Save the Date! The annual IRE Conference is coming to Looking to sharpen your computer-assisted report- ing skills? Want to learn new ways to obtain and Baltimore display data on the Web? Just a beginner and looking to learn more? June 11-14. Then come to Indianapolis in March for IRE and NICAR’s 2009 CAR Conference. Four days of panels and hands-on classes will give you the tools you need to stay ahead of the competition online, in print and on the air. We’ll offer everything from cutting-edge technol- ogy to the basics on using spreadsheets, data- bases and online mapping. Learn from the best in panel discussions and during hands-on training sessions. And we’re bringing back our advanced Web frameworks mini-bootcamp, which teaches you how to create and customize interactive databases for your Web site. So come to The Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre on March 19-22. For registration and more informa- tion, go to www.ire.org/training. CONTENTSFEATURES THE IRE JOU R N A L TABLE OF CONTENTS 14- 27 SMALL STAFF, BIG RESULTS JULY /AUGUST 2008 15 KEYS TO SUCCESS: PLANNING, DESIRE, COMMITMENT STRENGTH OF CONVICTION 4 By Doug Pardue By Mark Horvit The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier IRE Executive Director 16 FAMILY TIES SMALL STAFF 6 BUDGET 2009 Affordable housing wound up By Mark Horvit in the wrong hands IRE Executive Director BIG RESULTS By AmyJo Brown DANGEROUS BUSINESS 10 20 FOLLOWING THE TRAIL Paper’s investigation examined reports Stories shed light on a rural prostitution ring of poultry workers’ injuries being ignored By Lyle Muller By Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall and Franco Ordoñez The (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Gazette The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer 24 ROAD HAZARDS 13 Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Series examines the toll taken by those who Nuclear Crisis drive with suspended licenses By Steve Weinberg By Kevin Wack and Andrew Russell The IRE Journal Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram 27 SMALL NEWSROOM RESOURCES By Tori Moss The IRE Journal 28 ANALYSIS QUANTIFIES ABOUT THE COVER SOCIAL PROMOTION Doing enterprise and investigative By Jack Gillum work in any situation can be Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) challenging. Finding the time 32 TRACKING AID FOR STORM SURVIVORS and resources is even tougher Supplies meant for Katrina victims in smaller newsrooms. Check instead sold as surplus out some of the success stories By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost beginning on Page 14. CNN Special Investigations Unit Photo illustration by Wendy Gray, The IRE Journal Cover stories: Pages 14-27 JULY /AUGUST 2008 3 FEATURES THE IRE JOU R NAL FROM THE IRE OFFICES VOLUME 31 NUMBER 4 MA N AGI N G EDITOR & Strength of conviction PUBLICATIONS COORDI N ATOR Megan Means ART DIRECTOR BY MARK HORVIT Wendy Gray IRE EX E CUTIV E DIR E CTOR SE N IOR CO N TRIBUTI N G EDITOR Steve Weinberg very reporter who has worked for a small news organization knows the drill: If you want to do enterprise work, then you better be creative, hard working and pretty adept at juggling. CO N TRIBUTI N G LEGAL EDITOR E David Smallman That experience is becoming all the more common in these days of the shrinking newsroom. Even newspapers with hefty circulation numbers and major metropolitan areas to cover are scram- STORY EDITOR bling to find ways to make do with less: fewer reporters, smaller budgets, tighter newsholes. And Joanna Imm the same is true for broadcasters. But every reporter who has worked for a small to midsize news organization also knows this: EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE The best journalists find a way to do great work. Tori Moss This edition of the Journal puts the spotlight on several smaller newsrooms that have tackled big projects. IRE There are many such examples. The IRE Awards include categories for newspapers with cir- culations below 100,000, local weeklies and broadcasters from small markets. And the entries we IRE EXECUTI V E DIRECTOR Mark Horvit get are impressive. Take this year’s winner in the under-100,000 circulation category. Sandy Hodson, courts reporter BOARD OF DIRECTORS for The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, learned of a couple of cases in which men who had been convicted of serious crimes had never had their appeals heard. She started digging in, deciding to PRESIDE N T review five years of convictions to see if a pattern emerged. Cheryl Phillips, The Seattle Times It did. So she tackled another five years. Her work ultimately showed that more than 100 people who had been sentenced to more than five years in prison never had their day in appeals court. VICE PRESIDE N T Some died waiting. Alison Young, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Researching and reporting the story were huge tasks. And, as one of eight metro reporters, she TREASURER had to do the work while continuing to cover her beat. Her editor was supportive, but resources were tight. Lea Thompson “If I had a few minutes here or an hour there, or an afternoon, I’d just plug away on it,” she SECRETARY says. Duff Wilson, The New York Times That process took the better part of a year. Hodson wanted to drive to a prison in southern Georgia and meet face-to-face with some of the convicted, but said she ended up having to do Manny Garcia, The Miami Herald those interviews by phone. James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post “That was kind of a kick in the teeth,” she acknowledges. But she quietly went about finishing the project. Jason Grotto, Chicago Tribune Hodson’s efforts were worth it. As a result of her story “The Wait of Conviction,” judges began Stephen C. Miller, freelance reporter/editor scheduling appeals for the inmates who had been waiting. In some cases, convictions were over- Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle turned, and the process continues to this day. Marilyn Thompson, The Washington Post Her experience is hardly unique. In the articles in this month’s Journal, you’ll hear from report- Mc Nelly Torres, South Florida Sun-Sentinel ers and editors who made time for enterprise work despite small staffs and limited budgets. One reporter exposed a housing scandal while fulfilling a daily story quota. Lawan Williams, KSHB-Kansas City, Mo. The resulting stories exposed wrongdoing, engaged readers, brought increased attention to Phil Williams, WTVF-Nashville the news organizations and, most importantly, helped them fulfill the crucial watchdog role that is imperiled whenever a news organization’s resources are spread thin. IRE has an ongoing training program designed to help such journalists. Our Watchdog Workshop The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is published program has taught investigative techniques to several thousand reporters and editors – most of them six times a year by Investigative Reporters and not on full-time projects desks – thanks to support from a number of sponsors through the years, Editors, Inc. 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Las Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. including ongoing backing from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the E-mail: [email protected]. U.S. subscriptions are Vegas Sun, published by Barbara J. Greenspun. $70 for individuals, $85 for libraries and $125 The kind of dedication we see in the reporters who come through our workshops, and whose work for institutions/businesses. International sub- we’re highlighting this month, is a worthy reminder that, in the end, the most important resource scriptions are $90 for individuals and $150 for for doing investigative work is an impassioned journalist. all others. Periodical postage paid at Jeffer- son City, Mo. Postmaster: Please send address “If you love doing this work,” Hodson says, “you find the time.” changes to IRE. USPS #451-670 Mark Horvit is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted © 2008 Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. Reporting. He can be reached through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 573-882-2042. 4 THE IRE JOU R N A L IFEATURES R E N E W S IRE announces new training Database Library opens MEMBER NEWS directors online store ohn Bowe and Jonathan Cohn each won IRE has expanded its training operations. Data purchases from the NICAR Database the 2007 Harry Chapin Media Award in We now have two training directors, a change Library can now be made online for most data J that will allow our organization to focus more sets. the book category. Bowe won for “Nobodies: attention on key areas including developing new The new online store can be found via links Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark training initiatives and developing an online train- on our main site at www.ire.org, or you can go Side of the New Global Economy.” Cohn won ing program. directly to http://data.nicar.org. Joining IRE this month is Doug Haddix, who To enforce the long-standing policy of only for “Sick,” which explored America’s faltering comes to the organization from The Columbus Dis- allowing journalists who are IRE Members to health care system. Keith Bradsher and six patch in Ohio, where he worked as projects editor purchase data from the library, the online store other New York Times reporters won the 2008 since 1998. Investi- requires visitors to register for the site http://data. Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on gations he supervised nicar.org/node/79. (It’s worth the effort; you can included an examina- save it for accessing new features as we continue the Environment for “Choking on Growth,” a tion of Ohio’s flawed to improve our site.) 10-part series that examined the environmen- DNA testing sytem Within 24-48 hours, IRE staff members will tal impact of China’s economic development.