On the CIR blog—The Muckraker—reporters write about their investigative work and discussion takes place about investigative reporting. http:// centerforinvestigativereporting.org/blogs?category=31.

42 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nonprofit Approach readers not only with documentation to that evidence in the United States has heightened the necessity of find- that buttresses the reporting but also and Europe.3 ing alternative resources to support with explanations of how our reporters Taking people inside the work of this kind of reporting. This prospect used it. It has graphic representa- investigative reporters increases the has helped to galvanize the work of tions of a story’s central findings and story’s credibility and illuminates the the nonprofit institutions reflected in shows clearly the reporter’s stepping immense effort that journalists put these pages. And perhaps the increasing stones of document collection and into such coverage. This helps espe- attention to the role of nonprofit jour- interviews. Our Web site figures into cially with complex and controversial nalism reflects a broader phenomenon CIR’s investigations, no matter in stories, where we’ve found that a high at work: recognition of how essential which medium the original story ap- level of transparency about the report- this combination of optimism and the pears. Flash art is used to draw the ing process translates into greater methodical application of skepticism is links between people, documents and believability by readers. (According to a healthy democracy. In telling the revelations. On companion Web sites to a similar logic, many newspapers story of journalists and the efforts they for our documentary films and other now inform readers about the reason make, perhaps investigative reporting major projects, we include everything for an unnamed source’s desire for can be seen for what it contributes as from raw data to interview streams, anonymity.) well as an unwelcome disruption to so we can show the various pieces CIR was the nation’s first effort to put the status quo.  of the puzzle that went into putting into practice the notion that if for-profit the finished product together. In my news organizations would not support Mark Schapiro is the editorial director recently published book, “Exposed,” in-depth investigations into abuses of of the Center for Investigative Report- I adopted some of these techniques power, then perhaps foundations and ing and author of the book, “Exposed: to carry readers along as I moved philanthropic individuals could. Back The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday through complicated sequences of then no one foresaw the systematic Products and What’s at Stake for scientific evidence about the effects unraveling of newsrooms that we are American Power,” published by Chel- of chemicals on the human metabo- witnessing today. The implosion of sea Green in 2007. lism and into the differing responses traditional support within newsrooms

3 http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org/projects/Exposed

Good Journalism Can Be Good Business ‘Let’s not pull the plug on for-profit journalism just yet.’

BY DANIEL BROGAN

ardly a day goes by anymore be a business unto itself. Reporters nalism by any means necessary, let’s without more bad news about frequently spend months on various not pull the plug on for-profit journal- the news business. Layoffs. lines of inquiry, some of which do not ism just yet. Four years ago, I made HBudget cuts. Once proud companies pan out, and even when one does, it a commitment that 5280—Denver’s dismantled. Wall Street analysts pre- is not the kind of coverage that draws city magazine, which takes its name dicting more gloom ahead. It’s gotten advertisers.1 from our mile-high elevation—would to the point that even The New York do more, not less, long-form and Times is worrying that “Muckraking Things are so bad that, increas- investigative journalism. It hasn’t Pays, Just Not in Profit:” ingly, we’re seeing nonprofits such as been cheap, but I’m here to tell you ProPublica and MinnPost put forth to forget the conventional “wisdom.” Investigative reporting can expose as the last refuge for serious news- There’s good money to be made in corruption, create accountability, and gathering. good journalism. occasionally save lives, but it will never While I applaud high-quality jour- A bit of background. Fifteen years

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/business/media/10carr.html

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 43 21st Century Muckrakers

ago, I started 5280 in my second bed- Returning to Investigative Department of Defense and, in another room. It was a classic bootstrap launch, Journalism case, we sued the federal government funded by personal savings, a few when we discovered evidence that an small family loans, and a lot of credit Our magazine has a ways to go be- order had gone out to destroy records card debt. As a former reporter at the fore we reach our ultimate goal, but we were seeking under a Freedom of Chicago Tribune, I fully intended that we’ve been doing a lot of important Information Act inquiry. investigative and long-form narrative investigative work, including the fol- But we’ve also experienced a tre- journalism would be an important part lowing stories: mendous return on our investment—fi- of our editorial mix. And in our early nancially and in terms of recognition years, we made a few noble attempts, • We documented the holes in the first from our peers. We’ve been nominated including the first in-depth interview case brought against an Air Force for two National Magazine Awards with the principal of Columbine High Academy cadet accused of rape, in and received a flattering number of School following the 1999 shootings the article “Conduct Unbecoming.”2 other awards, often being recognized and the first profiles of the jurors When those charges were later dis- alongside entries from publications selected in Timothy McVeigh’s Okla- missed, the cadet’s father credited such as The New Yorker, Harper’s, The homa City bombing trial. But reality 5280 with saving his son from a life Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. quickly set in. Those kinds of stories sentence. Two of our stories became segments on were expensive, and we were barely • We revealed that the Army’s flagrant ABC’s “20/20” and the “NBC Nightly keeping our heads above water. physical and psychological abuse News.” Recognition from our peers To survive, we instead turned our of its recruits during basic training is gratifying, of course. On the busi- focus to that mainstay of city maga- was driving some mentally troubled ness side, the returns have been just zines, service journalism. If you could trainees to suicide in the article as gratifying. In the past four years, list it, rank it, or rate it, you’d find it “Private Stites Should Have Been 5280’s paid subscriptions have grown in the pages of 5280. Admittedly, this Saved.” by more than 50 percent, while the was not the kind of glamorous report- • We uncovered serious conflicts of number of magazines we sell on the age that most of us went to journalism interest in the mediation system set newsstand—already strong for a city school to pursue. But for a small staff up to protect veterans who illegally of Denver’s size—has increased by a with limited resources, our lists of lose their jobs when returning from similar amount. Though Denver is doctors, restaurants, neighborhoods Iraq in the article “Nobody’s Hero.” the nation’s 22nd largest market, only and schools offered a cost-effective way • We told the story of sick and dying five other monthly city magazines sell to build an audience. Over time, we workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear more copies on the newsstand. were able to translate that audience weapons plant who are being denied Last, but certainly not least, we’ve into ad dollars and, by 2003, we were promised health benefits, despite more than doubled our ad revenue turning a healthy profit. the government’s unprecedented during this same time. This means we However, as Denver grew and the admission that the workers had been continue to generate a very healthy Internet began to offer readers new recklessly put in harm’s way, in the profit margin, even as we continue sources of information, it became clear article “Out in the Cold.” Follow- to reinvest in the magazine’s edito- that simply being a good magazine ing our report, the workers’ cases rial product. I’m guessing that Wall wouldn’t be good enough for very long. were reopened and are now being Street wouldn’t endorse our strategy. So I decided to take 5280’s financial reviewed. After all, 5280 is a small magazine success and reinvest it in creating a in a relatively small city. But there’s great magazine, one that was the equal At the same time, we’ve also in- nothing about our business model that of any city magazine in the country. creased our emphasis on narrative shouldn’t be valid elsewhere. To sell Since the start of 2004, we’ve tripled storytelling, offering readers such ads, a publication needs to attract a the size of our editorial staff, bringing compelling reads as a two-part profile worthwhile audience. To do that re- on journalists from national titles like of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, quires compelling content. All of which GQ, Red Herring, Sports Illustrated, “And on the Eighth Day, Dr. Dobson convinces me that good journalism and Skiing as well as some of the Created Himself,” and the gripping tale can be good business.  very best city magazines. At the same of a woman left for dead by a serial time, we doubled the budget for our rapist who terrorized Denver in 2005, Daniel Brogan is the editor and pub- freelance writers, photographers and “Undefeated.” lisher of 5280 magazine, which he illustrators. All told, we’ve increased Other costs have come our way from founded in 1993. He has a journalism our total editorial expenditures by pursuing these kinds of stories. We’ve degree from Indiana University. nearly one million dollars a year. had to fight off a subpoena from the

2 This article, and others mentioned, can be found at www.5280.com/back_issues.php.

44 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 The Digital Transformation

THE D IGITAL TRANSFORMATION Digital Journalism: Will It Work for Investigative Journalism? The Nieman Watchdog Project’s editor explores what might be missing and what might be found as journalists turn to the Web to assist in reporting.

BY BARRY SUSSMAN

t’s beyond dispute that the finest in- these absent stories in the category of word out about something. The Web vestigative reporting being done by “known unknowns.” is always waiting—available anytime members of the press is marvelous. As someone who remembers when for anyone to publish anything. IThe problem is, there’s not enough of beat reporting served a valuable Determining how trustworthy a it. Month to month, we find evidence purpose—for the newspaper and the piece of information is or how reliable that gaps in watchdog coverage grow. public—I wonder at times whether a source might be is what reporters do, Where once newspaper reporters were there will ever again be a time when or what they were once expected to do assigned routine beats, by those who read their such as poverty, labor, stories. It is, therefore, the courts, this doesn’t not comforting to read happen so much anymore, a recent Harper’s Index or maybe a reporter gets I wonder at times whether there will ever again be item that observed the three beats to cover when a time when substantial reporting occurs following: “Minimum the average number used number of edits to Wiki- to be one. The state of about the topics and issues on which beat pedia since June 2004 race relations seems good that have been traced for a Newsweek cover reporters once kept watch. back to the CIA: 310.” story every five years, but Nor is the habit Web that’s about it. What’s audiences have of finding happening in prisons? their way most often to Forget it. The problems are as large substantial reporting occurs about the sites where like-minded people reside and numerous as ever, but the press’s topics and issues on which beat report- something that ought to comfort us, watchful eyes, in large measure, have ers once kept watch. I am not holding either. At least when we open a news- gone away. my breath for that day to arrive. paper we aren’t always sure what we’ll When reporters are on a beat, find inside, and sometimes what we they are known by those they cover. The Web: An Investigative find gives us food for thought. In time, they come to know who is Reporter’s Tool There are plenty of reliable, dedi- doing what and learn why. They sniff cated groups and individuals respon- out when something isn’t working What the Web does incomparably well sibly sharing important information as it should and, pretty soon, if they is to provide information—instantly— through the Web. And at a time when are doing their job well, sources start on just about anything. Want to know surveys of public attitudes inform us to come to them. Stories that once about where there have been cases of that the public’s trust in the press is seemed impossible to nail down now bird flu? Or what can go wrong with exceedingly low, it seems inevitable seem doable. One of the great losses voting machines? Or about the capital that other avenues of seeking sources of our day is that so much of this kind punishment of innocent people? Civil- for “news” will be sought. We know of daily legwork isn’t happening, not ian deaths in Iraq? College enrollment already that the role the press once to mention the enormous loss of so and rising tuition costs? Googling not assumed as a gatekeeper of such much valuable institutional memory only provides answers, but it connects information is no longer theirs. And vanishing by way of employee buyouts. reporters and anyone else with possible with all of the changes brought by For any editors who don’t realize places and sources to go to find out technology and with those happen- what this absence means, perhaps a more. But the ways of the Web also ing in newsrooms, it is hard to know reminder from a one-time secretary mean that a “source” no longer has whether investigative journalism’s of defense might help; he’d surely put to wait for a reporter to call to get future looks brighter for those of us

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 45 21st Century Muckrakers

who believe in the essentialness of its traditional watchdog role. Revealing the Disinformation Industry During the four years I’ve been editor of the Nieman Watchdog Web With complicated stories, a problem and Editors (www.ire.org) and the site,1 there’s been, of course, an ex- for reporters and editors always has Project for Excellence in Journalism tremely rapid growth in digital media. been to wade through mounds of (www.journalism.org). And there is Web sites of news organizations now disinformation to get to the facts. a new Web site—www.frontgroups. display impressive multimedia displays Today the problem is even worse. org—aimed directly at this disin- of investigative pieces, such as those There is an entire disinformation formation problem. It is put out by done by The New York Times and The industry, consisting of corporate- Consumers Union and the Center Washington Post and other mainstream funded think tanks, phony grass- for Media and Democracy with the news outlets. A lot of other investiga- roots groups, co-opted citizens stated goal of exposing “the people tive work found on the Web is done, organizations, experts for hire, fake and organizations who function in however, through nonprofit entities news and fake reporters, govern- our society as hidden persuaders. or by individuals, some of whom had ment officials on all levels who lie You’ll find them at work posting to distinguished careers in newsrooms and promote disinformation, and blogs, speaking before city councils, before they began to publish on their a presidential administration that quoted in newspapers and pub- own. Others with less familiar bylines has worked to discredit the press lished on the editorial page, even have surfaced in recent years, and and make it irrelevant. Nor has sponsoring presidential election by now some have been around long the Web been spared, as digital debates. All this while pretending enough that their work has shown disinformation proliferates. to represent the grassroots when itself to be credible and solid. Now But the Internet also provides in fact they are working against on some important watchdog stories journalists with some online re- citizens’ best interests.” these Web-based writers are doing sources to help journalists sort The disinformation industry is original reporting to the point where what is real and solid from what is huge and well entrenched. Report- online sites, such as the Center for fake and disingenuous. A couple of ers need all the help they can get. Investigative Reporting, the Center good ones, among others, are the —B.S. for Public Integrity, Talking Points Web sites of Investigative Reporters Memo, and others are in the forefront of investigative reporting. If editors believe, for example, that there should be more and better re- never have been possible before. jump-start an investigative story by porting about what is going on inside Another example of that is a public confirming hunches they might have of prisons and with the courts—yet interest group, the Center for Medicare with solid data and by suggesting they lack the staff necessary to do this Advocacy, Inc.. Journalists probing sources to which they can turn. Few beat as day-to-day reporting—then the Bush administration’s apparent investigative assignments, however, there are ways that the Web can help. efforts to weaken and possibly destroy will be—or should be—completed on- With well-researched information and the Medicare system will find this a line; I’m old enough and experienced links to news coverage in every state, knowledgeable source. In this case, as enough to know the importance of The Sentencing Project’s Web site, in others, experts serve as sources and working with actual sources—people operated by a prison reform group do their own reporting through regular who have stories to tell and documents in Washington, D.C., for example, online releases. Its executive director, to back up what they know. Databases, can give reporters a good start in Judith Stein, has written occasional and the computer tools we have to figuring out whether there is a story pieces for the Nieman Watchdog site work with, are a terrific resource, but to be told. Or the reporter can go to that, in my view, provide authoritative, there still need to be stories about real the Brennan Center for Justice at New excellent leads for journalists. [See people and real people’s lives. Read- York University School of Law or to a accompanying box for a description ers—whether they get their news online range of similar sites. It’s not exactly of Web sites journalists can use to or in a newspaper or on TV—aren’t the way shoe-leather reporting was help them ferret out disinformation riveted by numbers and timelines. done but, in some ways, use of the campaigns.] What they still crave are stories, in Web will likely enable some aspects Sites like this one—and many oth- this case ones in which the powerful of reporting to take place that would ers—give reporters guidance that can are held accountable for actions they’ve

1 At www.niemanwatchdog.org academic experts, journalists and others pose questions they believe the press should be asking and share information about topics that might lead reporters to develop their own investigations.

46 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 The Digital Transformation taken and the circumstances of the vive. One path leads to “civic-minded two-path strategy. Unless newspapers vulnerable are brought to life. wealthy individuals [who] may feel figure out how—in print and online—to In a letter in his 2006 Berkshire that local ownership will serve their continue their essential watchdog role Hathaway annual report, Warren Buf- community well.” That’s a possibility, by providing substantive investiga- fett wrote that, when he was young, but a declining one, he wrote. Speak- tive reporting in well-told ways, then “No paper in a one-paper city, however ing about the Buffalo News, which whether they survive or not, what bad the product or however inept the Berkshire Hathaway owns, Buffett they’ve meant to the survival of our management, could avoid gushing held out the hope that “some combi- democracy will have vanished.  profits.” Those days are gone. Now nation of print and online will ward Buffett believes there are two paths for off economic doomsday.” Barry Sussman is the editor of the newspapers to take if they are to sur- Let me add a proviso to Buffett’s Nieman Watchdog Project.

Reporting With the Tools of Social Science ‘We had put the social scientists on notice that journalists increasingly would be competitors in their field.’

BY STEPHEN K. DOIG

ynics would say “precision However, it was 15 years later WATCHDOG GALLERY journalism” is an oxymoron, before I got a chance to start apply- like unbiased opinion or civil ing such methods to my journalism. Cwar. But precision is an ideal to be The problem was that much of what sought in journalism, though not Meyer recommended could best be often achieved. done with a computer, which during As defined by Knight Ridder report- the 1970’s meant big-iron mainframes er Philip Meyer in his groundbreaking that only universities or corporations 1973 book of the same name, precision could afford. It was nearly a decade journalism is the use of the tools of before personal computers were social science to replace, or at least developed and usable by nontechies supplement, reporters’ time-honored like myself. methods of citing anecdotal evidence By then, in 1981, I was a reporter and doing educated guesswork. Today, in The Miami Herald’s state capital thanks to Meyer’s call, I’m one of bureau, and I had bought an Atari hundreds of investigative reporters 800 computer to play with at home. who have crafted serious stories using I quickly realized that my expensive such tools as survey research, statis- toy could help me do my job better. I tical analysis, experimentation and relearned BASIC, then persuaded my hypothesis testing. It’s social science editors to buy one of the new-fangled done on deadline. IBM PCs for me to use at work. At As it happens, I got a glimmering one point, I spent a week writing of these methods even before I dis- and debugging a program that would covered journalism as a career. In my In 1946, Stetson Kennedy’s book “South- take a legislative roll call vote and freshman year at Dartmouth in 1966, ern Exposure” was published, revealing produce cross-tabs not only by party I slogged my way to a so-so grade in the circumstances of life for blacks in the but also by such other revealing po- calculus, the last math course I ever American South. litical demographics as race, gender, took. I remember little calculus today, geography, leadership position, and but I did learn something my profes- source of campaign contributions. It sor, John Kemeny, had coauthored two and seconds later a mainframe com- would even write the roll call agate we years earlier: the computer language puter somewhere on campus would appended to legislative stories. (Today, BASIC. I thought it very cool that I calculate precinct-level vote percent- of course, such an application could could peck a few lines of English-like ages for my American Government be built in minutes with off-the-shelf instructions into a teletype machine homework. database software.)

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 47 21st Century Muckrakers

a citation for an article describing it in a scholarly journal from the 1950’s. Building a Toolbox for Precision Journalism Armed with that already-invented tool, a month after the decennial census Want to add social science methods Join Investigative Reporters and data was released we produced our to your toolbox of investigative Editors (IRE): It offers training in analysis of how segregation had—or reporting skills? What follows computer-assisted reporting in hadn’t—changed in every state, county are some ways to consider doing general and precision journalism and city across the country since 1980. this: in particular.1 For expert comment on what we had found, Gillmor called William Frey Read “Precision Journalism: A Subscribe to NICAR-L: This e-mail of the University of Michigan, one of Reporter’s Introduction to Social listserv is frequented by most of the nation’s leading demographers. He Science Methods” (4th edition) by the reporters who are using preci- was stunned. “My god, I had no idea Philip Meyer. sion journalism tools.2 newspapers could do that kind of work,” Frey told Gillmor, adding that he hadn’t Fuzzy with math? Read “Numbers Consider signing up for the an- even started thinking about the grant in the Newsroom: Using Math and nual advanced newsroom statis- applications he would write in hopes of Statistics in News,” by Sarah Co- tics boot camp at Arizona State doing a similar analysis in the next few hen, the Pulitzer-winning Wash- University.3 years. We had put the social scientists ington Post database editor. on notice that journalists increasingly Sign up for the annual “Mapping would be competitors in their field. Get the boss to buy you a copy Data for News Stories” boot camp And I’m proud to say that we also of SPSS 16.0: This is a widely at IRE’s headquarters at the Uni- beat Meyer, by then a Knight Chair used statistical analysis software versity of Missouri. at the University of North Carolina in package. It’s pricey, at $1,700, Chapel Hill, to the story; unknown to but it will do most of the kinds Take a statistics course and a us until later, he was a consultant to of analyses precision journalists geographical information sys- USA Today reporters who were work- are performing these days. Bet- tems course at your local uni- ing on a similar analysis. ter yet, the SPSS documentation, versity. Most professors will be By then, there was a growing band manuals and practice data serve intrigued about helping you of investigative reporters doing ever- as a good tutorial in statistical become a precision journalist. more sophisticated studies using pre- techniques. —S.K.D. cision journalism techniques. One of the best-known examples at the time 1 For more information on the IRE, go to www.ire.org/. Books mentioned was the “Color of Money” project that above are available at www.ire.org/store. used hard data to document so-called 2 To join this listserv go to www.ire.org/membership/subscribe/nicar-l.html. “redlining” by banks that were denying Fast help is available there while climbing the learning curve. mortgage loans to black residents of 3 Details can be found at www.ire.org/training/arizonastats08.html. Atlanta, which won a 1989 Pulitzer for young Atlanta Journal and Constitu- tion reporter Bill Dedman. In a case of chance favoring the prepared mind, my opportunity to A couple of years later, I got to tography. An example of my academic use precision journalism on a huge meet Meyer for the first time. He cluelessness came in 1991, when I was story arrived on August 24, 1992, did a day-long training seminar at working with Knight Ridder colleagues when Hurricane Andrew tore across the Herald attended by a few of us, Dan Gillmor and Ted Mellnik on a the south end of Miami with winds including Richard Morin, who later project about racial segregation in exceeding 150 miles per hour. Andrew would go on to be the polling director the United States using just-released destroyed or heavily damaged more for The Washington Post for nearly 20 census data. I spent days trying to than 80,000 homes—including my years. Rich and I, in particular, came noodle together some way to measure own. In the weeks that followed, as away from that seminar inspired to be the degree of segregation in a com- Herald reporters were covering the precision journalists. munity, but nothing useful emerged. daily events of recovery across the So I spent the next decade at the I finally mentioned my frustration to battered region, our investigative team Herald teaching myself, in bits and Mellnik, who then mentioned it to met to see how we might determine pieces, the social science tools I hadn’t a friend who was a sociologist. “Oh, whether the extent of this disaster was had enough sense to study when I you want the dissimilarity index,” the simply an act of God or the inevitable was in college, from statistics to car- friend promptly replied, giving Mellnik result of our collective stupidity.

48 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 The Digital Transformation

I realized that I could WATCHDOG GALLERY tools needed to interpret merge our growing database the data—including the of damage reports with the dissimilarity index—in a property tax roll, which series of workshops around would allow us to study the the country organized by storm’s damage patterns. Investigative Reporters When I ran the numbers, I and Editors (IRE). And found the first smoking gun with the help of numbers- of my career. There was no savvy IRE stalwarts like pattern to be seen when I Jennifer LaFleur and Holly compared storm damage Hacker,1 I host an annual to such variables as home three-day statistics boot value, type of construction, camp for reporters who location or distance from are ready to move beyond the shore. But there was spreadsheets to learn tools a strong, counterintuitive like correlation, regression, pattern connected to the sampling, hypothesis tests, year of construction: The and probability. newer the home, the more Finally, the use of such likely to be destroyed. We tools has become so com- went on to uncover the mon that three years ago I reasons for this in other Edward R. Murrow reported “Harvest of Shame” about the condi- joined with IRE to create datasets we gathered, in- tions of migrant farm workers. This “CBS Reports” program was the Philip Meyer Awards2 cluding millions of records originally shown on Thanksgiving evening, 1960. Film image for precision journalism of often-hasty building courtesy of CBS Photo Archive, CBS Worldwide, Inc. © honoring the best investi- inspections and millions gative reporting done each of dollars in campaign year using social science contributions to politicians who had techniques. Winners and other strong approved weakened building codes at entries have used clever statistical the urging of the construction indus- … I’m one of hundreds of methods to uncover cheating scandals try. Our report, called “What Went investigative reporters in public schools, backdated stock op- Wrong,” was published three months tions, flaws in ballot designs, origins after the storm. who have crafted serious of the methamphetamine epidemic, After that, Herald reporters and and systemic problems with veterans’ I investigated other big social prob- stories using such tools as medical care, among many noteworthy lems by using hard data, including survey research, statistical stories. What Meyer dreamed of 35 an examination of South Florida’s years ago—a cadre of journalists who overwhelmed criminal justice system analysis, experimentation use the scientific method—precisely and a probe of immigration’s effect on has come to pass.  our region and the country. and hypothesis testing. It’s social science done on Stephen K. Doig is the Knight Chair in Teaching the Tools Journalism at Arizona State Universi- deadline. ty’s Walter Cronkite School of Journal- I left the Herald in 1996 to become a ism and Mass Communication. Pre- professor of journalism. Each semester, cision journalism projects on which I teach our best students some of the he worked during his 19 years at The precision journalism techniques that I first laid out by Meyer. For instance, Miami Herald won the Pulitzer Prize still wish I had learned back in college. I in advance of the 2000 Census, USA for Public Service, the IRE Award, and also continue to work with investigative Today database editor Paul Overberg the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative reporters who are following the path and I taught hundreds of reporters the Reporting.

1 Hacker and Oklahoma State University journalism professor Stan Ketterer are working on a book about using advanced statistics in reporting. 2 This year, the Meyer Award was given to The Dallas Morning News for “Faking the Grade.” This series, by reporters Joshua Benton, a 2008 Nieman Fellow, and Holly Hacker, uncovered strong evidence of cheating on standardized tests by more than 50,000 students in Texas public and charter schools. [See Nieman Notes, page 107.]

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 49 21st Century Muckrakers

Reporting Is Only Part of the Investigative Story ‘In “Billions Over Baghdad,” we knew that simply reporting the costs of the Iraq War in mind-numbing billions wasn’t good enough.’

BY DONALD L. BARLETT AND JAMES B. STEELE

ardly a week goes by without tility that some reporters have had to four-paragraph story headed, “Award someone lamenting the death endure from editors who were less for Alvin M’Coy.” of investigative reporting. It’s than thrilled by their investigative It’s good to remember that before Ha familiar litany: The media are cut- efforts is the tale of Alvin S. McCoy. the 1970’s the number of newspapers ting back; crucial stories aren’t being In 1953, as Kansas correspondent for with even one person assigned spe- covered; democracy will suffer. cifically to investigative reporting as All of this is true, but consider a full-time beat (as was the case at this: With a few notable exceptions, WATCHDOG GALLERY most papers for coverage of the movies even in the best of times investigative or city council) could be counted on reporting was little more than window- the fingers of one hand. During the dressing in the American press. To be 1960’s, the tide had begun to shift. In sure, notable examples of reporters 1965, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and their publications ferreting out became one of the first newspapers wrongdoing and exposing public cor- to carve out a beat devoted exclu- ruption run through the past century. sively to investigative reporting. So, But the stories, like Paul Y. Anderson’s too, The Miami Herald and Newsday. Teapot Dome dispatches for the St. The Philadelphia Inquirer established Louis Post-Dispatch in the 1920’s, formal investigative beats in the 1970’s, were the exception to the rule. as did The Boston Globe. Many me- What’s more, investigative articles A magnifying glass used by I.F. Stone dium-sized and smaller newspapers often were published only when inde- (1907-1989). Photo from the Newseum followed suit. fatigable reporters spent nights and collection/Courtesy Newseum. Even during these so-called “golden weekends pursuing leads after covering years” of investigative reporting, many their regular beats. A favorite line of subjects remained off limits in some editors was, “Why don’t you spend a The Kansas City Star, McCoy began newspapers. While reporting about little of your time and see what you writing about the questionable busi- labor corruption always found a recep- come up with?” ness dealings of the chairman of the tive home, corporate malfeasance went More often than not, editors em- Republican National Committee, C. largely untouched. Also, an unwrit- braced investigative stories with all Wesley Roberts. The articles did not ten rule with some editors was that the enthusiasm of a drunken sailor please the Star’s powerful editor, Roy investigative stories had to document at a prayer meeting. When Seymour Roberts, who was a pillar of the Re- illegal acts. This rule existed even Hersh documented the My Lai mas- publican Party. (They were not related.) though the practices most in need of sacre, a Vietnam atrocity in which Nevertheless, McCoy kept plugging exposure—ones with the largest im- U.S. soldiers slaughtered more than away, and eventually Wesley Roberts pact on ordinary citizens—are usually 300 infants, children and unarmed was forced to resign. legal, such as when health insurance women and elderly men, he did so It was a remarkable journalistic companies deny medical treatment, without the support of any newspa- coup, but McCoy’s great reporting campaign contributions inspire fa- per. That more than a year went by might never have been given its due vors, and tax policies get rigged for between the March 1968 massacre had it not been for someone who had the benefit of special interests. And and Hersh’s November 1969 disclosure no connection to The Star: Joseph investigations that touched on the spoke volumes about the news media’s Pulitzer, Jr., editor of the St. Louis-Post- unsavory practices of advertisers were attitude toward investigative report- Dispatch. He nominated McCoy for a always off limits, except at publications ing. As Hersh noted at the time, “A Pulitzer, effectively forcing The Star where the commitment to independent source of amazement among all those to submit the articles to the Pulitzer reporting ran deep. interviewed was that the story had yet board. In 1954, McCoy was awarded a Through the years, we have been to reach the press.” Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. The fortunate to work for editors who were A little-known example of the hos- Star dutifully reported the news in a dedicated to pursuing stories wherever

50 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 The Digital Transformation they led and who never wavered in part of the story focused on an obscure of a decedent who resided in Tarrant that commitment. Yet in newspapers’ company in San Diego that the Pen- County, Texas, and died on October current state of uncertainty—with tagon hired, ostensibly to keep track 28, 1983, at the age of 75, with a gross shrinking newsroom staffs and declin- of the money. The company’s mailing estate not exceeding $12.5 million, ing, but still comparatively substan- address was a post office box in the and the individual is the decedent’s tial, profits—owners and editors find Bahamas. Thanks to the Internet and surviving spouse.” the perfect excuse for abandoning a search engine, in just minutes we That provision applied to a lucky investigative reporting. Instead they turned up an astonishing fact: The Texas widow. In all, we identified concentrate on the “he said-she said” same mailbox also had been the locus scores of beneficiaries. But to explain school of journalism, requiring much of a Caribbean stock swindle involv- to readers the outrageous nature of less investment in staff and time but ing hundreds of millions of dollars what Congress had done, the story rendering a huge disservice to readers in fraudulent transactions. The box needed a lead that would link our by often concealing the truth. number was listed in a Florida court findings on this complex issue with an All is not bleak. The Internet and document that had been posted on example that everyone could relate to. emerging technologies have democra- the Web. Our editor, Steve Lovelady, conceived tized the process of newsgathering in Only a few years ago, we would this lead: general and investigative reporting in never have been able to make that particular. For the first time, report- connection. Imagine, if you will, that you are ers at small newspapers have access a tall, bald father of three living in a to the same tools as those at larger Putting Reporting in Northeast Philadelphia row house and ones. And while unimaginative editors Perspective selling aluminum siding door-to-door and those too insecure to support ag- for a living. gressive reporting might turn a blind Just getting the information, of course, Imagine that you go to your con- eye, there are more options than ever is not enough and never has been. All gressman and ask him to insert a for getting information to the public. too often our readers and viewers are provision in the federal tax code that Without minimizing the chilling effect left to connect the dots or a potentially exempts tall, bald fathers of three the Bush administration has had on riveting story is related in a boring living in Northeast Philadelphia and the flow of public information, report- or dense way that turns off potential selling aluminum siding for a living ers—and the public—have access to readers. A great, ongoing challenge from paying taxes on income from government documents and business is to translate the details of our re- door-to-door sales. records on a scale unlike anything porting into ideas and language and Imagine further that your congress- we could have imagined just a few visual images and constructions that man cooperates, writes that exemption years ago. And the possibilities are will attract and sustain the interest of … and Congress then actually passes breathtaking. readers and viewers. it into law. For example, we now take for In 1988, we wrote a 50,000-word Lots of luck. granted the availability of documents series for The Philadelphia Inquirer The more than 80 million low- and of public companies filed with the called “The Great Tax Giveaway.” middle-income individuals and fami- Securities and Exchange Commission. The articles told how Congress had lies who pay federal taxes just don’t get Yet not so long ago it was difficult, inserted tax breaks into legislation for that kind of personal break … time-consuming, and often prohibi- some lucky individuals and corpora- But some people do. tively expensive to obtain those records tions. Lawmakers didn’t identify the unless you were based in Washington, beneficiaries by name, but singled Investigative journalism succeeds D.C., or near a depository of such docu- them out in the legislation by the date only when the work brings this kind ments. Today they are always available of a business deal, the state where of personal perspective to an issue of free of charge to anyone who has an their company was incorporated, or public significance. It’s not enough to Internet connection. by some other very specific piece of drop a big number into a story—as With every story we do these days, information, like this: “For purposes difficult as it might have been to find we are reminded of the Web’s limitless of section 2656(b)(8) of the Internal that number—and expect people to possibilities. In our recent article in Revenue Code of 1986, an individual be wowed or even grateful. A lot of Vanity Fair, “Billions Over Baghdad,” who receives an interest in a charitable our effort involves coming up with a we told how billions of dollars in U.S. remainder unitrust shall be deemed to perspective that will succeed in con- currency intended for the Iraqi people be the only noncharitable beneficiary necting our findings with the experi- simply vanished in the months after of such trust if the interest in the trust ences and/or feelings of those we hope the U.S. invasion of Iraq.1 A pivotal passed to the individual under the will will read about them.

1 www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 51 21st Century Muckrakers

In “Billions Over Baghdad,” we To date, America has spent twice endary editor, Barney Kilgore, who knew that simply reporting the costs as much in inflation-adjusted dollars transformed The Wall Street Journal: of the Iraq War in mind-numbing to rebuild Iraq as it did to rebuild “The reader is always looking for an billions wasn’t good enough. The Japan—an industrialized country excuse to stop reading—at the end figure—and the related malfeasance three times Iraq’s size, two of whose of every sentence and at the end of it represents—is so large that merely cities had been incinerated by atomic every paragraph. stating what we had learned would bombs. “Don’t give it to him.”  hold little meaning for most poten- tial readers. To provide the necessary Our highest responsibility is to make Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, context—and a pretext for readers information meaningful. In this regard the longest-running investigative to take a chance on hearing more of we would each do well to carry with team in American journalism and what we had to say—we came up with us at all times a quote that is often twice winners of the Pulitzer Prize and words that paint a stark comparison cited by Lovelady, our longtime editor the National Magazine Award, are to the reconstruction realities of an at the Inquirer and Time magazine. contributing editors for Vanity Fair. earlier war: He credits this wisdom to the leg-

When Video Is King For local TV news, a difficulty will come in figuring out how to make watchdog reporting stand out in a digital world.

BY STUART WATSON

ppointment TV is dead; video I can hear us now: “Please join us in All of those situations add up to is more vibrant than ever. our new location. Pleeeeeease, for the this: It will be tough for local TV Over-the-air broadcasting is love of God, join us in our new loca- news folks to find the resources or Ashrinking; journalism is not. What tion,” because like these stores that the incentive to serve up meaty in- does all of this add up to for a strug- are competing with online entities like vestigative pieces and expect viewers gling local TV investigative reporter, Amazon and discount places like Wal- to follow to the new digital channels. whose work is sporadic already? What Mart and Costco as they’re also relocat- More likely, when the analog signal comes to mind are the words “make ing, local TV news will be competing goes to snow, the “clicking” sound will it relevant.” Better figure out how to with online sites like washingtonpost. be heard not on the remote control tell great stories and how to sell them com (and its local equivalent) and but as viewers turn on their laptops, hard, inside and outside the newsroom. with YouTube and Tivo in the midst flip on their cell phones, plug in their Otherwise, what is a struggling breed of changing its location. iPods, or scroll to a video game on will be headed toward extinction. At a November 2007 conference their BlackBerries. Traditional (analog) broadcasting called “Future of Television,”1 one Each device plays video, which after in the United States has less than one executive put this scenario in stark all is the broadcaster’s medium, in a year to live. On February 18, 2009 terms as he looked ahead to early different way. For decades, this has broadcasters will move their signals 2009. By then, the presidential elec- been our means—almost an exclusive from the analog spectrum—the chan- tion cycle and the Olympics—two big means—of telling true stories, and nels we’ve traveled through during TV events and potentially fat revenue sometimes we’ve done it very well. our lifetimes—to the digital spectrum. producers for local TV—will be behind But to thrive as investigative report- It’s not like your favorite department us and, with the economy looking a ers in the digital era, we’ll have to store moving from downtown to the bit iffy, this economic circumstance produce great video journalism as suburban shopping mall. It’s worse. plus the channel change means local we stretch ourselves in two directions Instead it’s like all the department broadcasters will likely confront a 25 at once. We’ll have to stay rooted in stores moving away at the same time. percent hit off their bottom line. basic journalistic values, something

1 http://www.televisionconference.com/index.shtml

52 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 The Digital Transformation our audience deserves and expects, works launch projects simultaneously will not investigate itself (or if it does, while simultaneously racing forward with broadcast, DVD, downloadable it’s unlikely to trumpet its findings). to find ways to make the best use of video, graphic novels, online games, Nor will it even report voluntarily how video on each emerging platform. It and music. Local news broadcasters much all this TV exposure costs the won’t work to transcribe scripts for would be wise to expand their vision taxpayers. Viewers won’t find out here an online print version of our report. way beyond their most commonly about a school administrator running Similarly, the video package that was heard, and outmoded, refrain—“film a private consulting firm on taxpayer crystal clear on a hi-definition flat at 11.” After all, we don’t shoot film time, nor about independent informa- panel TV won’t translate well to a anymore, and an ever-smaller fraction tion concerning a police shooting. postage-stamp sized screen. of news airs at 11. It’s irresponsible of us to cede No investigation can work without To maintain our audience, however, authority over such information to conceptualizing it, reporting it, and I’d argue that sticking to our core members of the city council, admin- producing it using a multiplatform principles—our essential mission as istrators at the school department, or approach. That means thinking about journalists—means giving them solid police department officials. Do citizens interactive mapping, timelines in Flash, investigative reporting. When an issue really want their elected officials to just putting data sets online in a search- touches their lives, viewers love this send them a notice when the taxes are able format, and asking ourselves kind of reporting, because it stands out going up, or when the schools want what works best in print. In my job from the clutter. (Viewers can sniff out a bond referendum passed, or when as an investigative reporter at local a fake at a country mile.) And when the cops need help in tracking down TV stations in North Carolina, I’ve it’s done smartly, it can be what dif- a suspect? worked for more than a decade with ferentiates a local station from all the Even if we concede that most print colleagues as partners on a wide rest. These days, the market for stupid of what is broadcast, including TV variety of projects. In the 1990’s, I TV is pretty crowded, and I know there “news,” doesn’t qualify as high-quality shared data on medical malpractice exists a rich, deep, broad audience in journalism, and that most high-quality in the U.S. military with Russell Car- the smart and independent-minded journalism is not broadcast, we rec- ollo and Jeff Nesmith of the Dayton demographic. Like disaffected voters, ognize that video literacy has become Daily News. Their reporting on this many have tuned us out. It’s our job critical to reaching any news audience story was awarded the 1998 Pulitzer to figure out how to get them back today, at least as part of a balanced Prize for National Reporting. And by being an independent watchdog of media diet. (A media diet with no the investigative story we produced those in our local communities who video is as imbalanced as a media diet at WRAL-TV in Raleigh—disclosing hold positions of civic and economic with only TV.) As broadcasters, we mismanagement in the military health power. appreciate the tremendous power of care system—won the Peabody and the moving image. We see how shifty duPont Columbia awards. Fitting In eyes and tearful ones, trembling faces Since then I’ve worked closely at and arched eyebrows (and Richard WCNC-TV in Charlotte, North Caro- In Charlotte, the city council oper- Nixon’s sweaty upper lip) convey to lina with our news partners at The ates its own cable channel. It’s not voters something important about Charlotte Observer. Our relationship a cable access channel, but a regular those who seek powerful positions in has evolved so that when editors and channel dedicated to programming by our democratic republic. When we reporters there conceived a year- and about what’s happening in local hear the tremor in the voice or catch long project on immigration, I was government. The public schools also the speaker’s inflection, we trust that invited to sit at the table with the pay to program another cable chan- these sounds add dimensions that the photojournalist, graphic artist, online nel. The community college has its written word can’t fully convey. editor, investigative reporter, business own channel, and the county funds To survive and thrive, journalists reporter, immigration reporters and yet another over-the-air TV station. will have to preserve what we do their editors as they discussed their The local police department produces best, which is to connect the nerve approach to doing this investigation. several cable TV shows. endings to the reflective center and The result was a multimedia package It’s conceivable that viewers could feed it back as a compelling story to that made the best use of each medium feel that they are getting all the “news” the body politic. It also means we’re for various elements of the storytell- they think they need about local gov- going to have to join the audience in ing. Now, at WCNC, we never think of ernment and civic affairs from those their new locations.  launching a substantive investigation who pay for these stations. Yet the without brainstorming with all of the programming done by these entities is, Stuart Watson, a 2008 Nieman Fel- various media that might best tell and by definition, self-serving. It is pretty low, is an investigative reporter at sell the story to the widest possible much certain that no investigative re- WCNC-TV in Charlotte, North Caro- audience. These days television net- porting will emerge, since government lina.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 53 21st Century Muckrakers

Are Reporters Doomed? Citizen journalism is here to stay. But in the rush to embrace new media we risk destroying the soul of traditional reporting.

David Leigh, an assistant editor of The Yet the old media are clearly on the “Frontline.” I found him in a glum Guardian with a special responsibility way out. So are we reaching the end frame of mind. Reporting staffs are for investigative reporting, delivered of the era of conventional reporting? being cut all over the United States, the Anthony Sampson Chair Inaugural Certainly, we must soon imagine a he said. Virtually no investigative jour- Lecture at City University in London world without—at least—weekday nalism goes on any more. Millionaire on November 1, 2007. He adapted an printed papers. I believe we are go- donors are being courted to fund online article for The Guardian based on his ing to see a new model of newspaper reporting operations that will do the lecture, and that article, published on production in all the British nationals kind of things that The Wall Street November 12, 2007, is reprinted here. within the year. But my fear is that Journal, newly taken over by Rupert His investigative reporting has earned everyone is too obsessed with new Murdoch, is likely to abandon. him seven distinguished awards, platforms, and not enough people are You might have heard a few of the including the 2007 Paul Foot Award talking about values. old warhorses on Radio 4’s “Start the for Campaigning Journalism (shared The Internet is an incredibly rich Week” last month. Andrew Marr asked with his colleague, Rob Evans) and information resource and a great tool if all news organizations were cutting Granada’s Investigative Journalist of for worldwide sharing. But as well back. “Yes, indeed,” said the BBC’s the Year, as well as an award from the as overloading us with instantaneous veteran international correspondent United Kingdom Campaign for Free- terrors, it also degrades valuable prin- John Simpson. “Reporters are under dom of Information. ciples—the idea of discrimination, that real threat. More than ever before. some voices are more credible than They [media owners] say, ‘You’re not was dismayed to read Roy others, that a named source is better needed—we just want people’s opinions Greenslade’s recent blog about than an anonymous pamphleteer (that’s about what’s happened, not the facts.’ the rise of citizen journalists. “Jour- what they used to call bloggers in the I’m becoming an endangered species, Inalistic skills are not entirely wiped 18th century, when they published, and people are less and less interested out in an online world, but they are for example, the politically danger- in the wider world.” Max Hastings, eroded and, most importantly, they ous Letters of Junius). The notion of ex-editor of the Daily Telegraph and cannot be confined any longer to an authoritativeness is derided as a sort the London Evening Standard, said: exclusive elite group,” he wrote. of “top-down” fascism. “It’s even more true in newspapers. As a result, media companies of the I fear that these developments will All sorts of areas of the world are now future will require fewer staff, and their endanger the role of the reporter. Of thought to be too boring to keep a cor- job will be to process materials from course, there will always be a need for respondent there. The commentariat freelancers, bloggers and citizen jour- news bunnies who can dash in front of has taken over.” nalists. Greenslade continued—and a camera and breathlessly describe a There are several reasons for this. this is the scary part: “It is also clear lorry crash, or bash out a press release The mass media can shine a light. Or that media outlets will never generate in 10 minutes. There will probably be they can reflect back light. The Daily the kind of income enjoyed by printed a lot more news bunnies in the future. Mail and Fox News, for example, are newspapers: Circulation revenue will There will probably also be hyperlocal highly profitable businesses that make vanish and advertising revenue will sites—postcode1 journalism fuelled their money out of telling people what be much smaller than today. There cheaply by neighborhood bloggers. they think they know already. They just won’t be the money to afford a But not proper reporters. reflect back their audience’s existing large staff.” I have just returned from the Uni- beliefs. They reassure them by ham- I am afraid he is right, that the versity of California, Berkeley, where I mering the world into a shape that journalistic future will be a future spoke to Lowell Bergman, a professor suits their prejudices. This is less an with less money around. That won’t at the journalism school who is an information service than a form of be good. Too much competition leads investigative reporter with The New cheap massage. to a race to the bottom. And you can’t York Times and producer/correspon- Too much interactivity, commentat- report if you can’t afford to eat. dent for the PBS documentary series ing and blogging can end up inad-

1 A postcode in the United Kingdom would be the equivalent of a zip code in the United States.

54 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting vertently doing the same thing. It is assembler of facts; a skilled craftsman and I have written scores of articles cheaper and excitingly faster, but it is who is independent and professionally detailing the corrupting influence of not always a source of light. People reputable; a disentangler of lies and the defense ministry’s arms sales de- shout past each other. They enjoy the weasel words. And who is paid the rate partment. The government now says sound of their own voices and confirm for the job. Aren’t such people essential it will shut the department. their own prejudices through the de- for probing the dodgy mechanisms of There is only one reason why these licious experience of self-publishing. our imperfect democracy and our very stories have an effect. I like to think, of Paradoxically, more becomes less. imperfect world? course, it is down to our own personal I’m in favor of the future, of course. But the power of reporting does not brilliance. But it is not. It is because We all have to be. It is coming to get lie entirely—or even mostly—in the a story on the front page of The us, whether we like it or not. We have nobility of its practitioners or their Guardian carries clout. So do reports to come to terms with what is going professional skills. Or their celebrity on the BBC, for example—that’s why on. More than come to terms—we have status. It also lies in the preservation Andrew Gilligan’s stories about alleged to embrace it. But we should spend of media outlets that are themselves sexed-up dossiers caused such panic less time fretting about platforms and powerful. and rage in Downing Street. more about the loss of honesty in our When I reflect on the investigations That is perhaps one of the biggest trade. There is yet to be a proper ac- I have been involved in, I realize that dangers of the media revolution. When counting for the disgraceful loss of the reporter does have influence. We the media fragment—as they will—and journalistic integrity on both sides of [at The Guardian] have written about splinter into a thousand Web sites, a the Atlantic that cheerled us into the the scandal of tax-dodgers with private thousand digital channels, all weak Iraq War on a false prospectus. jets pretending to live in Monaco but financially, then we will see a severe You can get junk food on every high still working four days a week in a reduction in the power of each indi- street. And you can get junk journalism London office. The government now vidual media outlet. The reporter will almost as easily. But just as there is says it will close that loophole. We struggle to be heard over the cacophony now a Slow Food movement, I should wrote some rather savage articles about of a thousand other voices. also like to see more Slow Journalism. plans to restrict use of the Freedom Politicians will no longer fear us. And Slow Journalism would show greater of Information Act. They dropped the if that day comes, I’m afraid it really respect for the reporter as a patient plans. And [my colleague] Rob Evans will be the end of the reporter. 

NEWSROOM INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING Changing Equations in Investigative Reporting An editor proposes that journalists seek new partners in their mission of monitoring those in power.

BY JOHN ROBINSON

errel Guillory, director of the he said, corruption and bureaucratic how we wish it were. Program on Public Life at the ineptitude flourishes. The public’s busi- In response to Guillory, I wrote the University of North Carolina at ness is replaced by monkey business. following words on my editor’s blog: FChapel Hill, told a group of public It’s a truth that journalists covering administrators that North Carolina’s government have long known. Welcome to the world of hard choices. major newspapers—including Green- Guillory isn’t the typical academic It’s always been this way. We don’t boro’s News & Record where I am shooting at the news media. He’s a cover everything. We don’t even cover editor—bore indirect responsibility former newspaperman and a long- what we used to. Newspaper staffs are for a scandal taking place at the State time newspaper lover. But he falls getting smaller, yet the number of meet- Department of Transportation. into the trap so many former and ings and events, of commissions and When newspapers stop assigning current journalists do: thinking that government agencies grows. Partly as reporters to keep an eye on such a the newspaper operation is the same a result, newspapers are also moving large and important state agency, now as it was back in their day. Oh, away from devoting as much energy to

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 55 21st Century Muckrakers

WATCHDOG GALLERY ing revenues decline, that tide is ebbing, at least for many and editors search for of us who work at small and midsized relevant content to draw papers, even as we cling to our fun- in new audiences. damental belief that a core purpose What often gets of the job we do is to serve as an kicked to the curb is independent monitor of power. “As what takes the longest history showed us, it more properly to produce: investiga- means watching over the powerful tive reporting. I know. few in society on behalf of the many My paper has gone to guard against tyranny,” wrote Bill through downsizing, Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in “The layoffs and tight budget Elements of Journalism.” controls, and is now Nurtured in journalism with this being shopped around. sense of purpose, I believe newspapers We strive to cover the must devote the necessary resources to traditional beats, plus investigate corruption and wrongdo- develop unique enter- ing within its community. The tried- prise reporting, all at and-true method of putting reporters’ the same time we are feet on the street—talking to lots of learning how to extend people, tracking leads, unearthing our journalism with and searching through records—still video and audio, plus works at holding people in power ac- become hyperlocal. countable. But it’s not the only way. At such a time, the The times we work in and technology question isn’t how we we have demand new thinking about In 1969, Seymour Hersh’s reporting about the killing of can do more investiga- how investigative reporting can hap- civilians in My Lai, South Vietnam, led to the 1971 convic- tive reporting; it’s more pen. Even if we, as an industry, have tion of platoon leader Lt. William Calley (in front). Photo like how can we do any not shown ourselves to be especially by Joe Holloway, Jr./Courtesy of The Associated Press. investigative reporting. innovative or entrepreneurial when I believe many agree times were good, perhaps the threat we’re now at a defining to one of our core competencies will moment in newspaper serve as a powerful incentive in these covering ‘buildings.’ Not only are there history. The era in which we, as profes- troubled times. fewer reporters, but there is evidence sional journalists, impose our judgment Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight that readers aren’t as interested in as the determining factor of what is Center for Digital Media Entrepreneur- what traditionally is produced by that considered newsworthy—or even how ship at the Walter Cronkite School of coverage: stories about meetings and to cover what is happening—is fast Journalism and Mass Communication bureaucracy. For every big scandal fading. The days of newspaper omnipo- at Arizona State University, often says, story, there are 100 smaller process tence and omnipresence are over. “My readers know more than I do.” stories required to get there.1 When it comes to investigative Back in the late 1960’s, as a teenager, journalism, however, the professional I learned this lesson well as I sat near What’s happening at newspapers journalist still sits in the catbird seat. my father as he read a story about has been well documented—with end- But in the not-so-distant future, that someone arrested for building a bomb. less reams of copy about downsizing, seat seems all but certain to get a bit My dad sold explosives for DuPont, layoffs and takeovers. Editors are—or more crowded—with citizen journalists and he knew immediately that the should be—sparring with the bean and bloggers and others. reporter had gotten some information counters who want to “do more with Sometimes it can be hard to think wrong. I’ll never forget the tenor of his less,” which is either a misunderstand- about this in traditional terms. Shin- voice as he exclaimed, “Why wouldn’t ing of what it takes to produce jour- ing light in dark places is a birthright they call someone who knows what nalism or an insult to hard-working of those of us who were part of the they’re talking about before they print journalists everywhere. Meanwhile, tidal wave of reporters who rushed garbage like this?” newspaper readership sinks, advertis- into journalism after Watergate. Now With new assignments arising all

1 To read more of what Robinson wrote in his blog reply to Guillory, go to http://blog. news-record.com/staff/jrblog/2007/11/ and scroll down to his November 5th entry, entitled “The future of journalism.”

56 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting the time—and deadline pressures it comes to meshing their talents to add information to the mix. Gannett constant—there are natural limita- address the task at hand. Collabora- papers have adopted crowdsourcing as tions on how much expertise, inside tions of this sort between citizens and a way of gathering news. The News- information, and insight a reporter newsrooms are developing but are in Press in Fort Myers, Florida, asked can bring to each story. But there their infancy with more work to be readers for help in examining the is an excellent chance that there are done on making them true partner- high cost of being connected to water people who live in our community—and ships. Strengthening this partnership and sewer lines. According to a 2006 those who live thousands of miles is both logical and vital, for citizens article in Wired, response was quick away—who might be able to help us can bring us knowledge and interest and powerful: “Readers spontaneously exceed those limitations. It’s our job, and insight and perhaps some skills organized their own investigations: as an industry, to figure out how to we can benefit from having. Combined retired engineers analyzed blueprints, bring these “experts” into the work with the tools of the trade we possess, accountants pored over balance sheets, we do in gathering information to some deeply textured and incisive and an inside whistleblower leaked monitor those in power. journalism might emerge. documents showing evidence of bid- Let me raise some new strategies rigging.” being tried. Hyperlocal journalism: An exten- sion of the citizen journalist idea is Partner with the local television or radio Beat blogging: It is an idea conceived well represented by the concept of station: Though reporting styles can by Jay Rosen, a New York University EveryBlock.com, a project still being differ, those who work at these media associate professor and author of the developed by Adrian Holovaty, creator have something of value to teach print influential media blog PressThink. He of chicagocrime.org and recipient of journalists about the use of audio and envisions a social network of experts a $1.1 million grant from the Knight video in visual storytelling. [See Stuart who are connected to the reporter and Foundation. As a hyperlocal news Watson’s story on page 52.] to each other. “Maybe a beat reporter site, EveryBlock.com will aggregate could do a way better job if there was public information and databases These suggestions don’t begin to a ‘live’ social network connected to the about neighborhoods and publish sto- touch on all of the possible report- beat, made up of people who know the ries written by local residents. Ideas, ing pathways to be pursued. They do territory the beat covers and want the information and sources will surface open a window on different methods reporting on that beat to be better,” he here. This is the kind of place where of watchdog journalism. They won’t wrote at the time the idea was launched newspaper editors can discover what necessarily save money, especially when in late 2007. In all, 13 news organiza- people want to know more about, newspapers get over the hurdle—as tions, including The Dallas Morning whether it is the U.S. presidential they inevitably will—that people will News, ESPN, the Houston Chronicle, election or the race for presidency of do high-quality work for free. News- and The Chronicle of Higher Educa- the neighborhood association. papers, with their digital presence, will tion are participating in a variety of survive by finding ways to report deeply ways.2 Young people, most of whom are Bloggers: With an early reputation on their communities—and in doing not newspaper readers, use Facebook, as independent gunslingers, the most so produce a local news product that MySpace and LinkedIn to spread news well-traveled blogging sites have can’t be matched anywhere else. Key and stories. Perhaps there are ways to evolved into consortiums of journalism to that survival is the willingness to use these social networks to develop and opinion, such as Josh Marshall’s dig deeply into how government works in-depth and insightful investigative Talking Points Memo (and his TPM and where injustice is occurring. journalism. Muckraker) and The Huffington Post. In full disclosure: the News & Re- Bloggers’ tenacity is well-documented, cord does not do enough investigative Citizen journalism: Possibilities exist and with so many government records reporting. We must do more, and for pairing an amateur with an in- online, it is becoming a lot easier writing this article has prodded me terest in a topic with a professional to find good stories. It’s easier for to push us more aggressively in that journalist. [See story by Betty Wells newspaper reporters and for bloggers, direction.  on page 65 for a description of this too. Partnering in some fashion can strategy at The News-Press in Fort make sense. John Robinson is the editor of the Myers, Florida.] Often, the amateur News & Record in Greensboro, North arrives with technological know-how Crowdsourcing: This method of re- Carolina. that the journalist doesn’t have, which porting essentially outsources some can put them on a coequal footing when of the work to the audience, who

2 More details about how these news organizations are participating are available at BeatBlogging.org.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 57 21st Century Muckrakers

Instilling a Watchdog Culture in the Newsroom ‘Watchdog work is not just about projects; it’s about an approach to beat coverage that should be reflected in daily and longer-form work.’

BY LORIE HEARN

t was 2005, and San Diego, once Experts called it one of the worst cases round of buyouts. The Copley Press a model of good fiscal manage- of corruption involving a member of Inc. sold the smaller newspapers in the ment, was flirting with bankruptcy, Congress. And the Union-Tribune chain, leaving the Union-Tribune—long Iand “America’s Finest City” had been (along with the Copley News Service its flagship—as its main holding. By saddled with a new moniker, “En- correspondents) earned its first-ever late fall 2007, the owners had offered ron-by-the-Sea.” At The San Diego Pulitzer Prize for it. [See article by more buyouts, including some taken Union-Tribune, the region’s major Stern and Kammer on page 15.] by our Washington staff, and closed metro, we’d been writing day-to-day Most importantly, both of these the Los Angeles and Mexico City bu- about the fissures in the financial watchdog efforts—involving question- reaus. At year’s end, we had suffered foundation and attempt- a substantial number of ing to trace the origins, layoffs, something this largely due to enormous family-owned company pension obligations. At has only done a hand- the same time reporters Putting out a daily newspaper, meeting the ful of times in its 100- in our newsroom were increasing demands of the Web, and plugging the plus-year history. Our mobilizing to dig deep newsroom is now 25 into the city’s financial holes left by departing staffers pushed much of our percent smaller than it mess, our Washington was in those heady days bureau was exposing a watchdog work to the sidelines. of 2005; the newsroom personal real estate deal staff now numbers just that Republican Con- shy of 300. gressman Randy “Duke” Putting out a daily Cunningham made with a government able actions and decisions by public newspaper, meeting the increasing defense contractor. officials from San Diego—drew inspir- demands of the Web, and plugging The region and the newspaper would ing praise from our readers. the holes left by departing staffers never be the same. While it’s tough to prove that good pushed much of our watchdog work During the next year, we made our journalism translates into increased to the sidelines. The commitment watchdog reporting of city hall the circulation, we know it retains civic- continued, though, particularly in our priority in our newsroom. Computer- minded readers who don’t want to be five local bureaus, including our office assisted reporting (CAR) provided a told what to think but don’t mind being in Tijuana. There, we led national bedrock, as we produced nearly two told what to think about. Doing this coverage of battling drug cartels and dozen takeouts worthy of the “Watch- cements our bond with what is called their cross-border tunnels, as well as dog Report” label we put on them. in the industry our “core audience,” the escalating violence in that region, They were true enterprise, high-impact which many of us believe is the key to which is popular with international reports deserving of top play on the the survival of high-quality journalism. tourists. front page. And they created a buzz in Notice that I didn’t say newspapers’ In spite of the cutbacks in the the region that elected officials could survival. As much of a newspaper newsroom, Editor Karin Winner is not ignore. junkie as I am—I grew up in a two determined not to allow the quality of Simultaneously, our reporting— or three-newspaper-a-day house- the paper to diminish. She established combined with the investigative work hold—I’ve given up on being choosy a blueprint for the future with six ini- of Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer about the delivery system. Delivering tiatives that will set the agenda going at the Copley News Service bureau quality journalism is the point. forward: Watchdog reporting is at the in Washington—on Cunningham gave top of her list. With an overwhelming federal prosecutors the grist for a case The Newsroom Shrinks amount of information now available that drove him out of office and even- wherever and whenever someone wants tually to prison, where he is serving Fast-forward to 2007. The Union-Tri- it, Winner argues that our newspaper an eight-year, four-month sentence. bune newsroom underwent a painful has to concentrate on providing unique

58 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting content and capitalize on our expertise on refining a newsroom Intranet so off) for educational experiences such and credibility. This means reinforc- databases we have collected, such as as the National Institute for Computer ing our watchdog role and insisting it check rosters and contracts from local Assisted Reporting and the annual permeate everything we do, even if, as cities, voter registrations and campaign conference of Investigative Reporters she acknowledges, there are obvious donations, are easy to search, even for and Editors. risks in holding powerful people ac- fast-moving daily reporting. The team countable, especially if they turn out also is working on providing more of Engage with readers. We have plans for to be important advertisers. But she our data on the Internet for the public community outreach and promotion says our readers expect nothing less to scrutinize and use. For example, the about our renewed watchdog efforts. from us, and we intend to see to it team worked with multimedia-savvy Reporters and editors get out in the that we meet their needs. graphic artists during the wildfires community and speak with business A Watchdog Committee was formed, of October 2007 to create interactive and community groups about watch- which I chaired along with our news maps that tracked the progress of the dog journalism, explaining why our editor. We embraced Winner’s direction flames and the homes destroyed. newspaper does it and how. We also and set out to create a plan that would do in-paper and online promotions make watchdog journalism a cor- Encourage beat reporters to suggest of the work. nerstone of Union-Tribune coverage. investigative stories. Beat reporters Much of what we recommended—and from across the room, including metro, Let readers know when watchdog intend to carry out—is not new, but business, sports and special sections, reporting appears. Finally, although it represents for us, in these changing pitch short-term and project-level it may seem obvious, we label our times, a reinvigorated zeal to continue ideas to the watchdog and other edi- watchdog work for readers, who have the high caliber of investigative work tors. We are planning investigations told us they appreciate having those we provided our readers in 2005. What on subjects ranging from the military stories highlighted in print and on the follows are some of our committee’s and the environment to sports and Web. We are working on a destina- key recommendations: food. As their topics are chosen for tion page on our Web site,1 so we can investigation, they are rotated on to provide easy access to our current and Establish watchdog reporting as a the team and joined by one or more archived watchdog journalism. newsroomwide goal. Make this a goal CAR specialists for the duration of for everyone from editors to report- their project. In 2008, San Diego’s financial woes ers, copyeditors to graphic artists and are far from over. Ballooning pen- photographers. Include this among Examine how beats receive continuous sion obligations continue, and with expectations in performance evalua- coverage. One general assignment re- financial reports still outstanding the tions. Watchdog work is not just about porter from metro has been designated city can’t go to the bond market. The projects; it’s about an approach to beat to beat-hop, filling in for reporters Union-Tribune will reexamine the city’s coverage that should be reflected in who rotate onto the watchdog team. money mess, particularly in this year daily and longer-form work. Other reporting gaps will be filled when the mayor is facing reelection in the traditional way—doubling up and four council members must be Create a new oversight position in the reporters on beats. replaced because they have served newsroom. It’s not fair to make such a their full terms. Our real measure of demand without providing avenues to Training watchdogs. Training is an success, however, will be how well we succeed. To help meet the goals, a new essential component of this effort. instill the watchdog culture across the position, Watchdog Editor, has been Because money is scarce and research newsroom and how that translates established. That editor has Winner’s staff has been cut, reporters with into results.  imprimatur to negotiate staff resources special CAR or other investigative throughout the newsroom to see that skills will be the trainers. We plan a Lorie Hearn, a 1995 Nieman Fellow, watchdog work is not just a good in- variety of sessions, including brown was metro editor of The San Diego tention but also a lived reality. bag lunches about the nuts and bolts Union-Tribune for nine years until of election coverage and public access February, when she was named senior Designate a core watchdog team. issues, as well as hands-on training editor for watchdog journalism. Such a team has been established. It’s to explain how to work with data- small but versatile and influential. It bases and conduct advanced Internet includes two full-time reporters with searches. We encourage attendance CAR skills, two database experts, at important conferences and cover and a Web developer. It is working some expenses (including paid time

1 www.signonsandiego.com

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 59 21st Century Muckrakers

Redefining a Newspaper’s Watchdog Approach At The Oregonian, a new training program for reporters focuses on investigative skills needed by specific reporters for their daily beats.

BY LES ZAITZ AND BRENT WALTH

n a soggy December morning, reputation for aggressive reporting. • We also found some editors and a hillside above a busy Oregon Yet many of us within the newspaper reporters lacked a shared under- highway gave way, and a tor- believed we weren’t doing enough standing of what it took to find Orent of mud, rock and trees buried the watchdog work. It wasn’t for a lack these stories. Despite the talk from road, destroyed homes, and smashed of trying. As veteran investigative editors, reporters were under no cars. Our newspaper, The Oregonian, reporters, we had conducted a lot pressure—and often saw too little dutifully reported on the landslide and of in-house seminars over the years encouragement—to do more watch- its immediate effects. One reporter to teach fundamentals of watchdog dog reporting and were too often on then went further. reporting. The newspaper had also their own to deploy whatever lesson Michael Milstein, who covers natu- invested plenty of money to send they had learned. ral resources, soon told readers that journalists to conferences around the • Watchdog reporting isn’t something a state forestry college had clear-cut country. you do once in awhile; it requires a trees above the site. Engineers sur- continuous effort. Our short bursts mised the clear-cut set the stage for of training weren’t enough for real the slide. change to endure. Milstein showed readers that the newspaper was willing to probe beyond In today’s unsettled How Training Works the headline of the moment and shine a light on those in authority who were news environment, So we sought a new idea—one mindful accountable. watchdog reporting also of cost, staff time, and effectiveness. That’s watchdog reporting. We think we hit that trifecta with This kind of journalism remains a is necessary for our current offer of a one-on-one fundamental duty of a free press. In coaching program of about 10 weeks today’s unsettled news environment, our survival. to any reporter who wanted to take watchdog reporting also is necessary part. We figured five or six reporters for our survival. It sets professional would sign up. About 20 applied. The journalists apart from bloggers and enthusiasm was so high for the idea cell phone videographers, providing But money for travel and confer- that one reporter tracked us down to added value that readers and viewers ences is disappearing from newsroom take part after just hearing a rumor simply can’t get anywhere else. Read- budgets, and freeing up reporters to about such a program. ers and viewers respond to watchdog attend training is ever more difficult. We had a diverse pool apply—from stories, and we believe the stories build Despite the hunger and enthusiasm for suburban police reporters to seasoned loyalty by helping keep journalism our training sessions, we were never veterans. In brief notes, they explained viable and relevant. sure how much good we had done. why they wanted in. A political re- But reporters and editors face a Reporters rushed out of our training porter wanted help being tougher in growing challenge to their ability sessions all charged up about watch- interviews. A business reporter wanted to produce watchdog reporting. It’s dog reporting, but what we preached help on pushing routine stories into a matter of math. Fewer reporters didn’t seem to stick. watchdog stories. A transportation keeping an eye on public and private When we explored why, we discov- reporter wanted fresh skills to more institutions means diminished chances ered a few important reasons: closely examine state and regional for discoveries such as Milstein’s. agencies. At The Oregonian, we want to im- • For starters, people had different We began our work as coaches with prove those chances. The newspaper’s ideas of what we meant by watchdog each of us taking on four reporters editors targeted watchdog reporting as reporting; a lot of folks thought it (with plans to offer the same engage- one emphasis to help sustain Oregon’s had to mean big, eye-popping proj- ment with everyone else on our waiting largest daily newspaper, both in print ects, but few had the time to tackle list later this year). At first, we spent a and online. The newspaper has a them. long time with each reporter, learning

60 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting about his or her work experience, beats WATCHDOG GALLERY and skills. From a list we provided, they ranked the reporting techniques they wanted to learn: hunting down public records and access to them, using and understanding documents, source development, beat develop- ment, interviewing, time management, online research, and how to better find, choose and frame stories. We made sure to include editors in the conversation. Launching the program meant dialing back on our own reporting responsibilities, but the dividends seem worth it to us and to editors. We’re each pressing on with our own investigative projects, spending no more than a quarter of our workweek on coaching. This approach was care- fully designed not to drag heavily on our time—or that of the reporters we’re coaching. We produced an individual watch- The Washington Post won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its investigation of dog curriculum for each reporter. the Watergate scandal, led by reporters Bob Woodward, right, and Carl Bernstein. Photo For the reporter who wants to better courtesy of The Associated Press. prepare for interviews, we help with the organization of questions, their development on the transportation Success in this program will mean precision and order. If help with con- beat, the reporter seeking help with both reporters and editors are happy ducting an interview is requested, we interviews will be guided through with the results. will tag along and even participate. some specific exercises that both teach How will we know success? In the Our intent is to show, not to tell. and get the story in the paper. If we short run, we’re looking for stories It’s also helped to have a clear don’t counsel on a story, we’ll be there that demonstrate the use of more understanding of what we mean by the next day to engage in a probing questioning and probing reporting. watchdog reporting: journalism done discussion. Was there a watchdog ele- Over time, though, we want to see to protect the health, welfare and ment to the story? What could have more reporters sustain their watchdog safety of citizens, to stand up for been done to get one? What public approach to their beats. This effort justice and equal rights, to guard the record was used? What new source doesn’t seek to turn every staffer into public treasury, and scrutinize the in- was developed? What source could an investigative reporter. But we think tegrity of our institutions and leaders. have been developed? it will give more reporters the tools Watchdog reporting trains an eye on Longer conversations will circle they need to provide compelling news the powerful, speaks for the voiceless, around the reporter’s beat, looking coverage that no other information challenges the conventional wisdom, at how the coverage is organized and source can match.  and always seeks out opportunity to how that might change to generate have an impact. more watchdog content. That will Les Zaitz and Brent Walth, a 2006 Our crucial step, though, is to show include looking at what institutions Nieman Fellow, are reporters at The reporters how they can feather this and agencies are covered—or being Oregonian, who now are serving work into the daily newspaper. This is overlooked. The same with sources. as watchdog coaches in the paper’s not about project reporting. It is about Who’s not getting talked to? Who is newsroom. They continue their as- the relentless deadline for tomorrow’s best placed to point the reporter to signments on the newspaper’s inves- report. That’s what most reporters face watchdog stories? tigative team, where Zaitz shared the the most often. And that’s where most Along the way, editors keep their 2006 George Polk Award for National of the additional watchdog reporting control. In our role as coaches, we are Reporting, and Walth shared the will develop at The Oregonian. neither assignment nor line editors. 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service We’ve designed this to push re- We’re keenly aware that good com- reporting with colleagues at the news- porters to put new skills to work munication among the coaches, the paper. immediately. If there is a breaking reporters, and the editors is vital.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 61 21st Century Muckrakers

A Vital Responsibility in Need of Support ‘… our industry, as a whole, cannot afford to abandon or cut back on investigative reporting, particularly on local and regional issues.’

BY RICK RODRIGUEZ

elvin Claxton, whose coura- “Ultimately, I believe it is a criti- pressure to do more with less. How geous reporting on crime cal mistake to look at journalism can you continue to put out a quality and corruption won The simply in economic terms,” he said newspaper, assume ever-expanding MVirgin Islands Daily News the Pulit- in a phone conversation. “I believe a responsibilities for 24/7 Web site zer Prize for Public Service in 1995, major part of that equation has to be operations, and teach longtime print today is rehabbing houses in Detroit. public service.” journalists how to do video and au- Claxton, a highly accomplished, old- Claxton’s case exemplifies one of dio reporting with a shrinking staff, fewer resources, and ever-increasing competition from the Internet? Some WATCHDOG GALLERY very tough choices are being made, and some papers are finding that they can no longer afford long-term, in-depth investigative journalism. Before I left my job at The Sacra- mento Bee in October, we had worked hard to create a watchdog culture in my more than nine years as executive editor. And it was working. I felt we were doing some of the best investi- gative work for a regional paper in the country. But it wasn’t always easy staying the course, given the compet- ing pressures for resources. I was constantly questioning myself about how best to deploy people. Should we shift more people to the Web? Are we taking too long on stories? Should we pull the plug on some investigations? How are we going to develop the skills to transition to the Web? Editors across the country are grappling with similar questions and circumstances, and their job today is consequently so much more difficult Reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in The Washington Post led to the 1975 than it’s ever been. Still, at the Bee, I conviction of John D. Ehrlichman, a key figure in the Watergate scandal. Photo courtesy of decided to stay focused on watchdog The Associated Press. journalism, because I believe it is the kind of unique content that will help news organizations flourish in school investigative journalist who many dilemmas in American jour- the future. And I contend that our also was a Pulitzer finalist in 2003, nalism. At a time when newspapers industry, as a whole, cannot afford to took a buyout last August from The are competing for their long-term abandon or cut back on investigative (Nashville) Tennessean. He said he existence, proven talent is sitting on reporting, particularly on local and didn’t want to leave the profession but the sidelines. Why? In part, because regional issues. It is what will set news didn’t agree with the future direction investigative journalism is expensive organizations apart from the Web ag- of the paper and the direction of much and time consuming, while editors gregators and commentators as the of the industry. and publishers are under tremendous Web becomes the dominant medium

62 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting

What Are Newspaper Journalists Investigating?

What follows are a few examples from not been made. the city and the threat to the drink- the wide range of investigations being Wildfires, especially those last year ing water supplies. In Connecticut, done by mainstream media outlets in Southern California, resulted in The Hartford Courant found that throughout the United States. The ex- some strong investigative journalism. 17 of 35 companies covered by the amples—grouped by general topic and The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise Clean Water Act were dumping toxic compiled by Rachel Schaff, a gradu- mapped new home permits and fire chemicals into the state’s waterways ate student at the University of Mis- threats and in doing so discovered that under permit limits that have expired souri-Columbia, and Brant Houston, many new homes were going up in areas and, in California, the Contra Costa former IRE executive director and highly susceptible to wildfires. USA Times reported on an aging maritime now Knight Chair in Investigative & Today employed a similar approach fleet that was shedding toxic metals Enterprise Reporting at the University using census data and showed that in the local bay. of Illinois—are culled from Extra! since 2000, nearly 450,000 people have Extra!, an online service provided by moved to Western areas with a high Criminal Justice System Investigative Reporters and Editors at risk of being affected by wildfires. The www.ire.org/extraextra. San Diego Union-Tribune made good Investigative reporters at many news use of interactive maps and provided outlets throughout the country exam- Disasters online access to information as part ined inequality in the criminal justice of their investigations. system. Several investigations revealed Before and after the August 2007 disparities in sentencing: The Dallas bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Min- Pollution Morning News reported that in Dal- nesota, both print and broadcast out- las County more than twice as many lets did numerous stories on deficient Water pollution was well covered by convicted murders receive probation bridges and the underfunding of repairs newspapers such as USA Today and than go to death row, while the Chi- to bridges across the United States. The Post and Courier in Charleston, cago Tribune found that mandatory To a large extent, reporters used the South Carolina, as each showed how minimum sentencing guidelines were National Bridge Inventory—a database mercury had tainted lakes and rivers. being applied unfairly. Several investi- on bridges and their conditions—as The San Jose Mercury News reported gations focused on prisons: both The a launching point for investigations. on pesticides contaminating land in Dallas Morning News and the Seattle Using this information, local journal- Santa Clara County, while the Star Post-Intelligencer revealed misconduct ists showed the location of defective Tribune in Minneapolis analyzed and abuse in detention centers. The bridges, did additional reporting databases and pollution reports to San Francisco Chronicle found that about what is wrong with them, and identify 20 locations of groundwater overcrowding and understaffing in examined why structural fixes have contamination in the suburbs around Continued on page 64

for news reporting. Not only is this if he becomes a part-owner? “Not at summer in Phoenix, I am heartened decision vital to our democracy but the expense of quality journalism,” he to find reporters filling rooms to hear also to our industry’s future. told me. “You have to be a business. speakers late on a Saturday afternoon “Investigative journalism is at risk. You have to make a profit, but you and talking late into the night about It depends on how many cuts you have have to understand the paper is a how to improve journalism. When I and how much resolve you have as unique product.” speak with journalism educators and an editor,” said Sharon Rosenhause, Neither have I given up on the students, their enthusiasm about the managing editor of the South Florida industry’s commitment to investiga- future of investigative reporting is Sun-Sentinel, which has maintained tive journalism. I was heartened by infectious. its investigative team. “You can’t do the resolve I saw and the response It is my hope that public service- anything more local or useful than I got from editors three years ago oriented foundations and individuals— watchdog journalism.” when, during my term as president some of whom have already stepped for- Even Claxton hasn’t given up on of the American Society of Newspa- ward to do this—will provide funding the industry. He is part of a coalition per Editors (ASNE), we had vigorous to support independent investigative hoping to bid on his old paper, The discussions about the topic I chose to organizations as they work separately Virgin Islands Daily News, which is on feature, “Unleashing the Watchdogs.” or in concert with newspapers. But the the market. And might his opinions of When I attend Investigative Reporters newspaper industry must also develop the business side of journalism change and Editors conferences, as I did last business models by which it can sustain

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 63 21st Century Muckrakers

prisons cost the state more than $500 Washington Post revealed suspicious, administered among Division 1-A million in overtime pay. multithousand-dollar donations made schools, while The San Diego Union- by very young children. The Los An- Tribune reported that it was common Real Estate Crisis geles Times broke the story about a for trainers to dope up racehorses. prominent fundraiser for Hillary Clin- Subprime lending practices and high ton having been a fugitive for the past Drug Companies foreclosure rates are the topic of an 15 years. The Seattle Times kicked off increasing number of investigative an occasional series on congressional Numerous investigations were done reports by journalists. Excellent cover- earmarks, tracking those companies about pharmaceutical companies and age of this widespread problem was that benefit from their passage and prescription drugs. The (Cleveland) done early by reporters at The New the political fundraising connected to Plain Dealer found that the FDA’s York Times, and this was followed by these pork projects. The Oregonian “Fast Track” drug review program other newspapers using a variety of ap- reported that lawmakers from its state proved to be beneficial to investors proaches to examine the direct impact chose not to place limitations on how while doing little or nothing to speed of the crisis. The Sacramento Bee dis- campaign money could be spent despite up the availability of new medical sected 61,000 mortgages to reveal the promising campaign finance ethics treatments, compared with expedited devastating effect of no-proof loans on reforms. Increased focus was put on review options that existed before the the area’s housing market, while The exploring the ties between nonprofits drug industry lobbied to create Fast Orange County Register focused its and the funding of activities related Track. The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat reporting on just one street to show to political campaigns. and Chronicle investigated the grow- how predatory lending negatively had ing use of mind-altering drugs on affected a community of neighbors. Sports and drugs foster children, as it uncovered cases Similar investigations were done by of children as young as one-year old news outlets in North Carolina, Florida, Reporters at the Milwaukee Journal being prescribed psychotropic drugs. Arizona, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Sentinel built a database of every The (Baltimore) Sun reported that Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal baseball player who George Mitchell the drug buprenorphine, which is revealed that crisis extended well named in his report, which detailed prescribed to addicts to help them kick beyond subprime loans and included the former senator’s findings about their addictions, is now showing up on other adjustable rate loans. steroid and human growth hormone the streets where abusers are using it use among Major League players to get high. The Wall Street Journal Following the Money in and analyzed how their performance reported on conflicts of interests by Politics improved over the time they were al- authors of articles that appear in medi- legedly using prohibited substances. cal and scientific journals.  Campaign finance took center stage The Salt Lake Tribune found major as the 2008 election cycle began. The discrepancies in how drug tests are

the work of investigative journalists. the same need to depend on outside stories. Using the Web’s interactive When the economic downturn sub- sources to reveal what numbers are able features, news tips can be solicited. And sides, pressures on newsrooms might to tell us. And given the extraordinary audiences far beyond our traditional ease, allowing investigative journalism information that reporters can now circulation borders will be reached to grow as reporters and editors find harvest, it is essential that investments by what we do, giving the stories we ways to take full advantage of the are made in newsrooms to give editors tell an impact that many of us could Internet. and reporters the training and tools never have imagined. this kind of reporting requires. With all of this within our grasp, this Digital Tools To find a secure foothold in the should be a golden era for investigative digital media environment, news orga- journalism. And it still can be, but it There are so many digital tools that nizations need to establish themselves will take resolve. When I began my year enable reporters to do better, more in the role of the verifier so they can as ASNE president in April 2005, the comprehensive investigations. Those be recognized as a trusted place to industry’s financial situation was not who’ve mastered database reporting which people will turn for information nearly as dire as it is today. But even already improve the speed and accuracy and news. Using the Internet smartly, then there were many competing tugs of investigations, particularly those in news organizations can complement at newspapers’ budgets. I knew that which complex records searches and the printed word with video, audio, in order for investigative journalism analyses are needed. No longer is there links to documents and to related cultures to flourish in the future, not

64 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Newsroom Investigative Reporting only editors needed to be on board not journalism contests. reporter Katherine Boo, “We have but so did publishers. That is why, • Too much of our watchdog journal- a responsibility to give voice to the at the outset of my term, I asked the ism feels like scolding. We need to voiceless.” Poynter Institute to work with ASNE put more energy into solutions—not to host editors and their publishers at just problems. We need to invite the To give voice to the voiceless is a first-of-its-kind conference aimed at community, through partnerships a responsibility that—even in the creating watchdog cultures. More than with broadcasting and through fo- worst of times—we must not forget. 30 editors and publishers participated, rums, to help us with this. Investigative journalism is not only along with members of the Poynter • Technology is our friend. a cornerstone of our past, it must faculty and representatives from top • There is a strong business argument be one of the building blocks for our public service journalism groups. for watchdog journalism, based not digital future.  Midway through the conference, on short-term profit but on the lon- the participants broke off into small ger-term idea of being essential in Rick Rodriguez left The Sacramento groups. Their thoughts were recorded the life of the community. To remain Bee in October after more than nine in an article by Poynter Distinguished essential, we must use our significant years as executive editor and five years Fellow Butch Ward. What follows are resources to tell people what is really as managing editor. A former Ameri- some of their suggestions that bear happening and why—to get to the can Society of Newspaper Editors pres- repeating: bottom of things. ident, Rodriguez is now a consultant • Beyond the business argument, to the Bee’s parent company, The Mc- • Watchdog journalism needs to be watchdog journalism is our core Clatchy Company, and is joining the more accessible, more digestible mission and cements our importance faculty at the Walter Cronkite School to readers. We need to frame our and influence in the community. In of Journalism and Mass Communica- stories with our audiences in mind, the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning tion at Arizona State University.

Using Expertise From Outside the Newsroom After ‘crowdsourcing’ worked to expand reporting, The News-Press reached out to nearby residents to form Team Watchdog.

BY BETTY WELLS

ack in 2006, The News-Press ing what “citizen journalists” could citizen journalists, we would improve in Fort Myers, Florida, a paper provide with information our report- our investigative reporting and also owned by Gannett, got noticed ers found proved to us that there are extend our reach into the community Bnot so much for what happened inside a lot of involved, intelligent people by engaging (and invigorating) new of its newsroom but for what hap- in our community who are passion- audiences. pened outside of it, when residents ate about holding local government As special projects editor, I was became part of an investigative team. accountable. put in charge of this effort. At first I They did so by telling us about their After this endeavor, some of us in thought we’d attract a few volunteers. experiences with soaring water and the newsroom saw the possibility of I figured I’d organize them and then sewer assessments, and they did so a natural evolution of this experience. this entity would pretty much take through a method of reporting called We’d enlist a panel of volunteers who care of itself. At things turned out, I “crowdsourcing.”1 The idea was born of could bring into our newsroom a range was either wrong or ill-prepared for technological possibility, with the use of expertise to supplement the work much of what happened, including of easy online communication tools, of our staff of reporters and editors. the following: and implemented as part of a major As we began discussing this initia- investigation we undertook into rising tive in early 2007, we believed that • We discovered a big reservoir of assessment costs faced by homeowners by inviting inside of our newsroom intense public interest. in our area. This experience of mesh- this kind of informational help from • We encountered resistance to the

1 This project can be found at www.news-press.com/capewater.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 65 21st Century Muckrakers

project in our newsroom. interviewing in groups of five, I gave project was launched. But it did not • I vastly underestimated the day-to- their resumés to reporters so we could take long for a range of difficulties day work required to manage the complete background checks. to arise. Despite meetings about this participants, both inside and outside After get-to-know-you interviews, project, staff members’ inclusion in of the newsroom. we introduced these 20 people to our the process, memos about the new readers, online and in the newspaper, approach, and our editor’s message The first step was easy—deciding and to each other and our paper’s that this was a priority, pockets of what type of person should serve as journalists at a social event. They resistance to Team Watchdog existed a volunteer citizen journalist. South- were articulate, passionate and com- in the newsroom. I wasn’t surprised west Florida has a large population of mitted to the First Amendment and that some editors thought this collab- retired professionals who have settled to holding government accountable. orative approach would create more here after living and working all over During our one-day orientation session work or to learn that some didn’t trust the motives or skills of the new team members. What did surprise me was WATCHDOG GALLERY to discover the number of reporters who believed that the project was designed to eliminate jobs. “It’s just a way for you all to be able to cut the staff,” one told me. At a time when reporters in many newsrooms are losing their jobs because newsroom budgets are being cut, it was probably natural for some to see this project as a threat to their livelihood. However, this was not the case and, after about three months, we found ways to work through most of those reservations from staff members. By then, too, some of the first ef- forts of Team Watchdog members had developed into front-page stories. Some examples follow:

• One member worked with our newspaper’s child welfare reporter On June 2, 1976, Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was gravely wounded when on building a database of day-care his car was dynamited; he died 11 days later. He had been investigating land fraud and inspection reports. organized crime. David Heller/Courtesy Newseum. • Another requested, received and analyzed government documents the country and throughout the world. with them, we engaged in detailed that led to our paper’s exclusive story They are retired scientists, educators, discussions about journalistic ethics about how the district in which he CEOs, lawyers, judges—even spies. In and conflicts of interest and how the lived had accumulated an excess of the call for volunteers that I put on newspaper and newsroom work. We taxpayer funds that were not being our Web site and in the newspaper, I described our goals for the project and used for the services the district was was specific in citing “retired profes- then we brainstormed story ideas; in charged with providing. sionals such as lawyers, CPAs,” and I all, we listed more than 200 topics • A watchdog member with experience appealed to their competitive natures or specific projects. Nearly everyone in school administration consulted by requiring a resumé and cover letter on this new team—we call it “Team with our education-beat reporter for as part of the “application.” Watchdog”—had a story or project he a story about teachers’ use of “time- Within two days of putting a notice or she wanted to pursue. I didn’t want out rooms” to discipline disabled on our Web site and in the newspa- to discourage our new recruits, but students. per, 40 responses arrived. When we most of our staff reporters had story published the notice on the front page lists a mile long. So I tried to pitch As these and other projects got un- of the Sunday paper, entries flooded to editors the best ideas that came derway, relationships among the staff in until we had about 100 to sort from these team members who were and volunteers improved. One reporter through. Though difficult to do, we connected with a staff reporter. who’d expressed reservations was as- narrowed the list to 20 and, before With orientation behind us, the signed a volunteer to help with some

66 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs monotonous research. When the Team think of ways to use the team mem- of the tedious work our reporters need Watchdog member completed the task bers: When an enterprising reporter to perform as part of their investigative quickly and perfectly and asked for discovered that Social Security num- efforts. Their expertise from a lifetime more work, a convert was born. bers were included in some county of work in a particular area can of- In the first six months, members court documents, a retired lawyer on fer our reporters—and ultimately our of Team Watchdog made more than the team spent hours wading through readers—valuable insights.  70 contributions—story tips, online the records looking for more; a retired research, or original reporting. Among Miami police detective is monitoring Betty Wells is special projects editor at the assistance they provided was the jury selections for our paper’s investi- The News-Press in Fort Myers, Flor- time when a retired FBI agent ac- gation of the courts and, this spring, ida. She spent 23 years with Knight companied a columnist on a tour of a half-dozen team members will seek Ridder—at The Wichita (Kansas) a corrections facility after inmates public records as part of our paper’s Eagle as a reporter and editor, in the complained about conditions there. Sunshine Week project. Knight Ridder Washington bureau Or when a retired CPA worked with a Team Watchdog requires more of as a reporter, and at the Post-Tribune reporter to help examine budgets and my time than we’d initially predicted. in Gary, Indiana as managing editor records on a utilities project. But the time I spend on it speaks to and executive editor. She joined The Over time, skepticism in the news- its success as team members have News-Press in 2004. room eroded and it became second become very involved and engaged. nature for editors and reporters to Their infusion of energy lessens some

GLOBAL WATCHDOGS Beacons of Hope: Investigative Journalism Centers Training and support for investigative journalists are increasing, and collaborative projects are happening worldwide.

BY BRANT HOUSTON

n the United States, journalists are sociations help journalists develop and risks for many investigative journalists. raising legitimate concerns about distribute their stories by providing A less perilous hurdle, but certainly how investigative reporting will training for reporters and establish- a more pervasive one, is the lack of Ibe done given financial constraints ing vital online networks. Since 2000, access (and even absence of the right being imposed in many newspaper the number of such investigative cen- to have access) that journalists endure newsrooms, where the bulk of this ters and associations has more than when it comes to securing government reporting gets done. At the same time, doubled—going from 15 to nearly 40, documents or even being able to speak we should be heartened by reporters according to a recent report for the with government officials. overseas creating nonprofit investiga- Center for International Media As- Yet journalists persist, and they tive journalism centers and associations sistance (CIMA). [See box on page regard these new efforts at supporting to deliver the necessary training and 70 for information about a recent what they do as a way to encourage support to those doing this work. study done by CIMA.] And more will them—and others—to circumvent Now, on every continent, we find be established soon by journalists in what are often timid, badly financed, examples of journalists exposing cor- Africa, South America, and Asia. or corrupt mainstream media in their rupt practices by those who serve in What is most surprising about this country. For example, organizers of government and run businesses. Re- global effort to strengthen investiga- the Romanian Centre for Investigative porters also probe environmental and tive reporting is its vibrancy despite Journalism know that what enterpris- health issues and programs, investigate the many threats and challenges in- ing journalists are doing can and must organized crime, and are alerting the vestigative journalists face in so many be improved. As they explain on their public to the international trafficking countries. Censorship, criminal trials, Web site1 “… Romanian investigative of humans, drugs and weapons. imprisonment, physical assaults, and journalism hardly has 10 years of These independent centers and as- sometimes death are not uncommon existence. Due to the lack of experi-

1 http://old.crji.org/e_index.htm

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 67 21st Century Muckrakers

Confronting Pressure From Donors

The following words are reprinted a sustainable business model. In the can also bring their share of troubles from an article written by Aung Zaw, long run, some publishers and editors to publications operating in exile. An editor of The Irrawaddy, a magazine are concerned that this may prove to incident relating to The Irrawaddy can about Burma and Southeast Asian af- be the greatest challenge to editorial serve to illustrate the perils of relying fairs located in Chiang Mai, Northern independence. Many Burmese publi- on international donors. Thailand. In this section of his article, cations in exile seek to diversify their In 2002, at a Burma Night panel Zaw addressed the difficult question of donors, as they worry that depending discussion at the Foreign Correspon- how much editorial freedom a publica- upon a single source of financial aid dents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok, tion and its journalists can have when makes them vulnerable to pressure I came under fire from the former it depends so heavily, as his does, on from donors that take issue with the charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy funding from foundations and govern- publication’s reporting or editorial in Rangoon, Priscilla A. Clapp, for al- ments. To read his complete article go policies. legedly condoning the attacks on the to the Summer 2006 issue of Nieman The Irrawaddy is among those ex- United Sates on September 11, 2001. Reports in the archives of the Web site iled publications that receive funding (The charge d’affaires has been the at www.nieman.harvard.edu. from several international donors from highest-ranking U.S. diplomatic offi- European countries and the United cial in Burma since the United States Burmese publications in exile must States. Without these generous con- downgraded its diplomatic ties with also assert their independence from tributions, The Irrawaddy and most Rangoon in 1988.) Clapp, who was a other influences, namely the interna- other publications produced in exile guest of honor at the Burma Night tional donors upon which they rely would not survive for long. But grants discussion, was invited to make a for financial support in the absence of from international funding agencies closing remark on a panel discussion,

ence in this domain, the Romanian Andrew Young—working on behalf of gressively pursued the acquisition of investigative journalism very often Nigeria in the United States. databases and information pertaining means sensationalist stories with no As much as anything else, the Web to how farm subsidies are handled by core and no impact. In fact, the in- has been responsible for the rapid the European Union in its multibil- vestigative journalism in Romania has growth of these investigative journal- lion Euro Common Agricultural Policy a very low credibility.” Now, through ism centers. With little funding, jour- program. Displayed on the project’s the efforts of this center, journalists nalists operating these centers use new Web site, the assembled data are being who sit at 10 news desks in Romania media technology to connect reporters used by journalists associated with this have been trained in how to do this with resources, including information project—and others—to inform their kind of reporting and are producing and technological tools, and also post reporting on this ongoing story. solid reporting about government their stories. This enables reporters to One of the three coordinators of the corruption—stories that are having avoid the all-too-common shutdown by farm subsidy project is Danish jour- an impact. authorities that traditional newsrooms nalist Nils Mulvad, who took a strong At training seminars being held face and also circumvent government interest in computer-assisted reporting in many countries, journalists are censorship. Through e-mail, listservs and databases in the mid-90’s and gaining knowledge about Web-based and blogs, journalists are able to be in became a leader in using open records investigative tools. In Nigeria, journal- touch with other investigative report- laws for getting data for investigative ists attending a recent workshop soon ers. This allows for the kind of close stories from European governments. realized they could obtain information collaboration on projects that wasn’t In 2006, with funding that included from the Securities and Exchange practical a short while ago. Linked a grant from the Hewlett Foundation, Commission Web site about alleged via the Internet, reporters share ideas, he and his colleagues, Jack Thurston bribes paid to Nigerian officials by information and strategy. and Brigitte Alfter, began to collect multinational companies such as Hal- the information. liburton. They could also find out on Collaborative Investigations To launch their investigation, they the Foreign Agents Registration Act submitted requests for the subsidy Web site the identity of lobbyists—for At Farmsubsidy.org, for example, a data to each country in the Union. example, former U.N. Ambassador small group of journalists has ag- The countries greeted the requests

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which included this author. unwarranted and undiplomatic assault called for the withdrawal of the com- She first praised the “very good on me, because I am the editor of a mentary, but was merely taking action journalism of The Irrawaddy” before magazine that has been receiving grants because Mizzima had violated one of she said, “I remind [the editor of The from the Washington-based National the conditions of its grant agreement. Irrawaddy] that he is highly supported Endowment for Democracy (NED), a (Under its charter, NED is specifically by the American government, and we congressionally funded organization. prohibited from funding groups that did notice his editorial in the Thai NED supports several Burma-related engage in armed struggle. Ironically, press saying that America deserved the projects promoting democracy, human the chief editor of Mizzima was a attack on September 11.” She continued rights, and media development. former hijacker who commandeered sternly, “That does not go unnoticed More recently, in March 2006, an- a Thai Airways International plane to in Washington.” other Burmese media group, the New Calcutta from Bangkok in 1990.) Just after the September 11th at- Delhi-based Mizzima News agency, was At home and abroad, Burmese tacks, I wrote an editorial on U.S. told by NED to retract an essay that it journalists face sometimes daunting foreign policy that appeared on The claimed advocated violence. Mizzima obstacles in their struggle to survive and Irrawaddy’s Web site, as well as pulled the article, but the damage was preserve their editorial independence. in the Bangkok Post. This opinion done. A radical campaign group known Though the kinds of journalistic cour- piece was indeed critical of the Bush as Dictator Watch issued a statement age called upon in each circumstance administration’s foreign policy but criticizing NED, calling it the “National differ, without strongly adhering to the did not say that the United States Endowment for Hypocrisy.” stance of independence neither entity deserved the attack. Clapp apparently NED insists that it was not engag- will function as it should.  believed she was entitled to make this ing in editorial interference when it

with varying degrees of cooperation. only requirement is the ownership of Associations for Training and In an ingenious move, the project’s eligible land. Networking organizers posted these responses on Investigative centers in the Balkans their Web site, noting which ones were have initiated similar projects, with Person-to-person interaction at confer- good, partial or denied. Journalists and issues ranging from corruption that ences still holds great value in the age the public could readily see the level resulted in skyrocketing utility rates of the Web, and professional associa- of transparency shown by officials of to human trafficking. The story about tions of investigative journalists serve each government. utility rates, which was recognized with this purpose—and more. In 2002 in Using this Web site’s information, the Shining Light Award at the Global Brazil, journalists formed Associação journalists in several countries have Investigative Journalism Network con- Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo reported on some questionable subsi- ference last year in Toronto, involved (ABRAJI) after a renowned broadcast dies received by wealthy corporations reporting from journalists from several reporter was killed while investigat- and by politicians. Their articles have countries and was coordinated by the ing child prostitution. With financial also illuminated how subsidies can Center for Investigative Reporting in support from the Knight Center for enable European agricultural corpo- Bosnia. Journalism in the Americas at the rations to sell products well under The International Consortium of University of Texas at Austin, ABRAJI their market value in developing Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which initially created a listserv to commu- countries, thus undercutting those was created by the Center for Public nicate with its members and offered countries’ economies, not to mention Integrity in Washington, D.C., also online training; more recently, ABRAJI the farmers who produce these same has brought together investigative has convened conferences for its more products closer to home. In a surpris- journalists who have worked on inves- than 1,000 members. ing finding, project reporters came tigations into war profiteering, water Often, as in the case of ABRAJI, across “pony clubs”—land on which rights, and tobacco smuggling. [See the investigative journalism centers and horses can graze—that had qualified article by Fernando Rodrigues about associations are primarily funded by for agricultural subsidies. It turned his work with ICIJ and concurrent foundations or governments. Indeed, out that recipients do not have to do efforts to train journalists in Brazil the Philippine Center for Investigative any farming to receive a payment; the on page 71.] Journalism, which started in 1989

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Strengthening Global Investigative Journalism

In 2007, David Kaplan, who for many trainers working closely with com- convenes, can be found on its Web years was the chief investigative cor- mitted local media can produce site.2 The Center for Public Integrity respondent at U.S. News & World dramatic results. oversees another global initiative, the Report, studied the condition of International Consortium of Inves- global investigative journalism. Part Support investigative reporting cen- tigative Journalists, through which of his mission was to determine the ters. Central to any strategy should collaborative reporting projects need for training and other assistance be support to the world’s nonprofit are done by teams of international that can bolster such reporting. To investigative reporting and training journalists.3 do this, Kaplan surveyed the work centers. The centers have proved of 37 investigative centers in 26 themselves dynamic agents of change Support investigative training countries and conducted extensive and form an increasingly vital link conferences. Investigative report- interviews with international inves- in world journalism. Endowments, ing conferences play a key role in tigative journalists. long-term funding, and training training and networking journal- His report, “Global Investigative in business and fundraising skills ists, particularly from developing Journalism: Strategies for Support,”1 can make a major contribution by countries, helping to cost-effectively was commissioned by the Center ensuring stability and a longer-term broaden the scope of their reporting. for International Media Assistance focus. Especially useful are fellowships for (CIMA), a project of the National journalists in less developed coun- Endowment for Democracy. The Consider different models for differ- tries to attend the annual Global center works on improving media ent countries. Investigative reporting Investigative Journalism Conference assistance programs and highlight- centers vary in size and function and and regional conferences. ing the role independent media include reporting groups, training play in the democracies around institutes, professional associations, Evaluate based on quality. Training the world. and funding vehicles. Different mod- and reporting projects aimed at In his executive summary, Kaplan els will be appropriate in different creating a culture of investigative highlights these findings: places. In regions where centers may reporting should be evaluated based not work, international programs on their quality and impact, not on Greater support of investigative should partner with motivated and broad numbers of people trained journalism programs. Despite its established local media. and stories produced. frontline role in fostering public accountability, battling crime and Encourage global networking. Better Insist on high standards. Because of corruption, and raising standards networking among the various in- their influence and high visibility, in the news media, investigative vestigative centers can substantially investigative reporting programs reporting receives relatively little in increase their access to reporting, should represent the highest pro- international development aid—and databases, training materials, and fessional standards—in reporting, comprises a significant gap in media other resources and further cross- editing and ethical conduct. Outside development funding. A substantial border collaboration among them. audits by veteran investigative edi- increase in funding of this vital The Global Investigative Journal- tors could help ensure that the high area could have a major impact ism Network has the potential to standards are adhered to. Sponsoring overseas. become an international secretariat, or subsidizing awards competitions with a central Web site, listserv, and can also draw attention to and en- Think long-term. Improving investi- resource center. Information about courage top-flight investigative work gative journalism overseas requires this global network, including names in a given region. —B.H. sustained support over years, not of organizations and journalists who weekend workshops. On-the-ground are members and conferences it

1 The study is at www.ned.org/cima/CIMA-Investigative_Journalism_Report.pdf. 2 www.globalinvestigativejournalism.org/index.html 3 www.publicintegrity.org/icij/

70 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs and is now regarded as a model for Network bolsters efforts taking place and government crackdowns. Some other investigative centers, has at in individual countries. It was founded have already folded even before they times received nearly a third of its in 2000 as a way of connecting inves- gained much of a foothold. Also, annual budget from the Ford Foun- tigative journalists to one another; this without securing local and regional dation. Donors in the United States network of journalists held its first support, these centers carry the burden (the Open Society Institute, The Ford conference in Copenhagen in spring of being perceived by some as envoys Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation) 2001 that was attended by more than of external governments or ideological and agencies of the U.S. government 400 journalists from 40 countries. foundations. When this happens, they (USAID) also play strong roles, such The four-day conference—structured can face the kind of criticism—and as funding of such centers and associa- in much the same way IRE conducts actions against them—that the Rus- tions in Africa. (The Konrad Adenauer theirs—provides a valued platform sian government has brought against Foundation in Germany has also been from which veteran journalists share nongovernmental human rights orga- a major donor on the African conti- knowledge and techniques in a practi- nizations operating in that country. nent.) Another key funder has been cal and readily useful way. Out of this It goes almost without saying that the governmental entity, SCOOP, in gathering e-mail lists were created and these centers—and those affiliated with Denmark; it provides extensive Danish eventually a Web site. Despite difficul- them, by dint of what they do—will funding for efforts in Eastern Europe ties posed by international travel after undoubtedly continue, in varying and Russia. SCOOP funds also helped 9/11, these conferences have continued degrees, to be closely watched by support the cross-border work on the to take place every two years; in 2007, those in power and in some cases utility rates investigation. 600 participants from 40 countries harassed. Investigative journalism is Other international investigative gathered in Toronto, Canada. seldom popular with those whom it journalism training groups include Even with the remarkable progress is the responsibility of the press to Investigative Reporters and Editors these various efforts represent during hold accountable.  (IRE) in the United States, the Centre the past eight years, many hurdles for Investigative Journalism in Lon- remain. Without more in-country fi- Brant Houston, a former executive don, and the Institute for Advanced nancial and political support, some of director of Investigative Reporters and Reporting at Wits University in Johan- these burgeoning centers will struggle Editors, is the Knight Chair in Inves- nesburg, South Africa. as underfunded mavericks, while their tigative & Enterprise Reporting at the The Global Investigative Journalism members risk intensified censorship University of Illinois.

Global Efforts at Investigative Reporting A Brazilian journalist explores the benefits of collaboration and describes how and why watchdog reporting has changed in Latin America.

BY FERNANDO RODRIGUES

hen I was invited to become a see these two words forced together, as also a daily beat for us. Our watchdog member of the International though designating something special, role was very clear, and everybody in Consortium of Investigative seemed strange. How could we do our a newsroom would easily know who WJournalists (ICIJ) about 10 years ago, jobs without embracing investigative should be under severe journalistic most journalists in Brazil still won- techniques? surveillance. dered what the words “investigative Generations of journalists in Latin Well, that description fit our news- journalism” actually meant. This wasn’t America cut their teeth and trained rooms back then. Now, most Latin because they weren’t knowledgeable themselves for decades under endur- American countries are democracies, about journalistic investigation. In ing dictatorships and other sorts of many of which are thriving. For jour- fact, the opposite was true; quality autocracies. Being a journalist sim- nalists this means that things are not news outlets in Latin America have ply meant going after the scoundrels so clear-cut anymore when it comes a long-standing tradition of putting within the government. Scrutinizing to chasing newsworthy stories. While some degree of good investigation corrupt and colluding politicians it used to be easy to identify the good into all journalism assignments. To serving as members of Congress was and the bad guys in government, the

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political leaders now in power were ICIJ now involves nearly 100 journal- would not exist. the ones who used to feed journal- ists in 50 countries who have come My first ICIJ project happened in ists information about the dictators together in person only infrequently 2000 when a group of us investigated and generals. This changed situa- during the past decade because of U. S. military and intelligence aid to tion puts a newer—and arguably a the high cost of getting everyone to a major Latin American nations since greater—demand on journalists to single location. This absence of regular the cold war’s end. At that time, most plow even deeper into the records, personal contact among members is Latin American countries had already policies and practices of these new perhaps the major obstacle to fully embraced some sort of democratic path, leaders since the incumbents and op- realizing the consortium’s collabora- and nearly all U.S. aid to the region position politicians should receive the tive mission. since 1990 had been earmarked for same scrutiny from journalists. And in When we have been brought to- the drug war, irrespective of whether these times, high-quality newspapers gether—thanks to the tireless efforts of it had been provided by the depart- and broadcast stations (TV and radio) Chuck Lewis, ICIJ’s visionary found- ments of defense or state, the Central throughout Latin America have come er—the person-to-person exchange of Intelligence Agency, or the Drug En- to understand the benefits of adopt- information and experiences proved forcement Administration. The result ing fully the concept of investigative to be a major asset for the members. of our work on this investigation was journalism. So much so, in fact, that [See Lewis’s article on page 23.] We a disappointment to those of us who the words have become a synonym for have a secure (and private) online worked on this project. Possibly this superior reporting practices used was because it was one of ICIJ’s in extensive coverage of major first concerted efforts, and the news stories. team wasn’t yet extensively trained Through my connections with to work together. ICIJ, I’ve had the opportunity to Consolidating a trustworthy After that, in 2003 and 2004, be in touch with highly respected I embarked on a bolder ICIJ en- investigative journalists from network of professional terprise assignment: the Global many countries during the past journalists in various countries to Integrity Index. The aim was to decade. At ICIJ meetings, I’ve track corruption, accountability participated in intense exchanges collaborate on specific projects is and openness in 25 countries about experiences and techniques with democratically elected gov- of this kind of reporting, and year- an ongoing effort. ernments. Journalists in each by-year the phrase “investigative country worked on the ground journalism” has become much with the help of researchers, more real to me. social scientists, and peer review One indelible memory is from listserv to which all members belong, panelists. In the end, we created a almost 10 years ago, when I first but it is hardly a substitute for face- set of “integrity indicators” that were learned about encryption software, a to-face conversation, especially when designed to measure the presence novelty at that time. Back in Brazil I the actors involved are nongregarious and effectiveness of anticorruption shared it with some well-positioned animals, also known as investigative mechanisms. sources within the federal govern- journalists. This project evolved into an inde- ment, and immediately I developed a Through ICIJ, I’ve taken part in pendent organization called Global secure channel for exchanging critical some cross-border investigative proj- Integrity.As a direct consequence of information with officials who other- ects. Such endeavors are another goal my ICIJ membership, I helped to wise refrained from talking with me. of the consortium in this era of glo- create the Associação Brasileira de Today this software, called Pretty Good balization. Consolidating a trustworthy Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI)2 Privacy (PGP), is widely known, even network of professional journalists in in 2002. According to a study pub- if a little outdated.1 various countries to collaborate on lished by the Center for International specific projects is an ongoing effort. Media Assistance in 2007, ABRAJI is ICIJ’s Consortium In theory, this digitally connected now one of the world’s largest inves- group would be able to gather (and tigative journalists’ associations—with ICIJ describes itself as “a collaboration share) the kind of information that more than 1,000 members and most of the world’s preeminent investigative none of them could find on their of them active—having trained more reporters.” Assembled in 1997 as a proj- own and thus draw public attention than 2,500 journalists in computer- ect of the Center for Public Integrity, to newsworthy stories that otherwise assisted reporting (CAR), corruption

1 It can be downloaded at www.pgpi.org. 2 www.abraji.org.br

72 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs coverage, and security issues. Funding Global Reporting than a feasible prediction. My many years of being involved My experience tells me that to some with these associations leaves me with At ABRAJI, in the beginning we relied degree investigative journalism—in- two lasting impressions: a little on membership fees and a lot cluding its training and practice—is on donations made by entities like the hardwired within journalists them- 1. There are the enormous benefits that Knight Center for Journalism at the selves. If this is so, it can be a waste of come from conferences and seminars University of Texas at Austin and the time to lament the dismal amount of that enhance networking and allow McCormick Tribune Foundation. Those support that this work we do receives for the sharing of experiences with grants were used as seed money to get from those who own major news media other journalists through which one started, but ABRAJI still has what outlets. Doing so leads only to inertia. always learns new reporting tech- I’d call a feeble infrastructure. (Only Instead, quit carping and take a look at niques and improves skills such as one person works full-time for the ICIJ and Investigative Reporters and CAR. This kind of invaluable training association; all the others contribute Editors (IRE) in the United States, can’t be found in any other way. on a voluntary basis.) or seek out associations in your own 2. Investigative journalism still lacks Fortunately, investigative journal- backyard. Or start one, if one isn’t support and funding from major ism is visible now in newsrooms already there. We took a dive in those media organizations throughout in nearly every country. Given this, waters in Brazil, and each year we’re the world, with few exceptions. The associations that foster learning in swimming a bit stronger.  initiatives I’ve participated in so far investigative techniques might draw have been journalist-driven and have greater attention from journalists Fernando Rodrigues, a 2008 Nieman lacked the kind of solid institutional in the years ahead. With the risk of Fellow, is a reporter and political col- support that would make a big dif- sounding hubristic, I’d like to believe umnist for the daily newspaper, Folha ference in their success. In general, that news outlets will start to notice de S. Paulo, which can be read at www. funding comes from membership the relevance of these training initia- folha.com.br, and for the Internet news association fees and from nonprofit tives and collaborative opportunities portal UOL, located at www.uol.com. foundations throughout the world. and would begin to support them br. He serves as ABRAJI’s vice presi- Neither ICIJ nor ABRAJI accept more vigorously. Realistic as I am, I dent. His e-mail is frodriguesbsb@uol. government funding. recognize this as more wishful thinking com.br.

Squeezing Substance Into the ‘Sensational and Superficial’ Experiences in the Philippines taught a journalist that ‘the space for watchdog reporting must be created before new structures congeal.’

BY SHEILA S. CORONEL

n the moonlit evening of Feb- well, and the crowd surged through that we were too distracted by the pos- ruary 25, 1986, I stood outside the gates like a giant wave, forcing sibilities of the moment to see the perils the massive, iron gates of the its way into Ferdinand’s study and that lay ahead. Transitions—whether Opresidential palace in Manila. It was Imelda’s boudoir. from dictatorship to democracy, from the third day of the uprising against I knew then that the 20-year rule socialism to a market economy, or old the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and of the Marcoses was over. media to new—have not been known thousands of Filipinos had gathered I was a neophyte journalist then, but to be moments of clarity. there, barred from entry by rows of already scarred from bruising battles But they are moments ripe for barbed wire and armored vehicles. with censors. Now, overnight, “people breaking out of the mold. Many new But as four helicopters lifted off from power” set the press free, and all the ventures emerged in the Philippines the palace grounds with the Marcos rules that had once held journalists during that period; some of them suc- family, their entourage, and hurriedly in thrall were no longer in force. It ceeded, many others failed. Our own packed possessions on board, the was heady. experiment was born out of our frus- troops guarding the palace fled as Looking back 22 years later, I realize tration with the way the post-Marcos

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Filipinos, outside one of the mansions President Joseph Estrada built for a mistress, dur- ing the protests leading to his arrest in April 2001. Photo courtesy of Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

media system was evolving. We wanted in the Philippines congealing to its a space where we would be freed from default mode, becoming as oligarchic the restraints of the market and the and as obsessed with profitmaking state. We had not intended it, but as it had been in the past. The only the transition enabled us to create a difference was that new owners had prototype for watchdog journalism in replaced some of the old ones, and the an emerging democracy. draconian restrictions were gone. In their place was unbridled com- Finding a New Way petition that through the years drove news coverage to lower and lower In the beginning, it hardly seemed depths. In most of Manila’s newsrooms, necessary. For the most part, we felt reporters rushed from one assignment like we had died and gone to media to another, filing three, sometimes even heaven. Suddenly there were dozens more, reports a day—a frantic pace of of new newspapers and radio and TV story chasing that did not allow for programs that gave voice to anyone much reflection. We were missing out who wanted to be heard. Deprived on crucial stories that required more of information during the Marcos time and resources for research and years, Filipinos were hungry for news reporting. and hard-hitting opinion. As in other In 1989, after having already Uprising of Filipinos against Estrada. places where authoritarian regimes unhappily walked out of a couple Photo by Sid Balatan. have fallen, enterprising proprietors of newspapers, my colleagues and rushed to feed that hunger. I—then mostly in our 20’s or 30’s—set Soon, however, many of the news- programs gave way to entertainment. up shop in an office borrowed from papers died, casualties of a competitive Left alone, with little state or any other friends. We had a second-hand elec- and crowded market. The public affairs intervention, we saw the media system tric typewriter, an old computer, and

74 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs

Protesters calling for Estrada’s resignation. Photo courtesy of Philippine Center for Investi- gative Journalism.

a few desks and chairs we bought in journalists. We sent reporters across a used-furniture sale. the islands to investigate logging Our digs were modest, but we gave and published a series linking the our new venture a grand name: the large-scale destruction of forests not Philippine Center for Investigative only to natural disasters but also to Journalism, PCIJ for short. It had a the power of logging lords, many of full-time staff of two: myself, unpaid whom had been elected to the freshly but given the fancy title of executive minted Congress. director, and an office assistant. Our Over the years, we built the most goal: to introduce investigative re- comprehensive database on Congress, porting to a media culture that put showing the wealth of legislators, their a premium on the sensational and relatives in public office, and the laws superficial. they sponsored. Later we posted the Freed from the need to attract a mass database online. We found that two audience, avoid alienating advertisers, of every three congressmen were turn a profit—or, for that matter, to members of families that had been in Estrada was arrested in April 2001. Photo justify a salary—we focused instead public office for two or more genera- courtesy of Philippine Center for Investiga- on what we wanted to do. We would tions—raising fundamental questions tive Journalism. work on investigative stories and sell about representative democracy in the them to newspapers. Philippines. The first report I wrote for PCIJ beneficiaries of the government’s land As we ratcheted up the depth and was on banana plantations. I visited reform program, all the workers got breadth of our reporting, we saw the workers, many of them prisoners, were nearly worthless shares of stock. the impact of muckraking: Several in the miserable barracks where they PCIJ’s initial stories were about members of the Cabinet, a Supreme lived, no better off then than they had places like these that had fallen off the Court justice, and assorted bureaucrats been in the past. Although touted as the news map and were rarely visited by resigned because of PCIJ’s exposés.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 75 21st Century Muckrakers

Investigations had been initiated critical reporting. staff burnout and the challenge to because of the wrongdoings we had The PCIJ’s edge is that it can dedicate keep its best reporters from jumping uncovered. its energies to investigations. Funded ship. But PCIJ’s work proves there’s In 2000, we began our most am- by foundations, it does not need to an audience for deeply reported sto- bitious investigation: uncovering the bow to market pressures or to please ries. Through training courses and wealth of the incumbent president, politicians and press proprietors. The reporting fellowships, we have helped Joseph Estrada, a flamboyant and center’s 14-person staff can take risks build a cadre of investigative report- popular former movie star. He was a with projects that may not see pub- ers in newsrooms around the country. scandal waiting to happen. He had five lication in a year or even two. It can Today there are investigative teams wives. He was also a gambler with a invest in projects like online databases in newspapers and TV networks, and taste for high-priced French wine. We that are not assured of revenues but investigative reporting is taught in heard he was deeply schools. The center corrupt as well and has also helped set up so formed a team to or train investigative ferret out his wealth. units in other Asian In the course of As we ratcheted up the depth and breadth of our countries. a year, we uncov- reporting, we saw the impact of muckraking: Several Last year, I left ered the companies PCIJ to take up the he and his wives members of the Cabinet, a Supreme Court justice, and directorship of the had formed to set Stabile Center for up businesses and assorted bureaucrats resigned because of PCIJ’s exposés. Investigative Jour- found the dozen or nalism at Columbia so fabulous man- University. The les- sions he was building sons from PCIJ that for them. We found he had acquired provide a public service commercial I have taken with me: Transitions are $40 million of real estate after just news organizations will not offer. To tricky, and media and social structures two years in office and unmasked the do this, the center relies on an annual limit what we can do. But the period dummy companies that fronted for budget of $500,000—about of third of flux and uncertainty provides op- the purchases. We proved that there of which is funded from proceeds of portunities for innovation that defies was no way Estrada could legitimately an endowment. those structures. They are often best account for his acquisitions. This has also meant that PCIJ seized by people who aren’t constrained Not long after they were published, can experiment with new reporting by current models or traditions. But our articles were used as evidence in techniques; it introduced computer- the window they have is limited: The the president’s impeachment. When it assisted reporting to Philippine news- space for watchdog reporting must looked like his trial was going to be rooms, and its Web site was among be created before new structures compromised, thousands of Filipinos the first to feature original multimedia congeal.  went out to the streets in protest, reporting. sparking off an uprising that ended Today the PCIJ blog is the top po- Sheila S. Coronel is director of the with Estrada fleeing the presidential litical blog in the country.2 In 2005, Stabile Center for Investigative Jour- palace on a barge—not unlike Marcos’s it posted the full tape of wiretapped nalism at the Graduate School of flight I witnessed in 1986.1 conversations between the current Journalism at Columbia University. president, Gloria Arroyo, and an She cofounded the Philippine Center Advantages of Being elections official in which they talked for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) Nonprofit about rigging the vote. That tape set in 1989 and is the author and editor off the most serious crisis of the Arroyo of more than a dozen books, including Why did it take a small, independent presidency, and PCIJ was threatened “The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy newsroom to uncover a story of this with sedition and libel suits because and Well-Born Dominate Congress,” magnitude? For many papers, this of it. and “Pork and Other Perks: Corrup- kind of reporting was simply too labor As a small nonprofit, the PCIJ is tion and Governance in the Philip- intensive. Press tycoons also feared vulnerable: It can lose its assets in a pines.” the business repercussions of exposés single lawsuit. Its long-term financial on a popular president prickly about sustainability is uncertain. Then there’s

1 To learn more details about this investigative project, go to www.journalism.co.za/ijw/a- step-by-step-manual-by-sheila-coronel-2.html. 2 www.pcij.org/blog/

76 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs

Circumventing Censorship With Technology When news stations in Georgia refused to broadcast an investigative report about a high government official’s actions, the news story found a home on the Internet.

BY KARL IDSVOOG

ut yourself in this situation. You are working as a TV news director in a competitive market Pwith an audience hungry for news. Like all news departments, there is a limited budget. A freelance produc- tion company offers a fully produced investigative report that documents unethical, illegal activity by a high government official. The production was done by two journalists with an es- tablished, well-respected track record, and their report includes on-camera interviews with multiple witnesses who confirm key facts, facts that are truly disturbing. This investigative report tells the story of how a high government of- ficial ordered state police to arrest two innocent citizens who were jailed, tortured and convicted. It took several months for the production company to put this report together and, dur- ing that time, they worked on nothing Georgian journalist Nino Zuriashvili (left) and editor and videographer Alex Kvatashidze. else. Technically, the production is beautifully shot, wonderfully edited. put free speech on the air following ed their own investigative production In a country with a history of often the collapse of the Soviet Union. But company. Finding stories was not a broadcasting rumor and innuendo, since the “Rose Revolution,” when in problem; finding a place to broadcast here is an example of meticulously November 2003 the corrupt govern- them was. When they offered Tbilisi fact-based, fact-checked journalism. ment of Eduard Shevardnadze was TV stations this report free of charge, The production company’s asking overthrown in a bloodless change of news managers didn’t have any edito- price to broadcast this story? Free. power, the press has taken a giant rial questions; they didn’t ask for a The takers? None. step backwards in Georgia. Rustavi shorter version (the report runs 23 This is what is happening in the 2, a station that once prided itself on minutes); they didn’t ask for exclusiv- republic of Georgia. The production hard-hitting reports about government ity. All they said was “no.” company is Monitor Studio, started corruption during the era of President The news contained in the investiga- by journalist Nino Zuriashvili and Shevardnadze, has become a voice of tive report came as no surprise to the editor/videographer Alex Kvatashidze. the government. Georgian news managers. They knew They had worked for years on the Frustrated by the lack of serious the story, and their reporters were first investigative TV news program at reporting, Zuriashvili and Kvatashidze already aware of it. Georgia’s Public Rustavi 2, the television station that sought independent funding and start- Defender, Sozar Subari,1 had called a

1 Sozar Subari was elected in 2004 by the Parliament of Georgia to serve a five-year term as Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia. Prior to doing this, Subari was a member of the Liberty Institute, a journalist for Radio Liberty, and an editor of Kavkasioni, a newspaper in Georgia.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 77 21st Century Muckrakers

The Investigative Journalist’s Digital Tool Kit

BY JOE MURRAY

Working, as we do, in our digital, when his note arrived with bad Google—they work great,” he said, converged-media school of journal- news. The video wouldn’t play in referring to the free video hosting ism at Kent State, we are learning to Georgia even though it looked fine service provided by the Internet use the new technology to educate on my Mac, so I began testing the search engine. Like YouTube, these the next generation of journalists. video on other computers and in services make it easy for anyone with When my colleague Karl an Internet connection Idsvoog first showed me to share video with users the video of the investiga- around the world—even in tive report made by the Georgia. Provide content, journalists in Georgia, I For Georgians, overcoming the and these services provide was confident that our tech- the server space and re- nology could overcome the censorship of this investigative report sources that allow users circumstance of not being was possible in only one week. to search for and link to able to have their report your video, submit content, shown by news outlets in and even embed it in their their country. own Web pages. Our work began with After we uploaded the using a Web template (Adobe different browsers. I could find no video from Georgia to Google, it Dreamweaver) as the container problem, so I exported it again worked perfectly. for the story’s supporting photo- using different formats with new “In the long run of history, the graphs and text, which we wrote compression settings and uploaded censor and inquisitor have always in English while we awaited the each for Kvatashidze to try. Each lost,” said historian Alfred Griswold. Georgian translation. An online test we did concluded with an e- For Georgians, overcoming the cen- poll was built into the Web pack- mail from Georgia containing the sorship of this investigative report age, added in a few minutes with same disappointing message, “We was possible in only one week. For an inexpensive Web service.1 Free can’t see the video.” me, the experience of finding the blogging software2 provided in- The few hours we’d anticipated best solution reinforced that to teach teraction and feedback for users this project would take stretched is to learn twice—from following and, finally, the DV tape Karl had into a week. I consulted others my student’s guidance to remem- brought back from Georgia was for alternatives and insight. “Do bering why I always need to keep converted to a file3 and uploaded you think it’s bandwidth?,” one of Ockham’s razor4 in the top drawer to our fastest media server. my colleagues suggested. “Is the of my own digital toolkit.  Once the Web site was con- government blocking ports?,” volun- structed, I sent its URL to Alex teered another. “Maybe it’s a server Joe Murray is an assistant pro- Kvatashidze to review. With a problem.” Amid this uncertainty, fessor at Kent State University’s nine-hour time difference between one of my students offered what School of Journalism and Mass Kent State and Tbilisi, I didn’t turned out to be a way to make Communication. see his response until morning, this work. “I upload my videos to

1 www.viewletpoll.com 2 Murray and Idsvoog used www.blogger.com, but www.wordpress.com is a good alternative. 3 Final Cut Studio was used to capture the video, but free programs, such as Movie Maker and iMovie, would suffice. 4 This principle is often paraphrased as, “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.”

78 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs press conference in which he enumer- Using the Internet teaches students how to get it there ated the same serious charges against as cost efficiently as possible. In this government officials and departments. The story of how this news report case, despite several challenges we It was a typical press conference, with found its way to the Internet begins faced in making this video work for all the stations there with cameras and in a classroom at the Caucasus School a potential audience in Georgia, the microphones taking in the words he of Journalism, when Zuriashvili and investigative report that no station said. Key points from Subari’s press Kvatashidze came to show their report in Georgia would broadcast was soon conference were put into in the report to the journalism school students I was able to be seen everywhere.2 [See ac- Zuriashvili and Kvatashidze produced. teaching. Since 2001, I had trained companying box by Murray.] That night on the news, however, professional and student journalists Having a chance to work on this Georgian citizens never saw a frame in the Republic of Georgia. During project with these Georgian journalists of video or heard his words. News my first year there, I had worked with reminded us of what we train our stu- managers in the post-Rose Revolution these two investigative journalists. dents to do—use the most appropriate Georgia weren’t about to touch this Now, after seeing their report, we communication tools that are readily report, which posed such direct criti- talked about how it might be possible available to design a multimedia site so cism of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s to tell this story when the Georgian stories can be told to anyone who has government. For them, it was a non- stations wouldn’t broadcast it. My a computer and Internet connection. story. This was true even for Imedi students—from Georgia, Azerbaijan Censorship and fear of repercussions Television, majority owned by News and Armenia—responded with a single from powerful officials will never go Corporation, where reporters have voice: the Internet. away. But thanks to the Internet, it is done stories critical of Saakashvili’s When I returned to Kent State now nearly impossible to kill a story government when the other Georgian University, where I teach journalism, that needs to be told.  TV stations have not. I brought with me a mini-DV copy of Once it became clear the stations the investigative report. Immediately, Karl Idsvoog, a 1983 Nieman Fellow, would not touch this story—either as a I brought it to my colleague, Joe Mur- is an assistant professor at Kent State report from the press conference or as ray, who was the former director of University. the longer contextual piece by Zuriash- the New Media Center at Kent State vili and Kvatashidze—the decision was who joined the faculty at the journal- made to use technology to circumvent ism school in 2007. When reporting censorship and cowardice. goes online, Murray is the one who

2 This story can be found at http://tinyurl.com/39v34f.

Democracy Can Complicate the Job of Journalists When a decade of conflict ended, ‘what many Nepali journalists did not anticipate was that the worst had yet to come.’

BY DHARMA ADHIKARI

hat happens when a newly The contemporary circumstance of an expansion in its frontlines, even if minted soldier marches into Nepal’s press is not unlike that of the these benefits surfaced in fits and starts. the battle theater, half-armed besieged soldier. A not-so-good similar Just as news organizations were review- Wbut expected to deliver the optimum? combination of odds exists in journal- ing their overcrowded news agendas His options aren’t many—nor are ists’ efforts to report on the country’s in an emergent democracy following they good ones: attempt an ambush messy transition to a democratic system the adoption of a multiparty system in and risk humiliation, suffer a deadly of government. 1990, the country plunged into politi- assault, or somehow convince the During the past decade, journalism cal turbulence. Conflict then became enemy to embrace peace. Or perhaps in Nepal has experienced impressive the dominant story, as news outlets’ just retreat. growth and modernization, as well as play of their reporting confirmed the

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 79 21st Century Muckrakers

adage that if it bleeds, it leads. recent times. In large part, the credit ethnic groups and some 48 nationalities Journalists, too, were thrust into for bringing the Maoist rebels and the or marginalized identities, as well as headlines for the atrocities they suf- Seven Party Alliance (SPA) to nego- faith communities, remain overlooked fered at the hands of Maoist rebels tiation goes to news organizations. by mainstream news media. Children and the royal government and for Those who worked for privately owned in Nepal, who are among the most their bold defiance of repressive press newspapers and a rapidly expanding vulnerable of all its citizens, were found directives and censorship. As many as network of FM radio stations across the to be among the 10 overlooked global 24 journalists have been killed, with country helped stir up public opinion stories in 2006, according to the U.N. hundreds of others arrested, jailed against violence and in favor of peace. Department of Public Information in and rendered jobless. When the Mao- Since the peace accord, however, the its annual survey. Many children here ists abandoned their brutal “people’s role that journalists need to assume were brought into the conflict—forcibly war” in the spring of 2006, and King has expanded. recruited into the Maoist army—and as Gyanendra stepped down the next year, News on crucial issues of peace- many as 40,000 remain displaced. journalists were relieved. The anguish building remains haphazard and su- It has been more than a year since of covering one of the deadliest Asian perficial. Political dialogue, elections, a violent uprising occurred in Terai, conflicts in modern times was over. restructuring and human rights have resulting in as many as 300 deaths. received sustained attention from the Months have passed since a large press, but coverage is almost always massacre happened in Nawalparasi, a When the War Is Over prompted by government and interest- town in Terai, where family members group sponsored events, speeches and and even minors were dragged out What many Nepali journalists did official trial balloons typical of the “he of their homes and murdered. It was not anticipate was that the about two years ago that Maoist worst had yet to come. In a rebels abandoned Rolpa, the free Nepal they are subjected epicenter of the conflict, leaving to more vicious assaults from behind ravages of war and mass a new breed of ethno-political Reporters from some of Nepal’s suffering. Victims of war and rebels and criminal groups. leading news organizations lament the displaced, in many numbers They have to also fight moral and for many years, have lived battles within their newsrooms that news executives are not a life of isolation and trauma. about judgments made in cover- These and similar other stories ing the government and other enthusiastic about doing follow- merit follow-up, but they are competing interest groups. ups or investigative stories, citing largely ignored, and lessons in Covering peace has proven far the consequences of war, recon- more difficult than covering the economic logic and safety concerns.… struction and relief efforts and blatant drama of war. peace-building are lost. Nepal echoes some of the ex- It will require a roving investigative Such oversights demand a periences of other postconflict journalist to break through political review of story formats, date- societies, such as East Timor, lines and approaches. Reporters Chechnya, Kosovo, Rwanda, rhetoric, which is the mainstay of the from some of Nepal’s leading Sierra Leone, and Haiti. In news organizations lament particular, journalists’ profes- nation’s journalism. that news executives are not sional independence and their enthusiastic about doing fol- own engagement with the peace low-ups or investigative sto- process in the nascent, flawed ries, citing economic logic and and troubled democracy have been said/she said” construct. The victims safety concerns. Most of the nation’s severely tested. Ideally, postconflict of war, relief activities, the displaced, resourceful journalists live and work reporting requires more brains than and some 800 missing persons receive in the capital city, and only when coverage of violence and war and sporadic, scattered and half-hearted conflict flares do a few descend into a temperament of restraint. It also attention. hot zones in the countryside. It is calls for a devotion to creativity and “Social inclusion” has become a only rarely that an enterprising story a commitment to balance, follow-up, fashionable idea in Nepal, but news on the complexities of transformation interpretation and independence. coverage relating to it has been mostly appears in periodicals, such as Nepal An additional requirement for confined to agitating ethnic groups, and Himal, or in a TV documentary. journalists in situations such as this like the Madhesis of Terai plains, who It will require a roving investigative is their sustained moral support for are fighting for equal representation journalist to break through political peace, something that has been a and autonomy, or gender communities. rhetoric, which is the mainstay of the shining spot of Nepali journalism in Many of the 59 officially recognized nation’s journalism.

80 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Global Watchdogs

Opinion journalism is incredibly despite constitutional provisions for the a few with fair reputations, rarely diverse and vibrant, and it has fostered public’s right to information. The last hold budget meetings and have no public debate and interpretation. No formal government press conference standardized approaches to news, so topic is off-limits in periodicals, which was organized on November 21, 2006, this leaves many journalists on their include mouthpieces of political par- following the peace accord. Reporters own, relying on personal methods and ties and interest groups as well as have no direct access to government idiosyncrasies. newspaper op-ed pages, television officials’ discussions and meetings, The challenges of Nepali journalism talk shows, radio phone-in programs, and they often have to rely on tedious are apparent at all levels of the news and blogs. But debate often is inflam- press statements and, if lucky, personal process: the system, media organiza- matory and distorted. It typically contacts or party insiders. tions, individual journalists, and the excludes opponents, demonizes them, Reporting conditions in Terai have larger society. These directly affect the and is usually steeped in prejudices worsened. Armed Madhesi factions, quality of press performance required and partisan ideologies. Mainstream the YCL, and a dozen other new- of any postconflict society that is opinion journalism vacillates between born rebel groups accuse journal- dealing with crucial issues of peace- progressive and radical ideologies, with ists of downplaying their cause and building. Rank and file journalists have little or no space given for the views demand—with the threat of violence rarely been sensitized to approaches of the right or monarchists. against journalists—romanticized, and issues involved with postconflict This is also reflected in sourcing front-page coverage of their activities. reporting, although media rights and story selection. News abounds Some demand that national newspa- groups and international donors have with Maoist and SPA attributions, pers publish news in local languages. spent some resources in this area. but journalists rarely quote ordinary (There are more than 100 languages To achieve what in Nepal is often people or victims. Reporting is focused spoken in the country.) Others force referred to as “healthy journalism,” excessively on personalities, with three reporters to be their cadres. Rebels there is a need for a coordinated ap- main alliance leaders always competing have killed two journalists since the proach to a newsgathering process for headlines. Maoists gain prominent peace accord and attacked or abducted that emphasizes a deeper understand- coverage in the government news others; many others have moved out ing of what is meant by journalistic media, which have now become their of the region. “It is ironic,” observes independence and provides support mouthpieces. Not surprisingly, during Kunda Dixit, editor of Nepali Times, for creativity, collaborative report- a wave of terror launched last year by “it has been much more difficult for ing, diversity and tolerant working the Young Communist League (YCL), a the Nepali media to safeguard its in- conditions. Regular assessments of Maoist youth wing, the official organs dependence and ensure the security news coverage are also necessary to remained silent. The former rebels of journalists in the post-April 2006 prioritize news agendas. control the Ministry of Information. period than during the conflict.” Under the repressive regime, achiev- Besides freedom from government ing democracy was the overriding Challenges to Good control or rebel attacks, journalists’ concern for Nepali journalists and Journalism independence also requires their other civil society groups, and relent- freedom from conflict of interest, less criticism was their means. They The Maoists scrutinize corporate news inaccuracies or personal biases. Yet earned widespread public support in media that they accuse of being anti- many journalists are partisan scribes. that cause, and they deservedly basked people, capitalist and pro-American. Many reporters simultaneously work in the glory of being crusaders. Today, They have attacked journalists and for multiple news outlets, as well as they are doing battle with different is- news organizations, demanding posi- for political or business interests. sues and circumstances as they strive tive coverage. A Maoist trade union, Speculative, inaccurate and unverified to reach a level of professional compe- agitating for press workers’ rights, news on casualties and the extent of tence in which more will be required forced three large dailies to tempo- damage often blur the truth and pro- than a journalism of assertion.  rarily halt publication last year—an voke tensions. In the southern town unprecedented incident for Nepali of Kapilavastu last year, inflammatory Dharma Adhikari has worked as a journalism. reporting triggered looting of mosques journalist in Nepal. He has been a Ful- In the run-up to the Constituent and vandalism. And in December 2007, bright Scholar at the Missouri School Assembly elections, there are wide- there was another exaggerated news of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri spread attempts at propaganda and report of a discovery of a mass grave and has held teaching positions at news manipulation by various political near Kathmandu. Missouri and at Georgia Southern parties. These have bred mass confu- Many stories lack background University. He is now a visiting sion. Resentment and fear is building and context about the peace process, faculty member at the Institute of among rival groups and political par- such as its genesis and the policies Advanced Communication, Education ties. Worse, a customary culture of and records of the conflicting par- and Research (IACER) in Kathmandu, secrecy pervades government affairs, ties. News organizations, except for Nepal.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 81 Words & Reflections

“More often than not, the enhancement of public knowledge gained by published secrets far outweighs the damage that government officials claimed would be or was done,” concludes Washington Post national security reporter Walter Pincus as he examines the journalistic record in the handling of government secrets. Sharing some of his experience with such situations, Pincus speaks to ways in which reporters and editors handle difficult decision-making involved with the public disclosure of government secrets in a reflective essay about journalist Ted Gup’s book, “Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life.” “It is the central thesis of ‘When the Press Fails,’ that the press has become excessively deferential to political power in Washington and has forfeited its (oc- casional) role as independent watchdog of government,” writes former Star Tri- bune Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jim Boyd, who assesses how well this thesis corresponds with what he observed about the timidity of the press during the walk-up to the Iraq War. As his newspaper’s principal editorial writer on Iraq, Boyd recounts how the Star Tribune was virtually alone in its blunt opposition to the war. “We suffered for it; our corporate masters strongly disapproved of our behavior; they wanted us flying well under the radar screen,” he says. Media critic Danny Schechter finds persuasive the argument set forth in “The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-Hungry Government Are Turning America Into a Dictatorship,” though he doubts many other journalists will feel as he does. “… we know how hard it is, if not impossible, for those in the news media to delve into the role their own institutions might be playing in threatening our democracy,” he writes, yet he urges others to read this book since it reminds “us that it is time to sound the alarm about these internal threats we are facing while we still can.” Providing a back cover quote for Edward Alwood’s book, “Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed at the Press,” would be easy, contends former newspaper reporter Morton Mintz, as he shares the words he’d use: “Every seri- ous journalist should read this fascinating, superbly researched, thoroughly docu- mented, and invaluable historical account of a frightening, sustained and vicious assault on robust journalism—an assault that has great resonance today.” In his review of Alwood’s book, Mintz offers glimpses of how McCarthy’s intimidating tactics were aimed at—and hit—members of the press. The online book, “Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive,” is looked at from the perspectives of a journalism professor in Hong Kong, Rebecca MacKin- non, and a global health reporter, Christine Gorman. MacKinnon turned to it when textbooks weren’t up-to-date with changing media technology she needed to teach. Gorman applauds the book’s multimedia lessons, then focuses attention on emerging arenas of 2.0 reporting. 

82 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Books

Secrets and the Press ‘Some secrets deserve to be kept, and even secrets uncovered might not merit being put in public print, on television or on the Internet.’

BY WALTER PINCUS

Nation of Secrets: The Threat to often advances at the expense of the Democracy and the American latter.” Way of Life How Secrets Become Public Ted Gup Doubleday. 322 Pages. The question is, always, who decides what government secrets become pub- lic? At the most serious level, when “Kept from the knowledge of others,” lives are obviously at stake, it has to is the shortened definition of a secret begin with those inside government in Webster’s New World Dictionary. who have been trusted with the secret. We all have secrets we keep from In all instances, even in spying, those others, whether family, friends or the outsiders trying to get the secret must public at large. To be honest, I’ve kept find a government source who will- secrets from colleagues—the home or ingly or even inadvertently turns it cell phone number from a particularly over. Since decent journalists—and I good source who asked for it be kept confine myself to that category—don’t private—and even from editors; the steal secrets, any discussion on who is original tip came from someone I will to blame for secrets getting out to the not admit ever spoke to me. media has to go first to the government’s Government institutions and their inability to protect its own closely officials, corporation officers and em- held information. If an administration ployees, arts organizations, colleges and As someone who has worked at doesn’t like leaks, officials need to get universities, social groups and sports reporting on government for some 50 their own people to respect the need teams, music groups and symphony years, I can’t argue against aspiring to keep them secret. conductors, movie and television per- and practicing journalists tacking that At the next level, the journalist or sonalities all have their secrets. But why sentence up on the wall and remember- the intermediary who passes the secret something is secret and from whom ing it as they go about their business. on makes his or her own decision on is another thing altogether. But there is, as Gup alludes to, another the secret’s import and value. The Ted Gup, a dogged investigative way to think about this. Some secrets journalist, I would hope, in deciding reporter who shares that gift now with deserve to be kept, and even secrets to write a story would first seek to journalism students at Case Western uncovered might not merit being put determine the truth of the secret—a Reserve University, has taken on this in public print, on television, or on step that inevitably means going back subject in his book, “Nation of Secrets: the Internet. Much as reporters ought to the government officials who are The Threat to Democracy and the to realize that everything an official involved to try to get verification, American Way of Life.” [See Gup’s says publicly might not deserve to be context or at least a comment. article on page 21.] After a 10-year published, just discovering something Here, in the normal handling of career exposing secrets in newspapers that is being kept secret, even by such things, government officials have and magazines, and two years study- government officials, doesn’t mean it a second chance to protect things ing the subject, Gup writes about his needs to be exposed. that are genuinely important. They concern that “Today America is a na- Gup concedes the point, saying can make their case to the reporter, tion of secrets, an increasingly furtive honestly that “where genuine national his or her editor, and even the owner land where closed doors outnumber interests could be adversely affected, of the enterprise. At The Washington open ones and where it is no longer I have also remained silent.” He, in Post and other news enterprises, such ‘the right to know’ but ‘the need to fact, is trying to find the correct mid- discussions over the years have even know’ that is the measure against point, saying “Secrecy and democracy involved the President of the United which access is determined.” are not irreconcilable, but the former States talking to the paper’s owner.

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 83 Words & Reflections

Then there is an equally important and educational. Here again, there can, a habit I picked up from watching step for journalists in deciding whether are limits. In some cases, I believe, a son of mine argue many times before it is worth publishing a secret just transparency and openness can be the court. Those arguments represent because up to now it has been se- detrimental to public policy. In ret- the most vigorous and interesting dis- cret. Does its publication help public rospect, one of many errors I have cussions—and the truest intellectual understanding of some issue? Or is made journalistically was to write debates—taking place in Washington, putting it out there just being done uncritically of the idea of televising D.C. today. Put a television camera in to show that you know something the the sessions of Congress, first in the there and the whole situation would government wants to keep secret? For House in 1979 and later the Senate change. The public’s “right to know” is example, does a story about a secret in 1986. I should have known better, satisfied by the delayed radio broadcast intelligence operation you have uncov- having covered congressional debates of these arguments. And the country ered, and think the public ought to in the late 1950’s and worked twice in would be much better off if the floor know about, need to have the actual the 1960’s running investigations for sessions of Congress went black and names of covert agents included, if the Senate Foreign Relations Commit- senators and members of Congress somehow you find them out? Over the tee when it was chaired by Senator J. went back to freely discussing and years, The Washington Post has made William Fulbright. debating issues. it a policy to not put those names in One occasion stands out. On the the paper when they are not essential evening of December 15, 1969 I was When What Is Known to the story. lucky enough to be one of a handful Remains Secret In the end, it is the judgment of of staff members on the floor during a owners, editors and reporters at news closed Senate session when an amend- In its pursuit of secrets, today’s news organizations—including those people ment related to the then-secret U.S. media suffer from a problem that the who distribute information on the bombing in Laos was debated with intelligence community also wrestles Internet—that decides whether to all 100 senators present and no one with—concentrating so much on get- publish or not. in the galleries. It was a real debate, ting what someone doesn’t want it with senators such as New York’s to know that it disregards important When Secrets Are Disclosed Jacob Javits, Clifford Case of New information already in the public do- Jersey, and Fulbright from Arkansas main, in other words, not secret. Despite frequent complaints by govern- taking on Richard Russell of Georgia, In the 1960’s I wrote about money ment officials that we, as journalists, Mississippi’s John Stennis, and Henry and politics at a time when finance don’t understand the implications of (Scoop) Jackson of Washington. Ques- records of presidential and congres- what we are doing, I believe the re- tions were posed and answers given, sional campaigns hardly existed. In the cord over time supports the following or sometimes not given. As a result of wake of the reforms after Watergate, conclusion. More often than not, the this free-swinging discussion, minds disclosure records became so volu- enhancement of public knowledge were changed, and the first amendment minous that private watchdog groups gained by published secrets far out- prohibiting then-President Richard and opposing campaigns, rather than weighs the damage that government Nixon from using funds to introduce reporters, became the prime source for officials claimed would be or was done. ground troops into Laos and Thailand campaign fund information. The uproar caused by the December was eventually passed. Even in the era of Bush admin- 2005 New York Times publication of That kind of open debate no longer istration secrecy, each day dozens stories about the Bush administration’s takes place in Congress. Today’s so- of government reports are printed, warrantless terrorist surveillance pro- called “debates” are seriatim speeches, contract offerings and awards are gram neither halted the program nor often with members presenting con- listed, hearings held on Capitol Hill prevented it from continuing to func- trasting information but no direct with witnesses’ prepared statements tion. But in defending such instances exchanges between opponents. Why? released, tax court decisions are issued, of publication in the many talks I The reason is television, and the glare and a Federal Register published along have given over the years to groups of constant public scrutiny with the with the Congressional Record. Who of intelligence and military officers, prospect that a slip of the tongue dur- can possibly read all of this material? I’ve always stressed that someone in ing floor debate could be used against Yet, if it isn’t examined and informa- government with access to the infor- the incumbent in the next election—or tion culled from it by journalists, in mation made the first decision that a employed even sooner in exchanges effect, what has been investigated secret could be disclosed by sharing that characterize Weblogs. and “reported” remains secret to the it with a journalist. As a consequence of these experi- public at large. Gup pushes for transparency as he ences, I am opposed to efforts to put Gup takes on that other oddity also takes on the complicated issue the Supreme Court on television. I in journalism—secrecy within the of open and closed institutions, not make it a practice of trying to see as news media. Having appointed our- just governmental but also corporate many Supreme Court arguments as I selves—with support from the U.S.

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Constitution—as the guardians of Subpoenas to reporters in the forward, nor did they release me and truth for the public, it is incumbent Valerie Plame case created far more other reporters to speak. Each reporter on owners, editors, publishers, news anguish within the journalistic com- went to court and each claimed a directors, producers, anchors and re- munity, which is so sensitive of its privilege to protect his sources. The porters to practice what we so often prerogatives, than it should have. At courts ruled against us. Then we faced preach. But of course we don’t. The Washington Post, where two of the bad choice of ignoring the law, The past six years, since 9/11, have us were subpoenaed, the case was as it was stated by the U.S. Supreme illustrated both the best and worst of handled more as a criminal matter Court, or settling. The Washington journalism. Underlying a great deal rather than a First Amendment issue. Post, as did the others, decided to of our failures—Saddam Hussein’s Reporters are citizens who, at times, settle and pay to keep our pledge to supposed stockpile of weapons and develop confidential relationships with our sources. early acceptance of torturing terror- sources. But when our sources agree to As one of the reporters involved, I ists and Iraqi prisoners, to give two speak to prosecutors, so can we—albeit take issue with Gup’s conclusion that examples—has been the interwoven getting their permission beforehand. Lee was guilty only of “a crime of problems of secrecy and fear. There If they don’t speak to a prosecutor, common carelessness, not espionage” has been the fear of this so-called new and thereby don’t release us from our and was “a victim of secrecy and what phenomenon of terrorism, in which agreement, then we, like they, must appeared to him to be a terrifying al- everybody, at all times, seems to be face the legal consequences. liance between the government and at risk, with the reminder that we are The settlement reached by news the press.” But right now, my basis all in it together. This fear seems to organizations in the Wen Ho Lee for writing this will have to be one of extend to a real concern about how case, which Gup explores in some those secrets that I will keep.  the repercussions of challenging the detail, illustrates the other side of the government’s pressure to keep every- confidential sources’ coin. In this case, Walter Pincus reports on national se- thing secret could involve us. my confidential sources did not come curity issues for The Washington Post.

Loud Noises, Sharp Elbows, and Impolitic Questions A former editorial writer examines why the inquisitive, argumentative and forceful voice of journalists is quieter these days.

BY JIM BOYD

When the Press Fails: Iraq for the long run. I switched on Political Power and the News CNN an hour before the President’s address—and could not believe what Media From Iraq to Katrina I was seeing. Jack Cafferty and this W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. new guy, Rick Sanchez, were tearing Lawrence, and Steven Livingston Bush and his policies limb from limb. University of Chicago Press. Sanchez’s specialty seems to be “then 263 Pages. and now”—playing a clip of Bush say- ing something several years ago (“We will hold the Iraqi government to these benchmarks,” for example) and I was deep into this book, “When the comparing it with today’s reality. Press Fails: Political Power and the Wow, I said to myself, have times News Media From Iraq to Katrina,” changed. Actually, the three authors when General David Petraeus, in of this volume—W. Lance Bennett, charge of American forces in Iraq, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven appeared before Congress, followed Livingston—would say what changed by a prime-time address by President specifically was the power quotient in Bush telling the American people he Washington. Bush was down, and there (and, more to the point, we) are in was no longer an imperative among

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representatives of the mainstream there was something improper about trying their damnedest to investigate press to be as abjectly deferential to “a war being promoted through a sales the truth of the claims being made by the administration as they had been campaign.” I can’t grasp how that was the Bush administration. I envisioned in the run-up to the war and its first possible or wise, although that might a cacophonous, disjointed, episodic, couple of years. CNN had obviously just be my own lack of imagination, competitive free-for-all effort to test made the calculation that there was for I wholly support their criticism everything the Bush administration market share to be gained by putting a of the press’s failure to aggressively was saying. Might have carried the lot of distance between themselves and investigate the veracity of the claims day, might not. That’s all the press the Bush stenographers at Fox. I liked contained in that sales campaign. owes, nothing more. It is not the the results at CNN, but I doubted the Some of what they propose could government. motive was anything to celebrate. have happened. At the Star Tribune, But even my middling scenario did It is the central thesis of “When the I recall doing a lengthy editorial that not happen. In explaining why, I think Press Fails” that the press has become was a point-by-point refutation of the authors are on firmer intellectual excessively deferential to political claims made by Vice President Dick ground. The most pernicious influence power in Washington and has forfeited Cheney during an appearance on is the fiduciary obligation that own- its (occasional) role as independent “Meet the Press.” Early in the piece, I ers of our highly concentrated media watchdog of government. The rule of recall chastising Cheney for behaving believe they owe to shareholders. That the press road in Washington now is like a public relations agent for the obligation is not to be sneezed at, but to run every story through the filter war rather than as a vice president neither should it be allowed to crowd of political power and, unless another required to speak truthfully to the out the sacred duty to perform in ser- strong actor (say, Congress) raises a American people. But the real story vice to the public, which is the reason stink, the press will dutifully report was the content of his lies. Even in we even have a First Amendment. I whatever the administration says, exposing that content, the authors seem believe that “crowding out” is almost without challenge. When you add to expect more than the press is likely complete now and find myself longing into the mix an administration that to deliver. “The lead-up to war was sheepishly for the early days of Gannett, admits to no requirement that it be paved by ferocious government spin,” when old school print guys like John truthful and straight—indeed, quite the authors write, “against which the Quinn guided the journalism of that the reverse—we have the embarrassing mainstream press proved no match.” corporation. He and others from the story of press failure to challenge the Elsewhere, they lament the inability print world brought to their corporate deceitful case for war in Iraq. of the mainstream press to provide journalism jobs sensibilities about the Katrina proves the point, the three “a sustained and coherent alternative role of the press in American life that scholars write: It caught the adminis- perspective” to the administration’s. now are missing, and we are much tration unprepared, its spin and deceit But, in actuality, there is no “the the poorer for it. machine on vacation, and the press, press” and certainly not one capable thus left to its own devices, showed of sustained and coherent perspectives. Strident Opposition that it can sometimes get to a truthful Nor was it the press’s job to “match” telling of an important story. (Made the spin. The press did a horrible job Many of the incidents included in me wish they’d started their research (with the cockle-warming exception of this book remain powerful for me. with the press role in the Clinton the brave Knight Ridder Washington As deputy editorial page editor at the scandals. Would have complicated bureau and a few others), but even Star Tribune in Minneapolis, I was their thesis a bit.) if it had performed with exceptional the principal writer on Iraq for the skill, the outcome might have been newspaper’s editorial page. We broke Confronting Spin the same. with Bush on Iraq when he broke I recall my early days of writing with the United Nations. We became The authors’ description of the press editorials about state government. I increasingly strident and began to failure on Iraq certainly squares with could drift into paralysis worrying over draw national attention and a national what I saw and lived and the scars I the impact of my writing and often Web audience. We suffered for it; our bear. But they tie it up a bit too neatly had to remind myself that I was not corporate masters strongly disapproved for me. When they describe the press- the governor, not a committee chair, of our behavior; they wanted us flying management machinations of Karl not responsible for the outcome. I had well under the radar screen. Rove and others, for example, they to do my best to offer well reasoned, Our stridency I justified, then and express a belief that the press should informed opinion, but I was not the now, by the ferocious, deceitful Bush have focused on the spin. In effect, they government. spin machine that the authors of this wanted the press to preface each sales What I would have liked to have book describe. This was an unusual pitch from the Bush administration seen prior to the invasion of Iraq was a situation in which the reasoned tones with a warning to the public that it bunch of aggressive, independent me- of traditional editorials—The New York was about to get taken for a ride, that dia actors—I. F. Stones on steroids—all Times and others who argued against

86 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Books the war in sonorous, measured tones that workers—even when they are with it. If the press could reassert from the ivory tower—weren’t going to journalists—don’t serve sharehold- itself as a truly independent anchor make a dent. We needed to slug it out. ers well by making waves. We make of this democracy—scrappy, skepti- We used facts and reasoned arguments, nice, which dovetails powerfully with cal, proudly and fervently scornful rather than ad hominem attacks and the inclination to defer to power. So of the “insider” perquisites so many name-calling. But we were unyielding we go along to get along and, as our journalists seem to treasure—then it in our opposition to the war. readership slides and market share might have a chance at pulling out of When the Downing Street Memo plummets, we make nicer and nicer its economic woes. story broke, I retrieved the text from and nicer—until we can’t even grasp Instinctively I think that is right, but the Internet, and we ran the entire that serving the public frequently it is unfortunately counterintuitive to thing on our op-ed page, to my requires asking impolitic questions, those who now guide corporate media knowledge the only newspaper that making loud noises, and employing strategy. It has the added benefit of did. When Senator Richard Durbin, sharp elbows. mixing back into journalists’ behavior a Democrat, compared U.S. treatment The boldest thesis in this book, the the dedication to public service that of detainees to Nazi behavior and cre- one I was most delighted to see—and these authors are so eager to have ated a maelstrom with his words, I least able to assert is really true—is that happen. Do well by doing good, we wrote that he had been right and had this attitude of timidity and obeisance might say, or do well by taking names nothing to apologize for and that his is actually bringing on the decline in and kicking ass. Wish I could say critics were simply seeking to change readership and viewership that it, in otherwise, but I am not holding my the subject from detainee treatment part, seeks to avoid. Americans are breath.  to Durbin rhetoric. That one earned fed up with the partisanship, game me a heated dressing down from our playing, and general ineptitude of Jim Boyd, a 1980 Nieman Fellow, is publisher, who said we were becoming the political class, the theory goes, former deputy editorial page editor laughingstocks. and by deferring to that class, the at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Apparently the prevailing wisdom press has succeeded in getting itself Minnesota. in corporate media boardrooms is lumped together in the public mind

Urgent Issues the Press Usually Ignore A focus on smaller stories ‘too often fails to connect the proverbial dots and avoids too much digging into or interpreting the larger picture.’

BY DANNY SCHECHTER

The Last Days of Democracy: to commit an illegal or subversive How Big Media and Power- action 3. A group of conspirators Hungry Government Are Turning America Into a As a general rule, I don’t trust con- Dictatorship spiracy theories, and neither should Elliot D. Cohen and other journalists. These theories usu- Bruce W. Fraser ally assume too much clarity of purpose Prometheus Books. 333 Pages. and skill in top-secret coordination to be credible, even though many of us have chronicled the rise and fall of “geniuses”—heroes who quickly become zeroes—and the ultimate folly of what Con-spir-a-cy, noun appear to be initially well-executed schemes, from public policy to wars. 1. A plan or agreement between two or Even so, plots and conspiracies do more people to commit an illegal or happen in real life when transparency subversive action is not high on the political or corporate 2. The making of an agreement or plot agenda. Powerful people find clever

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ways to mask intentions and cover up for those in the news media to delve dungeon only to be released quietly their tracks in concentrating power in into the role their own institutions years later. It is wholly inadequate their offices or cabals. RICO (Racketeer might be playing in threatening our to respond to this by saying, “Well, Influenced and Corrupt Organizations democracy. mistakes were made,” when the entire Act) enforcement might be applauded To First Amendment worshippers, policy is what needs to be examined. when used to prosecute criminal con- this proposition sounds preposterous. Why did it take so long—in an open spiracies but, when it comes to political Yet we, like other societal institutions, society—for us to find out that the U.S. misdeeds or institutional malfeasance, should be judged by what we actu- Attorney General promulgated secret conspiratorial thinking is consigned to ally do (as well as by what we fail to orders to permit torture? How many the planet of the nuts. do) and not by what we might think other secret decisions have been made I raise the specter of conspiracy we do. by an administration that has shown theories, in part, because of the I won’t recycle here familiar critiques contempt for the constitutional process provocative subtitle Elliot D. Cohen of journalism’s failings or the worries of checks and balances? and Bruce W. Fraser give their book, many of us have about mounting It took Naomi Wolf, writing in “The Last Days of Democracy.” Are media concentration and corporate The Guardian, a newspaper in Great they really going to be able to prove ownership. Nor will I replay my own Britain, to remind Americans that that “big media and power hungry criticism of how most news organiza- open societies can quickly be turned government are turning America into tions failed in their reporting in the into dictatorships by stealth plans a dictatorship” without resorting to walk-up to the Iraq War.1 What I will and actions: “If you look at history, claims and theories (some might call do, however, is suggest that big stories you can see that there is essentially a them doom-and-gloom scenarios) that are not being covered well because our blueprint for turning an open society seem too dark to be taken seriously, tendency to focus on smaller stories into a dictatorship,” Wolf wrote. “That at least initially? Most of us start off too often fails to connect the prover- blueprint has been used again and again being suspicious of such sweeping bial dots and avoids too much digging in more and less bloody, more and less statements; we wonder about having into or interpreting the larger picture. terrifying ways. But it is always effec- to connect too many dots. Increasingly, we see journalists who tive. It is very difficult and arduous to I can hear some cocky editor do this kind of digging being purged create and sustain a democracy—but chortling “the death of democracy, from top newspapers. Seymour Hersh history shows that closing one down indeed!.” Don’t these pointy-headed now works for The New Yorker, and is much simpler ….” PhD’s watch TV and see all the people Robert Scheer, who used to write for Being born in freedom makes it hard turning out for political events? Don’t the Los Angeles Times, now runs a for us, as Americans, to even consider they realize that the American system Web site. Reporting on “softer news” that it is possible for us to become as in its genius corrects for the overstep- continues to undermine one of our unfree as people in many other nations ping of unwise politicians? Don’t they core societal roles and, as economic are today. In schools, children don’t know that checks and balances work, pressures hollow out newsrooms, seem to be learning as much about eventually? the values that animated their work our rights, our responsibilities, and shrink as well. our system of government. The citizen’s Journalism’s Failings Yet denial of what is happening role of being aware of the Constitution around them remains strong among has been outsourced to lawyers and Yet this book, written in a footnoted, those who cling to old routines of lobbyists so much so that we scarcely academic style and broken into chap- news coverage. A German theologian see the signals telling us that our ters that could easily be lesson plans, once said, “When they came first for government’s checks and balances (the chronicles trends and offers analysis the Jews, I was not a Jew so I didn’t ones our founders put in place) are that should not be dismissed, though it protest. Then they came for the Com- being systematically dismantled. Yet probably will be. If it is, its dismissal munists, and I was not a Communist.” George Bush and his administration will be, in part, because the authors He concluded with these words: “And are using time-tested tactics to close hold journalistic institutions to account then they came for me.” down an open society. alongside some of the perversions In the aftermath of 9/11, it was “ter- In his New York Times review of democracy going on within our rorists” they came for, and Americans— of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise judicial system and being committed including most journalists—looked the of Disaster Capitalism,” by another by the Bush administration. And we other way even as many Afghan farm- Guardian columnist, Naomi Klein, know how hard it is, if not impossible, ers were tossed into our Guantanamo former World Bank Economist Joseph

1 Schechter has written two books about Iraq War coverage, “When News Lies” and “Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the War in Iraq” and made a documentary, “WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception.”

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Stiglitz wrote: “It’s not the conspiracies debunk the 9/11 theorists who sup- were many reasons commented upon that wreck the world but the series of port a range of discordant and often at the time—a failure on the part of wrong turns, failed policies, and little competing theories to challenge the all the news organizations to agree or and big unfairnesses that add up. Still, U.S. government’s al-Qaeda “done to report the story in the same way, those decisions are guided by larger it alone” narrative. To even question the murkiness of the voting process in mindsets. Market fundamentalists this “reasoning” is to risk being la- Florida, the time lag in the reporting, never really appreciated the institu- beled a kook. One such “kook” is the and the fact that this follow-up story tions required to make an economy Canadian journalist Barrie Zwicker, came and went quickly when a plane function well, let alone the broader who told The Toronto Star: “… people crash seized the headlines on the day it social fabric that civilizations require who just shrug off these questions was published. Soon the election story to prosper and flourish.” with the ‘conspiracy theorist’ epithet faded as President Bush consolidated Stiglitz is right when he posits that should be asked what they stand his power. Years later, Al Gore would while ignoring sweeping indictments of for. Unquestioning acceptance of claim he had been elected at the polls what’s wrong isn’t wise, we need to try the official narrative? Sure, there are but lost in the courts. to get into the details of the interplay outlandish theories out there—aliens, The other “hidden” story is one I of real-world forces and interests that Atlantis—but there have also been real wrote about in Nieman Reports last undermine our democracy and devalue and huge conspiracies.” year.2 In that story, “Investigating the it. In their book, Cohen and Fraser Nation’s Exploding Credit Squeeze,” I confront these same fears in focusing Stories Not Being Told focused on the news media’s failure on certain disturbing trends, even to shine a light on a credit and debt though they don’t linger long on the Two stories I’ve done demonstrate the squeeze that was then already lead- resistance and revulsion these trends dire consequences when adequate and ing to high rates of foreclosures and have bred. And they are not alone; on accurate press attention is not paid. economic misery. I told this story also the night before I wrote this essay, Jon The first involved the 2000 presiden- in a film, “In Debt We Trust,”3 and Stewart on “The Daily Show” expressed tial election results in Florida that I soon after some reviewers dismissed his fears about the coming of fascism. covered for a film called “Counting On my documentary as “alarmist,” the Is he an alarmist, too? Democracy.” My reporting led me to subprime mortgage meltdown emerged Sometimes, it’s too easy to dis- conclude that the left’s argument that as a global issue—and a front page miss the questions raised by people George Bush et al. “stole the election” story—as trillions of dollars in losses who are often dismissed for being was simplistic. While I have little were tallied, hundreds of thousands of too conspiratorial. A few examples: doubt that the Republicans tried to people were being displaced, and mil- When activists chanted “No blood do just that, I also found that many lions of families are facing foreclosure. for oil,” suggesting the Iraq War was Democrats were not attentive to the One former presidential candidate, driven by the desire to dominate oil details of the voting process and did Senator Chris Dodd, called it a “50 reserves, they were dismissed. Now, not educate the voters they helped state Katrina.” years later, former Federal Reserve to register in how to vote. It was, as That disaster’s coverage occurred Chairman Alan Greenspan endorsed the American Civil Liberties Union of like most disaster reporting, after the the idea, and suddenly this notion is Florida contends, a “tyranny of small damage had been done. But unlike considered more credible. Ditto for decisions” by guardians of the election natural disasters, in this case many in those who worried about the idea process that led to the controversial the know had been sent warnings about that oil production would peak. These outcome. Yet stories examining these the high probability that such a crisis “peak oil” theorists were dismissed. many “small decisions” were scant. would occur. Warnings were greeted On October 22, 2007, The Guardian Later, a media consortium took by silence by most in the press. Even quoted a high-level report saying, a very long time to investigate the now, the scams behind the subprime “World oil production has already charges of election tampering and Ponzi scheme are only being touched peaked and will fall by half as soon ended with convoluted conclusions, upon—not deeply examined. as 2030,” according to report issued although Ford Fessenden, the jour- Dictatorship has not arrived, but by the German-based Energy Watch nalist who organized The New York to say it can never happen here is to Group that “also warns that extreme Times probe, later told me that in their forget that many of history’s worst shortages of fossil fuels will lead to count they found more votes cast for disasters were engineered “legally” after wars and social breakdown.” Gore than Bush. Yet that key finding laws were changed, often in times of Most anticonspiracy critics love to was not reported clearly. Why? There national crisis. Today fascism is visible

2 Schechter’s article from the Spring 2006 issue of Nieman Reports can be read at www. nieman.harvard.edu/reports/06-1NRspring/p19-0601-schechter.html. 3 www.indebtwetrust.org/

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in softer flavors and disguises, with flags son to pick it up, perhaps the book’s a premature obit for democracy ought waving as patriotically correct slogans greatest value is in reminding us that to get those juices flowing.  creep into the language we use. it is time to sound the alarm about Whether or not investigative author these internal threats we are facing “News Dissector” Danny Schechter, Greg Palast’s blurb that this book “cuts while we still can. Introspection and a 1978 Nieman Fellow, edits Me- right through the turgid bullshit of self-criticism are always helpful first diachannel.org and is a blogger, film- corporate media ca-ca” gives you rea- steps. Responding to what is hopefully maker, author and media critic.

Intimidation and Convictions of Journalists Journalist Robert Shelton told a 1950’s Senate subcommittee it was ‘engendering the fear that soon it will be looking into newsrooms all over the country.’

BY MORTON MINTZ

Dark Days in the Newsroom: were thought to have been members McCarthyism Aimed at of the Communist Party, although membership was not a crime.” the Press Those of us who witnessed McCar- Edward Alwood thy’s ruthless rampage will never forget Temple University Press. it. Nor will we fail to remember how 201 Pages. long it took for his tactics of fear and intimidation—aimed at members of the press as much as it was at other Writing a blurb for this book would influential segments of society—to be be a snap: “Every serious journalist enfeebled. For those not old enough should read this fascinating, superbly to have lived through this time in our researched, thoroughly documented, nation’s history, having the chance and invaluable historical account of this book gives to absorb its valuable a frightening, sustained and vicious lessons is a gift worth sampling. assault on robust journalism—an as- sault that has great resonance today,” Intimidating Force is what I’d say. On the other hand, summarizing it in a review, as I was The government’s primary weapon of asked to do, was surprisingly difficult. intimidation was the Senate Internal That’s because “Dark Days in the Security Subcommittee, initially under Newsroom” tells the stories of dozens Wisconsin Republican Joseph McCar- of people, each of whom is arguably the front page of the Knickerbocker thy. Less well remembered, but even worth a lengthy article, if not a book, News that she’d been fired after 27 more destructive to the press, was of his or her own. years at the paper. his successor, Mississippi Democrat This book’s pages are densely popu- Edward Alwood, the author, is a James Eastland. “The Eastland com- lated by a real-life cast of cowards, journalism professor at Quinnipiac mittee,” as it was popularly known, hate-mongers, ideologues, sell-outs, University and a former CNN corre- called before it specific reporters and perjurers, scoundrels, hypocrites and spondent. He dug deeply into dozens editors to inquire about any involve- opportunists. But there are heroes, of books and archives, conducted ment they might have had with the too, and others who are weak-kneed, wide-ranging interviews, and used the Communist Party. Their questioning along with the well intentioned gone Freedom of Information Act to unearth went much further. As Alwood writes, astray and the belatedly conscience- illuminating nuggets to bring to life the “The committee asked about their stricken. Then there are innocent concerted effort by the government in political interests and their personal victims, among them reporters who the 1950’s—a.k.a. the (Senator Joseph) thoughts and beliefs. Members ques- suddenly found themselves out on McCarthy era—“to compel journalists tioned newspaper editorial policies the street. Janet Scott learned from to name friends and colleagues who and hiring practices, areas that were

90 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Books thought to be sacrosanct under the impossible to know how many issues Investigating Journalists First Amendment.” were ignored for fear of triggering Like the predecessor House Com- backlash from readers and how Harvey Matusow was a major Hoover mittee on Un-American Activities, the many stories were shelved to avoid informant. In all, he smeared 244 McCarthy/Eastland Senate subcom- controversy.” individuals. He was not a journalist mittee had for much of the time the • “That there was a significant Com- but claimed to have “attended Com- enthusiastic but concealed cooperation munist presence in the [Newspa- munist Party meetings, caucuses, in the of the FBI. Despite the vast resources, per] Guild is unquestioned,” Guild Newspaper Guild in New York.” When surveillance and power to intimidate Reporter Editor Andy Zipser wrote the Sunday section of the Times had commanded by the committees and the in his review of “Dark Days.” a staff of 87, including two copyboys, FBI, they were not able to produce, in • J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI “fueled the Matusow said that the section “alone Alwood’s devastating summation, “any hunt for Reds in the newsrooms” and has 126 dues-paying Communists.” serious evidence that Red journalists “played a prominent role in deter- Later, he could name only a woman in were inserting propaganda in the news mining who was called to testify.” the ad department and a copyboy. or editorial content of mainstream • In 1944, an internal FBI report told of In 1954, Matusow confided to Meth- newspapers.” Indeed, Eastland and a proposed but unexecuted plan “to odist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam that William Jenner, the subcommittee’s bug the Milwaukee convention hall “many of his accusations had been lies, ranking Republican senator, “acknowl- where the [Newspaper] Guild was including accusations against party edged, in 1956, that [it] had been holding its annual convention.” leaders who had been convicted in unable to cite a single instance where • After World War II, in 1945, Hoover 1952 under the Smith Act.” Matusow Communists had influenced editorial “fought to continue … surveillance then “filed an affidavit with the federal content,” writes Alwood. of the Newspaper Guild. FBI agents district court in New York describing Then, and now, the gravest and continued to collect names of people his testimony against party leaders as most steadfast threat to the First who might be detained during a lie.” In 1955, he announced that he Amendment came overwhelmingly a national emergency, including would “right some of the wrongs” in from the right, not from the left, not journalists, although the agency a book he’d written. Its title was apt: from liberals and progressives. Alwood had no statutory authority to do so, “False Witness.” In 1956, Matusow was implies, though does not explicitly especially in peacetime.” sentenced to five years for perjury. state, that this threat continues to • “Historians have shown that Mc- Two Times copyeditors, Robert come from the same direction. During Carthyism was a collaborative effort Shelton and Alden Whitman, were the past seven years, such threats have that was waged on many fronts … among the many journalists in “Dark arrived from the Constitution-gutting but particularly against organized Days” who, in Alwood’s words, “stood Bush administration, the prosecuto- labor, and this included the labor on moral principle and refused to rial intimidation of journalists, and a movement within the newspaper answer questions before investigative well-documented pattern of intentional industry.” committees.” Shelton declared that inattentiveness to the Freedom of In- • McCarthy’s “favorite tactic was to “because I am a loyal American, I formation Act. For even more years, compare critical newspapers to the must, as a matter of principle, chal- a different kind of threat has been Daily Worker.” lenge questions into my political beliefs escalating among the growing hordes • The New York Times opposed seg- and associations as a violation of my of know-nothing, talk-show bullies regation. In retaliation, hard-line rights under the [F]irst [A]mendment who make despicable, ludicrous and segregationist Senator Eastland to the Constitution.” false accusations, including charges of punished Times journalists. Yet “evi- When he’d finished speaking, sub- disloyalty and even treason. dence suggests that the committee’s committee counsel Julien Sourwine “Dark Days” is filled with prescient main target was not the Times but asked, “Do you, sir, consider member- observations and startling facts. the Newspaper Guild for its efforts ship in the Communist Party a matter Quotes, unless otherwise attributed, to unionize newsrooms.” of political belief?” are by the author: • “As it did a half-century later, the Shelton’s response was eloquent: Supreme Court refused to recognize • An “important legacy of the McCar- any First Amendment protection for This subcommittee is nudging the thy era is caution in the newsroom in … journalists. Moreover, in both 1955 end of my copy pencil, it is peeking the face of government intimidation. and 2005, the newspaper industry over my shoulder as I work. This sub- It is not known how many quietly re- stood divided on whether constitu- committee is engendering the fear that signed from newspapers rather than tional protection extends beyond soon it will be looking into newsrooms face public humiliation in the 1950’s. the publishers’ offices to include all over the country. If, as a result of Moreover, it is difficult to know the the journalists who gather the news my being called here, I am put under degree to which news stories were and serve as a check on the govern- mental pressure to change one word molded to conform politically. It is ment.” or sentence in material that I edit,

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an abridgment of freedom of the press influence over news content,” Al- Arnold who, while a corporate lawyer, will have taken place …. Your question wood writes. Shelton was reassigned represented Alden Whitman. Simply to acts as a form of ‘prior restraint’ on to copyedit entertainment features list, and describe in few words, each publishing, telling newspaper execu- and reviews. During the 1960’s and courageous journalist and innocent tives who would or should not work 1970’s, after his court cases ended, he victim in “Dark Days”—never mind the on their staffs …. It is my understand- left the Times and helped to launch others—would take far more space than ing that the [F]irst [A]mendment the careers of musicians and singers, any prudent editor would allow. is the door to America’s freedom of including Janis Ian, Bob Dylan, Janis Unfortunately, “Dark Days” becomes conscience …. It can be opened at any Joplin, Judy Collins, the Mothers of quite intricate at times and is marred time from within; it cannot be forced Invention, and Peter, Paul and Mary. by a few instances of carelessness open with the wedges of a subpoena, Whitman was reassigned to the obit and writing that is not always felici- with threats of contempt citation, or desk. His daughter “found herself tous. “In the late 1960’s, Shelton had in any other form. ostracized by her friends when a local moved to Britain, where he died in newspaper reported the news of her December 1965 at age 69.” Read the Whitman acknowledged having father’s testimony on its front page,” sentence literally, and Shelton moved worked for the Communist Party in the Alwood notes. When Whitman’s mar- after he died. The Guild is sometimes 1930’s, but he testified that he’d left it riage ended, he blamed the breakup the “guild.” There are “communists,” in 1948, three years before joining the “on the social strains that resulted from then “Communists.” The index omits Times. He, too, stood firm, refusing his appearance before the Eastland Louis Lyons, curator of the Nieman to name party colleagues. “My private committee.” Foundation during the McCarthy era, affairs, my beliefs, my associations, Whitman spent nearly 10 of his 14 whose is quoted in the book. (I was a are not, I believe, proper subjects years at the Times “trying to vindicate Nieman Fellow in Lyons’s final class for investigation by this subcommit- himself and remove the stigma at- and have great admiration and affec- tee,” he said. He made an additional, tached to his social activism during tion for him.) powerful and correct legal argument: the 1930’s.” This did not deter the FBI The hearings, he observed, lacked a from tracking Whitman, among other Louis Lyons’s Warning legislative purpose. journalists, for many years afterward. Shelton, Whitman and two other Just before the 1972 election, Alwood What Lyons has to say in the book journalists were cited by the committee discloses that: requires some background. McCarthy for contempt, and the Senate approved had hauled up New York Post editor the citations—unanimously—and sent … the FBI alerted the Secret Service James Wechsler. He, Whitman and them to a grand jury for indictment. to Whitman’s Communist background, Peck, according to Alwood, “had Twice convicted, they sued to challenge although it is difficult to understand joined the Young Communist League the citations. At a second trial, Senator how an obituary writer posed a threat as college students before embarking Eastland took the stand. “In response to the President or national security. on careers in journalism.” to dozens of questions,” Alwood writes, Whitman’s relegation to the obit desk Did being a newspaperman, Mc- “he answered, ‘I don’t remember,’ or revolutionized newspaper obituary Carthy asked Wechsler, confer “some ‘I can’t recall.’” It isn’t clear whether writing as he became the celebrated special immunity” from being called Eastland’s memory lapses outnum- practitioner of the form, turning the to testify? bered those of former Attorney General worst job on most newspapers into “I ask no special immunity,” the edi- Alberto Gonzales. an art. tor replied. “I say only that I believe I Shelton never gave up, repeatedly am here because I am a newspaperman appealing his convictions. In Septem- “Dark Days” documents, too, the and because of what I have done as a ber 1963 he won a two-to-one decision indifference of many newspaper and newspaperman.” in a court of appeals. Sourwine, the broadcasting executives, editors and McCarthy tried to keep a transcript opinion held, “had violated Shelton’s Newspaper Guild leaders to the ero- of the hearing secret, but reporters rights by breaking the committee’s own sion of First Amendment freedoms. It covering the story joined Wechsler in a rules governing subpoenas.” Shelton’s reveals big-name journalist informers, successful effort to make them public. victory, Alwood writes, “cleared the way including CBS correspondent Winston The American Society of Newspaper for an appeal by Whitman.” Surpris- Burdett. Inspiringly, it tells of stand-up Editors (ASNE) then appointed a ingly, in late 1964 government lawyers guys, including I.F. Stone, who put up committee to study them. Despite a filed motions to dismiss the case against bail for indicted Times staffer Seymour three-week effort, the 11 members, led Whitman. In the end, the Supreme Peck; Joseph Rauh, Jr., a founder of by The Washington Post’s J. Russell Court reversed the convictions with the liberal and fiercely anticommunist Wiggins, could not reach a consensus. a five-to-two decision. Americans for Democratic Action, who But a minority—Wiggins plus three In the meantime, the Times made represented Robert Shelton, and for- others—provided what Alwood calls sure the two men “would have no mer Antitrust Division chief Thurman Wechsler’s “vindication,” and it is

92 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Books memorable: “A press put to the frequent it was “conservative” to defend this work for the press. Since this [Internal necessity of explaining its news and wrecking crew, as he suggested in his Security Subcommittee] investigation editorial policies to a United States concurring opinion in the Supreme can have no legislative basis as far as Senator armed with the full powers of Court decision reversing Shelton and the press is concerned, what then is its the government of the United States, is Whitman’s convictions. He argued constitutional foundation? not a free press—whether the Senator that a strict reading of the Constitu- is a good or a bad Senator.” tion wouldn’t lead to such a defense. I’d argue that the true conserva- Few newspapers defended Wechsler, Douglas wrote: tives were Lyons, the ASNE minor- reflecting the inability of the entire ity, Shelton, Whitman, Wechsler and ASNE committee to do so. This dis- Under our system of government, numerous other protectors of the turbed Lyons and led him to offer, in I do not see how it is possible for First Amendment named in Alwood’s an address he made to the Guild’s 1953 Congress to pass a law saying whom remarkable book.  national convention, what Alwood calls a newspaper or news agency or maga- “a stern warning”: “They are short- zine shall or shall not employ. I see Morton Mintz, a 1964 Nieman Fel- sighted, those editors who took the no justification for the Government low, was a Newspaper Guild member attitude: This isn’t serious. It didn’t investigating the capacities, leanings, throughout his 42 years on the staffs touch us. Do not send [sic] for whom ideology, qualifications, prejudices or of the St. Louis Star-Times and St. the bell tolls. It tolls for you.” politics of those who collect or write the Louis Globe-Democrat, both long Alwood contends that “conservative news. It was conceded on oral argument defunct, and then at The Washington newspapers defended the [Eastland] that Congress would have no power to Post. In the 1960’s he was a chair of committee.” Certainly, Justice Wil- establish standards of fitness [or] to the Guild unit at the Post. liam O. Douglas would disagree that prescribe loyalty tests for those who

Teaching Multimedia Journalism Online resources—many of them free of charge—are used as the textbooks for training the next generation of journalists.

BY REBECCA MACKINNON

News organizations throughout the wheels of textbook publishing can’t could find were badly out of date—with world require journalists to report for keep up. This means that traditional the newest one widely used in journal- multiple platforms, including the Web. textbook publishing currently plays ism programs and recommended by In my role as a journalism professor no role in my introductory new media UNESCO for international use being at the University of Hong Kong and class. Instead, I depend on nonprofit James Foust’s “Online Journalism: the faculty member responsible for organizations and other academic Principles and Practices of News for our core New Media Workshop, it is institutions—and the foundations that the Web,” published in 2005. His book my job to fully prepare our students support them—who are assembling is solid and covers some of the things for this reality. This means no one valuable teaching resources quickly and I needed to do in my classes, but the graduates without basic Web literacy publishing them online for free. feedback I got from students during and exposure to the tools and methods Before I began teaching online the first semester when I used it was of online storytelling.1 journalism at the University of Hong largely negative. They told me it didn’t With media technology changing Kong in January 2007, I researched cover enough of what I taught in my rapidly from month-to-month, it is exhaustively to see what textbooks class. The material was not up-to- hard to find classroom texts to sup- and references other online journalism date enough to justify the cost of the port our teaching. Slow-churning courses have been using. All that I textbook for them.

1 The New Media Workshop is a required course for the masters’ degree in journalism, and soon an undergraduate equivalent will be required. MacKinnon wrote on the Web site for the New Media Workshop a piece entitled “Web-savvy young journalists in demand—and Chinese language doesn’t hurt either.” It can be found on the Web site at http://jmsc.hku.hk/blogs/newmedia.

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Journalism 2.0 sections as needed. I find that the best Audio and Podcasting, Shooting and way to get students started on the Web Managing Digital Photos—are excel- I was thrilled, therefore, when Mark is to have each of them set up a blog lent basic primers with good tips for Briggs’s “Journalism 2.0: How to right away. This means I devote my recording audio and shooting digital Survive and Thrive” appeared last first class to teaching some Web funda- pictures, although I do not find them summer—downloadable for free mentals, such as introducing browsers thorough enough to use on their own online, thanks to the Knight Foun- and getting their blogs set up. Next as teaching materials. I was also sur- dation—whose goal is to educate as we cover RSS so they can discover prised that Briggs made no mention many journalists as possible. Sub- the feeds that their blogs, as well as of wikis—other than a brief mention titled “a digital literacy guide for the all news sites, are generating. of Wikipedia. All of the nonprofit information age,” the book is broken media startups I’ve been involved down into logical, practical chunks with have used wikis as an essential so that the reader can focus on what internal collaboration tool, and many she finds to be new and quickly skim news organizations use public wikis over what is already known. as a way to invite public participation “Journalism 2.0” seems targeted in gathering information on stories at an audience of working journalists through crowdsourcing. in American news organizations who Despite these issues, even my more want to update their Web literacy and Web-savvy students told me that they online reporting skills. From where I enjoy Briggs’s book, find it readable sit in Hong Kong, it does not appear and relevant. Nobody has claimed they to have been written with news or- already knew everything covered in ganizations beyond the United States “Journalism 2.0.” I find that even most and perhaps Western Europe in mind, of the younger graduate students and nor does it seem meant as a text for undergraduates—“digital natives” who university journalism courses. But it are familiar with blogging, Facebook turns out to be a heck of a lot better and instant messaging—have given than nothing, which is what I had when scant thought to their journalistic I began teaching last winter. [See ac- implications. They might know how company box for description of other to play around and socialize on the free online texts and resources.] Web, but when it comes to applying The first chapter introduces basic The guidance Briggs provides in these skills to serious journalism they Web concepts, such as the difference his chapter on shooting and editing still have a lot to learn. between the Internet and the Web. video offers a good start for people It then describes how browsers work, who would like to get a taste for the The View From Hong Kong how to use and read RSS feeds, instant basics and are good at teaching them- messaging, e-mail groups, and FTP. selves. But more training and practice Because I teach in Hong Kong, half of In the next chapter, it takes us into are needed for the graduating student my graduate students are from main- social networking sites like MySpace to claim that he or she can shoot and land China, most of my undergraduates and social bookmarking sites like del. edit video to usable standards. Thus, grew up in Hong Kong, and the rest icio.us and Technorati. Subsequent every journalism student is required are an international melting pot. Many chapters deal with gadgets that all to take a separate, semester-long video felt that Briggs’s book fails to recognize journalists should be familiar with and class. In our New Media Workshop, that there is a world of journalism new reporting methods using spread- we focus on students learning how to beyond the United States. sheets, databases and a process known create basic audio-visual slide shows Several students expressed disap- as “crowdsourcing.” Later on, specific using programs such as Soundslides. pointment that this book does not ac- “how-to’s” occur: how to blog; how to Briggs barely mentions the existence knowledge how journalists and citizens report news for the Web; how to do of audio-visual slide shows. Given can use their new Web skills to fight digital audio and podcasting; how to the extent to which news Web sites political censorship as well as indirect shoot and manage digital photos; how use such slide shows as a powerful commercial pressures that threaten to shoot video for news and features; storytelling medium—and that com- free speech. “Briggs has neglected to how to do basic video editing and, petent audio-visual slide shows are mention at any point in his book that finally, how to write scripts and do much less difficult to produce than the optimism and exchange of ideas voice-overs. video—it might have been a good rely very much on an information-free In structuring my courses, I don’t idea for him to include a slide show and open society,” wrote Elmy Lung, follow the book’s chapter sequence: I how-to chapter. a graduate student and Hong Kong assign different chunks from various Two of Briggs’s chapters—Digital native. “The book addresses none of

94 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Books the problems of how the media might or helping midcareer professionals teacher’s toolbox.  benefit (or even face further suppres- upgrade their skills, the commercial sion) from the Internet in other parts book publishing industry is unlikely to Rebecca MacKinnon is an assistant of the world outside the U.S.”2 be the place where teachers or prac- professor at the University of Hong When it comes to preparing the titioners will turn. Books like Briggs’s Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies next generation of journalists for the “Journalism 2.0” are a valuable, free Centre and cofounder of Global Voices, future of news instead of its past, and instantly accessible addition to a www.globalvoicesonline.org.

2 Lung’s blog post can be found at http://elmylung.uniblogs.org/2008/01/20/first- assignment-re-readings-digital-edge-award-winners/.

Valued Classroom Resources

I haven’t found a comparable guide to Briggs’s book Mindy McAdams, Knight Chair for Journalism written with non-American journalists in mind. The Technologies and the Democratic Process at the Uni- “Introduction to Global Citizen Media,” published by versity of Florida, has made available two excellent, Rising Voices, another Knight Foundation grantee, freely downloadable guides to audio editing with Au- makes a step toward filling the gap at least for non- dacity. There are also very good, user-friendly online professionals. (Disclosure: I am cofounder of Global texts to be found at the University of California at Voices, Rising Voices’ parent organization.) The “Hand- Berkeley’s Multimedia and Technology Training Web book for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents,” published by site and at the J-Lab’s J-Learning Web site. (All of Reporters Without Borders in 2005, fills another small these resources are funded by the Knight Foundation, part of the picture, though some of it is already out including McAdams’s chaired professorship. Given this, of date. Global Voices Advocacy (my earlier disclosure it would make sense for Briggs’s book to refer read- applies) is working to write guides for online anonym- ers to these resources for further study and practice.) ity, privacy and circumventing censorship that will be Web links for these digital journalism resources are useful for professional or citizen journalists. listed below. —R.M.

Mark Briggs’s “Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive” is available as a downloadable pdf in English, Spanish and Portuguese editions: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/journalism20.php

U.C. Berkeley’s Multimedia and Technology Training Web site: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/

J-Lab’s J-Learning Web site: www.j-learning.org/

Mindy McAdams’s audio editing guides: http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2007/part-2-of-the-quick-and-easy-guide- to-audio-editing/

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents: www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

Introduction to Global Citizen Media: http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/guides/

Global Voices Advocacy tools and guides: http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/tools/

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 95 Words & Reflections

Journalism 2.0—And Then What? A book introduces journalists to multimedia storytelling tools, and someone who has used it offers a guide to navigating its lessons.

BY CHRISTINE GORMAN

In their own time journalists have Practicing journalists are going to get to showcase your various journalistic weathered a lot of tempests, but navi- the most out of this guide by picking skills. Every few months, as new pro- gating the Scylla and Charybdis of the one or two areas on which to focus grams and devices surface, be ruthless, digital straits requires an entirely new and then delving deeper than an this guidebook advises, about which level of sang-froid and fortitude. While introductory text, such as this one, ones will serve your purposes best. giant media corporations scramble will take them. Without this kind of Another piece of good advice: Write to protect their profits in the face of pick-and-choose approach, journalists up your top five “lessons learned” for declining advertising revenues, their are likely to feel panicked by all there your own blog or your employer’s Web employees and contractors engage in is to absorb—editing audio, shooting site and watch comments—many of a high-stakes game of musical chairs. video, and designing Web sites, to them helpful—pour in. Correspondents moonlight as bloggers mention a few. Instead, the wise ap- A trend I’m paying more atten- on the Web sites of their own programs proach is to build on acquired skills tion to is convergence among com- and publications. Writers pack video and experiences and look for ways to puter programmers and journalists. cameras when they go out to report increase their value. Database reporting and Computer a story. Photographers tote digital For a print journalist, this might Assisted Reporting have been used recorders, and reporters who have mean devoting six months to getting for decades to cover election results, mastered nut grafs and a few lines of really good at recording and editing economic statistics, and social trends. computer code are the new must-hires audio. What are the ambient sounds (CBS News used UNIVAC I to call the at many Web ventures. that allow your listeners to place the 1952 presidential election for Dwight To negotiate the ever-changing locale or mood of a story right away? Eisenhower hours before the national landscape, journalists should check out What audio levels give the best results results were in.) What is changing now “Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and for a podcast or voice-over? By still is the ease with which databases can Thrive,” by Mark Briggs, assistant man- relying on all of the same foundational be generated and even compared to aging editor for interactive news at The skills of a print reporter—finding the one another in so-called “mash-ups.” News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington. right person to interview, ferreting out One of the best known examples comes Billed as a “digital literacy guide for the the unexpected detail—the one new from Adrian Holovoty, who figured information age” and available as an element is to add sound to give the out how to display crime statistics online pdf in Spanish, Portuguese and story being told a new dimension. from the Chicago Police Department English, “Journalism 2.0” is a handy For a photographer, a goal might on Google Maps and now lots of news compendium of concepts, emerging be to master the interactive slide show Web sites are using this technique to software standards, and equipment by learning how to mesh audio and display such statistics. advice for the 21st century journalist, stills with a low-cost program such Going forward, journalists will whether a dedicated amateur or a pro. as Soundslides.1 Which stories are have to evaluate ever more databases, Briggs’s writing has a very friendly best told in a single iconic shot and figuring out the right questions to ask tone, reassuring “traditionalists” that which demand expansion through a and finding effective ways to gain ac- if they know how to write an e-mail timeline? When does a series of still cess to available databases throughout or send an attachment, they, too, can images deliver a greater impact than the world. Or journalists can lead the prosper in an increasingly interactive a video? While still dealing with light way by developing and sharing their news world. But in case the carrot and mood and f-stops, voice and timbre databases, as a team from Folha de doesn’t work, the not so subtle subtext are strengthened. São Paulo recently did in Brazil. Led is clear: “adapt or die.” After a few months devoted to feel- by Fernando Rodrigues, Folha journal- My guess is that “Journalism 2.0” ing more secure about the basics of ists collected government-mandated works best as a survey course on podcasting or interactive slide shows, it financial statements of every political multimedia for folks who still don’t is time to see what new media technol- candidate throughout the country. have a lot of experience in the field. ogy or other applications can be used [See Rodrigues’s article on page 71.]

1 www.soundslides.com

96 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nieman Notes

The newspaper transformed these (by which democracy also prospered), way to explore what’s possible. If the raw numbers into a giant database the newspaper opened the database Web 2.0 environment for news has that they used to compare statements for public consumption. Voters could taught us anything, it is that we are across several years. By doing this, check on their representatives, and better off not going it alone.  the Folha team discovered that be- regional newspapers filed stories on ing elected to office often increased local candidates using the information Christine Gorman, a 2008 Global a politician’s declared wealth by 90 Folha aggregated.2 Health Nieman Fellow, was a longtime percent or more. Work on this proj- For those journalists who don’t excel senior health writer for Time maga- ect cost the paper several hundred at generating databases—or who don’t zine. She now blogs about global health thousand dollars. With this kind of work for a news organization like Folha issues and journalism at www.global- information in hand, Folha reported with the willingness to devote resources healthreport.com and maintains her on the top national political races and to such a project—partnering with a own Web page at www.cgormanhealth. then, in a brilliant marketing move friendly programmer might be the best com.

2 For more information, in Portuguese, visit www.politicosdobrasil.com.br.

Nieman Notes

Journalists Portray a Complex, Self-Destructive Texas Politician Two reporters encounter roadblocks in telling the flamboyant story of Bob Bullock.

BY DAVE MCNEELY AND JIM HENDERSON

riting a biography of the ethically challenged, self-destruc- late Bob Bullock, it seemed, tive, chain-smoking, pistol-packing, would be a quick lap. Over fistfighting, bipolar alcoholic with a Wthree decades, we had amassed boxes volatile temper and a tongue that, of material on him and a catalogue George W. Bush once allowed, “should of rich personal experiences. We had be registered as a lethal weapon.” hundreds of living, willing witnesses, He also was, by most accounts, the the detailed work of a generation of most powerful and feared politician our fellow journalists, and a trove of to hold office in Texas in the 20th his papers in an archive at Baylor century. In his 41 years of public University. service—state legislature, secretary of One unforeseen hitch: We under- state, state comptroller, and lieutenant estimated Bob Bullock. governor—Bullock wrote the book on Because he never achieved rock how not to succeed in politics. But star status, you reasonably might ask: he never lost an election and, more Who was Bob Bullock? Why was he amazingly, was never indicted. In fact, worthy of a biography? How do you he parlayed 16 years as the state’s tax underestimate a dead guy? collector, who controlled thousands The answers to the first two ques- of jobs and set the lid on what the tions are the same. Bullock was an Texas Legislature could spend, into

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you’re squealing like a a waiter displeased him, and Bullock pig stuck under a gate.” expressed his displeasure while hold- Using his powers of ing a pistol to the man’s head. At persuasion to get a state another bar at another time, Bullock senator from Houston invited a reporter he disliked out to to compromise on a the patio. He sat down across from racially sensitive bill, the reporter, laid a pistol on the table Bullock barked, “Show and said, “Sometimes I get so mad at some leadership, you you I want to shoot you. I wanted you black motherfucker.” to know that.” Then there was Gov- Even sober, Bullock was likely to be ernor Bush, the con- packing. Suspecting that his son was servative Republican hanging out in a drug house, Bullock who Democrat Bullock went to extract him and was spotted befriended, nurtured by a neighbor approaching the house and tutored in the with a large sidearm. As he walked ways and means of into a San Antonio museum to address governance. But their a gathering of businessmen, a pistol coziness had its limits. fell out of Bullock’s pocket and skit- One afternoon, Gov- tered loudly across the marble floor. ernor Bush wandered An aide calmly pocketed it, and the onto the Senate floor event proceeded. uninvited—a protocol His personal life also was anathema no-no, but often vio- to political longevity. An inveterate lated. Lt. Gov. Bullock, womanizer, he was married five times, Governor Ann Richards and Lt. Governor Bob Bullock. angry since Bush ap- suffered chronic health problems from Photo courtesy of Texas Senate Media. pointed the wife of his the abuse of alcohol and cigarettes, last election opponent and built a rap sheet of DUI arrests. eight years as lieutenant governor—the to a state board, put down his gavel, He drove recklessly—cars and mo- operator of the engine room of state stepped down from the podium, got torcycles—and depression drove him government. close to the governor, gazed up into one lonely night to playing Russian “He was the largest Texan of our his eyes and said, “You’re a cocky little roulette. time,” then-Governor Bush said at motherfucker, aren’t you?” Bullock’s funeral in 1999. “He was Bullock was powerful because he Bullock and George W. Bush the most atrocious human being was feared, and feared because he was who ever lived,” former State Senator powerful. The constitution required Despite it all, Bullock prospered, A.R. “Babe” Schwartz said of him in the lieutenant governor to preside achieving a level of influence in Texas a private conversation with us a few over the senate, but the senators, for that the governors who served with years later. sake of order and efficiency, made him could only envy. Depending on “Complex” doesn’t begin to define his authority almost dictatorial. He the point of view, he is often blamed Bullock. He was a liberal reformer in appointed committee members and for, or credited with, the political a conservative environment, yet he chairmen and controlled the flow of rise of George W. Bush by playing changed, usually for the better, nearly legislation—who would be recognized a backstage role in Bush’s defeat of every facet of state government—from to present bills, to which committees Democrat Ann Richards in 1994 and election and campaign laws to the bills would go, which senators got to by his endorsements of Bush for re- recruiting of women and minorities help him write the rough draft of the election as governor in 1998 and for into state jobs to modernizing the tax state budget. president in 2000. collection system, to name a few. He Bullock and Richards had been did it with a management style that Weapons of Persuasion drinking buddies in the 1970’s until Texas had not seen since its frontier Richards checked in for alcoholism days. He was a bully, a 5-foot, 9-inch, If that were not enough, Bullock had treatment in 1980—“drunk school,” 145-pound verbal terrorist. other weapons of intimidation. Guns. Bullock called it. Bullock followed He once won an argument with The tales of his earlier drinking days suit in 1981. In 1990, he was elected the state’s attorney general by chest- trailed him when he became a sober lieutenant governor, and she was bumping the startled A.R., slapping lieutenant governor. elected governor. his cheek, and summing up his case At one of his favorite watering The late columnist Molly Ivins, thusly: “You skinny little sonofabitch, holes one bourbon-soaked evening, close friends with both, thought it

98 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nieman Notes bothered Bullock Bullock’s extensive that Richards had collection of news- gotten the gover- paper and magazine nor’s job he lusted articles was off lim- for. “She could get its. It was not a for- elected governor, midable obstacle, and he couldn’t,” but one we might Ivins said. have anticipated After Bush upset had we been alert Richards, Bullock to the omens. coached him in the In the spring ways of bipartisan- of 2001, almost ship and helped him two years after his enact his legislative death, state officials agenda. Had Bull- gathered to dedicate ock chosen to do the Bob Bullock so, he could have Texas State His- made Bush’s term tory Museum. Many a shambles, thereby of his old friends derailing his presi- and enemies spoke dential ambitions. Bullock and George W. Bush. Photo by Ralph Barrera/Courtesy of Austin American- softly about him, Instead, courted by Statesman. sometimes agreeing Bush, he became the to press interviews bipartisanship merit badge that Bush interview was to be embargoed until only on the condition of anonymity. showed to the nation. Bullock didn’t further notice. “He might be listening,” one of them live long enough to see his protégé When we first approached the library whispered. reach the White House. to see the Bullock papers, we were Several years later, a journalist vis- given access to a few oral histories. ited the Texas State Cemetery, where Controlling Even After Death There were stingy restrictions on the Bullock was buried and whose restora- tion he had overseen during his last He died much as he had lived. In his term as lieutenant governor. last days, he instructed an aide to Repeatedly, when the reporter asked write his obituary. Reading the piece, At another bar at another why something was the way it was at Bullock slashed phrases, sentences, the cemetery, caretaker Harry Bradley, even whole paragraphs. “This is going time, Bullock invited a who had been the first volunteer in to be a paid obit,” he snarled, “and reporter he disliked out to Bullock’s first campaign for lieutenant I don’t want the goddamn Austin governor, replied, “That’s the way Mr. American-Statesman to make any the patio. He sat down across Bullock wanted it.” money off me.” When a minister came Finally, the reporter said, “But to offer spiritual comfort, Bullock of- from the reporter, laid a Bullock’s dead.” fered him a drink. pistol on the table and said, Bradley arched an eyebrow and If ever a life cried out for biographi- smiled. “Are you sure?”  cal publication, it was Bullock’s. We ‘Sometimes I get so mad at signed contracts with the University Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson, of Texas Press and were preparing you I want to shoot you. I authors of “Bob Bullock: God Bless to hit the cruise control when things wanted you to know that.’ Texas,” first met as Nieman Fellows got curious. Nearly everywhere, we in the class of 1976. Their friendship found generous cooperation from that continued in Texas. McNeely has been vast network of Bullock colleagues, a Texas political columnist for de- cronies, associates, drinking buddies, cades. Henderson, the author of three and childhood friends. number of pages we could copy, but previous books, reported for the Tulsa But—we began coming across men otherwise we were accommodated. World, Dallas Times Herald, and the and women who had known him well On our second visit, we were shut Houston Chronicle. Information about and, no doubt, had revealing stories out. “We want to make sure that this their book can be found at the Uni- to tell, but politely declined to speak material is not used in a negative way,” versity of Texas Press at http://www. with us. One even notified the Baylor the curator explained. On subsequent utexas.edu/utpress/books/mcnbob. University library that her oral history visits, the answer was the same. Even html.

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1953 Nieman Fellows Receive ASNE Awards Melvin Mencher’s book, “News Reporting and Writing,” has had its Two Nieman Fellows were winners from ASNE are Liz Chandler, NF 11th edition published by McGraw of the American Society of News- ’03, who was part of The Charlotte Hill Higher Education. The textbook, paper Editors (ASNE) awards for (N.C.) Observer team that placed which contains the work of a number distinguished writing. Kevin Cullen, as a finalist in Local Accountability of Nieman Fellows, remains in print NF ’03, a Boston Globe columnist, Reporting and Louise Kiernan, NF form, but other material is online. received the Batten Medal for a col- ’05, who was a finalist in nondead- Mencher writes, “Everything was in lection of columns he wrote “on local line writing. Kiernan is senior editor print form in the early editions. Then, people facing adversity.” Cullen spent overseeing staff writing development the ancillaries were placed on CDs. 23 years as a Globe reporter before at the Chicago Tribune and also Now only the textbook is on paper. making the switch to columnist last reports on special projects. But given the preferences of students July. Anne Hull, NF ’95, received The awards will be presented on for the screen over the printed page, I the Distinguished Writing Award April 14th in Washington, D.C.. The suspect the 12th edition will be avail- for Local Accountability, with Dana Poynter Institute will be publishing able online.” Priest, for “Stories exposing the deep the winning entries and interviews and widespread problems at Walter with those who received the awards 1957 Reed Army Medical Center.” Hull and those who are finalists in the is a reporter for The Washington book, “Best Newspaper Writing.” Post. Also receiving recognition  Anthony Lewis’s new book, “Free- dom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment,” published by Basic Books, tells the story of how the First Amendment Boston and the Herald in 1964. When Services were held in Petersham, was established. Lewis has written the Herald’s management made the where Pillsbury lived, and the burial extensively on the law and First decision to print an editorial endorse- was in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Amendment issues, both during his ment close to voting time without first family has asked that memorial dona- years as a columnist for The New York notifying key editorial writers, Pillsbury tions be sent to the Nieman Founda- Times and in books such as “Make No left the paper and started working tion. His experience here, his son Sam Law: The Sullivan Case and the First for The Boston Globe, where he was said, was very meaningful. Amendment,” and “Gideon’s Trum- “an immediate success” reporting on pet,” his first book. Also, Lewis will transportation, colleges and politics 1969 no longer be teaching a class on the and writing political columns, recalled First Amendment and media law at Anne Wyman, a former colleague at Columbia University. “I’ll be 81 years the paper. Richard C. Longworth, former Chi- old and will have taught that class for “Fred always struck me as being cago Tribune correspondent and now 25 years,” Lewis said in an article on a thoughtful and open-minded per- senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Syracuse University’s Web site. “I just son as an editorial writer …. I never Global Affairs, is the author of a new thought it was time to stop.” heard him say a cruel word,” said book, “Caught in the Middle: America’s Bruce Davidson, who served on the Heartland in the Age of Globalism,” Frederick Pillsbury, retired Boston Globe’s editorial board. “Critical, yes, published by Bloomsbury USA. Long- Globe reporter and editorial writer, but cruel, no.” worth, who won an Overseas Press died on New Year’s Day in Gardner, In addition to writing, Pillsbury’s Club Award for writing on globaliza- Massachusetts. He was 85. family cited his passion for photog- tion, takes a look at how globalization Pillsbury, characterized by the Globe raphy, music, painting and sailing. At has transformed the great Midwestern as “a tall, patrician presence in the age 68 he sailed the Atlantic with a swatch between Ohio and Iowa and newsroom who punctuated conversa- friend, an experience he then wrote what the region can do to compete in tions with his deep chuckle,” began about in 1991. During World War II, this new globalized world. writing newspaper editorials upon after graduating from high school, his college graduation from Harvard he drove ambulances for the British 1974 University, first at the Patriot Ledger, 8th Army in North Africa and later then The Boston Herald. After his Nie- served as a driver for the Marines. man year, he moved to Philadelphia Pillsbury also published some short Ellen Goodman has received the Er- to work for the Bulletin, returning to fictional stories. nie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award

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First Two Women Nieman Fellows, Classmates From 1946, Die Within Days of Each Other

Mary Ellen Leary Sherry and Char- day at his class. ‘You may not,’ he said blond, would become the first woman lotte FitzHenry Robling, the first firmly. ‘No woman comes to class at to walk on the Board’s trading floor two women to be appointed Nieman the Harvard Law School.’ since a state visit by the future Queen Fellows and both from the Nieman “‘For heaven’s sake, why not?’ I Marie of Rumania decades earlier. class of 1946, died within just two asked. He weighed his reply. ‘Well, we The traders threw corn and wheat days of each other in February. Sherry don’t have the proper toilet facilities at her on her first appearance.” Her died on the 25th of pneumonia, at the in the building,’ he said finally. ‘How editor, Carroll Arimond, “stood by age of 94, in an Orinda, California long is your lecture?’ I inquired, and his reporter.” convalescent hospital. Robling died guessed that I could forego a ladies’ After a while in that position, on the 27th of natural causes, at the room for a couple of hours.… He Robling was promoted and covered age of 90, in Beulah, Michigan. was adamant. So was I. One bitter urban issues and city planning, which Sherry covered politics in Cali- cold morning I set out for an 8 a.m. she studied during her Nieman year. fornia for over 50 years, after first lecture, booted and bundled against However, she had trouble finding writing about social welfare and the weather, my head swathed in a courses in that field at Harvard and, public housing. She was able to get wool scarf, mittened hands clutching in a Nieman program first, she ar- the political beat at the San Fran- my green bag. As I plodded through ranged to take classes off-campus, at cisco News because, in 1943, many library stacks in the all-male throng MIT. After her Nieman year, Robling of her male colleagues were involved en route to the appointed classroom, taught journalism at Drake University in World War II. In 1944, she went a door flung open, blocking the nar- in Des Moines, Iowa. to Sacramento, where she became row passageway—a door labeled on In the Special Issue on Woman the first woman to cover the state the side thrust towards me, ‘Men.’ and Journalism, Robling wrote about legislature. The emerging figure was Professor arriving in Cambridge: “Of course After her Nieman year, on her re- Powell, and he spotted me. Holding we were apprehensive. Thirty-four turn to California, Sherry still wasn’t the door open as barricade, he planted years later Mary Ellen Leary and I allowed to join the San Francisco himself in my path: ‘Where do you have confessed to each other that we Press Club nor was she invited to think you are going?’ I didn’t have were scared to death. But apprehen- the Capitol Press Association’s an- the phrase ‘male chauvinist’ on my sion was allayed fast, especially by nual dinner. As her obituary in the tongue in those days, but I was so [the late] Louis Lyons and the late San Francisco Chronicle said, “Early exasperated by the quaint effort to Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., and by our on, she learned to be tough.” Sherry stem the tide that it made me laugh. male counterparts and their wives. wrote editorials for the News-Call I turned on my heel and left. I knew “Our arrival had been too well- Bulletin, and in 1964 became West the barriers were falling. Within two publicized—our pictures in Time, Coast correspondent for Scripps- years, as I understand it, women fan mail; we became uncomfortable Howard. Over the years, she also students were enrolling at Harvard interviewees, not interviewers. But wrote for The Economist, The Nation, Law School.” once we were in Cambridge, every- and Pacific News Service. She wrote Sherry is survived by a daughter, a one made an extra effort to settle us a book, “Phantom Politics.” stepdaughter, and two sisters. More of into the nonroutine of the Nieman In an article Sherry wrote in the her experiences can be read in an oral year as quickly and comfortably as Summer 1979 Nieman Reports Spe- history at links.sfgate.com/ZCPK. possible. cial Issue on Women and Journal- “Discrimination was minimal. ism, edited by Tenney Lehman (see Charlotte Robling began her career Widener Library wanted to hide the End Note on page 108), Sherry as a reporter and photographer in us with the Radcliffe women, but wrote: “The only sex-related rebuff I 1940 with the Bloomington, Illinois somehow, without a placard or a experienced occurred when I tried to Pantagraph. She moved to The As- march, we soon were sitting in the enter the Harvard Law School, just to sociated Press in 1943, based in main reading room with Harvard sample one class. Professor Thomas Chicago. Her first assignment was men. The press box at the football Reed Powell was famous for a certain to report the noon price fixings from stadium was off-limits to women—I flamboyance in the classroom.… He the Chicago Board of Trade. Her AP didn’t contest.” often came to Nieman functions and obituary continues, “This provoked Robling is survived by four chil- was a personable, provocative figure. resistance from the all-male board dren.  So I said I planned to show up one of Trade because Robling, a lanky

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1985 Nieman Foundation to Administer The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting Philip Hilts has been named the third director of the MIT Knight Sci- The Nieman Foundation, in its of national significance where the ence Journalism Fellowships, effective continuing tradition of reinforcing public interest is ill served.” this summer. Hilts will also replace the importance and relevance of The Bingham Prize has recently Boyce Rensberger, the retiring fellow- watchdog journalism, has agreed been presented at the National Press ship director, as a professor of science to administer the Worth Bingham Foundation’s annual dinner in Wash- writing at the graduate school. Prize for Investigative Reporting. ington, D.C.. In 2009, the award “This is the best program of its The Bingham Memorial Fund was presentation will move to Lippmann kind anywhere and has for decades established in 1967 by Joan Bingham House, where the award recipient been the source of enthusiasm and and her daughter Clara, to honor will present a talk on investigative high standards that science journal- Joan’s husband, Worth Bingham, who reporting. The winner will be the ists look to,” Hilts said in the MIT died in an automobile accident in first to receive $20,000; the prize announcement. “Now it has got even 1966. The prize was first presented had been $10,000. more to do, helping journalists launch in 1967 to William Lambert, from For more information about the themselves into the electronic future, Life magazine. The award is designed establishment of the Worth Bingham again with enthusiasm while main- to “honor newspaper or magazine Prize, see Bob Giles’s Curator’s taining high standards. What a great investigative reporting of stories Corner on page 3.  opportunity!” Hilts covered health and science at The New York Times and was a national staff writer for The Washing- ton Post. He is now a commentator from the National Society of Newspaper Nieman classmate Patricia O’Brien, “I on these issues for NPR and a Spring Columnists. Mike Argento, president Know Just What You Mean: The Power 2008 Goldsmith Fellow at Harvard’s of the society, said in an article in The of Friendship in Women’s Lives.” Shorenstein Center, where he is writ- Boston Globe, “It’s an overdue honor. ing about press coverage of global I see Ellen as one of the pioneering … 1982 health issues. feminist columnists and a pioneer in His sixth book, “Rx for Survival: the personal essay, where she melds Why We Must Rise to the Global personal experience with public policy Ramindar Singh writes, “… I have Health Challenge,” was published in arguments.” The award is named after moved from Mumbai, where I ran a TV 2005 and named a New York Times Pyle, a war correspondent who was channel for three years, back to Delhi Notable Book of the Year. killed in World War II. and have resumed my relationship Goodman became a reporter at the with the Times of India: I now teach 1990 Globe in 1967 and was named a col- the TV journalism course to gradu- umnist four years later. Her columns ate students at the Times School of went into national syndication with Journalism. Let me admit that editing Thomas Morgan III died on the Washington Post Writers Group the Times of India was easier work! December 24th from complications in 1976. In 1980, she won the Pulitzer I frequently refer my students to the of AIDS while visiting his family in Prize for Distinguished Commentary Nieman Web site and back issues of Southampton, Massachusetts. He was for columns on topics that included, Nieman Reports. This is a valuable 56. Morgan was a former reporter the Globe article said, “marriage and resource … online for journalists and and editor at The New York Times rape, adolescence, her reflections on journalism students globally.” and was president of the National As- John F. Kennedy, the trauma of turn- sociation of Black Journalists (NABJ) ing 40, and the problems of public 1984 from 1989-1991. distrust as exemplified by the nuclear A former Air Force lieutenant, accident at Three Mile Island.” In 1988 Morgan began his journalism career she received the Hubert H. Humphrey D’Vera Cohn is now a senior writer as a reporter for The Miami Herald. Civil Rights Award “for her dedication for the Pew Research Center, working After spending six years at The Wash- to the cause of racial equality.” on reports about demographics and ington Post, he moved to the Times, Goodman has written a number of social trends. After taking a buyout where he was a reporter, editor and books and compilations of her columns, from The Washington Post in 2006, business manager. including “Turning Points,” “Close to she spent a year freelancing and doing After being treasurer of the NABJ Home,” “Keeping in Touch” and, with consulting for think tanks. for six years, Morgan was elected

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William Worthy Receives Lyons Award for a Lifetime of Achievement in Journalism The Nieman Foundation presented back reprints of clas- the Lyons Award for Conscience and sified CIA documents. Integrity in Journalism to William With support from the Worthy, NF ’57, on February 22, ACLU, Worthy and his 2008 at a ceremony at Lippmann coworkers sued the House. Worthy, surrounded by two government agen- friends and colleagues, was honored cies and won $16,000 by Nieman Curator Bob Giles for his in Fourth Amendment “remarkable spirit of courage and damages. Worthy later independence in his determination shared those documents to inform readers about places our with The Washington government wanted to keep hidden Post, which published from public view.” a five-part series, “Iran During his long and distinguished Documents Give Rare career, Worthy traveled extensively Glimpse of a CIA En- to report on global events for news terprise,” in 1982. outlets that included the Baltimore During his career, Afro-American and CBS News. A man Worthy won a Ford of strong convictions and a crusader Foundation grant and for equal rights, he challenged U.S. freedom of the press government policies several times awards. And he was im- and won. mortalized by folk singer Worthy traveled to both China Phil Ochs in “Ballad of (1956-1957) and later to Cuba (1961) William Worthy,” which in violation of U.S. travel restric- is an account of Worthy’s tions. The U.S. subsequently tried trip to Cuba and its and sentenced him to jail. A federal consequences. appeals court overturned that convic- The Nieman Class William Worthy talks about his career after receiving tion in 1964, ruling that the travel of 1964 established the a Louis M. Lyons Award at the Nieman Foundation. bans were unconstitutional. Worthy Louis M. Lyons Award Curator Bob Giles looks on. Photo © 2008 Randy H. continued to report from overseas, in honor of the Nieman Goodman. visiting North Vietnam, Cambodia Foundation Curator and Indonesia before receiving a who retired that year new passport in 1968. after leading the institution for a current class of Nieman Fellows will In 1981, when Worthy and two CBS quarter of a century. The award also select a recipient of the annual colleagues returned to Boston from honors displays of conscience and Lyons Award in May.  Iran, the FBI and CIA confiscated integrity by individuals, groups or their baggage and Iranian paper- institutions in communications. The

the group’s first openly gay presi- Mainstream,” said that when Morgan Phil Wilson, wrote in his blog: “In the dent. With Morgan as president, the “became treasurer [of NABJ] in 1983, years following his [NABJ] presidency, NABJ expanded its mentorship and the association had 334 members and Morgan was a tireless advocate on training programs for students and less than $50,000 in assets. When behalf of fellow gay and HIV-positive established the Ethel Payne fellowship, Mr. Morgan left the post in 1989, the journalists of color, both within NABJ which the Times describes as one in association had 1,600 members and a and in the news industry at large. And which members are given the means $1 million stock portfolio.” he always stepped forward to help all to travel to Africa to report stories. Morgan retired from the Times in journalists learn to cover the HIV/AIDS Wayne Dawkins, in his book “Rugged 1994 and spent much of his time work- epidemic smartly and compassionately. Waters: Black Journalists Swim the ing on issues involving AIDS. A friend, ‘I want members to know,’ he told the

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NABJ Journal in 1995, ‘that AIDS is issues involved. Her keen understand- took place in Washington, D.C., in a disease no different than things like ing of the frequently emotional issues October. breast cancer or prostate cancer. It is relating to immigration is apparent, as simply a disease. We are all mortal, is her fairness.” The NAHJ announce- 1991 and we will all die of something.’” In ment went on to say that, “In 2006, 1995 he received a lifetime achieve- during a year when immigration was ment award from the NABJ and was such a central and controversial topic Rui Araujo writes: “My mandate inducted into the National Lesbian in the national debate, Solis’s stories (two years) as ombudsman of the and Gay Journalists Association Hall on immigration were rewarding reads Portuguese daily newspaper Publico of Fame in 2005. no matter which side of the debate is over. I’ve just finished writing an- Morgan is survived by his partner one takes.” other nonfiction book, about espio- of 23 years, Tom Ciano, and three The award Solis received is named nage in Portugal during WWII. Guy brothers. after Frank del Olmo, a 1988 Nieman Liddell’s diaries (MI5) on Portugal Fellow who died of a heart attack in are the starting point. I spent more Dianne Solis has won the Frank 2004. Del Olmo worked for more than one year investigating the issue del Olmo Print Journalist of the Year than 30 years at the Los Angeles at the National Archives (in Kew, award from the National Association Times. His job as assistant to the near London) and at the Portuguese of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) for editor of the Times put his name on Archives (Foreign Affairs, Navy, Army, her work on immigration. Solis, senior the masthead—the first Latino to be National Archives, etc.). I mention es- writer for The Dallas Morning News, in that position. sentially foreign intelligence activities was honored for “telling stories in The NAHJ awards were presented in Portuguese territories (Continental ways that convey both the logic and at the 22nd Annual Noche de Triun- Portugal, Azores, Madeira, Cape Verde, the emotion behind the people and fos Journalism Awards Gala, which Mozambique, Angola and Timor) and

Nieman Foundation Announces I.F. Stone Award Honoring Journalistic Independence

The Nieman Foundation is estab- thinking that challenges punditry and a U.S. destroyer; it was the claim lishing an award that recognizes conventional wisdom that we wish President Johnson used to persuade journalistic independence and honors to honor,” said Curator Bob Giles. the Senate to approve the Tonkin Gulf the life of investigative journalist I.F. “Today, Izzy Stone serves as a model Resolution, committing the country Stone. The I.F. Stone Medal will be of the resolute, provocative journalist to the Vietnam War. presented annually to a journalist who worked against injustice and A committee of journalists will whose work captures the spirit of inequity, and loathed pomposity and be formed to establish a process for independence, integrity, courage and false posturing, often at personal nominations and selection of the indefatigability that characterized cost.… We hope that the attention medal winner. It will be chaired by I.F. Stone’s Weekly, published from drawn to the award and ideas from Jeremy J. Stone, Stone’s son, who is 1953-1971. Each year, the winner the workshop discussion will encour- the former president of the Federation of the award will deliver a speech age journalistic independence.” (See of American Scientists and current about his or her own experience Bob Giles’s Curator’s Corner on page president of Catalytic Diplomacy. with journalistic independence, to 3 for more on this award.) An endowment fund for the I.F. be followed by a workshop on the The I.F. Stone Medal bears a Stone Medal, with an anonymous same topic. Stone, who was born likeness of an issue of I.F. Stone’s matching gift of $100,000, has been in 1907 and worked for several Weekly with a headline about the established at Harvard University. newspapers before establishing his Tonkin Gulf affair, “All We Really Donations toward a goal of $200,000 weekly publication, believed fervently Know Is That We Fired The First can be made through the Nieman that dissenting voices are crucial in Shots.” Stone was one of only a few Foundation. For more information helping keep the United States true journalists who reported on the visit the “Make a Gift Page,” at www. to its democratic ideals. government’s false allegations that nieman.harvard.edu.  “It is this spirit of independent the North Vietnamese had attacked

104 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nieman Notes stories of Portuguese spies—including six journalists—working for the Ger- man Secret Service. This is my seventh Tim Golden Delivers Morris Lecture book. It will be published soon by Oficina do Livro, in Lisbon. Tim Golden, NF ’96 and senior its balanced portrayal of the U.S. “In the meantime, The Mariner’s writer for The New York Times, military’s tactics in dealing with Mirror, the journal of the Society for presented the 2008 Joe Alex Morris, prisoners that have resulted from Nautical Research (London), should Jr. Memorial Lecture at Lippmann broader American policies. He was publish soon a long article I wrote House on February 21st. The lec- a member of the Times team that about seaman Joshua Slocum in the ture honors Morris, the foreign won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Azores (1895). He was ‘the first man correspondent of the Los Angeles international reporting for articles to sail single-handedly around the Times who was killed in February about drug corruption in Mexico. world.’ It is an honor. The Mariner’s 1979 while covering the Iranian He also shared a 1987 Pulitzer Prize Mirror is ‘internationally recognized Revolution in Tehran. The lecture- for national reporting for stories on as the preeminent English-language ship was created in 1981 by family the Iran-contra affair while work- journal on naval and maritime his- members, Harvard classmates, and ing at The Miami Herald. Golden’s tory, nautical archaeology, and all friends. stories on the drug trade received aspects of seafaring and lore of the Golden has written extensively awards from the Overseas Press sea.’ I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. on the treatment of prisoners at Club and the Nancy Dickerson Hugh Murphy, Honorary Editor of The Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at Whitehead Prize. Mariner’s Mirror, and to the British other U.S.-run prisons abroad, in- Golden serves as a member of Council in Lisbon. cluding those in Afghanistan. His the Nieman Advisory Board.  “My wife, Julie, is at the Portuguese reporting has been recognized for Beaux Arts and keeps painting. Our son, Vincent, is a student and plays jazz and folk music.”

Katherine M. Skiba is a senior declared deceptively—would solve the “To me the real story in war is not writer at U.S. News & World Report problem of illegal immigration by the bang-bang but the lives of those and the magazine’s congressional cor- penalizing employers if they hired trying to survive behind the scenes.” respondent. Most recently she was the undocumented.” Kammer and Lamb’s reporting has appeared in The Washington correspondent for the colleague Marcus Stern received the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where Pulitzer for “notable work” in the Financial Times. In Britain, she was she worked for 25 years covering local, “disclosure of bribe-taking that sent named Foreign Correspondent of the state, national and foreign news. From former Representative Randy Cun- Year five times and in 2007 received Skiba: “I’m thrilled to join this terrific ningham to prison in disgrace.” The three major awards as foreign corre- magazine and to focus on Congress, prize was shared with staff members of spondent of the year. Her other books especially during this riveting election the Copley News Service and the San include “The Africa House,” “Wait- year. Story suggestions and tips are Diego Union-Tribune. (See Kammer’s ing for Allah: Pakistan’s Struggle for most welcome. And if you find yourself article on page 16 about his investiga- Democracy,” “The Sewing Circles of in Washington, please do give me a tive work on this story.) Herat: My Afghan Years,” and “House call.” She can be reached at: kskiba@ of Stone: The True Story of a Family usnews.com or 202-955-2094. Christina Lamb has a new book, Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe.” “Small Wars Permitting: Dispatches 1994 From Foreign Lands,” published by 1997 Harper Press. The book, she says, is “part reportage and part memoir of my Jerry Kammer agreed to a buy- 20 years as a foreign correspondent.… Suvendrini Kakuchi resides in Sri out arrangement with Copley News There is even a chapter about being Lanka, as country representative of Service in 2007 and says he is “look- a Nieman.” Lamb has spent the past Panos South Asia (www.panossoutha- ing for an opportunity to write about 20 years covering conflicts everywhere sia.org). Panos runs several programs immigration, an issue I have cared from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and for the regional media that include about ever since I covered it in 1986 Zimbabwe, but it’s not all war—she also training, workshops and research as a correspondent in Mexico for the writes about dancing samba in the Rio projects to foster local journalism Arizona Republic. That was the year Carnival, searching for uncontacted at a time when devastating conflicts Congress passed the now-infamous Indians in the Amazon, and staying on and economic changes are gripping amnesty legislation that—its sponsors fattening farms in Nigeria. She writes, the region. Kakuchi, a native of Sri

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saddened nonetheless to be leaving what I consider to be one of the top ProPublica’s Advisory Board Includes assignments in our industry. Even in Nieman Fellows this brief time, I have grown fond of many on the desk (especially within Three Nieman Fellows have been NF ’72, former editor of the Los our close-knit boutique in Sunday Biz) appointed to ProPublica’s 10-person Angeles Times and The (Baltimore) and will be reaching out personally Journalism Advisory Board, Paul Sun, and Cynthia A. Tucker, NF ’89, to many across BizDay over the next E. Steiger announced in February. editor of the editorial page of The few days to bid farewell.” Stodghill is Steiger, ProPublica’s editor in chief, Atlanta Journal-Constitution. also a former editor in chief of Savoy said the board will give advice from ProPublica is described as a magazine. time to time on areas ranging from “nonprofit newsroom producing ethics to the direction the newsroom’s journalism in the public interest.” 2002 reporting should take. The fellows are (See the article by Steiger on page Robert A. Caro, NF ’66, historian 30 about the vision and development and biographer of Robert Moses and of ProPublica.)  Matthew Schofield has returned Lyndon Johnson; John S. Carroll, to McClatchy’s Kansas City Star as deputy national editor. Schofield, who began working for the Star in 1984, spent the past four years based in Lanka, spent more than two decades 2007-2008 at the David Rockefeller Berlin as European bureau chief first as a foreign correspondent in Tokyo Center for Latin American Studies at for Knight Ridder and then for Mc- reporting on Japan’s relations with Harvard University. He is writing and Clatchy. During this time he reported Asia. “It’s that time in life when chas- doing research on how media portrayed from three-dozen countries, embedded ing deadlines become second choice to violence in his home country, Paraguay. in Iraq, and covered Ukraine’s Orange sharing experiences with the younger His most recent book, “A Sacudirse” [a Revolution, the Israel-Hezbollah con- generation of journalists, especially “shaking up”], was a 2007 bestseller flict and the London bombings. His my work in a foreign culture and the in Paraguay. In October, Benjamín will previous position at the Star was senior year of learning during the Nieman be living in Mexico as a Knight Fellow, writer. He writes: Foundation fellowship,” she says. where he plans to open a center for “I’ve become an editor, and while journalism legal studies. I resisted this path for a long time, 1998 convinced it would be a tortuous, 2001 soul-destroying one (okay, the soul is probably long gone), I’m finding it’s Philip Cunningham writes, “We’re actually really interesting, and kind back in the states after 10 years in Sunday Dare stopped by Lippmann of fun.” Asia, basically our first long visit since House on February 29th to talk with Schofield also wrote that the new my Nieman year. I am at Cornell as the current class of Nieman Fellows home he, his wife, Lorelei, and their a visiting fellow in the East Asia Pro- at a shop talk seminar about his book, younger children share “includes ex- gram. After this I return to Doshisha “Guerrilla Journalism: Dispatches from tra bedrooms and, someday we hope, University in Japan, where I teach the Underground.” The book, which actual beds. Please consider this an journalism and film. This is a pleas- relates the difficult circumstances he open invitation to drop by.” ant interlude for the whole family that faced in reporting in Nigeria, was serves to give Xuhong and the kids a published by Kraft Books Limited 2004 chance to see what life in America, in last year. Dare is chief of the Hausa ‘centrally isolated’ Ithaca, in any case, service for the Voice of America based is all about. Jintana (9) and Ryan (5) in Washington, D.C.. Indira Lakshmanan is senior po- both go to a local elementary school, litical reporter for Bloomberg News, Xuhong is studying advanced Japanese, Ron Stodghill is now editorial where she writes enterprise news and and I am attending seminars and giv- director of six magazines published features on the presidential race. She ing some lectures.” by The Charlotte Observer. In early had been a foreign correspondent for December, he left The New York The Boston Globe for 12 years, cover- 2000 Times, where he wrote for the Sunday ing a wide variety of issues and events business section, to take up this new in Latin America and Asia. She also position. On the Talking Biz News covered wars and their aftermath in Benjamín Fernández Bogado has Weblog, Stodghill said, “I am pretty Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, and been appointed a Visiting Scholar jazzed about this new opportunity, but Kashmir.

106 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 Nieman Notes

2007 Nieman Reports on the Web Aboubakr Jamaï, the former pub- lisher of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, the We have been striving to make ing a template generously given to leading weekly newspaper in Morocco, what appears in Nieman Reports us by Roger Fidler at the University has received the first Tully Center easily accessible—and readable—on of Missouri journalism school—to for Free Speech Award. He delivered the Nieman Foundation’s Web site make our collections of stories an address at Syracuse University in (www.nieman.harvard.edu). To that more readable and searchable on January 2008. The center, established end, our editorial assistant, Sarah a computer. We’ve also created in the fall of 2006 at Syracuse’s S.I. Hagedorn, creates html files of each Professor’s Corner to feature articles Newhouse School of Public Communi- story published in each magazine, of relevance to teaching journalism. cations, brings in speakers and other along with links to relevant mate- Please let us know if there are other resources to further the discussion of rial on the Web. She, along with ways we can enhance your online media law issues. The center is named assistant editor, Lois Fiore, also puts reading experience with Nieman after journalist Joan A. Tully, a 1969 together eMprint newsbooks—us- Reports.  alumna of the Newhouse School, whose bequest funded the center. Jamaï has received a number of other honors, including receiving the International Press Freedom Award in social science methods in reporting and Aid, said that “Principled and skilled 2003 from the Committee to Protect who, in his own reporting, developed journalists are vital to the defense of Journalists and being selected by the and incorporated these methods. democracy and human rights. Without World Economic Forum as a Young The Meyer Award was presented on democracy, without freedom of press, Global Leader for 2005. February 29th in Houston, Texas, at development cannot be sustainable.” the 2008 Computer Assisted Reporting The awards were presented in Brus- 2008 Conference sponsored by Investigative sels in May 2007. Natali Prizes were Reporters and Editors. also given to 14 other journalists “for their commitment to Human Rights Joshua Benton and fellow Dallas James E. Causey has been made a and Democracy.” This year, the prize Morning News reporter Holly Hacker member of the editorial board of the received a record number of nomi- were the winners of the 2007 Philip Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He had nees—1,529 from 165 countries.  Meyer Journalism Award for “Faking been the paper’s night city editor. As the Grade.” The three-day series “un- a board member, he will write about covered strong evidence of cheating on urban affairs, public schools, and crime standardized tests by more than 50,000 issues. Causey, who was born, raised students in Texas public and charter and educated in Milwaukee, said that Save the Date schools,” the award announcement he will be able to bring an “institutional states. Benton and Hacker “followed knowledge” to his work on the board. The Nieman Foundation is up on the paper’s groundbreaking “I know the central city; I know the planning its 70th anniversary 2004 investigation of cheating at the community in Milwaukee,” he said in celebration for the fall of 2008. district and school level by analyzing the newspaper’s announcement of his The weekend convocation will be a huge public records database of the appointment. “I’ve always lived in the held both at Lippmann House and scores and answers of hundreds of central city.” The Charles Hotel in Harvard thousands of individual students taking Square, Cambridge, on November the tests over a two-year period. The Leu Siew Ying, a correspondent for 7-9. The events will be open to series prompted the state to announce the South China Morning Post based in all Nieman alumni/ae and guests. stricter controls over test-taking con- Hong Kong, received the “grand prix” More information will soon be ditions in Texas schools and to adopt of the 2006 Natali Prize competition posted on the foundation’s Web the cheat-detection statistical methods for her report, “From Village Protest site, www.nieman.harvard.edu, used by the paper.” to National Flashpoint.” Leu’s article and through e-mail messages. The awards are named in honor of “tells the story of villagers in Guang- For now, please be sure to put Philip Meyer, NF ’67, who is the Knight zhou/Southern China who try to recall the date on your calendars.  Chair in Journalism at the University their elected headman for suspected of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He corruption.” In congratulating Leu, also is the author of “Precision Jour- Louis Michel, European Commissioner nalism,” which encourages the use of for Development and Humanitarian

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 107 End Note Tenney Lehman: Inspirational Editor and ‘Warm Heart’ of the Nieman Foundation

Nieman staff member Kettee Boling (left) and Tenney Lehman on the patio of Lippmann House.

Tenney Lehman, executive director of the Nieman Foundation and an editor of Nieman Reports, died on January 7th of congestive heart failure at a nursing home in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was 90. Tenney began working at the foundation in 1967 on a temporary assignment and was formally invited to join the staff in 1968; she retired in 1985. On hearing of her death, some of the fellows who knew her well shared remembrances.

o some of us in the class of 1979, especially lady was when she personally met me at Logan the youngest, Peggy Engel and me, both 26 Airport late one steamy August evening. Two weeks then, Tenney Lehman was something of a later she set up meetings in her beloved Martha’s Tsurrogate mother. I had first met her while on my Vineyard with the octogenarian Henry Beetle Hough, maiden trip to the United States in the summer editor of the Vineyard Gazette. I will never forget of 1977 at the old Nieman house on Trowbridge her thoughtfulness. She was very generous to this Street, when Tenney, whose maiden name was young Ulsterman, who had some culture shock in Kelley, encouraged this young Northern Irishman those early days, later hosting me at her home on to apply for a fellowship. Tenney was to meet me Boxing Day and helping with my tour of the South in Dublin in the spring of 1978, where she and during Harvard’s reading period in January, setting her husband, Tom, were on holiday, to tell me in up meetings with Niemans en route. person that I had won my Nieman Fellowship. When I taught a course at the Institute of Politics In celebration, I had the proud pleasure to show at the Kennedy School, Tenney came to hear my Tenney and Tom around the beautiful campus of guest lecturer at the last class, my friend Seamus my alma mater, Trinity College. Heaney, who read some of his poetry and who My next meeting with this very gentle and kind Tenney much admired. After that Nieman year, I

108 Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 End Note

went to the Carnegie Endowment in New York but of the Oakland Tribune, and Maynard was throw- found times to return to Cambridge—like many, ing out questions fast and furiously about my civil I had “withdrawal symptoms” after my Harvard rights coverage. I realized my interview was lasting ‘to promote and elevate the year—and would meet with Tenney. She came to longer than most, and I wondered, “Is he trying to my wedding in Toronto in 1984, and we tried to knock me out of competition?” Then I happened to keep in touch regularly. Several of our class, Peggy glance over at Tenney and got the only smile from standards of journalism’ Simpson, Peggy Engel, Kat Harting, and Nancy the group—and a warm, welcoming one it was. I Day visited Tenney in her assisted living facility felt calmer. Finally, when the interview ended, I in Cambridge some years ago, during a Nieman am happy to say, Maynard leaped out of his chair reunion. She cared little about her own problems and hugged me. Agnes Wahl Nieman and was always interested in others. Curator Jim Tenney was a unique woman, and I thoroughly Thomson was the public and intellectual face of enjoyed her friendship. After my Nieman year, while the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation the Nieman Foundation; Tenney was its warm I was working in Washington, she happened to heart. —Michael McDowell, NF ’79 be in town, and I invited her for dinner. We had fun that evening, comparing New England and In our 1979 class, there were four women. I think Southern food, plants, cooking and other interest- it was a record number back then, as Curator Jim ing differences. I will never forget Tenney. She was Thomson was working hard to expand the number thoughtful, much loved, and very dear. of women Niemans. The four of us—Peggy Simpson, —Kathryn Johnson, NF ’77 Kat Harting, Nancy Day, and I—decided to devote Vol. 62 No. 1 Spring 2008 an entire issue of Nieman Reports to women’s issues Tenney was the inspiration for the [Summer 1979] in journalism. Tenney, then its editor, was entirely issue of Nieman Reports devoted to women in jour- Nieman Reports supportive of this takeover and cheered us on as nalism. Those of us in our class were among those The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University we made efforts to include every woman who had who worked on the issue and, at least in my case, won the award previously. I think we dedicated wrote a retrospective article about my coverage of the issue to Agnes Wahl Nieman, because so few the women’s movement and my own observations people outside the circle knew that it was a woman about the barriers facing women who wanted to be Bob Giles | Publisher who started and funded the fellowships. hard news reporters. That article was among those Melissa Ludtke | Editor Tenney was the warmest friend you could have in chosen as the best in the half-century of writing Cambridge. Her passion for words, birds, gardens— for Nieman Reports, and I always hoped Tenney Lois Fiore | Assistant Editor but most of all Nieman Fellows—was legendary. We got the credit due her, for that and much more. Sarah Hagedorn | Editorial Assistant believed she secretly liked our class best, a fiction She might have looked the genteel New Eng- undoubtedly believed by every class she touched. I land lady but, in my mind, she was ahead of the Diane Novetsky | Design Editor will miss her Christmas letters and talking baseball curve in spotting news and in helping make good with her. Next time I’m in Cooperstown, I’m going articles happen. She was a bastion of good sense, to look for the glove her namesake grandfather, a humor and a sort of serenity during our somewhat lefty pro player, developed. chaotic Nieman year. I also thought that she grew, Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial Tenney was a big reason the Nieman Fellowships with us, in confronting those bumps in the road. in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 are so beloved by several generations of journalists. —Peggy Simpson, NF ’79 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: —Margaret Engel, NF ’79 One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected] As with Michael McDowell, it was Tenney Leh- Subscriptions/Business Internet Address: Tenney Lehman was such a grand lady. Remember man who told me I had won the Nieman. The call Telephone: 617-496-2968 www.nieman.harvard.edu that easy smile and twinkle in her eyes? It reminded reached me in the Senate Press Gallery in 1978, E-Mail Address: you that she knew more than she let on but wasn’t and I closed the door to one of the old telephone [email protected] Copyright 2008 by the President and giving away any secrets. Tenney was New England booths in the gallery as Tenney told me that Har- Fellows of Harvard College. to the core, wise, kind, fun, smart. She was den vard was offering me a Nieman Fellowship and Subscription $20 a year, $35 for two years; add $10 per mother and mentor and, over wine at a North End wanted to know if I would accept. year for foreign airmail. Single copies $5. Second-class postage paid at Boston, restaurant, drinking buddy as well. When I look “Sweet Jesus, yes!,” I replied (or words to that Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Massachusetts and additional entries. back on my Nieman year, I will always see the face effect). of Tenney Lehman. —David Lamb, NF ’81 What I recall most is Tenney’s gentle admonition Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to that I refrain from telling anyone until the official and change of address information to Nieman Reports, It was during my interview for a Nieman Fellowship announcement. Sorry, Tenney, but within 24 hours P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, when Tenney Lehman’s warmth and compassion I had told the known universe. ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. first became apparent to me. That was also the first Rest in Peace. time I had ever met her. The selection committee —Frank Van Riper, NF ’79  that year included Robert Maynard, then publisher

Nieman Reports | Spring 2008 109 NIEMAN REPORTS NIEMAN

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