CONTENTS 22 – 29 SALVAGED AUTOS THE IRE JOURNAL Consumers duped into buying dangerous cars from Russian mob By Chris Halsne TABLE OF CONTENTS KIRO-Seattle MAY/JUNE 2002 FUNERAL COSTS Reporting unearths advice 4 Survey underscores problem: from research, hard numbers Lack of training hurts morale, By Jeff Blyskal injures journalists’ credibility Consumer Reports By Brant Houston BOGUS REFUNDS 5 NEWS BRIEFS AND MEMBER NEWS Database shows public agency puffed up restitution numbers 6 WINNERS NAMED By Sheryl Harris IN 2001 IRE AWARDS The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer By The IRE Journal 30 KEEP ON TRUCKIN’ 9 BUDGET PROPOSAL Reporter takes the wheel to track exhausted drivers IRE adjusts expenses, By Judy Thomas while maintaining key efforts By Brant Houston The IRE Journal 33 HIDDEN CAMERA Undercover work shows sheriff drinking, driving 11 LEGAL CORNER By Gerry Lanosga and Kathleen Johnston History supports access by press to WTHR – Indianapolis military tribunals Edward J. Klaris 34 NEW BOOKS FOCUS ON JOURNALISM’S DARK SIDE By Steve Weinberg 12 THE 2002 IRE ANNUAL The IRE Journal CONFERENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO By The IRE Journal 36 WASHINGTON JOURNALISTS TEST PUBLIC RECORD ACCESS By Paula Lavigne Sullivan 14 LEAD PAINT The (Tacoma) News Tribune Vastness of the problem leads to stories on every beat 38 LETHAL FORCE By Jim Haner Questions raised about police shootings and official inquiries The (Baltimore) Sun By Sarah Huntley and Brian D. Crecente The Rocky Mountain News 16 CORPORATE LOBBYISTS’ INFLUENCE AT FCC DEEPENS 41 SEVERAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES COLLABORATE ON TRIS WEB SITE By Brendan I. Koerner By Carolyn Edds Mother Jones The IRE Journal 17 FOI REPORT Proposed FOI exemptions at ABOUT THE COVER state agency level require healthy skepticism Investigations into how business is really By Charles Davis done are critical to providing information to the consumer. 18 SOME TEACHERS KEEP FLUNKING TESTS, BUT KEEP INSTRUCTING Cover story, pages 22-29 NEEDIEST STUDENTS By Rosalind Rossi Sun-Times Cover photo illustration by 20 SPOTTING A COMPANY HEADED Wendy Gray, The IRE Journal FOR TROUBLE

MAY/JUNE 2002 3 THE IRE JOURNAL FROM THE IRE OFFICES VOLUME 25  NUMBER 3

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS & EDITOR Survey underscores problem: Len Bruzzese

MANAGING EDITOR Lack of training hurts morale, Anita Bruzzese

ART DIRECTOR injures journalists’ credibility Wendy Gray BRANT HOUSTON

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ver the past year, concerns have steadily increased about the drop in support and Steve Weinberg funding for training for journalists. Much of the information has been anecdotal, although at IRE and the National CONTRIBUTING LEGAL EDITOR David Smallman OInstitute for Computer-Assisted Reporting we have been able to measure some of the drop in training requests and revenue. (See our budget message on page 9). EDITORIAL INTERN Now, however, we have substantial and quantifiable information on the pathetic lack Gina Bramucci of money and time allotted to – and within – newsrooms for training and the widespread concern among journalists about the situation. An extensive survey of the news industry has just reported that U.S. journalists cite a lack IRE of training as their No. 1 source of dissatisfaction – more than pay and benefits. IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The survey by the Council of Presidents of National Journalism Organizations, of which Brant Houston IRE is a member, found that news executives acknowledge they should provide more training for their employees, but say time and insufficient budgets are the main reasons they don’t. BOARD OF DIRECTORS The survey was funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which provides grants to IRE and other journalism organizations to support training. It was conducted through CHAIRMAN Princeton Survey Research Associates and included nearly 2,000 journalists and news execu- James Neff, tives from all news media. (The full study is available through www.ire.org.) PRESIDENT David Dietz, Bloomberg News Key issues: Money and time VICE PRESIDENT The survey report – “Newsroom Training: Where is the investment?” – reported 12 key Shawn McIntosh, The Clarion-Ledger findings. Among them: Eight of 10 journalists think they need more training and nine of 10 TREASURER executives think their employees would benefit from it. While there has been some improve- Joel Kaplan, Syracuse University ment in the last 10 years, training budgets remain less than 1 percent of total budgets. Since Sept. 11, at least 30 percent of those surveyed said they had cut their budgets significantly. SECRETARY Ed Delaney, Barnes and Thornburg But money, as we have heard, is not the only problem. Fully 40 percent of executives said they could not give employees more than three days off for training. Paul Adrian, KDFW-Dallas At our most recent annual conferences in Chicago and Philadelphia, we knew that many David Boardman, The Seattle Times journalists not only had to pay their own way, but also had to take vacation days to come to James V. Grimaldi, the conferences. One large circulation paper would not even allow reporters to take vacation Chris Heinbaugh, WFAA-Dallas days to go the conference. In another case, we were told that the feeling was: “If a reporter can Cheryl Phillips, Freelance leave the newsroom for more than three days, then we probably don’t need that reporter.” Duane Pohlman, WEWS-Cleveland Stephen Miller, The Times Employees favor longer training Mark Rochester, In broadcast media, the survey found a bleaker situation in which local radio gets almost Stuart Watson, WCNC-Charlotte no training and local TV has one of the biggest gaps between demand for training and how much is received. The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is pub- Not surprisingly, the survey found news executives favored local, short, inexpensive train- lished six times a year by Investigative ing, while the employees favored longer training at a distance from daily duties. In conducting Reporters and Editors, Inc. 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, our workshops, we understand why the employees favor it. It’s not unusual for a desperate Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. editor to come into a seminar room and pull an employee out to cover a breaking story. E-mail: [email protected]. Subscriptions are We hope this survey will set off a major alarm. We are journalists in a time that requires $60 in the U.S., $70 for institutions and those outside the U.S. Periodical postage paid more sophisticated skills, analysis and writing. Yet even the most basic training is lacking. at Columbia, MO. Postmaster: Please send It is little wonder that the credibility of our profession continues to suffer. address changes to IRE. USPS #4516708 Brant Houston is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted © 2002 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 JOURNAL

I R E N E W S Industry awards spotlight IRE members MEMBER NEWS Among the journalism awards 2001 Scripps Howard obert Bluey, a graduate of Ithaca Col- handed out this year by various Foundation’s National R lege, is now the publications fellow at organizations, many have singled Journalism Awards the nonprofit Student Press Law Center. He • Environmental reporting (under 100,000 is working on the SPLC Web site and serv- out the work of IRE members. circulation): Scott Streater, Pensacola We spotlight several here. Mem- (Fla.) News Journal, for “Hidden Hazard.” ing as managing editor of the SPLC Report. • Distinguished service to literacy: Paul  Nate Carlisle, a recent graduate of the bers’ names are in bold: Riede, The Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y., Missouri School of Journalism, is covering for a report that examined the commitment 2002 to teaching young children to read in Syra- higher education for the Columbia (Mo.) for Investigative Reporting cuse. Daily Tribune.  Andy Crain has left the • Business/economics reporting: The Wall • Winners: , Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune and is free- and of The Washington Street Journal and reporters Rebecca Smith  Post for a series exposing the deaths of and John Emshwiller for exposing financial lancing in Cincinnati. Geoff Dutton is 229 children in the District of Columbia’s and accounting irregularities that led to the now a staff writer for The Columbus Dispatch. collapse of Enron Corp. child protection system between 1993 and  • Public service reporting (over 100,000 cir- Sasa Lekovi has joined Europa Press Hold- 2000. culation): The Seattle Times for “Uninformed ing, Croatia’s largest newspaper conglomer- • Finalists: and Consent” by Duff Wilson and David Heath. ate. Lekovi is working to establish investi- of The Seattle Times; David Fallis, Craig • Public service reporting (under 100,000 Whitlock and April Witt of The Washing- circulation) (tie): York (Pa.) Daily Record gative teams for several of the company’s ton Post; , Mike Wagner, and The York (Pa.) Dispatch/York Sunday publications, as well as organizing work- Christine Willimsen-Vasconez, Doug News, for reporting that spurred a renewed shops for investigative reporters and editors. Harris, Taib Bajramovic and Cesar investigation into the 1969 race-riot deaths  Jimenez for the Dayton Daily News. of a black woman and a white police officer. Todd Milbourn, formerly with The Min- Reporters included Susan Martin of the York nesota Daily, is now covering the Minnesota 2002 Goldsmith Prize for Daily Record and Mark Scolforo of The York delegation on Capitol Hill for the Minneapolis Dispatch/York Sunday News. Investigative Reporting Star Tribune.  Stephanie Mojica is report- • Winners: Duff Wilson and David Heath • Web reporting: USAToday.com and report- of The Seattle Times for “Uninformed Con- ers Dennis Cauchon, Barbara Hansen, ing on courts and law enforcement for the sent,” the story of cancer patients at Fred Anthony DeBarros, Paul Overberg for a Chesapeake bureau of The Virginian-Pilot. story on the evacuation of the World Trade Hutchinson Cancer Center who were not told  Center. Ken Otterbourg, of the Winston-Salem of the risks of their clinical trials. CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 × • Finalists: David Fallis, Craig Whitlock Journal, has moved from metro editor to and April Witt of The Washington Post; Correction the newly created position of assistant Josh Meyer and a team from the Los Angeles managing editor for news.  Clint Riley Times; Sumana Chatterjee and Sudarsan Dear IRE members, has joined The Record in Hackensack, N.J. Raghavan of Knight Ridder newspapers; Interest in the Better Government Associ- Sean Holton and a team from the Orlando ation’s analysis of state FOI laws (unveiled in as an investigative reporter.  Anne E. Sentinel. The IRE Journal’s March-April issue) has been Schwartz is now the managing editor intense, resulting in a great many inquiries and of the Waukesha (Wis.) County Freeman 2002 Goldsmith Book Prize requests for material. Unfortunately, we discov- newspaper. Schwartz, who is marking her • Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach for “The ered just after publication we had a sorting error Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople in the graphic that resulted in the misranking of fourth year at the Freeman, will continue to Should Know and the Public Should some states. We have now repaired and annotated Expect.” work on investigative pieces for the paper. the study (even going so far as using auditors from  The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo. has PricewaterhouseCoopers to check our work). The Newspaper Guild appointed Jeff Thomas as managing editor. Heywood Broun Award The repaired version of the entire study and Thomas, who was previously the CAR editor • Duff Wilson and David Heath of The the rankings are available from the BGA to Seattle Times for “Uninformed Con- whomever wishes to see it. Please e-mail us at for the paper, said he hopes to enrich The sent.” [email protected], and we will send it imme- Gazette by expanding the use of CAR in the • Also honored by the Newspaper Guild: diately. [Or visit www.ire.org/foi] newsroom. Scott Higham, Sarah Cohen and Sari We are sorry for the mistake. Horwitz of The Washington Post. James Newcomb Send Member News items to Len Bruzzese at Director of Development, BGA [email protected] and include a phone number for verification.

MAY/JUNE 2002 5 I R E N E W S

citizens ought to be able to know what their government really is doing,” the judges said. WINNERS “Bamford proves that even with America’s most secretive agency, there’s a place for freedom of information.” An IRE Certificate was awarded to Mike NAMED Wallace, Paul Gallagher, Charles Fitzgerald and Robert Zimet of CBS News 60 Minutes for exposing a pervasive plot by military personnel IN 2001 to falsify records of the Osprey aircraft. “There is little doubt this investigative report contributed IRE AWARDS to the safety of Marines,” the judges said. Other certificate winners: • Stephen Smith, Michael Montgomery, Bill Buzen- BY THE IRE JOURNAL berg, Deborah George and Adriatik Kelmendi of American RadioWorks/Minnesota for “Burning the Evidence,” a significant investigation on how eporters from The Washington Post certificates: 60 Minutes, , Serbian forces, under the command of Slobodan took top honors in the 2001 IRE American RadioWorks/Minnesota Public Radio Milosevic, covered up war crimes by incinerat- Awards, Investigative Reporters and and NPR News, Pocono Record, Yakima Herald- ing the remains of hundreds of ethnic Albanians Editors, Inc. announced in March. Republic, WFAA-Dallas/ in an industrial furnace. Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham and Sarah Cohen Fort Worth, Dayton Daily Copies of all contest entries are American Radio Works is R the documentary project of won a prestigious IRE medal for exploring the News, and authors James available from the IRE Resource Minnesota Public Radio and deaths of children in the District of Columbia. Bamford and Duff Wilson. Center (www.ire/org/resource- NPR News. IRE’s annual awards recognize outstanding A student award went to • Duff Wilson for “Fateful investigative work in print, broadcast, online University of Missouri center). The center can be reached Harvest” (HarperCollins). media and for work furthering freedom of School of Journalism via e-mail at [email protected] or His book details how fer- information. graduate Mary Jo Syl- by calling 573-882-3364. tilizer tainted with heavy Other winners include those receiving IRE wester, now at the Center metals, dioxins and radio- for Public Integrity. active waste is being spread Post staff writers Horwitz and Higham and on farms, yards and gardens. database editor Cohen discovered that 229 chil- • Valeri Williams, Meridith Schucker, Jesus Her- dren died during a seven-year period after their nandez and photo and graphics staffs of WFAA- dangerous family situations came to the attention Dallas/Fort Worth for “Lives at Risk: An Emergency of the district’s child protection system. Despite Room Investigation,” a riveting series detailing a strict confidentiality laws, the team pieced doctor’s involvement in the deaths of patients at a together records for 180 of those deaths and county-funded hospital. • Ken Armstrong, Steve Mills and Maurice Possley found that one in five – mostly infants and tod- of the Chicago Tribune for “Cops and Confessions dlers – lost their lives after government workers and the Roscetti Case,” which exposed a system of failed to take key preventive action or placed the policing that extracts hundreds of faulty confessions children in unsafe homes or institutions. from murder suspects. “The project, which has resulted in wide- • Christine Vasconez, Doug Harris, Mike Wagner and ranging reforms, answers the highest call of Russell Carollo of the Dayton Daily News for “The investigative journalism,” the IRE Award judges Foreign ,” a series detailing the unusual world said in granting the medal. of imported high school sports stars. The Freedom of Information Award went • Tom Roeder, Jesse A. Hamilton and Stephanie to author James Bamford for his book “Body Earls of the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic for of Secrets,” which details the inner workings “Trapped at Thirtymile,” coverage of a catastrophic of the secretive National Security Agency. The fire that resulted in the Forest Service re-writing its book continues his groundbreaking work in own conclusions about the events that led to the “The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America’s deaths of four firefighters. • Matt Birkbeck of the Pocono (Pa.) Record for “A Most Secret Agency,” which won a 1982 IRE Price Too High,” a series exposing a real estate book award. scheme preying on low-income and minority “With this work, Bamford upholds the ideals homebuyers. of FOIA [the Freedom of Information Act] – that • Lisa Davis and John Mecklin of the SF Weekly for

6 THE IRE JOURNAL I R E N E W S

“Fallout,” which revealed how a Bayfront property CERTIFICATE CERTIFICATE about to be turned over to the city by the Navy may “Cops and Confessions and the Roscetti Case,” “Trapped at Thirtymile,” Yakima Herald-Republic, be far more contaminated with radioactive waste Chicago Tribune, Ken Armstrong, Steve Mills, Tom Roeder, Jesse A. Hamilton, Stephanie Earls than current cleanup plans acknowledge. Maurice Possley Judges’ comments: Judges’ comments: • MaryJo Sylwester, University of Missouri graduate In-depth reporting and compelling storytelling on a cata- Through painstaking research, the Chicago Tribune strophic fire that resulted in the Forest Service re-writing student, for “A Flood of Problems.” Her package exposed a system of policing that extracts hundreds its own conclusions about the events that led to the deaths for The Missourian exposed problems with a local of faulty confessions from murder suspects. Since of four firefighters. The Yakima Herald-Republic distin- storm water permitting system, the consequences 1991, at least 247 murder confessions in Chicago guished itself on a highly competitive story that gave for residents and why readers should care. and Cook County have been thrown out by courts or readers important insights within weeks of the fire. The awards will be presented during a June 1 have failed to secure convictions. The paper revealed INALISTS luncheon at the IRE Annual Conference in San that in some cases, police obtained confessions from F • “The West Virginia Workers Compensation Fund: Francisco. The conference, scheduled for May men who were in jail at the time the crime occurred. Others who purportedly confessed were later cleared Coal, Company Debts, Fraud and Mismanagement,” 30-June 2 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, by DNA evidence. Stand-out journalism in a cat- The Charleston Gazette, Paul J. Nyden will feature many of the winners speaking egory noteworthy for its strong entries. • “Hidden Hazard,” Pensacola News Journal, Scott about the techniques they used to develop their Streater, Anton Caputo, Jenny LaCoste FINALISTS • “Miami Cops,” Miami Daily Business Review, Dan stories. • “A Taste of Slavery,” Knight Ridder Washington Christensen Contest entries are screened and judged by Bureau, Sumana Chatterjee, Sudarsan Raghavan other working journalists. The final judges this • “Hale House Series,” New York Daily News, Heidi LOCAL CIRCULATION WEEKLIES Evans, Dave Saltonstall year included two IRE board members and sev- CERTIFICATE eral IRE members selected by the membership • “Racing Safety,” the , Mike Bianchi, Henry Pierson Curtis, George Diaz, Ed Hinton, Beth “Fallout,” SF Weekly, Lisa Davis & John Mecklin and the board president. Kassab, Jim Leusner, Amy Rippel, Roger Roy, Debbie Judges’ comments: Salamone, Gwyneth Shaw, Robyn Suriano In this exhaustive reporting effort, Lisa Davis reveals that a Bayfront property about to be turned over by the Navy to the city of San Francisco may be far more con- MEDIUM NEWSPAPERS (100,000 THROUGH 250,000) 2001 IRE AWARDS taminated with radioactive waste than current cleanup CERTIFICATE plans acknowledge. Davis spent 13 months on this WINNERS AND FINALISTS “The Foreign Game,” Dayton Daily News, highly technical project, using thousands of pages of Christine Vasconez, Doug Harris, Mike government documents – including many declassified NEWSPAPERS Wagner, Russell Carollo at her request – to show environmental problems the LARGE NEWSPAPERS (OVER 250,000) Judges’ comments: Navy had apparently forgotten. The Dayton Daily News started with a simple idea MEDAL for a sports investigation: Take a look at a handful FINALISTS “The District’s Lost Children,” The Washington of local high school athletes who came from foreign • “Slammed: A New Times Special Report on Kids in Post, Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham, Sarah Cohen Corrections,” Phoenix New Times, Amy Silverman Judges’ comments: countries, several of them stars who had arrived under mysterious circumstances. Their reporting, • “Unholy Alliance,” New Times Los Angeles, Ron Shining a light on the secretive child protection Russell system, The Washington Post showed that 229 however, required two years of investigation and children died during a seven-year period after dan- trips to 11 countries and revealed how foreign ath- gers to them came to the attention of government letes unfairly compete in this country. The series TELEVISION workers. At least 40 of those children died because named names, revealing players, coaches, athletic directors and sports agents and resulted in a federal workers failed to take key preventive action or NETWORK/SYNDICATED because the children were placed in unsafe homes criminal investigation of possible visa fraud and or institutions. The project, which has resulted in reforms to high school athletic rules. CERTIFICATE wide-ranging reforms, answers the highest call of FINALISTS “The Osprey,” CBS News 60 Minutes, Mike investigative journalism. Wallace, Paul Gallagher, Charles Fitzgerald, • “Dying to Lose Weight,” The Fresno Bee, Tracy Robert Zimet Correa Judges’ comments: • “Finding the Fat in Government Contracts,” Mobile 60 Minutes exposed a pervasive plot to falsify records Register, Eddie Curran of a Marine aircraft that had already claimed the lives of • “Abuse and Silence,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, many Marines. The team from 60 Minutes relentlessly Ruth Teichroeb pursued the real story of the Osprey, contacting every • “The New Segregation,” The (Raleigh, N.C.) News member of the Osprey unit in North Carolina. The & Observer, Susan Ebbs, Tim Simmons reporting team assembled evidence, including a key audiotape that captured a lieutenant colonel instructing SMALL NEWSPAPERS (UNDER 100,000) subordinates to lie about the Osprey’s real record. This expose came at a critical time when the government CERTIFICATE was about to put this aircraft into full production. “A Price Too High,” Pocono Record, Matt Because of the investigation, the officer who instructed Birkbeck his subordinates to lie was relieved of his command, Judges’ comments: the Pentagon launched an investigation and the U.S. Acting on a hunch, Pocono Record reporter Matt Armed Services Committee held hearings. But the real Birkbeck discovered a real estate fraud that was result of this report came when the production of the preying on low-income and minority homebuyers. Osprey was halted. There is little doubt this investiga- This well-crafted series exposed a scheme that that tive report contributed to the safety of Marines. is now the subject of numerous investigations. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 ×

MAY/JUNE 2002 7 I R E N E W S

BOOK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 OTHER MEDIA

MAGAZINE/SPECIALTY PUBLICATION CERTIFICATE FINALISTS “Fateful Harvest,” HarperCollins, Duff • “Memories of a Massacre,” CBS News 60 Minutes II, Wilson Dan Rather, Tom Anderson, Gregory Vistica No Winner • “Columbine,” CBS News 60 Minutes II, Ed Bradley, Judges’ comments: David Gelber, Helen Malmgren, Michael Kadis, Terry FINALISTS Seattle Times reporter Duff Wilson’s “Fateful Har- vest” is set in the small farming town of Quincy, Manning, Jeff Fager • “Juries and Justice Series,” The Chicago Reporter, Wash., but its tale will shock communities across • “Choppers, Plots and Cold Hard Cash,” Canadian Alden K. Loury, Micah Holmquist, Vince Kong, Broadcasting Corporation, Harvey Cashore, John America: Chemical companies are slipping toxic Ellyn M. Ong Goetz, Linden MacIntyre, Jennifer Fowler, Howard waste into fertilizer. Tainted with heavy metals, • “Illinois First: Swing Districts Favored Over Minor- Goldenthal dioxins and radioactive waste, the fertilizer is ity Areas,” The Chicago Reporter, Beth Musgrave, • “Smart Bomb Batteries,” CBS Evening News with Dan being spread on farms, yards and gardens – with Jennifer Whitson, Cyril Mychalejko Rather, Jim Murphy, Vince Gonzales, Tom Flynn potentially disastrous results for unsuspecting farm- • “High School Choice,” CATALYST: Voices of Chicago ers and the public. Wilson brings readers along as he School Reform, Elizabeth Duffrin TOP 20 MARKETS responds to a tip from the town’s mayor and takes on one of America’s most powerful industries. His CERTIFICATE RADIO book provides insights into the world of investiga- “Lives at Risk: An Emergency Room Investi- tive reporting as he unrelentingly, and ethically, gation,” WFAA-Dallas/Fort Worth, Valeri Wil- CERTIFICATE pursues the truth, creating a roadmap that will be liams, Meridith Schucker, Jesus Hernandez, “Burning the Evidence,” American followed by concerned citizens for years to come. WFAA Photography Staff, WFAA Graphics RadioWorks/Minnesota Public Radio and Judges’ comments: NPR News, Stephen Smith, Michael Mont- FINALISTS Valeri Williams and WFAA-Dallas produced a rivet- gomery, Bill Buzenberg, Deborah George, • “Body of Secrets,” Doubleday, James Bamford ing series of investigations and convincing evidence Adriatik Kelmendi • “The Lost Children of Wilder,” Pantheon Books, of a doctor’s involvement in the deaths of patients at Judges’ comments: Nina Bernstein a county-funded hospital in Ft. Worth. Williams was This American Radio Works investigation broke relentless in her coverage, battling a hospital more a major story on how Serbian forces, under the focused on punishing whistleblowers than address- command of Slobodan Milosevic, covered up war SPECIAL CATEGORIES ing the dangers raised by these reports. This was an crimes by incinerating the remains of hundreds of outstanding example of investigative reporting and ethnic Albanians in an industrial furnace. Painstak- TOM RENNER AWARD commitment by a local television station. ing reporting included walking the shafts of the lead smelter to determine the final journey of hundreds No Winner FINALISTS slain, buried and later moved by the Serbian security • “The Imam Investigation,” WJW-Cleveland, Bill Sheil, service. This courageous, chilling report is a model FINALISTS Tom Merriman, Greg Easterly for original investigative reporting on radio. • “The Price of Beauty,” WTVJ-Miami, Scott Zamost, • “Prevnar: A Vaccine Investigation,” WFAA-Dallas/Fort Trina Robinson, Jeff Barnes, Daniel Varela, Cecila Worth, Valeri Williams, Meridith Schucker, Jesus Her- FINALISTS Bradley nandez, Stephen Kanicka, Nann Goplerud • “Logan Security,” WBUR-FM, Boston, Frederic • “ Truth,” KTRK-Houston, Wayne Dolcefino, Thys Steve Bivens, Robert McJannet • “From Milan to Madrid to Montreal: The World Wide Web of Terror,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BELOW TOP 20 MARKETS Kelly Ryan, Sandra Bartlett

No Winner ONLINE

FINALISTS No Winner • “Visions of Vine Street Investigative Documentary,” WCPO-Cincinnati, Laurie Quinlivan, Rod Griola FINALISTS • “Earl’s Special Interest,” WKMG-Orlando, Tony • “Under the Influence: Spokane, the Cowles Family Pipitone, Darran Caudle, Brent Singleton and River Park Square,” Camas Magazine, Tim • “The Secret Report,” WCPO-Cincinnati, Hagit Limor, Connor, Larry Shook Bob Morford • “Debt to Society: The Real Price of Prisons,” MotherJones.com, Vince Beiser, Eric Bates, Mike Males • “Radio Today,” Salon.com, Eric Boehlert Videostreamed excerpts of • “Tobacco Companies Linked to Criminal Organiza- television category winners and tions in Lucrative Cigarette Smuggling,” International Consortium of Journalists, Maud S. Beelman, Bill finalists can be found at the IRE Birnbauer, Duncan Campbell, William Marsden, Erik Web site (http://notes.ire.org/ Schelzig, Leo Sisti FOI AWARD broadcast/videostream.html). “Body of Secrets,” Doubleday, James Bamford Judges’ comments: The National Security Agency is so secretive that most reporters wouldn’t be able to produce more CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 ×

8 THE IRE JOURNAL I R E N E W S BUDGET PROPOSAL IRE adjusts expenses, while maintaining key efforts BY BRANT HOUSTON THE IRE JOURNAL

Proposed IRE Budget for Fiscal Year 2002 (July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003) RE’s budget, like everyone else’s budget, Combined All Programs took some hits in the months following Proposed Estimated Proposed Sept. 11. Year FY 2002 FY 2002 FY 2003 Because of newsrooms cuts in training Membership aI year ago, we already had taken measures to cut Revenue expenditures and make conservative projections New Membership $70,000 $60,000 $60,000 of our revenues. But we could not foresee the Membership-student $5,000 $3,000 $3,000 attacks or their impact on newsrooms and foun- Membership-international $4,000 $3,000 $3,000 dations from which we receive grants. Membership Renewals $105,000 $90,000 $90,000 Renewals-student $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 As a result, we revised our estimates for Renewals - international $4,000 $4,000 $3,000 this year, further tightened spending, increased Journal subscriptions $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 efforts to make sure newsrooms and journal- Journal ads $40,000 $42,000 $50,000 Total membership revenue $234,000 $208,000 $215,000 ists know about all the services we offer, and temporarily cut three staff positions. Because Membership Service Expenses IRE Journal $85,000 $85,000 $85,000 we have been prudent, we remain on solid Staff costs (membership) $68,000 $71,000 $71,000 financial footing, have retained our core staff Postage and shipping $10,000 $11,000 $15,000 and continue to raise money for operations and Total membership service expense $163,000 $167,000 $171,000 Net membership activity $71,000 $41,000 $44,000 the endowment. Since January, revenues have picked up and Sales and Services Book sales $45,000 $25,000 $25,000 attendance at conferences in Washington, D.C., Book costs $20,000 $15,000 $15,000 and Philadelphia was higher than expected. We Net book activity $25,000 $10,000 $10,000 are a bit more optimistic about the coming year, Resource Center sales $25,000 $15,000 $15,000 but will be monitoring our budget very closely Prior/current year contributions $40,000 $45,000 $50,000 Resource center expenses $80,000 $75,000 $75,000 over the next three months. Net resource center activity $(15,000) $(15,000) $(10,000) The budget proposed for the 2002 fiscal year, Web services revenue $15,000 $8,000 $10,000 which begins July 1, leaves several posts unfilled Prior/current year contributions released $20,000 $40,000 $40,000 and keeps revenue projections low. The board Web services expenses $55,000 $54,000 $55,000 Net web services activity $(20,000) $(6,000) $(5,000) of directors will review this budget in late April Database library revenue $105,000 $80,000 $80,000 (after this Journal issue has gone to the printer) Prior/current year contributions released $15,000 $15,000 $10,000 and again May 30 at the annual conference. Database library expenses $90,000 $70,000 $70,000 There are several bright spots in the overall Net database library activity $30,000 $25,000 $20,000 budget picture: Uplink subscription revenue $17,000 $17,000 $17,000 Uplink ads $- $- $5,000 • International journalists’ interest in joining IRE Uplink expenses $12,000 $10,000 $10,000 and receiving training continues to grow. Net Uplink activity $5,000 $7,000 $12,000 • Awareness of the valuable services we offer Royalty revenue $9,000 $7,000 $7,000 has increased in the profession. Other sales and services revenue $20,000 $15,000 $15,000 • Advertising by journalism organizations and Other sales and services expenses $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 programs in our publications has increased. Net other sales and services activity $15,000 $10,000 $10,000 • Analysis work in our data library is expand- Net sales and services activity $49,000 $38,000 $44,000 ing. National Conferences Neither the board nor the staff intends to Registrations and fees (IRE and NICAR) $135,000 $150,000 $157,500 let up in our efforts to keep IRE a thriving and Optional CAR day $12,500 $12,500 $12,500 Other revenues $20,000 $20,000 $15,000 dynamic organization. We want to be poised to Prior/current year contributions released $120,000 $120,000 $120,000 take the organization to another level when the Total national conference revenues $287,500 $302,500 $305,000 economy rebounds. Conference expenses $180,000 $150,000 $150,000 CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 × Net National conference activity $107,500 $152,500 $155,000

MAY/JUNE 2002 9 I R E N E W S

Proposed IRE Budget for Fiscal Year 2002 (July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003) Proposed IRE Budget for Fiscal Year 2002 (July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003) Combined All Programs Combined All Programs Proposed Estimated Proposed Proposed Estimated Proposed Year FY 2002 FY 2002 FY 2003 Year FY 2002 FY 2002 FY 2003 Newsroom Seminars General and Administrative Expenses Registration and fees $1,000 $3,000 $10,000 Salary and personnel costs $429,000 $390,000 $379,000 Seminar expenses $- $- $5,000 Professional services Net newsroom seminar activity $1,000 $3,000 $5,000 Consulting/Fundraising $35,000 $10,000 $15,000 Accounting $10,000 $15,000 $10,000 On the road seminars Legal $7,000 $5,000 $5,000 Registrations and fees $100,000 $85,000 $85,000 Total professional services $52,000 $30,000 $30,000 Prior/current year contributions released $- $- General office expenses Seminar expenses $60,000 $75,000 $65,000 Telephone and fax $8,000 $10,000 $10,000 Net on-the-road seminar activity $40,000 $10,000 $20,000 Postage $3,000 $3,000 $3,000 Office supplies $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 Boot camps Photocopying $3,000 $3,000 $3,000 Registrations and fees $50,000 $40,000 $40,000 Insurance $6,000 $4,000 $4,000 Prior/current year contributions released $15,000 $15,000 $10,000 Computer supplies $3,000 $3,000 $2,000 Seminar expenses $15,000 $15,000 $10,000 Equipment expense $10,000 $10,000 $5,000 Net boot camp activity $50,000 $40,000 $40,000 Other office expense $10,000 $3,000 $5,000 Regional Conferences/Workshops Total general office expense $51,000 $44,000 $40,000 Registrations and fees $45,000 $11,000 $20,000 Other expenses Prior/current year contributions released $- $- Publications/Dues $3,000 $3,000 $3,000 Conference expenses $15,000 $5,000 $8,000 Travel costs- board $15,000 $7,000 $5,000 Net regional conference activity $30,000 $6,000 $12,000 Travel costs-staff $2,000 $2,000 $1,000 FOI conferences $2,000 $1,000 $1,000 Conference Fellowships $15,000 $8,000 $10,000 Equipment purchases $15,000 $10,000 $10,000 Fellowship expenses $15,000 $8,000 $10,000 Staff Training $3,000 $2,000 $2,000 Net fellowships $0 $0 $0 Total other expenses $40,000 $25,000 $22,000 Net conferences and seminar activity $228,500 $211,500 $232,000 Total in General and Administration Expenses $572,000 $489,000 $471,000 Grants and contributions Temporarily restricted/unrestricted $410,000 $375,000 $350,000 Fund-raising expenses Permanently restricted $- $- Commissions and other expenses $15,000 $20,000 $10,000 Total grant and contributions $410,000 $375,000 $350,000 Promotions $12,000 $12,000 $5,000 Other support and revenues Total fund-raising expenses $27,000 $32,000 $15,000 Award contest fees $28,000 $23,000 $23,000 Contribution to Endowment $125,000 $125,000 $125,000 Award contest expenses $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 Depreciation $50,000 $30,000 $30,000 Net award contest activity $20,000 $15,000 $15,000 Investment return $30,000 $12,000 $12,000 Reserves $25,000 $10,000 $25,000 Net other support and revenue $50,000 $27,000 $27,000 Total Expenses $799,000 $686,000 $666,000 Net program activity $808,500 $692,500 $697,000 Excess net program activity over expenses $9,500 $6,500 $31,000

Salaries and Benefits As of July 1, 2002 Salary Benefits Total Contributions or Allocations Executive Director $73,000 $14,600 $87,600 $28,908 Journalism school Deputy Director $68,000 $13,600 $81,600 $16,320 Journalism school Training Director $46,000 $9,200 $55,200 $59,400 Seminars Database Administrator $49,000 $9,800 $58,800 $58,800 Database Library Membership Coordinator $38,000 $7,600 $45,600 $42,000 Membership Admin Asst. Membership $22,000 $4,400 $26,400 $23,040 Membership System Administrator $34,000 $6,800 $40,800 $20,000 Knight Grant Web Coordinator/Advertising $32,000 $6,400 $38,400 Administrative Web Administrator $34,500 $6,900 $41,400 $40,000 Knight Grant Resource Center Director $41,000 $8,200 $49,200 $40,000 Endowed Post Conference Coordinator $34,000 $6,800 $40,800 $- Administrative Campaign Finance Director $41,000 $8,200 $49,200 $49,200 Carnegie Grant Finance Officer $32,000 $6,400 $38,400 $- Administrative Program Designer $25,000 $25,000 Administrative International Admin Asst $12,000 $2,400 $14,400 $- Subtotal $581,500 $111,300 $692,800 $377,668 Graduate Assistants $30,000 $3,000 $33,000 $14,000 Journalism school Part-Time Help $10,000 $10,000 Student help-Publications $10,000 $10,000 $2,000 Johnson Fund Student Web $15,000 $15,000 Student Assistants $10,000 $10,000 Temporary Help $2,000 $2,000 Subtotal $77,000 $80,000 $393,668 Subtotal of allocations Total $772,800 $379,132 Net salaries & benefits Total General/ $379,132 Administrative

10 THE IRE JOURNAL I R E N E W S

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 LEGAL CORNER than a short story about its operations. But in “Body of Secrets,” James Bamford provides a compel- ling, 700-page sequel to his award-winning “The History supports access Puzzle Palace,” which won the IRE book award two decades ago. Little-known Public Law 86-36 virtually excludes the NSA from the Freedom by press to military tribunals of Information Act, but Bamford found creative ways to persuade officials to declassify and release thousands of pages of documents. He reveals the agency’s mistakes, such as concocting a plan, never lthough the Department of Defense has open to the public and, if implemented, to shoot down an empty airliner over now issued formal regulations, it is still not, why were they not EDWARD J. KLARIS Cuba in 1962 and then accuse Cuba of downing a planeload of students. There are many more revela- unclear whether any non-citizen alleged open. The first trial of Aterrorist will be tried in a military tribunal as foreign soldiers who attacked townspeople in tions about the NSA’s role in the Cold War, Viet- nam War and a growing worldwide eavesdropping President Bush outlined in his military order the occurred in 1770 as a result of network that may help nab terrorists but also may of Nov. 13, 2001. Military tribunals have been the Boston Massacre. Even though the citizens threaten civil liberties. With this work, Bamford used periodically throughout U.S. history, and of Boston sought revenge for the British soldiers upholds the ideals of FOIA – that citizens ought the Supreme Court has been asked to consider who killed six young men, the trial was open to be able to know what their government really is doing. Bamford proves that even with America’s their constitutionality on a number of occasions. to the public and press because the colonialists most secretive agency, there’s a place for freedom It is now fairly that non-citizen defendants understood the benefit of permitting the public of information. who are accused of violating to witness the proceedings. the “laws of war” may be To see the new report “The As a result, when the soldiers FINALISTS prosecuted in a military tribu- Press and the Public’s First in the Boston Massacre were • “In Harm’s Way: Inside VA Hospitals,” The Plain nal properly constituted by the Amendment Right of Access to largely acquitted of the charges, Dealer, Joan Mazzolini Terrorism on Trial” by the New • “American Indian Rule: Sovereignty Abused,” The president without regard to their the public was satisfied that News, Melvin Claxton, Mark Puls civil liberties or fair trial rights York City Bar Association’s justice had been done in light • “Open Justice,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Barbara under the U.S. Constitution. Committee on Communica- of the evidence presented. tions and Media Law, visit White Stack But, can such tribunals be During the Civil War, many www.abcny.org. • “A Fatal Raid: Coverage of the Death of Carl Ray held in secret? And does the military tribunals were held in Wilson,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Jim Brooks, Cathy Frye, Amy Upshaw well-established First Amend- the midst of battle, without any ment right of access apply to criminal trials in fanfare and during a time of great unrest in the military tribunals? In answering these questions, Republic. There is no evidence that those military STUDENT WORK (ALL MEDIA) many media lawyers believe that a court should tribunals were ordered closed after access was CERTIFICATE first look to the public policy justifications for sought. Yet, they were also not attended by the “A Flood of Problems,” MaryJo Sylwester, public access to such a criminal trial. In the press and public. University of Missouri, for The Missourian United States post-September 11, the public In 1942, the federal government tried eight (Columbia, Mo.) seeks justice against those accused of terrorist Nazis saboteurs before a secret military tribunal. Judges’ comments: acts against the United States. This sentiment It was later discovered that the tribunal was kept A thorough and well-written report exposing prob- lems with a local storm water permitting system, is consistent with the underlying basis for full closed because J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the the consequences for residents and why readers public access to criminal proceedings in fed- FBI, had wanted to take credit for the capture of should care. Sylwester found that only half of eral courts previously articulated by the U.S. the Nazis when in fact, two of them had not only recently approved subdivisions had secured the Supreme Court: turned themselves in, but also had provided the necessary state permits. Her sophisticated report- When a shocking crime occurs, a commu- FBI with all the details of the sabotage plot. By ing and smart use of data produced a noteworthy story. nity reaction of outrage and public protest often keeping the trial secret, Hoover was able to get occurs. Thereafter the open processes of justice the credit and secure a conviction of all eight FINALISTS serve an important prophylactic purpose, provid- defendants. The two who confessed were wrongly • “Crime on Campus,” University of Connecticut ing an outlet for community concern, hostility, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Journalism Dept., Marcel Dufresne, Christopher and emotion. Without an awareness that society’s The last military tribunal conducted by the Collibee, Nora Decher, Luke Foster, Jason Gazsi, responses to criminal conduct are under way, United States was in 1946 when the Japanese Jennifer Grogan, Christina Hall, Jesse Lalime, Mat- thew Monks, Rochelle Moore, Kristen Mullaney, natural human reactions of outrage and protest general Yamashita was tried in Manila. That trial Terrence Nguyen, Joy Pachla, James Rand, Maggie are frustrated and may manifest themselves in was open to press and public access. Thus, on Samways, Laura Tarpill, Greg Watterworth some form of vengeful “self-help”… balance, a court would find that military tribunals • “Bar None,” Jennifer Dorroh, University of Mary- These reasons would not change if a military have either historically been open or, when they land, for Capital News Service tribunal were the forum rather than a court. were closed, injustices occurred. • “Wreck the Halls,” Elizabeth McFadyen-Ketchum, Middle Tennessee State University, for Sidelines The second question a court should answer is The final inquiry a court should make in decid- CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 × • “Nursing Home Crisis,” Mike Dello Stritto, Univer- whether historically military tribunals have been sity of Florida, for WUFT-Gainesville Edward J. Klaris is general counsel for The New Yorker.

MAY/JUNE 2002 11 I R E N E W S

PANELS IRE ANNUAL CONFERENCE • The Year’s Best Investigative Corbis PROGRAM Print Work • Loosening Lips: The art of the THURSDAY interview COVERING COURTS TRACK • Unsung Investigative • How to get more out of Documents judges and their courts: • Public Health: From new Advice from a veteran jurist diseases to bioterrorism and journalists on high-profile • Through the School Doors: and routine cases Investigating testing, teachers • Online and in-person access and programs to court files:How to get to • Prosecutorial Misconduct them and what to do when • Unfamiliar Communities: criminal case files and civil Investigating across cultures settlements are sealed and religions • Special challenges of • Investigating Medicine covering federal courts. Is • Investigations in Technology there any hope for camera • Terrorism as a New Beat access? How to decipher • Breaking into Prisons: sentencing rules and death Inmates, construction, health penalty appeals • Covering Cops: Shootings, • How to cover “problem- training and misconduct San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. solving” courts: Handling • Transportation Boondoggles: drugs, domestic violence, Highways, bridges, railroads mental health, other special • Environmental Investigative THE 2002 subjects Tips • Judging the judges: Better • Handling the Stress of coverage of elections, Investigative Reporting IRE ANNUAL • Businesses on the Edge: The confirmations, conflicts of interest, disciplinary actions Enrons among us CONFERENCE • Plunging into the nonprofit beat CAR PANELS • The New Drug Perils: Abuse of IN SAN FRANCISCO • Census 1: The best stories in legal drugs BY THE IRE JOURNAL the newest data. • Going on the religion beat • Mapping the Census:Uncovering • Washing Ashore: Stories from the “where” in demographic data ongtime journalist and author Jimmy Breslin will serve as keynote speaker at the 2002 IRE oceans and waterways • Business Data: Loans, lenders, • Investigating the Food Industry Annual Conference, co-hosted by The San Francisco Chronicle. The May 31-June 2 conference stocks etc. • Campaign finance:The new will feature two showcase panels packed with journalists and experts, and dozens of panels, • Energy and Utility Databases twists workshopsL and roundtables on just about every beat. • Great West Databases: Land, water and forests Among the expected speakers are Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes; Donald Barlett and James Steele of • Great CAR Stories from the BROADCAST TRACKS Time Inc., Stephen Engelberg of and co-author of “Germs,” a best-selling book Past Year • Intensive Session in Shooting on bio-terrorism; veteran investigative journalist ; and Laurie Garrett, Newsday writer • 20 Federal Databases Every the Investigative Story Local Reporter Should Have • The Nitty-Gritty of Writing and author of books on public health. the Investigative Story Top teams will include one from The Seattle Times that did an award-winning investigation into • Statehouse CAR: Covering campaign finance and political • Walking in Your Boss’ Shoes: questionable medical research and the one from The Washington Post that won the IRE Medal and games Strategies to get your story Pulitzer Prize for a recent investigation into the deaths of children in Washington, D.C. • Must-have Local Databases aired Most of the winners of the latest IRE Awards and other journalism contests also will share tips and and How to Get Stories From • Using the Internet on Breaking News techniques at the conference set for the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero. (Winners and finalists of the Them • Running the Education Data 2001 IRE Awards can be found starting on page 6.) Maze FAST TRACKS The showcase panels will debate two of the most important issues for our profession. One will • Immigrants and Immigration • Basic Training: Covering the focus on balancing national security and public access and the other on the challenge of doing quality • International Data You Can military investigative work in the mainstream press when Wall Street is demanding increasing profits. Use at Home • Taming the Web: Effective This conference will offer other special features including a focus on the stories being pursued • Military Data: Contracts, searches, valuable sites personnel, weapons • Investigating the Health Care in the wake of the September terrorist attacks. On the first day of the conference — the traditional • Transportation Safety and System in Your Community “optional day” — IRE and the Criminal Justice Journalists organization will co-sponsor a special track Security Databases: What • Backgrounding a Person on covering courts, in addition to three tracks on using computer-assisted remains • Turning Your Project into a reporting in investigations. There also will be classroom instruction in CAR Book FRIDAY • Caring for the Aged: Home during the conference. care, scams and nursing home A Friday night reception is planned at the Maritime Museum on the water- SHOWCASE PANEL • Lessons in Consumer front near Fisherman’s Wharf. A Saturday luncheon will feature the IRE Reporting Balancing National Awards presentations and Breslin’s keynote address. On Sunday, speakers Security and Public Access will offer specific advice on how to advance your career through better Government officials, journalists, HANDS-ON CLASSES reporting and writing. and archivists spar over the •Excel 1 – Performing simple closing of public records calculations and sorting For those who can’t make it to the conference, tipsheets will be placed • Excel 2 – Importing data from on the IRE Web site and audio recordings of panels will be available. the Web into spreadsheets

12 THE IRE JOURNAL I R E N E W S

• Excel 3 – Learn pivot tables, • Global Coverage from PANELISTS filtering and more Your Newsroom: When • Access 1 – Learn to select and international issues hit home Nancy Amons, WSMV-Nashville Program, Stanford Josh Meyer, sort data items you choose • How to Sell Your Freelance Scott Armstrong, National Laurie Garrett, Newsday and Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury • Access 2 – Summarizing Piece Security Archive author of “Betrayal of Trust: The News databases with counting and • 30 Investigative Ideas for James Bamford, author of “Body Collapse of Global Public Health” E.J. Mitchell, summing Smaller Newsrooms of Secrets” Gilbert Gaul, The Washington Post Roger Myers, Steinhart & Falconer • Access 3 – Joining tables, • Scoring Investigative Donald Barlett, Time Inc. Matt Goldberg, KCBS-Los Angeles LLP matching information from Sports Stories: From schools Gary Bass, OMBWatch Herb Greenberg, TheStreet.com , Los Angeles one file to another to pros Eric Bates, Mother Jones Andy Hall, Wisconsin State Journal Times • Access 4 – Updating tables and • Immigration Abuses: Before Maud Beelman, International Chris Heinbaugh, WFAA-Dallas Ron Nixon, IRE using string functions and after Sept. 11 Consortium of Investigative Susan Headden, U.S. News & Dan Noyes, Center for • Probing Universities: Crime, Journalists World Report Investigative Reporting Lowell Bergman, Frontline David Heath, The Seattle Times Marc Owens, Caplan & Drydale SATURDAY grants and politics • Internet Sites: Tracking Greg Berman, Center for Court David Helvarg, author of “Blue Elizabeth Rindskopf-Parker, ownership, terrorists, Innovation, New York Frontier” Dean, McGeorge School of Law SHOWCASE PANEL pedophiles David Boardman, The Seattle Gary Hengstler, National Center Nora Paul, University of Can Mainstream Investigative • Who Cares About Worker Times for the Courts and Media Minnesota Reporting Survive in a Wall Health and Safety? The Dave Brassells, WSMV-Nashville Scott Higham, The Washington Karen Payne, Financial analyst Street-driven Environment? missing stories Carol Breshears, KTTV-Los Post Griff Palmer, San Jose Mercury Top editors, a Wall Street broker Angeles Reynolds Holding, San Francisco News and media corporate officers Jimmy Breslin, Newsday Chronicle Justice Joanne C. Parrilli, FAST TRACKS debate Phil Bronstein, San Francisco • Energy and utility coverage: Pamela Hollie, Ohio State California Court of Appeals Chronicle Data, documents and story ideas University School of Journalism Deborah Potter, NewsLab SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS James Bruggers, The (Louisville) • Property records: A primer on Sari Horwitz, The Washington Post Chitra Ragavan, U.S. News & Courier-Journal IRE AWARDS LUNCHEON documents for every beat Brant Houston, IRE World Report Len Bruzzese, IRE A celebration of the best • Investigating insurance: Senior Circuit Judge Procter Hug Don Ray, author of “A Public Lise Buyer, Technology Partners investigative work of 2001 Understanding the documents Jr., Reno, Nev. Records Primer and Investigator’s • The First Day on the Local Alan Carlson, Justice Edward Iwata, USA Today Handbook” KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Government Beat Management Institute David Cay Johnston, The New Randy Reddick, FACSNET Jimmy Breslin, author and Bill Carlsen, San Francisco York Times Neil Reisner, Miami Daily Business Newsday columnist • The First Day on the Court Beat • Using the Freedom of Chronicle David Kaplan, U.S. News & World Review John Carroll, Los Angeles Times MANAGING BIG PROJECTS: Information Law and Report Luz Rimban, Philippine Center for An Inside Look California’s Sunshine Law Russell Carollo, Dayton Daily Mark Katches, The Orange County Investigative Journalism Donald Barlett and James Steele • The Airline Industry: Safety, News Register Elizabeth Rindskopf-Parker, of Time Inc. reveal what they security and lobbyists Peter Carey, San Jose Mercury Clark Kelso, McGeorge School of Dean, McGeorge School of Law learned over four decades of • Dissecting Corporate News Law, Sacramento Ira Rosen, ABC News stellar investigative work Financial Statements Jerry Ceppos, Knight Ridder George Kennedy, Missouri School Seth Rosenfeld, San Francisco • Detailing the Invasion of Harriet Chiang, San Francisco of Journalism Chronicle A CONVERSATION Consumer Privacy Chronicle U.S. District Judge Robert S. David Saltonstall, New York Daily WITH MIKE WALLACE • Covering the Military at Home Russ Clemings, The Fresno Bee Lasnik, Seattle News 60 Minutes legend Sarah Cohen, The Washington Adam Lashinsky, Fortune Neal Shapiro, NBC News Mike Wallace – on the other Post David Lazarus, San Francisco Leo Sisti, L’Espresso end of an interview BROADCAST TRACKS , University of Alaska Chronicle David Smallman, Steinhart & • A Tour of Great Story Ideas – Anchorage Alan Levin, USA Today Falconer LLP • Nuts and Bolts of Structuring Roger Cohn, Mother Jones Charles Lewis, The Center for Rebecca Smith, Wall Street and Editing the Investigative PANELS Luciano Colonna, Harm Public Integrity Journal Story • Great Writers Share Their Reduction Project, Salt Lake City John Lindsay, Oregon Public Sreenath Sreenivasan, Columbia • Managing the Tipline Skills Edward Delaney, Barnes and Broadcasting University • The Power of Building Your Thornburg Harvy Lipman, Chronicle of James Steele, Time Inc. Own Database: From World HANDS-ON CLASSES Mike Devlin, KHOU-Houston Philanthropy Loren Steffy, Bloomberg Trade Tower victims to local • Access 1 – Learn to select and David Dietz, Bloomberg Steven Magagnini, The Joe Stephens, The Washington police sort data items you choose Stephen Doig, State Sacramento Bee Post • Organizing the Newsroom • Access 2 – Summarizing University David Maraniss, The Washington Judge Darrell Stevens, Butte to Tackle Investigative databases with counting and James Dooley, Honolulu Post County, Calif. Projects summing Advertiser Kerry Marash, ABC News Pat Stith, The News & Observer • Libel Suits: Avoiding them, • Access 3 – Joining tables, Mark Dowie, author of “American Joan Mazzolini, The (Cleveland) MaryJo Sylwester, Center for dealing with them matching information from Foundations: An Investigative Plain Dealer Public Integrity • Zigging When Everyone one file to another History” Erin McCormick, San Francisco Dean Takahashi, Red Herring Else Zags: Thinking • Access 4 – Updating tables Brian Duffy, U.S. News & World Chronicle Sharon Tiller, Frontline and World creatively about and using string functions Report Tom McGinty, Newsday Al Tompkins, The Poynter Institute investigations Bob Egelko, San Francisco Steve McGonigle, Dallas Morning Fredric Tulsky, San Jose Mercury • Cultivating Sources Chronicle News News • Crime and Corruption on SUNDAY Stephen Engelberg, The New Mike McGraw, The Kansas City Mike Wallace, CBS, 60 Minutes the Pacific Rim Special panels and workshops York Times Star Lance Williams, San Francisco • Children in Danger: Foster on building your individual Heidi Evans, New York Daily News Shawn McIntosh, The Clarion- Chronicle care, lead poisoning, juvenile skills and your career Judge Larry Paul Fidler, Los Ledger Margot Williams, The Washington jails • Building an Investigative Angeles Superior Court Circuit Judge W. Margaret Post • The Statehouse: Tracking Mindset Mary Fricker, The (Santa Rosa) McKeown, San Diego Brent Walth, The Oregonian lawmakers, lobbyists, • Better Writing for Print Press Democrat Jon Menell, KSTP-TV, St. Paul Richard Wieking, clerk, U.S. contracts • Better Writing for Broadcast Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Daniel Metcalfe, Asst. U.S. District Court, San Francisco • Covering Wars: New • The Reporting Skills You Dawn Garcia, Knight Fellowships Attorney Homeland Division Duff Wilson, The Seattle Times challenges Need to Sell Yourself

MAY/JUNE 2002 13 FEATURES

fact that it so shocked the conscience of offi- cialdom was itself the most surprising aspect of the enterprise. In a city that had been producing more than LEAD PAINT 1,200 poisoned kids a year for decades, the Vastness of the problem ravages of lead paint should not have come as “news” to anyone. leads to stories on every beat But as is so often the case in government affairs, bureaucracies that may be efficient BY JIM HANER at collecting data and generating statistical THE (BALTIMORE) SUN reports often neglect to analyze their own information. And numbers seldom move he first time we saw “Fat Daddy,” he Patterson Park Avenue in the slums of East policymakers to fix a problem until faces and was sick as a dog. Runny nose, 102- Baltimore. names are attached. degree fever, sneezing and coughing. His real name was Tarik. But everybody in That’s where the press comes in. The infection made his asthma worse, the family called him “Fat Daddy,” as much for Tbut it still couldn’t slow him down. his rowdy nature as his round belly. The little Crumbling paint Chattering and fussing, the 2-year-old boy could run all day long on two hours sleep, Lead was prized by paint manufacturers was literally bouncing off the plaster walls of hurtling through the halls in the middle of the until the late 1950s as a cheap additive that his grandmother’s rat-infested row house on night until he woke the entire household. made their products far more durable. But Photographer Kim by 1978, when it was banned by Congress, Hairston and I met a lot research had established that it was also a of kids like Tarik last powerful neurotoxin.

The Sun The year while document- By then, millions of gallons of the stuff had ing the scourge of lead been spread on walls nationwide. It is virtu- paint poisoning in this ally everywhere – in homes, schools, hospi-

Kim Hairston Kim city of 650,000 people. tals, libraries. Any building constructed before We met them in hospital 1958 is likely to contain some of it, and the wards and neighbor- flakes and dust are dangerous to children. hood schools and prison In large enough doses, lead can kill. But visitation rooms and, even minuscule amounts of the candy-sweet of course, in the city’s mineral can cause permanent damage to the slumping rental housing developing brains of toddlers – and second- districts. ary symptoms ranging from hyperactivity and By the time our occa- profound learning disorders to aggressive out- sional series on the brain- bursts and uncontrollable rages in later life. damaging effects of lead How much of this was known by paint paint ran its course in companies is now the subject of a class-action The Sun, Maryland Gov. suit seeking to recover hundreds of millions Parris N. Glendening of dollars in cleanup, special education and had authorized a $50 public health expenses. million emergency aid So far, the state of Rhode Island, and the package for the city; cities of San Francisco, Oakland, St. Louis, Mayor Martin O’Malley and Milwaukee have signed on as plaintiffs or had ordered an unprec- sued on their own. Also included: six counties edented enforcement in California and Texas, three school districts drive against scofflaw in Texas and Mississippi, and the New York landlords; and the state City Housing Authority. legislature had passed The roster of defendants includes some a raft of laws requiring, of the most trusted names in household paint among other things, – companies currently or formerly controlled mandatory blood tests by some of the wealthiest and most politically for every toddler in the powerful families in the nation. Tarik “Fat Daddy” Williams, calls to his sister from the stairway of his family’s home state. We came to the story almost by accident in Baltimore. Both he and his 4-year-old sister have lived here since birth and have For those of us who while working on a different project about been exposed to lead. His blood lead level doubled in six months. worked on the series, the drug dealers buying up blocks of slum rental

14 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES housing. Among the litany of woes recited which then forwards the information to the by their tenants – rent-day beatings, utility CDC for inclusion in a larger epidemiologi- Getting started cut-offs, dope dealing in the halls – many cal database. The National Health and Nutrition complained that crumbling paint had poisoned Known as the “National Lead Registry,” the Examination Survey (NHANES): Com- their children. system is used by the federal disease preven- Parents told of harrowing hospital stays, tion agency to track poisoning hotspots and piled by the National Center For Health visits from city Health Department inspectors, generate an annual “prevalency” report to local Statistics, under the auspices of the forced evictions and persistent behavioral health officials. This report is also incorporated U.S. Centers For Disease Control and problems with their kids that had made their into the CDC’s annual National Health and Prevention. Offers a wealth of charts, already difficult lives all but unbearable. Nutrition Examination Survey. stats and abstracts on a wide variety After wrapping up loose ends on the “slum- In Baltimore and many other jurisdictions, of factors affecting the nation’s health lord-druglord” series, I approached the chief the raw lead poisoning data also is used by – including state-by-state and county- inspector for the Health Department to find out local agencies to target negligent landlords for by-county lead paint poisoning data. if the city collected any data on these kids. prosecution – at least in theory. Downloads available in multiple formats. He confirmed that, yes, his office issued a Upon receiving notification that a child has Be patient. There’s so much stuff here, it’ll repair citation to landlords every time a child been poisoned, inspectors go to the family’s was poisoned, and that every was current address, conduct tests with an X-ray take some time to find what you’re after. logged into a database. gun and issue a citation ordering the landlord (www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm) He went on to describe how the reporting to repair any degraded paint. For those who Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poi- and enforcement apparatus worked – who fail to comply, prosecutions and stiff fines are received copies, which state agencies col- supposed to follow. soning: The most reliable nonprofit lected related information, who was respon- In short, the CDC grant program has cre- lead paint advocacy and informa- sible for follow-up and prosecution of scofflaw ated a snowball effect in data collection – so tion clearinghouse in the nation, this landlords when they failed to fix crumbling reporters seeking information about lead paint Washington, D.C.-based organization paint. poisonings in their city, county or state usually acts as an umbrella for scores of local This would prove invaluable in the weeks have multiple agencies they can tap into. grassroots groups and publishes a and months to come, underscoring once again In Baltimore, the city’s chief inspector monthly online newsletter free of charge. the journalistic maxim that you can’t begin balked at turning over a copy of the Health (www.aeclp.org) to investigate failures in a system or bureau- Department’s citation database, citing the cracy until you understand how it is supposed privacy rights of the poisoned children HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control:The to work. named in it. main federal agency in the national fight In this instance, four different city and Anticipating a full-bore FOI fight, I called against lead paint poisoning, and the pri- state agencies held concurrent enforcement his boss and explained that The Sun was will- mary source of grant money to local gov- jurisdiction – and their lack of coordination ing to agree to the redaction of that field if had led to the gradual collapse of the state’s the Health Department would turn over the ernments seeking to clean up local “hot lead poisoning prevention program. rest of the data. Much to our surprise, the zones.” (www.hud.gov/offices/lead) Ironically, the inspector intimated, Mary- agency agreed. EPA Office of Pollution Prevention & land’s system was once hailed as a national It is interesting to note here that this spirit model. But funding cuts, lobbying by landlords of cooperation – so uncharacteristic of most Toxics: Good, hard data on lead paint, and a crushing backlog of pending housing government bureaucracies – pervades public batteries, dumping and more. Promul- prosecutions had ground the program to a health agencies. At various points, hospital gates regs, cuts research grants, su- halt. officials, doctors and government research pervises clean-ups of industrial sites Nonetheless, he explained, city health scientists eagerly pitched in with advice, since lead is the No. 1 Superfund toxin. inspectors continued to issue citations because guidance and family contacts. (www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead) the federal government funded that part of the Likewise, plaintiffs’ attorneys and advo- program. cacy groups often are willing to share their National Library of Medicine: A proprietary client databases, within certain national treasure, the world’s largest Poisoning hotspots negotiated guidelines. medical library and a great example of To qualify for an annual grant from the U.S. For his part, the city’s health commissioner your federal tax dollars at work. Search Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, was always candid and available, even when their PubMed database for hundreds Maryland and more than 30 other states have the revelations in our series were personally of published research papers on lead passed laws requiring pediatricians to report or professionally painful. and its links to stunted infant brain the names of any children found to have sig- Once we secured the city’s database – 8,800 nificant levels of lead in their bloodstream. individual lead paint citations, some of them growth, altered neurochemistry and Doctors typically accomplish this by call- dating back 20 years or more – we quickly declines in cognitive performance. ing a designated city, county or state agency, CONTINUED ON PAGE 40 × (www.nlm.nih.gov)

MAY/JUNE 2002 15 FEATURES

its disclosure forms, which meant hours upon hours of scribbling numbers in steno books, CORPORATE LOBBYISTS’ trying to add up the outlays. Scherer and I eventually concluded that industry expenditures INFLUENCE AT FCC DEEPENS on FCC travel had increased by more than 60 percent in the past six months, a telltale rise that illustrates the private sector’s mounting BY BRENDAN I. KOERNER influence over the agency. We also were taken MOTHER JONES aback by the exotic nature of many corporate- paid junkets – for every visit to Peoria or Yuma, there seemed to be a more lavish trip to Paris or s part of the mind-numbing alphabet I was tempted to focus my reporting solely Sao Paolo on the books. soup of Beltway agencies, the Fed- on Powell, but the ever-wise Monika Bauerlein, But I was most intrigued by the meeting eral Communications Commission Mother Jones’s features editor, had a more far- dockets, which list the day-to-day appointments rarely receives much attention from sighted plan – why not investigate how corpo- of the FCC’s commissioners. Going through the theA mainstream press. Various trade publica- rate lobbyists have led the Powell-guided FCC weekly agendas, I noted that the vast majority tions – Communications Daily, Broadcasting to abandon its public-interest mission? It was – as much as 90 percent – of the FCC’s meetings and Cable – do a fine job of tracking the FCC’s an ambitious assignment, especially given the were with industry representatives, rather than arcane work, but they’re geared toward a narrow magazine’s five-week time frame. But what public interest advocates. It seemed a strange audience of corporate strategists and hardcore investigative reporter worth his or her salt discrepancy for an agency officially committed policy wonks. To Joe Q. Public, the FCC is still doesn’t crave a challenge? I bit. to defending the public domain, and it led me best known for harassing George Carlin over his to several fruitful interviews with frustrated infamous “Seven Dirty Words” routine. Beyond Strange discrepancy public-interest lawyers with tales of woe to share that, the commission is pretty much a mystery. There were few leads to work with, save – one legal team from Georgetown, for example, But the Information for the Center for Public complained that it was only allocated a few min- Age has converted the KEY RESOURCE Integrity’s indispensable utes of face time with the FCC’s staff, while its once-moribund FCC into a Read more on campaign finance- report “Off the Record,” corporate opponents, Rupert Murdoch’s News bureaucratic powerhouse. related issues in Tracker, the online a primer on Big Media’s Corporation Ltd., enjoyed nearly daily pow- wows. Such are the luxuries of being able to The commission oversees publication of IRE’s Campaign political influence. CPI an infrastructure of air- had sifted through FCC retain an army of K Street lobbyists. Finance Information Center. The waves, telephone lines, travel documents and and cable conduits that’s site (www.campaignfinance.org) found a disturbing pattern Suspicions confirmed the backbone of a $950 also includes searchable databases of industry-paid junkets. All that was well and good, but the piece billion-a-year industry. on federal contacts and campaign I made an inquiry with still lacked zing – I couldn’t realistically expect And as the financial contributions. CPI’s research team, which anyone to read 4,500 words on communications stakes have risen, the pri- informed me that all FCC policy without dishing out a few more examples vate-sector lobbyists have become increasingly disclosure documents – travel statements, legal of corporate chicanery. Fortunately, there was adept at peddling their pro-business agenda to proceedings, meeting agendas – are ware- plenty of Astroturf to investigate. “Astroturf” is the FCC. But at what cost to the public, whose housed at the agency’s southwest Washington Beltway slang for fake grassroots organizations, interests the FCC is theoretically charged with headquarters, affectionately dubbed the Portals. corporate-sponsored groups that lend pro-indus- protecting? The documents were a mess, I was warned, but try causes a veneer of moral legitimacy. While That was the key question I hoped to address at least the commission had a good reputation for examining the FCC’s disclosure documents, I in my cover story for Mother Jones, which hit transparency – FOIA requests were not required had noticed several references to an outfit known newsstands in September. The reporting, how- to inspect the FCC’s filings. as the Alliance for Public Technology (APT), a ever, dates back to the early spring, when I first It was a good place to start, and Mother benevolent-sounding lobby based in Washington took note of the meteoric ascent of Michael Jones dispatched an industrious young D.C. that purported to “foster access to afford- K. Powell, the FCC’s 38-year-old chairman. reporter, Michael Scherer, to the Portals on a able and useful information and communication Colin’s son and an ex-Army officer himself, massive photocopying mission – anything and services and technologies by all people.” But I the junior Powell was elevated to the FCC’s everything from the past year was to be copied. smelled a rat, particularly when I came across chairmanship last January, and he immediately When I met him in New York, he passed along a piece of Congressional testimony via Nexis in made clear his deregulatory bent. Powell indi- a duffel bag filled with thousands upon thou- which an APT board member supported a pet cated that he would be no great fan of using the sands of FCC documents, loosely organized by bill of the Baby Bell phone companies. FCC’s authority to nix mega-mergers; he was type – travel statements in one bundle, ex parte My suspicions were affirmed when I tried quoted as calling the public-interest standard as minutes in another. to “990” the APT – that is, request their tax “about as empty a vessel as you can accord a All set. Time to start digging. forms. By law, non-profits that enjoy 501(c)3 regulatory agency.” The FCC’s office does not summarize tax-exempt status must furnish their tax returns

16 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES upon request. If they do not do so within 24 FOI REPORT hours, they risk losing their IRS classification. But when I asked the APT’s executive direc- Proposed FOI exemptions at state tor for her tax info, I was at first rebuffed – if memory serves, the executive director’s words agency level require healthy skepticism were, “We don’t have to show you anything.” Only when I threatened to report the APT to the Internal Revenue Service was I furnished with ow much deference do we pay our elected mission during a hearing or the appropriate forms, which revealed that the and appointed officials in a time of crisis proceeding. The bill also group was a subsidiary of Issue Dynamics, a and uncertainty? In a representative would empower municipal CHARLES DAVIS powerful lobbying firm that works on behalf of Udemocracy still reeling from the aftershock of utilities to file a motion for the Baby Bells. Sept. 11, this is much more than an academic a protective order, not with the courts, but with the Gotcha. question. PSC within three business days after receiving a One of the last pieces of the puzzle was the When faced with issues of homeland security, request for information that the utility considers lead, which Bauerlein and I agreed should be some public officials would rather take matters “proprietary,” “highly confidential,” or, finally, anecdotal. Perusing Powell’s personal Web site, into their own hands. Trust us, they say: we’ll “critical to security.” I came across a speech that he’d delivered in do what’s right, protect you and keep our hands First, note that the bill essentially turns the December 2000, in which he characterized regu- out of the cookie jar in the process. No need for state’s public records law on its head by replac- lation as an “oppressor.” The speech had been the public, or the press, to muddle things up by ing the law’s presumption of openness with a delivered at something called the Progress and scrutinizing the process. presumption of closure. Under the current law, Freedom Foundation (PFF), a name that was not In statehouses across the country, the theme all records of government agencies subject to the familiar to me. But I visited the PFF’s Web site of security has often been accompanied by new act are open unless they fall under certain tightly and found a detailed reference to the conference legislation aimed at increasing government’s con- worded exemptions. This bill’s radical response at which Powell had delivered his address. Using trol over information relating to virtually anything to what has been a hallmark of the public records the always wonderous Google, I discovered that that could be labeled “security.” Lawmakers in law since its inception is to ask the public, “What most attendees were lobbyists for Verizon, AOL, Florida may set the record for exemptions to the business is it of yours?” Then, after a huddle with and other big-name communications players. state’s public records law in a single session, but the PSC, which to date has not given its bless- Intrigued, I phoned the PFF and asked for they are far from alone. Idaho, Maryland, Wash- ing to the bill, the utilities might just provide some background information on the group’s ington, , , Ohio … The list the information. Then again, they might not. It communications policy program. They sent of states clamping down on information grows depends upon whether the PSC deems the records me a six-year-old report on telecommunica- longer every day. “highly confidential.” tions, in which they proposed disbanding the That’s a troubling development. Equally, if Notice also that security is the last of three FCC altogether – perhaps industry’s biggest pipe not more troubling, is the docile reaction from stated reasons for denial of access under the dream. That Powell, the soon-to-be-installed reporters and newspaper editorial boards, who bill. The other two – closure for records deemed FCC chairman, was appealing to this group seem reluctant to enter the fray by looking with “proprietary” or “highly confidential” – get more was disturbing evidence of his commitment a healthy dose of journalistic skepticism at such to the heart of the utilities’ Christmas shopping to abdicating government’s role in regulating efforts. When public officials, draped in the patri- list. communications. otic fervor of Sept. 11, propose new exemptions Are there utility records that might need to be In investigative journalism, there is rarely to FOI law, it is crucial for reporters to place the protected in a post-Sept. 11 Missouri? Certainly. a surer sign of success than a reluctant inter- laws in the context of legislative history and of Portions of vulnerability assessments, construc- viewee turning effusive once the article’s been political reality. A look at one bill – in my home tion plans, emergency response plans and other published. And that was the case with Powell state of Missouri – illustrates the need for more such records might very well meet some as- and his fellow Bush-appointed commissioners; reporting on this rash of new exemptions. yet-undefined legal standard for closure. If the despite repeated interview requests, channeled A bill sponsored by a state representative is legislative and judicial branches can develop through the FCC’s press office, not one of my moving at lightning speed through the Missouri tools to discern voluntary manslaughter from phone calls was ever returned. But when the legislature, and despite its checkered past and involuntary manslaughter, can they not define issue hit the stands and Communications Daily dubious future, little has been said against it. security interests as well? picked up the reporting – particularly the junket The bill is like many other FOI bills pending This bill, sadly enough, addresses such con- data – the FCC’s spokesman was quick to offer in statehouses across the country. It would bar cerns as an afterthought to proprietary interests. excuse after excuse. It was a small victory, but the release of any information furnished to the What proprietary interests, you might ask? After one I savored nonetheless. Public Service Commission by a municipal util- all, public utilities are just that: taxpayer-funded, ity, unless the material is specifically required by financially accountable public entities. Brendan I. Koerner is a Markle Fellow at the New law to be open to the public, is ordered open by This is where knowing your legislative history America Foundation and a contributing editor at the commission, or is made public by the com- CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 × U.S. News & World Report. His Losing Signal article can be read at: www.motherjones.com/ Charles Davis is executive director of the Freedom of Information Center, an assistant professor at the magazine/SO01/fcc.html. Missouri School of Journalism and a member of IRE’s First Amendment Committee.

MAY/JUNE 2002 17 FEATURES

announced three hearings to address our find- ings. Within two weeks, the Chicago schools CEO unveiled a series of initiatives to address the Sun-Times’ conclusions. Within a month, Chicago Sun-Times Chicago

the governor announced a statewide education summit in part because of them. When Sun-Times computer-assisted

Jean Lachet Jean reporting ace Beaupre and I filed our first FOIA request in January 2001, our goal was to have the data analyzed before summer, so we could interview and photograph schools during regular classes. We wound up just beating another deadline: only one day after a very-pregnant Beaupre finished a critical batch of data-crunching on Aug. 15, her doctor pulled her out of the newsroom. On Sept. 6, with a healthy baby girl on her lap, she read the first of our three-part series.

The Chicago Sun-Times gave kids a sample version of the teacher basic skills test after state officials said it was of Achievement gap the same difficulty level as the real test. Many kids agreed with Michael Cummings, 15, who said: “They should “Failing Teachers’’ involved three main raise the level of the questions to college level.’’ challenges: getting the data; understanding the excruciatingly complex network of certificates that underlie the data; and putting a human face SOME TEACHERS on the data. The idea for the series nagged at me for some time. As the Sun-Times educa- KEEP FLUNKING TESTS, tion reporter, I had watched Chicago public schools become ground-zero for the nation’s BUT KEEP INSTRUCTING anti-social promotion movement. Meanwhile, Mayor Daley was starting to complain that NEEDIEST STUDENTS student scores weren’t improving fast enough. Chicago kids faced enormous test pressure, but how did their teachers do on their tests, I BY ROSALIND ROSSI wondered. What kind of data did the state keep CHICAGO SUN-TIMES that might reflect teacher quality? Could it be linked to student performance? I started plugging away at these ques- n Chicago, public school kids have two colleagues Becky Beaupre and Kate Grossman, tions in the early winter of 2000. Initially, shots at passing a test of basic skills if they indicated the state’s neediest children are being Illinois State Board of Education spokes- don’t want to repeat a grade. But for those shortchanged. men said the state FOIA law made teacher who teach Chicago kids, the test story – at Those in the lowest-scoring, highest-minor- test scores confidential. They also said their theI moment – is quite different. Teachers can ity and highest-poverty schools are roughly five certification files didn’t include every credential flunk their certification tests three, five, 10 or 24 times more likely to have teachers who failed a teacher might have. times, or never pass them – and still teach. at least one certification exam. Some 5,243 We filed a FOIA request and took turns In fact, the Chicago Sun-Times found teach- such teachers stood at the head of classrooms calling or paging ISBE spokesmen on the ers who had done just that. in Illinois last school year, teaching more than hour. We later learned of more data – and It took five months to get the data, plus 180,000 kids. Chicago results were particularly databases – than spokesmen had claimed. The three more months of analysis, follow-up disturbing. There, one of every 10 full-time files had one common element – a teacher requests and reporting to pull together all the teachers tested since 1988 has flunked the social security number. (We asked the ISBE to pieces. But in the end, from what researchers easier of two required exams – a basic skills create a “teacher sequence number” to replace tell us, our findings were the first in the nation test experts say an eighth- or ninth-grader each teacher’s social security number, and to to document how often some teachers struggle could pass. give us each file with identifying information to pass the very tests that certify them as fully- Response to the series poured in quickly, redacted and replaced with sequence numbers.) qualified to teach. The Sun-Times’ September and continues to this day. By day two, the head And with a green light from State Schools Supt. series, called “Failing Teachers,’’ written with of the Illinois Senate Education Committee Glenn “Max’’ McGee – who had been talking

18 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES for nearly a year about the student achievement An alphabet soup tive teachers to waive some test confidentiality gap, and, like us, wanted to know if it mirrored a We slowly descended into a certification rights. Many officials have called for a limit on teacher achievement gap – we moved forward. nightmare, an alphabet soup of jargon – FTPs, the number of tests teachers can flunk. When the teacher test data arrived, we won- FTBs and PZZs – representing loopholes that Most important, Governor Ryan and Illinois dered if we would have to throw in the towel. allow Illinois and especially Chicago teachers Senate Education Committee Chairman Daniel We had expected to analyze how teacher scores to teach without passing all their tests. We had Cronin now want to address the key question meshed with student scores, but received only nothing in writing to guide us through this. The raised by the series – how to get better-qualified 1 1™2 years of teacher scores, representing a sliver ISBE does not list its nearly 50 different certifi- teachers in front of the state’s neediest kids. of the teaching force. cates and exclusions to them in terms of required Some valuable lessons we learned included: But we also had asked for how many tries tests. And some information ISBE officials gave • Two people pushing for hard-to-get data are it took each teacher to pass each test, and this us was dead wrong. better than one. Beaupre and I gave each other pass/fail data went back to 1988, when Illinois They insisted one double loophole didn’t exist, moral support at critical times and brainstormed began testing teachers. It represented just over until we found a letter showing the ISBE had constantly on different ways to obtain and ana- half the full-time teaching force; the remainder approved its use in Chicago. Data holes prevented lyze the data. won certificates before Illinois tests debuted. It us from saying how many Illinois teachers had • When the going gets tough, go right to the top became the backbone of our series. less-than-full certificates, but we could say at for a green light. We divided flunking teachers into those who least 868 didn’t because they were unable to • Don’t trust the official line on how data is failed at least one, two, three, and up to 10 or pass the basic skills exam. And most were in the kept. more tests. Although we neediest schools. FOIAs, • And as Beaupre says, if your proj- found about 92 percent The Uplink connection faxes and phone calls to ect sounds promising but involves of teachers statewide Chicago showed at least hard-to-get data, you may have an important had passed their tests on In the January-February edition of 15 percent of teachers exclusive on your hands. the first try, the roughly Uplink, the Sun-Times’ Becky Beaupre there had less-than-full 8 percent who didn’t details how data tables were linked certificates. Rosalind Rossi is the Chicago Sun-Times education were far more likely to and which software was used for this For a national reporter. She has an undergraduate degree from be teaching the neediest series. perspective, we called Marquette University, with a major in education; student-taught in a Milwaukee high school; and has kids. And so were those Uplink is a bimonthly newsletter of big-city and state offi- taught reporting at Chicago’s Columbia College. with the worst flunk the National Institute for Computer- cials at eight locations records. Assisted Reporting. Subscribe by visit- about their certification But fleshing-out the loopholes, recruitment ing www.ire.org/store/periodicals.html data posed a recurring efforts and disclosure or calling 573-882-2042. problem. We didn’t to parents. This meant know who the flunking slogging through another teachers were. That meant we couldn’t interview bureaucratic and certification morass eight more them, photograph them or see their classrooms. times. But it showed Illinois and Chicago came The closest we could get was to ask kids in up short. schools with high teacher flunk rates about their We also learned other states gave “emergency classroom experiences. Even then, we had to permits” or “waivers” to teachers who had not make clear these kids didn’t know if their teach- passed their tests, but Illinois issued such teachers ers had flunked any tests. We also offered cau- “certificates” – a term bound to confuse inquiring tions from some experts who said flunking a test parents. This led to a tips box for parents, explain- didn’t automatically make someone a bad teacher, ing which certificates did not require passage of although every expert was deeply troubled by all Illinois teacher tests. multiple flunkers and the way flunking teachers We organized the package into three days. were distributed. The first offered an overview of our findings and Some suburban officials admitted they had hit hard on the simplicity of the teacher basic illegally used substitute teachers year-round skills test. Day Two focused on shortchanging because they couldn’t find fully-certified ones the neediest kids and profiled schools with the who had passed their tests. State officials had no worst and best teacher test records. Day Three idea this was happening. We also wondered how outlined how Illinois stacked up against other tough these tests were, but the ISBE certification states and addressed key policy questions. test expert refused to put a grade level on them. Chicago school officials have since promised So, we ordered samples of the skills tests, which to publicly produce some information other dis- every fully-certified teacher must pass, and sent tricts already disclose. They also tightened the them to four experts. All put the difficulty level timelines under which full-time substitutes must at an 8th- or 9th-grade level. pass their tests, and have started asking prospec-

MAY/JUNE 2002 19 FEATURES

• What is happening with top management? Turnover at the top is always a potential red SPOTTING flag. Chief executives leave for a variety of reasons – better jobs, culture, broken A COMPANY promises. But if you look back over 12 to 18 months and find that most of the top officers in a company have been bolting for the exits, there HEADED FOR has got to be a reason. Is there a housecleaning going on? Is so, who is behind it? Or are these executives bailing out before things blow up? TROUBLE Y ARK ATGE B M T No matter what anyone says about the need for FORBES “new blood,” excessive turnover is harmful to an organization. Editors Note: to the products the company makes, which fall • Did the auditors change? A change in audi- The Enron debacle has everyone from the generally under the cost of sales. Then there are tors is usually a sign that something is afoot. Justice Department to Congress to top invest- things like general overhead, such as paying the Look for shareholder lawsuits or other litiga- ment firms shaking heads and pointing fingers light bill at corporate headquarters, marketing, tion that might signal something is up. Also, trying to pinpoint exactly what went wrong advertising, and debt service. You first need if a company has delayed filing its Form10K and when – and who the heck knew what, and to look at whether a company’s cost of raw annual report, this may signal that the company how early? While trying to unscramble it all, materials is rising. Why? Does it cost more to is planning to restate earnings, restructure or journalists can learn a few lessons along the produce that same product today than a year worse yet, file for bankruptcy. way from those experienced in covering such ago? What is happening to labor costs? Next issues. look at corporate overhead, most commonly • Have insiders been selling shares? Always Mark Tatge at Forbes offered these tips at known as selling, general and administrative something useful to look at. But insider sales IRE’s Chicago conference last year for learn- expenses. Are they rising faster than sales? If have become more difficult to interpret. This is ing whether a company is in trouble: so, you may have a problem. because so much of top executives’ compensa- • Is the company losing money? The fact that a company merely lost money isn’t in itself a WEB SITES danger sign, but it is something that calls for further examination. What is the source of Also, here are some useful Web sites when delving into company activities: the loss? Look at the trendline over the past • www.sec.gov. SEC site includes company filings, SEC News Digest andLitigation Releases. Free. three to five years. Is it because the company • www.fool.com. Great site for learning about companies and how to analyze them from an is losing market share? Some companies, investor’s point of view. Good chat boards. Free/subscription. such as small, fast-growing startups, will • www.valueline.com. Granddaddy of investment newsletters known for its one-page sum- lose money for years before turning a profit. maries on public companies. Subscription. This isn’t necessarily bad, but the faster they • www.bigdough.com. Supersite that allows you to track institutional ownership in public lose money, the greater the likelihood they companies. Subscription. will have to seek additional capital to keep • www.Edgar-online.com. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Reduced fee for jour- the business running. Remember: The money nalists. pit isn’t bottomless. • www.morningstar.com. Great site for stock and mutual fund information, industry compari- • What have sales been like? A sure sign of sons. Free/subscription. problems is when net income is up, but sales • www.edgar-online.com/people Good place to track names of people who are referenced have actually been falling. It usually means in SEC filings. a company is turning to other areas outside its core business for earnings such as sales • www.10Kwizard.com SEC filings. Great site. Free. of assets, investment gains, or income is • www.multex.com. Major brokerage firm reports in PDF format. Free. being boosted through cost-cutting. Are the • www.secst.com. Access to Secretary of State offices in 50 states. Allows you to check liens, company’s products under pricing pressure? incorporations. Be sure to factor out gains in sales due to, say, • www.forbes.com. Web site for the magazine known for listing the 400 richest Americans. Great a retail company simply opening new stores source to track individual’s wealth. Free. or acquiring new businesses. • www.quicken.com Offers stock quotes, charts, analyst ratings, message boards and research • What has been happening to expenses? First, on public companies. Free. you need to separate out what kind of expenses • http://finance.yahoo.com. Similar to Quicken site. Good background on public companies, we are talking about. There are expenses related analyst ratings, popular message boards. Free.

20 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

tion is derived from stock options. Some execu- tives will merely exercise those options on an STORIES OFFER VALUABLE LESSONS ongoing basis since they want the cash. That said, if most of the officers are selling rather Even before Enron, there were investigative stories that provided some valuable lessons about than hanging onto shares, it may be a signal that companies and how they do business. Here are some of the stories that looked into the public they feel the company’s stock is overvalued. – and private – facts about how deals and profits are made, including those at Enron.

• How is the company financing growth? From the IRE Resource Center, a check of some top investigative business stories included: Companies often use a combination of debt and equity to finance expansion. But a company that • Story No. 18562 – “The Great Internet Money Game: How America’s top financial firms reaped has been lumping debt on the balance sheet may billions from the Net boom, while investors got burned,” by Peter Elstrom of BusinessWeek, be mortgaging its future. The secret is to look at April 16, 2001. Elstrom did a firm-by-firm analysis of every investment banking and venture what kind of cash is being generated. Continu- capital firm involved in Internet underwriting and dissected the numbers to see which firms ally issuing more stock isn’t necessarily a good profited most from selling stock in money-losing companies. He built databases on all of the sign either as it dilutes the investment of current investment banks and venture capital firm analyzed. shareholders. Most well-run companies use a mixture of stock and debt to finance growth. • Story No. 17651 – “Executive Pay,” by Louis Lavelle of BusinessWeek, April 16, 2001. The story looks at the astronomical compensation for CEOs, despite a theoretical slowdown in 1999 • How heavily leveraged is the company? Debt and 2000. (“The 20 highest-paid earned an average $117.6 million, up from $112.9 million in isn’t necessarily evil. Some companies can sup- port high levels of debt because of their high 1999.”) Lavelle used two sets of criteria over a three-year period, first to compare CEO salary cash flow. What you want to look at is: Does the with shareholder value and then to compare CEO salary with company success. company have more than adequate cash flow to • Story No. 18547 – “Dressed to Kill,” by Ben Elgin of BusinessWeek, August 6, 2001. This is the cover liabilities due within one year? (Rule of story of an Internet company gone bad – hiding behind a “wall of ‘no comments’ and digni- thumb is the more the better. A firm should have fied press releases.” After the story, the company, Critical Path, had to pay $17 million to settle a least $1 of free cash for every dollar of debt. This is generally referred to as the company’s shareholder lawsuits. Elgin relied heavily on human sources, spending months getting execu- coverage ratio). What is the company’s debt tives to reveal what was going on. rated by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, • Story No. 18408 – “Power Struggle: California’s engineered energy crisis and the potential the two major bond-rating firms? Also, look of public power,” by Harvey Wasserman of the Multinational Monitor, June 2001. Wasserman at what the trend has been. Is the company investigated how huge oil and gas companies close to George W. Bush profited from the repaying its debt? Refinancing? How high is energy crisis in California. The story finds that California’s consumers and taxpayers are victims the interest rate on the debt in comparison to the current market? of a massive, complex double-theft, first by the biggest electric power utilities, and second by some of the president’s closest associates and contributors. • Does there seem to be a pattern of perpetual restructuring? Take a look at the past five • Story No. 18757 – Enron coverage in by John Emshwiller, Rebecca years of income statements. Does the company Smith and , October to December 2001. The Journal focused on Enron’s financial like to continually take special charges to clean workings, partnerships and the millions of dollars made by executives. The series raised ques- up its financial statements? Are you getting a tions about the partnerships and whether they were used to “distort Enron’s financial picture press release about yet another restructuring and enrich company insiders at the expense of investors.” The stories used Enron’s SEC filings; every time you turn around? The alarm bells public records of partnership formations, business incorporations and UCC debt filings (this should go off. This is usually a sign of deep- involved FOI requests); and scores of human sources. seated troubles with core business, namely an inability to grow the earnings of the core • Story No. 18758 – Enron collapse from Bloomberg News, by Adam Levy, Loren Steffy, and Edward business units. Robinson, December 2001. The first story looked at Enron’s close ties to Wall Street to provide • Is the company growing? All companies have an explanation for how financial analysts backed the company and steered investors to Enron to grow or they die. So how about the company stock despite clear red flags. The second story was a detailed background check on Enron CFO you cover? How fast is it growing relative to Andrew Fastow and how he engineered the company’s transition to a commodity trading firm. its competitors? Sure, fast growth looks good, The final piece to the series looked at Enron’s online venture, NewPower, and how Kenneth Lay but companies can also get into trouble when and Lou Pai hid NewPower losses from investors. Bloomberg used SEC filings, analysts’ reports, they grow too fast. Are they able to keep pace license and voter records (for Fastow background), records of lawsuits against Enron, human with their expansion, fill orders and hire enough sources (including former Enron employees), and their proprietary database. qualified employees? Likewise, if a company is growing slower than the rate of inflation, it To order any of these stories, call the IRE Resource Center at 573-882-3364 or visit www.ire.org/ could be facing competitive pressures and have resourcecenter. trouble remaining viable.

MAY/JUNE 2002 21 C O V E R S T O R Y

SALVAGED AUTOS Consumers duped into buying dangerous cars from Russian mob

By Chris Halsne KIRO-Seattle

knew doing surveillance on Russian mobsters wasn’t the safest idea in the world, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell Karin Sum- eri’s parents. Karin was a young college graduate killed while riding in a used Volvo. The car uncharacteristically sheared Iapart during a routine accident. The vehicle was rebuilt – totaled by an insurance company several years earlier. Somebody had literally glued the roof back together. Accident investigators say Karin would have lived if the Volvo hadn’t been shoddily repaired. The Sumeris didn’t know the car was salvaged. Washington laws don’t require much consumer information when it comes to previously totaled vehicles. Used car buyers aren’t normally notified when buying wrecked vehicles. There is no requirement the history of the car be revealed. Salvagers aren’t even required to get a vehicle safety inspec- tion before returning it to the road. What lawmakers didn’t realize CAVEAT EMPTOR. until a KIRO Team 7 investigation: The weakness of our state laws has “LET THE BEWARE.” enticed Russian organized crime to take over Washington’s salvaged BUYER car industry. Incredible profits, with little risk of getting caught, make But what can consumers do to really an enticing formula for criminal enterprise. Making money protect themselves when everyone From the undercover van, the thick-necked Russian watchman didn’t look too friendly. A caravan of car parts, tow trucks, and freshly from car salesmen to state repainted vehicles moved past him all day long. Inside a long row of furniture storage lockers, dozens of Eastern Bloc immigrants welded, government officials aren’t being en- stripped, and repaired totaled cars. Most of the wrecked cars came from an insurance auction, held tirely truthful? Investigations into earlier in the week. Our investigative producer had taken a hidden camera inside the auction, and recognized a number of the vehicles in how business is really done – front of us. Our research found the scam generally worked this way: A Russian organized crime moneyman (a Vor) buys dozens of junked especially behind the scenes – cars each day. Many of the vehicles should be sold to scrap dealers, but instead, are farmed out to local Ukrainian- and Russian-owned body are critical to providing information shops. The shop owners are not inclined to buy parts to fix up the cars. They usually hire a group of young teenage street thieves (known as those consumers deserve when they’re patsani) to steal an exact make, model, and color of vehicle as the one waiting for repairs. After swapping out the dented parts for the stolen ready to hand over their money. ones, the organized crime structure has a great-looking vehicle with a CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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

FUNERAL COSTS Reporting unearths advice from research, hard numbers BOGUS REFUNDS By Jeff Blyskal Database shows public agency Consumer Reports puffed up restitution numbers

By Sheryl Harris riting an exposé about funeral homes is like shooting ducks in a barrel. The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer The industry has long been the target of some very angry and vocal activists who are ready, willing, and able to feed reporters W f there’s a consumer agency in your state that brags about the more horror stories than film ghoul Freddy Krueger can dish out. You want lurid anecdotes? Whistleblowers, weeping victims, or clergy members willing to collar restitution it gets on behalf of consumers, chances are there’s undertakers for bad behavior? Help with a hidden-camera sting on unscrupulous a great story lurking behind the numbers. funeral sales practices? The critics will deliver all the trappings of an expose; you I Ohio’s consumer watchdog is Attorney General Betty hardly have to lift a finger. Montgomery. Every year, Montgomery’s office announces in press But that’s not the way Consumer Reports does business. News Editor Kim releases and annual reports that it has returned yet another record Kleman and I wanted to give consumers something more useful than yet another sum to consumers wronged by businesses. shock piece that exploits the understandably high emotion surrounding this grim My partner, T.C. Brown, and I were skeptical, so we ordered the but necessary consumer service. Our goal was to conduct our own fair, thorough, agency’s consumer complaint database. In and of itself, the database and independent research and give aging baby boomers valuable shopping advice is a great source of information. Among other things, the database as they increasingly take on funeral arrangements for the passing previous gen- contains the name and address of every consumer who complains to eration. the office, information on every business complained about, and a Using an exhaustive telephone survey of 235 funeral homes in seven cities and brief description of the problem. computer-assisted analysis by Consumer Reports’ statistics department, we broke The reaction to our request for the database was to stall, and we some news and gave consumers exclusive new pricing information that will help spent months arguing for its release. When we finally got the database, them get the best deal on almost any type of arrangements they want – from the the restitution fields were missing. When we at last got the restitution most basic immediate burial or cremation with no viewing to a top-of-the-line numbers, they came minus the fields that would help us link refunds sendoff in bronze, copper or mahogany. to the rest of the complaint database. Our report, “Final Arrangements,” provided a wealth of new consumer advice Eventually we got what we needed and it was worth the wait. on funeral shopping backed by hard numbers. Most significantly, our analysis found The attorney general had claimed she helped return $10 million to that while prepaid funerals are pitched by big nationwide funeral home chains as consumers in 1999 and 2000. We found that at least $2.5 million of a way for consumers to lock in low prices now, the chains often charge more than those refunds were bogus. independent mom and pop funeral homes – roughly $1,300 more – for compa- Our reporting showed that the attorney general’s office inflated rable services. Since prepayers get no price discount for their admirable advance its restitution figures by: planning, that means the savings come-on is a clever ruse to lure consumers into • taking credit for refunds secured for consumers by other agencies paying top dollar. An estimated nine million to 11 million U.S. consumers have or private attorneys; already bought some $21 billion worth of prepaid plans. • including offers of refunds or “savings” that consumers refused to accept; New analytical tools • inflating the dollar value of refunds; Good funeral cost comparisons in the press are hampered by the fact that • counting refunds that companies promised but never provided. consumers have a wide variety of caskets and casket prices to choose from. Most The office that was supposed to help wronged consumers not only of the funeral homes we surveyed offered six to 12 choices; some offered scores wasn’t helping them, it was using their misfortunes to deceive the of caskets. Consequently, published cost comparisons tend to provide an a la carte public about its effectiveness. menu of prices and services that require consumers to do their own math. That can result in erroneous comparisons. Remembering details Compounding the problem, the casket is a key determinant of the overall cost It was a clever scheme. The money was negotiated by the attorney of any funeral, and significant price gouging and profiteering can be buried in the general’s office, but the dollars went directly from the companies to CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

MAY/JUNE 2002 23 C O V E R S T O R Y

at the Port of Seattle and be sent documented history of “junked back to the former Soviet Union car titles.” Others had invalid for sale. Within a few weeks, VINs. A whole new chapter to SALVAGED however, it became clear there this investigation began when we were greater profits to be made asked why. locally. We followed car after car Over the course of six months, AUTOS from body shops to local lots. In I kept seeing the same names and nearly every case, a middle-aged Russian faces over and over: Pytor, Viktor, Nikolay. male would ride as a passenger (talking on My producer and I had no trouble seeing pat- a cell phone), while a young teenager would terns between title records, junk car receipts, drive like a bat out of hell. They broke every and car sales invoices. It was time to tap a traffic rule in the book and, at times, swapped well-connected source who could hopefully CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 cars in public parking lots. give us a little perspective. We asked about clean title (borrowed from the wrecked auc- I was impressed by the amount of profit specific invalid VINs, business names and tion vehicle). one of these rebuilt vehicles could bring into names of people who we believed were play- We found parts being “ordered” from the organization. Depending on the quality of ers in the West Coast Russian mob. Some were as far away as Texas, but the main flow of cosmetic repairs and the amount of consumer lower-level thieves and con men, but we also thefts followed the I-5 corridor from Seattle deception used, the Russian mob makes up to tossed in a few names of people with reported to Portland to Sacramento. If stolen parts $8,000 dollars on a SUV. We posed as used criminal connections on the East Coast and in weren’t available, the body shop mechanics car buyers in a number would make the car look like new cosmeti- of lots owned and oper- cally, but never take the time to do proper ated by organized crime

repairs. In one case, we found putty and paint associates. As you can Seattle – KIRO being used to make a metal frame rail look imagine, we were never straight. The structural integrity of many of told the vehicles on the these cars made the vehicles dangerous to lot were previously drive. Legitimate car salvagers have recently wrecked and rebuilt. been forced out of business. There is simply We knew because we no way to make money repairing junked cars followed the vehicles if you buy legal parts, make proper structural from auction to chop repairs, then sell the vehicle as “rebuilt” to a shops to the sales knowing used car customer. lots. When we ran the vehicle identifica- Breaking every rule tion numbers (VIN) Using an undercover camera, reporters observed how the Russian mob At first, I assumed the rebuilt vehicles through Car Fax, many did a shoddy job of rebuilding vehicles that were then sold to unknowing would end up inside a shipping container of the vehicles had no consumers.

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

Russia. We had a call back within the hour. state lawmakers to It turns out the FBI and a special Washington strengthen salvaged State Patrol task force had a full undercover car notification laws. operation already under way. (I do not believe Their efforts fell Seattle – KIRO in coincidences: someone tipped federal on deaf ears. The agents to our work months earlier.) explosion of public Now, we had a big problem. The organized response after our crime task force leader asked my producer series on the Rus- and me to attend a briefing without a camera sian mob changed the crew. Instead of using fear tactics and legal mindset in Olympia. maneuvering, the agent was truly helpful. I Several pieces of leg- remain impressed by his frankness. We obvi- islation are working ously had a big story important to our viewers. their way through the This agent was supportive of the idea to go legislature. One would ahead and inform the public about the Russian require “branding” of mob’s growing power in the Northwest and its most salvaged car Karin Sumeri was killed while riding in a poorly rebuilt car. ties to the salvaged car industry. However, we titles, while forcing had to balance that with the possibility of put- auto auctions to inform the Washington ting federal agents in a dangerous situation. Department of Licensing of sales. This bill had been proposed before, but strong insur- If stolen parts weren’t ance and auto auction lobbies killed it. After our series, both now publicly support the new } available, the body shop law. I am under no illusion our investigation mechanics would make will stop the proliferation of the Russian mob in the Seattle area. I do, however, believe we the car look like new created a much smarter used car consumer.

cosmetically, but never Chris Halsne is an investigative reporter with take the time to do proper KIRO-Seattle. repairs. In one case, we found putty and paint being used to make a metal frame rail look straight. ~

In the end, I only made one slight altera- tion to our series of stories. I kept the name and image of a suspected mob junk car buyer out of the first set of stories. He was not an important element of my piece. On top of that, I was keenly aware that ignoring such an issue would either put an undercover agent in a risky situation or blow months of criminal investigative work. As it turned out, our attorney hated the idea of putting this character in my series anyway. As is the case with most good mob- sters, this moneyman had no criminal convic- tions for racketeering or anything related to organized crime activities. He remains the FOR PLACEMENT ONLY focus of a future report. Public support At the time of Karin Sumeri’s death, her parents quietly called on Washington

MAY/JUNE 2002 25 C O V E R S T O R Y

so respondents could quickly tick mahogany/walnut/cherry woods; through their price list thus: “oak, bronze/copper; minimum casket/ FUNERAL $3,000; pine, $1,200; stainless steel, container; etc.) and individual funeral $4,000,” and leave out the details homes were grouped by ownership about satin linings or special handles type (independent, small local chain, COSTS or engraving used to dress up the box large national chain). The resulting (as well as the price). thousands of individual funerals and CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 Two assistants and I surveyed funeral homes their costs were compared, means and medians casket price. That’s because of the ability of funeral via telephone in a diverse selection of cities: were developed, and statistical validity was directors to shift their costs for a variety of itemized Albany, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; checked. services. For example, embalming is often optional Orlando; Salem, Mass., San Francisco/Oakland; under state law, while a casket is something of a and Washington, D.C. We identified ourselves up Breaking new ground necessity if you want a viewing. The embalming front as reporters conducting a survey for Con- Our findings exploded the myths and option can be made more attractive by reducing sumer Reports and briefly described the story. prejudices that tend to demonize the funeral its itemized price below cost and simply shifting Contrary to the secretive, consumer-unfriendly industry. the rest of the actual cost of embalming into the stereotype that industry critics use to portray For starters, we found that the claimed casket’s markup. funeral directors, all but a handful were fully juggernaut funeral price hikes used to scare Tip No. 1: That means proper price compari- cooperative, and many gladly faxed us their com- consumers into pre-paying are largely myth. sons must involve the total cost of the funeral, plete funeral, casket, and outer burial container Throughout the country, our survey picked including the casket. Comparisons that separate the price lists. Only a couple of funeral directors up plenty of standard funerals – with viewing, price of service from that of the casket – or exclude were unhelpful, so Consumer Reports reporters ceremonies, and an attractive casket – costing the casket from the equation as an unquantifiable made in-person follow-up visits to those homes $2,500 to $4,500, excluding cemetery charges. matter of personal tastes – can make one funeral in San Francisco and Washington. Under the That’s hundreds to thousands of dollars less than home’s services seem less expensive, while that Federal Trade Commission’s “Funeral Rule,” a consumers expect they’ll have to pay, based on same home can recoup those below-market costs home must provide its lists to anyone asking for the $5,000 average price widely publicized by the on the casket sale. them in person. National Funeral Directors Association. Half the But how can you compare total cost for a broad Tip No. 3: The Funeral Rule also requires more basic arrangements available in every metro audience when there are so many casket options? funeral homes to disclose the prices of all services area ranged from $500 to $1,700, so comparison Our report created new tools for consumers (and and merchandise over the telephone, too, if you price shopping is a must. reporters) that make price shopping easier and call during business hours. That made our coast- We also proved what was previously an more meaningful. to-coast telephone survey efficient and legally unsubstantiated allegation – that the big chains Power Finder phone directory software was enforceable, if necessary. Some funeral directors charge more – with hard numbers. Independent used to efficiently identify (by the Standard were not aware of that subsection of the Funeral funeral homes do charge less. But we also broke Industry Code field) the names of all funeral Rule and protested about giving information over new ground in finding that small local chains of homes to be surveyed in several cities, along the phone; but again, almost everyone cooperated just two to a few homes charged the least of all with their addresses and phone numbers. Power after we quoted from or faxed them a copy of the – about $2,000 less than the sprawling national Streets software was used to map the location regulations. Get a copy from the FTC’s Web site chains. That enabled us to provide our readers of those homes and set the parameters of study (www.ftc.gov) and be ready to read it to survey with new fact-based price shopping guidance. around each city. respondents. We showed the median price small chains We developed a printed survey form and tele- We efficiently managed and continuously charged for our model funeral using seven dif- phone script designed to consistently elicit prices updated all of the contact information, price ferent types of caskets, along with the median of all the key service components of a funeral at data, and survey status notes using an Excel price of immediate cremation and immediate each home and the price of every casket regularly spreadsheet. burial with minimum container. Consumers stocked, from the most basic cardboard models To analyze the data, we developed a standard can use these prices as an easy benchmark for (intended for cremation without a viewing) to the model of the service component of the funeral. comparing the offerings of homes in their area. priciest bronze beauties. Every funeral-cost calculation included the price If the price a local home offers using our model Tip No. 2: Because the telephone survey was of dressing, cosmetology and other body prepara- services and specific casket type is higher than rather lengthy, the script also had prompts of tion, embalming, use of facilities and staff, transfer the benchmark, consumers will have the hard encouragement to help funeral directors hang in of body to funeral home hearse, etc. (For the full numbers they need to know they’re overpaying there with us through about 15 service questions list, see our article at www.consumerreports.com.) and to negotiate a better deal. plus all the casket prices. We openly admitted to Then we added in the cost of every casket regularly the folks being surveyed that this would be a little offered by each funeral home. This gave us several Consumer Reports Associate Editor Jeff Blyskal is an bit of a chore, but that we would make it as quick thousand funerals to analyze. award-winning investigative journalist and co-author and painless as possible. By the time we got to the Consumer Reports’ statistical department of The Consumer Reports Money Book. In 2000, he caskets, we explained that we already understood then analyzed the data using SAS statistical soft- won a Loeb Award for his Consumer Reports expose about a widespread insurance industry rip-off involv- every casket might have different features but ware. Caskets were grouped broadly by material ing collision repair with shoddy auto parts. that we were interested in the broad categories, type (20-gauge steel; 18-gauge steel; premium

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

Arnold Diaz, ABC News, has covered a wide variety of consumer issues, including insurance fraud, credit discrimination and auto safety. At the 2000 IRE Regional Conference in Washington, D.C., he offered most of these tips for reporters investigating and developing consumer stories: One of the best ways to develop consumer story ideas is through the old-fashioned cultivation of good sources. Stay plugged into grass- roots organizations, consumer advocacy groups, Internet sites, better business bureaus, attorney general offices, government agencies, police fraud units and consumer and specialty publications. Pay attention to viewer or reader mail; often this is the first place where you will hear about the rumblings of a larger problem. Don’t forget to listen to friends, neighbors and “Aunt Martha’s complaints” at the dinner table. Also, when developing consumer reports, remember to keep in mind the basic presentation elements you will need to turn all your infor- mation into a good package.

Here are some suggested places to find consumer ideas and to do Medical sites research: Harvard Medical School Online (www.med.harvard.edu) Consumer groups Offers the latest medical research information. Johns Hopkins Medical Center (www.jhbmc.jhu.edu ) National Consumers League (www.nclnet.org) The latest information on clinical advances and medical news. News on consumer topics and the latest in consumer fraud issues. Mayo Clinic Magazine (www.mayohealth.org) National Fraud Information Center (www.fraud.org) Medical news. Offers the latest in consumer fraud information and includes links to other consumer sites. American Medical Association (www.ama-assn.org) Latest medical news, archives and experts. National Association of Insurance Commissioners (www.naic.org) Public Citizen (www.citizen.org) Offers information on insurance companies and vehicle for con- Grass-roots organization that tracks various consumer interest sumer complaints. issues. Complaints.com (www.complaints.com) A searchable database of consumer complaints and suggestions. Consumer law Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (www.tlpj.org) Scam Busters (www.scambusters.com) Lists current consumer lawsuits. A collection of consumer fraud stories and links. National Consumer Law Center (www.consumerlaw.org) National Association of Better Business Bureaus Advocacy and research organization. (www.bbb.org) Check a company’s complaint record. Government agencies Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) National Association of Attorneys General (www.naag.org) Nonprofit organization, researches and tests consumer goods and services. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov)

American Council on Consumer Interests National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.consumerinterests.org) (www.nhtsa.gov) Provides consumer information in a variety of areas. Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov) Center for Science in the Public Interest (www.cspinet.org) Postal Inspection Service (www.usps.gov/postalinspectors) Conducts research, education and advocacy on health and nutri- tion-related issues. Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov)

MAY/JUNE 2002 27 C O V E R S T O R Y

consumers who was told a in which refunds were awarded case was being dropped knew long after the AG had washed her that the attorney general was hands of the case. in fact claiming the case as a At first, we looked for obvi- BOGUS “success.” ously suspect refunds – say, Here’s how we tracked the where the amount of the refund story: We cleaned up the data so was greater than the total cost of REFUNDS that we could track each complaint’s prog- the product. ress through the system. The database had Using that list, we began calling con- multiple entries for each case. We worked up sumers. We made some calls for small our own coding system and had to manually refunds, but overall we found that people recode thousands of records so that we could whose problems were worth $2,000 or eliminate duplicates and track the movement more remembered details better. Our strat- of each case through the office. We coded egy was to first ask consumers about the cases as “final action’’ when the attorney original problem before asking them about general either referred them to another the refund. They seemed to remember better CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 agency or sent the consumer a letter saying if we plugged into the thing that really both- the consumers, so no standard audit of the she couldn’t help them. It was tedious work, ered them (remember, they didn’t know the office would uncover the inflated claims. but when we linked this “final action’’ table AG was claiming them as successes) and it And because the restitution numbers were with the restitution figures, we were imme- also gave us rich details to use later in the only reported in aggregate, none of the diately able to identify suspect cases – those story. From the start, about 50 percent of the The Plain Dealer Plain The

Chris Stephens Chris

Robert Ratliff helps his wife, Patricia, step over a moat that has developed around a home they were having built. The foundation did not pass inspection, the builders abandoned the project and the Ratliff family was forced to sell the lot. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office claimed to have saved the couple $288,516.

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

refunds. In writing our story, Brown and I decided not to use names of companies because we The Plain Dealer Plain The were afraid that there would be so much

back-and-forth between companies and consumers that it would take over the story. Phil Long Phil It was a tough choice for us, but we think it was the right one. By making it, we man- aged to keep the spotlight on the attorney general’s relationship with the consumers who turned to her for help. Another thing I think we did right is that we loaded the story with anecdotes. Every time we introduced a new concept, there was a real person right there in the story to sort of take a reader’s hand and say, “look, here’s how this worked, here’s how it affected me.” Those anecdotes made what was essentially Rose Bates, who complained to the attorney general’s office about unfinished repairs at her Findlay, Ohio, an ethics story a compelling read. home, looks through a broken window of her garage. Next to getting and cleaning up the data, Brown and I found the most difficult part of people denied having received the amount were bogus or that refunds had actually the project was wrangling over what kinds the attorney general cited. Some said they been obtained by, say, the Better Business of cases to allow and disallow. We were got refunds through other means. And still Bureau or another government agency. If really in unfamiliar territory, and we had to others said their cases remained unresolved. the outcome wasn’t clear from the file, we do a lot of soul-searching to make sure we In our first 10 phone calls, we had identified contacted the consumers’ attorneys or the were being fair to both readers and to the $250,000 in disputed refunds. companies themselves for clarification. attorney general’s office. If you decide to Companies were frequently helpful – they try a story like this – and I have to believe didn’t want it said they’d been forced to give there are other agencies indulging in this We were surprised how a consumer a refund when they hadn’t. kind of puffing – you might find that aspect } clear it was from the less daunting. Spotlight on consumers As a result of our story, the National correspondence in the We found it crucial to immerse our- Association of Consumer Agency Admin- files that figures were selves in the agency’s lingo. Included in istrators is drawing up a “best practices” the agency’s calculation of restitution were manual to guide agencies in claiming res- bogus or that refunds “savings,” which had a cash equivalent but titution. It’s due out this summer. had actually been wasn’t actually cash (an example would be when a collections company forgave a debt). Sheryl Harris covers consumer affairs for the obtained by, say, the It was important for us to understand that Cleveland Plain Dealer. T.C. Brown covers Better Business Bureau distinction when we questioned consumers state issues from the paper’s Columbus and wrote the story. In all, we interviewed bureau. or another government and read the files of 162 of the 772 con- agency. ~ sumers who received refunds of $2,000 or more. We had hoped to interview more, but rumors began circulating that the attorney If consumers agreed with the attorney general might be looking for a new post. general’s figure, we marked the case in her When we could show that a quarter of the favor and went on. We did the same thing if dollars claimed were bogus, we decided to the consumer couldn’t remember or made publish. If we had to do it again, we’d save no sense (we had a couple of those). When time by making the cutoff $5,000, starting a consumer disputed the refund, we got case with the largest refunds and working our files either from the consumer himself or way down. from the attorney general’s office. Before the story ran, the attorney gener- We were surprised how clear it was from al’s office conceded there were mistakes and the correspondence in the files that figures told us it was changing the way it calculated

MAY/JUNE 2002 29 FEATURES

TRUCKING PROJECTS For those planning a similar project:

Kansas City Star City Kansas • Get to know the industry inside and out.

• Get out of the office and talk to truckers. • Seek out those who regulate the industry to find out their concerns. • Spend time with the industry officials.

Marcio Jose Sanchez Sanchez Jose Marcio • Talk to victims and their families to put a human face on the issue. • Attend trucking conventions. This is a great place to conduct interviews, meet officials and truckers, and pick up tons of literature about the industry. • Read as many trucking publications as you can. • Order your databases as early as possible. • Be prepared for the reaction. Truckers talk More than 4,000 trucks a day enter the United States at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas, one of 27 a lot among themselves, and they can be commercial border crossings. extremely defensive when they feel they’re under attack. When you are criticized, it’s best to keep your cool and respond as KEEP ON politely as possible. In several cases, truck- ers who were upset at first were shocked that I took the time to get in touch with them and ended up being supportive after TRUCKIN’ we talked. Reporter takes the wheel were not aware of any cases in which the to track exhausted drivers reporter actually was the trucker. To bolster my knowledge of the issue, I read numerous books about trucking and deregulation, scoured dozens of studies dating BY JUDY THOMAS back to the 1930s about trucker fatigue, and THE KANSAS CITY STAR read detailed trucker surveys and every trucking publication I could get my hands on. (Most truck stops have good supplies usually refer to it as “my former over the next decade. Lawmakers also ordered of those.) life.” the agency to revise the decades-old federal Another major source of information was From 1980 to 1986, I was a cross- hours-of-service regulations that mandate accident reports, which I generally had to country trucker, hauling everything how long truckers can drive at a stretch. order from the states in which the crashes from racehorse oats to aluminum coils in I went to my editors with an idea: Let me occurred. I also extensively used the Depart- I ment of Transportation’s truck-safety data- an 18-wheeler. Ever since I quit driving, I rent an 18-wheeler and drive it around the wanted to go back on the road and write about country to experience firsthand the problems base (http://ai.volpe.dot.gov), which provides the trucking industry. plaguing the industry. They told me to go details on vehicle and driver inspections as Last year, the timing seemed perfect. Not for it. well as accident information. only was the North American Free Trade Other publications had tackled the issues Among the hundreds of sources inter- Agreement (NAFTA) issue of allowing Mexi- of unsafe trucks and horrendous crashes, but viewed were current and former truckers, can trucks full access to U.S. highways about we decided to focus on the drivers – specifi- trucking industry officials, federal and state to be resolved, but Congress had recently cre- cally fatigued drivers – and on the government truck inspectors, safety advocates, sleep ated a new agency, the Federal Motor Carrier regulations designed to keep tired truckers experts, lawmakers, families of crash victims Safety Administration, and charged it with off the highways. We’d seen stories in which and heads of trucking companies. reducing truck-related fatalities by 50 percent reporters had ridden with truck drivers, but With the help of Star database editor Greg-

30 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES ory Reeves, I analyzed hundreds of thousands DATABASES of truck crash records and safety reports. I also visited weigh stations and hung out with The Star’s database editor Gregory Reeves and converts dates to useable fields for officers who conduct roadside inspections to and I obtained several U.S. Department of journalists, then produces the files in a see firsthand the kinds of violations they Transportation databases for this project. database format after careful data integ- found. In the early stages of my research, I • The Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or rity checks. In addition, NICAR is in the spent hour after hour in truck stop parking lots, observing and listening to truckers on FARS, maintained by the National Highway process of making “truck inspection” data my CB radio. I also drove 1,000 miles to a Traffic Safety Administration, is a census of available to journalists.] national trucking convention, using the travel fatal crashes involving any motor vehicle • FARS provided accurate numbers on time to further my research by listening to traveling on a public traffic way. FARS is truck-related fatal crashes, and the MCMIS – and interviewing – truckers on the CB. recognized as the most reliable national truck census listed safety ratings and other And I drove a semi 6,000 miles through crash database. information about commercial truck carri- 15 states, delivering medical supplies and • The Motor Carrier Management Information ers. However, the MCMIS file suffered from paper products for a local charity in four System (MCMIS) truck census database is cities, sleeping and showering at truck stops major data errors and huge omissions. For and talking to truckers along the way. Our maintained by the DOT’s Federal Motor example, it contained a horrendous crash travels included a stop in Laredo, Texas, Carrier Safety Administration and contains in 1998 that killed 700 people. When we where photographer Marcio Jose Sanchez information on the country’s nearly 600,000 checked it out, we found that the crash was and I spent two days at the border, watching trucking companies. actually a non-injury accident between a federal officials conduct truck inspections and • The MCMIS truck crash database, also main- truck and a car. We also found that the interviewing truckers about the NAFTA. tained by the FMCSA, is intended to be a database included only about 80 percent Working out the logistics of renting the census of trucks and buses involved in fatal, of all reportable (tow-away or worse) truck rig and finding a load to haul were fairly simple. The difficulty was in the actual load- injury and tow-away crashes. Some states, crashes, making summary rankings impos- ing, unloading, driving and reporting out on however, do not report all those crashes. sible. With the DOT roadside inspection file, the road. I wanted to make the experience as MCMIS is the only national crash database we compared inspections to DOT truck close to that of a regular trucker as possible, that identifies truck carriers by name. mileage figures by state to derive a chart so I worked long days and ran hard, in addi- • The DOT roadside inspection file, which of miles between inspections. On average, tion to conducting interviews. I encountered contains detailed information about the we found that trucks travel 80,000 miles bad roads, steep mountain grades in thick 2.2 million truck and driver inspections without being inspected, a figure that was fog, major congestion and stressful situations performed each year. We were able to down- shocking to many readers. when it came time to make deliveries with a 70-foot rig in tight, cramped places. load the FARS database free of charge. The Because of the problems with other What we found from the trips and the census database cost $300, and the crash databases, I began concentrating instead research was disturbing: Fatigue behind the database was $500. (Both are now avail- on an electronic inspection system kept wheels of 80,000-pound rigs is so pervasive able for free on the Web.) We purchased by federal regulators. The system, called on U.S. highways that drivers regularly nod the truck census and truck-crash databases SafeStat (found at http://ai.volpe.dot.gov), off and drift into oncoming lanes or slam into from a private government contractor that uses accident and roadside inspection slower-moving vehicles. Sleepy truckers, had little or no familiarity with the data, and data to help rate motor carriers in four driving far beyond their limits just to make a had to make numerous calls to get them to areas: crashes, drivers, vehicles and safety living in an industry that thrives on low pay and long hours, were causing hundreds of correct problems with it. We got the inspec- management. deaths a year, and perhaps thousands. tion database from IRE. I carefully collated and cross-refer- But at a time when truck traffic is on the [Note: IRE and NICAR provide FARS, enced the files, and several patterns increase, federal oversight is dwindling. truck accident and truck census data- began to emerge: The government’s Inspections of trucking companies are so bases. NICAR’s most recent update of FARS much-touted inspection system few that three-fourths of all carriers have enhanced the dataset significantly by the was not delivering. Most companies never been visited. And completed reviews use of SAS software, allowing a translation of weren’t inspected – even some that are so weak that companies with documented the heavily coded material to plain English. clearly should have been under the problems continue to operate without sanc- tions. Moreover, the inspection stations on NICAR then made the database available in system’s own criteria. And others that the nation’s highways are frequently closed, a commonly used database format. NICAR were inspected were able to escape allowing the average truck to travel more than also uses “truck accident” and “truck census” with glowing ratings despite histories 80,000 miles between inspections. data in raw text form, adds documentation of problems and violations. CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 ×

MAY/JUNE 2002 31 FEATURES

Congress has called for reform and estab- lished deadlines, but only a few lawmakers have pushed the issue. And while federal

regulators promise to act, they continue to Star City Kansas miss almost every deadline Congress sets. And then there’s NAFTA. As The Star pre- pared to publish the series, Congress reached a compromise on safety issues involving NAFTA, agreeing to open U.S. highways to

Mexican trucks in 2002. The agreement was Sanchez Jose Marcio hailed by all sides for increasing safety stan- dards and protecting American motorists. But we found that while the NAFTA compromise did indeed improve safety of Mexican trucks, it didn’t address the almost certain problems that the country’s exhausted drivers will pres- ent on U.S. highways. The resulting series, “Dead Tired: On the Road with Weary Truckers,” ran in The Kansas City Star over three days in Decem- “Something’s got to change,” says Wisconsin trucker Scott Voyles, who wearily finishes dinner at a truck stop in McLean, Ill. ber. Even though the project was published just WEB RESOURCES before the holidays, it received a good deal One of the most useful Web sites was www.safersys.org, which lets you access the Department of of attention. At least a dozen newspapers ran Transportation’s Safety and Fitness Electronic Records System database. The database contains motor versions of it, and several trucking publica- carrier safety data and allows the user to search for a trucking company by name or DOT number. tions wrote follow-up stories. I’ve received Another site I used was http://ai.volpe.dot.gov. Sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety hundreds of e-mails and phone calls, the Administration, this site contains SafeStat, which provides information about truck crashes and majority of which have been supportive. The biggest critic has been the American inspections. It also has a section called Crash Profiles Online, which provides detailed, state-by-state Trucking Associations, which predictably information about truck crashes. labeled it “anti-trucking” and argued that Here are some others: fatigue is not as big an issue as we suggested. • www.dot.gov – U.S. Department of Transportation But even many truckers, who I thought might • www.ntsb.gov – National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates truck crashes be highly critical of the series, thanked us for and trucking companies raising some crucial issues. A trucker from • www.fmcsa.dot.gov – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the DOT agency Maine wrote that The Star’s stories “are not a that regulates truck safety denigration of the trucking industry; they are • www.nhtsa.gov – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration a clear and loud call for action on the part of • www.fhwa.dot.gov – Federal Highway Administration both government and the industry.” • www.ire.org/datalibrary – IRE and NICAR Some truckers have provided tips that • www.patt.org – Parents Against Tired Truckers could lead to more follow-ups about the • www.saferoads.org – Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety problems we raised. Other truckers have told us their chilling tales of falling asleep at • www.citizen.org – Public Citizen the wheel, and families of victims killed by • www.trucksafety.org – Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways tired truckers have shared their horror sto- • www.cvsa.org – Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance ries as well. Several congressmen also have • www.ttnews.com – Transport Topics, trucking’s electronic newspaper for trucking executives expressed interest in investigating some of • www.roadking.com – Road King magazine, for truck drivers the serious issues we uncovered. • www.etrucker.com – Links to Truckers New, geared toward drivers; Overdrive magazine for owner- operators; and Commercial Carrier Journal for trucking executives Judy L. Thomas is a projects reporter for The • www.landlinemag.com – Land Line magazine, for owner-operators Kansas City Star. Last year, Thomas won a • www.thetrucker.com – The Trucker, for drivers and management national Society of Professional Journalists award for her series, “AIDS in the Priesthood.” • www.ooida.com – Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association She is the co-author of Wrath of Angels: The • www.truckload.org – Truckload Carriers Association American Abortion War, which was published • www.trucking.org – American Trucking Associations by Basic Books in 1998. • www.teamster.org – International Brotherhood of Teamsters

32 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

be subject to immediate suspension of his police powers.” HIDDEN Under those rules, Cottey had repeatedly committed the same offense he has punished others for. In one case, the department even CAMERA conducted a surveillance operation on one of its own deputies after receiving a tip that he was drinking off duty and then driving his patrol Undercover work shows car. He and others inside the department were sheriff drinking, driving charged with violating the rules despite never being made to take breath tests. BY GERRY LANOSGA So what did the sheriff have to say about it AND KATHLEEN JOHNSTONOF all? We’d love to know, but he refused to talk WTHR – INDIANAPOLIS to us and dodged our impromptu attempts to speak with him. He did tell The Indianapolis or investigative reporters looking for the inside surveillance work every couple of Star that he doesn’t drink while on duty and has to expose wrongdoing or abuse of days. Meanwhile, other WTHR staffers waited never driven drunk. But later, his attorney faxed

power, rule number one is to follow outside to videotape the sheriff driving away CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 × the money. But some stories call for in his car. Fliterally following someone. That was the case Overall, we ended up deploying more than with WTHR’s investigation into one of the most 20 staff members to the undercover effort. We Available tipsheets powerful politicians in Indiana – Marion County spent countless hours following and observing Sheriff Jack Cottey. The provocative story we Cottey as he went through his daily routine – and For tips on surveillance and undercover cam- came up with showed how old-fashioned tech- that often included bars. At times, the work was eras, consider these from The IRE Resource niques like undercover surveillance – when done frustrating as we lost track of his whereabouts in Center: right – can provide evidence that documents and heavy traffic or on the interstates. But in the end, • Tipsheet No. 1185 – Undercover bodywear. databases can’t. the work yielded results. We were able to air a This tipsheet, offered by Bob Read of Inside The story started, as you might expect, with story that contrasted Cottey’s public image as a a tip – that Cottey was regularly drinking, often crusader against drinking and driving (he serves Edition, gives a of camera basics during the workday, and then driving his county on the governor’s Council for Impaired and Dan- for undercover investigations. Read lists the car. Actually, there were numerous tips. Given gerous Driving), with his own habit of crossing pros and cons of various types of cameras, the sheriff’s past problems with drinking on the line when it came to his department’s rules recorders and remotes. duty (he admitted as much in an old newspaper on drinking. • Tipsheet No. 703 – The case for undercover article), it was worth taking a look. cameras. At the 1997 IRE Phoenix Conference, Our first order of business was to map out Higher standards panelists from investigative teams around how to do such a sensitive and potentially explo- Over the three-week period that we followed the country offered a list of suggestions for sive story. Our station sets a high standard for Cottey (not including weekends), we witnessed reporters who are considering undercover using undercover video. Generally, the standard him drinking and then driving on repeated occa- work and using hidden cameras. is that we will use the technique when the infor- sions during both the daytime and early evening. mation needed for the story can’t be gathered We learned his favorite spots and favorite drinks • Tipsheet No. 975 – The tactics and ethics in any other way. That was certainly the case – like vodka and grapefruit juice. And when he of the hidden camera. Robert Steele of with this story. was done, he got behind the wheel of his county- The Poynter Institute gives his checklist for We also decided that it wouldn’t be enough owned car most every time. On or off duty, it was reporters tackling the logistics and ethics of to see the sheriff going into a bar a couple of a clear violation of the department’s rules. hidden cameras in newsgathering. times. Rather, we had to be inside on repeated Was the sheriff legally drunk? We couldn’t • Tipsheet No. 1391 – Legal tips for investiga- occasions and witness the liquor being poured – and didn’t – say. What we could say is that tive reporting. At the Chicago IRE National into the glass and the glass going to his lips. sheriff’s department employees are held to a Conference 2001, lawyers teamed up to dole With that dictate, we began an intensive under- higher standard than state law on driving while out advice on when hidden camera use is cover effort. intoxicated. First, they’re forbidden to consume appropriate, necessary and legally defen- It quickly became clear that having one alcohol while on duty. Second, the rules say no or two people undercover was not going to member shall operate “a county-owned vehicle, sible. This tipsheet presents key questions be sufficient for the task. To obtain the video whether on duty or off duty, while under the all reporters should ask, as well as tips for evidence we wanted, our people – equipped influence of intoxicating beverages.” And third, protecting against litigation. with hidden cameras – were required at times just the odor of alcohol on the breath of a depart- To order, call 573-882-3364, or visit to be in very close proximity to Cottey. Conse- ment member may be considered “presumptive www.ire.org/resourcecenter. quently, we were forced to substitute new faces evidence of intoxication and the member may

MAY/JUNE 2002 33 BOOKS

Investigative Reporters,” contains valuable les- sons for today, as well as an anecdotal history NEW BOOKS of the craft. I’ve re-read portions of that book at least a dozen times because it is so instructive FOCUS ON about technique, so inspirational about results. “The News About the News” is not meant to be about investigative journalism, but in many JOURNALISM’S ways that craft is the basis for how Downie and Kaiser evaluate the performance of news organizations. In their chapter on local television news, for instance, they write: “The investigative DARK SIDE reporting suggested or prepackaged by consul- tants [outsiders hired to boost ratings] tended to be small-bore, look-alike consumer-protection BY STEVE WEINBERG stories rather than real digging that could hold THE IRE JOURNAL government, business or other powerful people and institutions accountable to local citizens. But stations could buy these stories and put them eonard Downie Jr. is the top editor at of large-city daily newspapers. But many other right on the air for a small fraction of what it The Washington Post, where he has daily newspapers are dreadful, they say. As for would cost in the salaries and resources needed worked since 1964. Robert G. Kaiser television news coverage at the network and local for real investigative reporting.” is among the senior editors at the Post, levels, forget about it, Downie and Kaiser say. Downie and Kaiser find occasional pieces Lwhere has worked since 1963. Before collaborat- Almost all television newsrooms have abdicated of investigative reporting to praise amidst their ing on this book about the state of U.S. print and their responsiblities to place breaking stories in gloom: “The best local television news can broadcast journalism, Downie had written three context as well as to conduct make a difference. KTVX in books on his own, Kaiser five books. long-form investigative journal- Salt Lake City won a Murrow In other words, these guys are part of the ism. For the mostly sorry state award in 1999 for its investi- journalism establishment. But they do not act of intelligent journalism, blame gative reporting of evidence of like it. They are bearish about the craft that has corporate chain ownership, they corruption in the bidding pro- nurtured them and that they in turn have influ- say. Blame the unreasonable cess that won Salt Lake City enced. Downie and Kaiser praise a small number profit margins demanded by the 2002 Winter Olympics. Wall Street traders and stock- Detroit’s WXYZ revealed holders, too. that the state of Michigan had While most of the Downie- forcibly sterilized thousands Kaiser criticisms are warranted of men, women and children in kind if not in degree, the institutionalized as mentally authors fail to survey the entire retarded before World War II. landscape. For example, maga- WANE in Fort Wayne, Ind., zines (such as Mother Jones), used the emotional power of alternative weekly newspapers THE NEWS ABOUT THE NEWS: television to educate viewers (such as the Village Voice) and American Journalism in Peril about organ donations through books (including many of those By Leonard Downie Jr. the powerfully told story of and Robert G. Kaiser listed annually in the Janu- Knopf, 2002 two children’s lives saved with ary-February issue of The IRE organs donated by the family of Journal), whether published by big corporations an Indiana boy. Houston’s KHOU first reported or small independents, are ignored by Downie that Firestone tires on Ford Explorer sport util- and Kaiser as part of the media landscape. Yet ity vehicles were involved in dozens of fatal magazines, alternative weeklies and books yield accidents across the country.” much of the best in-depth journalism year in, Almost every tidbit of praise is leavened a year out. few paragraphs later, as when Downie and Kaiser Although Kaiser has done some investiga- say, “Yet even news directors who are able to get tive journalism, Downie’s name is more closely better coverage on the air mix good journalism associated with that craft. He reported and wrote with mayhem and frivolity to hold viewers’ atten- excellent investigative pieces for the Post before tion. The three major stations in Minneapolis, for becoming an editor. Downie’s 1976 book, “The example, which have won awards and national New Muckrakers: An Inside Look at America’s attention for the noteworthy quantity and quality

34 THE IRE JOURNAL BOOKS of their community coverage, featured rapes and whether to publish a story about a love affair and thus hard to finish. A few are so shrill as to drive-by shootings, bear wrestling and dolphin involving Republican presidential candidate Bob feel unpleasant and lose credibility. The book slaughters, along with good local stories about Dole close to election day. contains some documentable inaccuracies. For schools, the environment, highways and the example, Carl Jensen in “What Happened to homeless on their evening newscasts during INTO THE BUZZSAW Good Old-Fashioned Muckraking?” not only is several weeks we sampled ...” As they discuss investigations done well and misguided (in my opinion) about the current state Downie and Kaiser handle newspapers the poorly, Downie and Kaiser make two brief refer- of investigative journalism, but he says the 1976 same way they handle television networks and ences in their book to the crash of TWA Flight murder of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles stations —mention of a few bright spots, sweep- 800 over Long Island, N.Y. Judging by their “led to the creation of Investigative Reporters ing criticism of the rest. At the beginning of the phrasing, Downie and Kaiser believe the crash and Editors.” IRE had been founded the year book, to show how in-depth reporting can lead occurred because of a spontaneous explosion before Bolles’ murder. to positive change, Downie and Kaiser make in a fuel tank on board. Nowhere do they give Okay, enough carping. Although the book is, brief references to recent investigations by the credence to the possibility that a U.S. military unfortunately, less than the sum of its parts, it is Chicago Tribune, The (Newark) Star-Ledger, missile being tested in the area brought down worth reading. Most of the pieces are excellently The Oregonian, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the civilian air craft. presented, covering topics vital to investigative and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The acceptance by Downie and Kaiser of that journalists. The two pieces that jumped out at Later, however, Downie and Kaiser point to official version would almost certainly lead to an me are about the TWA crash. One is by David The Philadelphia Inquirer to show how a one- angry rebuttal, combined with a pensive “I told E. Hendrix of the Riverside (Calif.) Press time paragon of investigative journalism can be you so,” from Kristina Borjesson, an independent Enterprise, the other, as noted, by Borjesson. neutered by corporate profit-and-loss statements. television producer who investigated the TWA How each one of them became involved in Most of the story is familiar to those who par- crash for CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes. the investigation of the TWA crash, how they ticipate in or follow investigative journalism. Her 43-page piece about how she tried to learn overcame reporting obstacles, how their amaz- With Gene Roberts in charge of the newsroom, and disseminate the truth about that 1996 air ing revelations got buried amid what appears to the Inquirer took investigative reporting to new disaster is one of 18 pieces in the new book be an unconscionable official cover-up by civil- heights. Then Roberts departed because of the she edited, “Into the Buzzsaw.” ian and military government pressure to increase profit margins. Downie Almost every one of those 18 is agencies, how they suffered and Kaiser add a twist, however, diluting the simultaneously depressing and individually for pursuing the homage normally paid to Roberts: “Although uplifting – depressing because truth ... wow! I’ve heard (not the Inquirer under Roberts was certainly a hot gutsy investigative journalists to mention written and edited) paper, it was never a great paper. It had flashes took on government and/or hundreds of similar stories in of sheer genius, and produced many elaborate corporate institutions only to be the past, but these are especially investigative projects, but its daily coverage attacked, uplifting because those gripping. A third essay, by New of Philadelphia, the country and the world was journalists refuse to give up. York Observer columnist Philip erratic and incomplete ...” Full disclosure: One of the Weiss, gives prominent men- Downie and Kaiser provide three extended 18 chapters is by Brant Houston, tion to his own reporting on examples of investigative journalism in the book IRE’s executive director. He did TWA 800. Like Hendrix and – one from The New York Times, two (one upbeat, not assign this book review; I Borjesson, Weiss rejects the one not so upbeat) from their own newspaper. asked to do it. Nor did he edit government explanation in The Times investigation, conducted by Doug it. By the way, Houston’s piece, favor of the missile theory. Frantz, recounted how what many people con- “The Light That Won’t Go Out,” INTO THE BUZZSAW: Naturally, the book contains sider to be the commercial cult of Scientology is an anomaly in the book. It Leading Journalists Expose references to what happened in the Myth of a Free Press prevailed at the Internal Revenue Service to win emphasizes the positive, as he Edited by Kristina Borjesson , Washington, tax-exempt status. The Downie-Kaiser version pays homage to mentors and Prometheus, 2002 D.C., and rural Pennsylvania reads much like the kind of narrative-driven, colleagues who showed him on Sept. 11. In the wake of that technique-laden accounts found in Downie’s the way to first-rate investigative reporting. day, Borjesson comments that “now, more than 1976 book, as well as the type of piece found in Like the other pieces in the book, it is written in ever, we need a critical press willing to dig deep almost every issue of The IRE Journal. first person. Unlike the other pieces, it does not and cut the stenographer-to-official sources act. The exemplary Post investigation uncovered focus on newsroom managers and their corporate We need to find out why and how this could why Washington, D.C., police were shooting and bosses caving in to the government and corpo- happen. At this time, when our lives are threat- killing more civilians than any other force in the rate establishments. Just the opposite, as Houston ened and plans for hostilities are being made and nation. The not-so-exemplary Post investiga- recounts satisfying investigations completed at carried out on our behalf, we need to be vigilant tion failed to adequately expose immoral and The Kansas City Star and Hartford Courant. and to stay well informed.” probably illegal activities by President Ronald With that disclosure out of the way, first a Reagan and some of his followers in Iran and brief evaluation of the book as a whole. It is Steve Weinberg is senior contributing editor to Nicaragua. The final extended example relates uneven, as might be expected of such a col- The IRE Journal and a former executive director the debate within the Post newsroom about lection. A few of the pieces are poorly written, of IRE.

MAY/JUNE 2002 35 FEATURES

openrecseries.html, with links to the stories.] WASHINGTON The first stories in this multi-part series ran last October, four months after newspapers sent staff members out to make the initial requests. JOURNALISTS TEST The planning, however, began even earlier with meetings of editors and organization leaders in the spring. PUBLIC RECORDS The group settled on three main objectives: see whether public employees know the law and follow it; make the requests as regular citizens ACCESS and not as members of the media; and get news- BY PAULA LAVIGNE SULLIVAN papers across the state involved in the project. THE (TACOMA) NEWS TRIBUNE The group reasoned that agencies were used to giving information to reporters. Reporters know ou would think that someone Our findings resulted in “Washington: Your how to get the information and often are directed had walked up to the counter and right to know,” a series of stories that examined to public information officers familiar with what demanded the combination to the how well Washington’s public disclosure law they have to release. We wanted to know what office safe based on the reactions of was working in local government agencies. The would happen if Joe or Jane Citizen wanted the aY few clerks when responding to a request for a project relied on a lot of coordination and didn’t same information. copy of a public document. always go smoothly, but we learned a lot about That confusion is what many “undercover” how to do this and we made some interesting Real people requests citizens in Washington encountered during a findings as a result of the audit. The project would have the most impact if it statewide audit of how easy, or how difficult, it The audit revealed there was much uncer- involved newspapers from all over Washington. was for people to get copies of records that state tainty and conflict regarding the law among By joining together – either by making public law said they could have. almost every type of agency we visited. Law disclosure requests, writing the stories, or The survey was the first of its kind to enforcement agencies refused us the most, publishing the series – journalists helped show examine Washington’s Public Records Act. It which we expected. local and state agencies all over the state that we involved 25 newspapers from across the state, [Open records surveys have been conducted by were serious about public disclosure laws. And The and the Washington News- news organizations in several states. A compilation it showed that regular citizens should care as paper Publishers Association. can be found at http://web.missouri.edu/~foiwww/ much as the media. We picked agencies with which people were Practical advice likely to have contact, including police and sheriff departments, health departments, assessor offices Sounds like a great game plan, but we did run should they ask the clerk for a release-of- and school districts. into a few unexpected plays. To give you an information form to fill out or should they There was a long discussion about what docu- idea of the type of problems we had, here’s wait to see if someone offers one to them? ments we should request, but as a guideline we some advice on how to avoid those problems • For each type of document requested, decide settled on seeking information real people might for anyone else considering such a project: ahead of time what compliance means. If you need, and we tried to keep the requests simple • Make sure everyone is on board with the ask for a police report, does the agency comply and standardized. project weeks before sending people out if the sergeant on duty happens to be the one Here’s what we decided upon, making these to request the documents. Making the who filled out the report and just tells you what requests in each of Washington’s 39 counties: requests on the same day in every county occurred? If you ask for a list of sex offenders, • A list of sex offenders from the sheriff’s office. is important so as not to tip off agencies does it count if the agency points you to a Web • A property crime incident report from the largest from other counties. site but doesn’t give you an actual document? If police department, smallest police department • Know the law and its exemptions before you want a restaurant inspection, do you want and sheriff’s office. deciding what to ask for and make your the whole report or just a list of what regula- • A restaurant inspection from the health depart- request as specific as possible. tions the restaurant failed? ment. • If possible, get the name of all people the • Even if your state law specifies a time by which • A home’s value and taxes due from the assessor- requestors speak with. This will help when the agency must respond, decide how long you treasurer’s office. making follow-up calls and when verifying want to wait and how much follow-up contact • The superintendent’s contract from the largest school district and from one of the smallest or defending your results. you want to have with the agency before school districts. • Provide detailed instructions to the request- making a decision on whether it complied. There were good reasons to ask for these ors, including a list of, “what to do if,” so they Decide what to do if the agency is closed on • things. Now we had to decide how to ask for have standard responses to scenarios the the day you make the request or if the “right them, keeping in mind that we were making the agency might throw at them. For example, person” isn’t in to give you an answer. requests as regular citizens and couldn’t walk into

36 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES the office citing chapter and verse of the public • If denied, why? disclosure act, the way a journalist could. - Agency never We asked our people who were making the responded. queries to go the main desk and simply ask the - Records unavailable receptionist or clerk for a copy of the document (copier broken, files they were requesting. If someone asked them for burned, etc.) their name or asked why they wanted the docu- - A response such as, ment, they were to respond with, “Do I have to “There’s nothing tell you that to get the information?” (Because that says they are they don’t have to under Washington law.) public” or “I don’t Tribune News The Duncan Livingston If the answer was yes, the person requesting want to.” the document was to provide his or her name - Quoted an exemp- and home address and telephone number, if also tion in the law. If so, which one? required. Kandi Osborn, mother of murdered 15-year-old Jennie Osborn, turns away after If pressed for a reason, some said they just - No reason given. speaking prior to the sentencing of Joseph Rosenow, who was convicted of killing wanted the information for personal use while - Other. her daughter. Washington now has a law that requires sheriff’s departments to others stated again that they just wanted the maintain a list of Level III sex offenders that’s accessible to the public, and to provide it to local newspapers and on the departments’ Web sites. information, no reason given. Details of Beat reporters could be easily recognized, conversations especially in the smaller, more rural counties, so The requestors wrote down more details about Wide participation we asked that papers send people who did not the visit and dialogue from conversations with the normally deal with these agencies. At The News person or people at the agency. If they walked away We couldn’t have done any of this without Tribune, we called on copy editors, page design- without an answer, they gave the agency five days, the coordination of dozens of people. And the ers, interns and even a member of our information as per state law, to respond and then about two weeks three journalists who deserve the most credit technology department to act as “auditors.” (and sometimes more) to send the documents. for bringing everything together are Dale We needed people who were observant and The results were entered into a database. Leach, the AP bureau chief in Seattle, Laurie who could take good notes without looking We had to double-check and evaluate several Williams, assistant managing editor at the Tri- too obvious. They were supposed to act, dress forms and had to throw some out because the City Herald in Kennewick, and David Cuillier, and talk like a regular person just trying to get requestors did not follow the directions. We also had information. to re-evaluate several property crime requests and former city editor at the Everett Herald. They were not to give out any indication ended up giving wide latitude to law enforcement Daily newspapers participating in the they worked for the paper (thus the need to agencies in determining whether they complied. project were The (Tacoma) News Tribune, provide home phone numbers), nor were they When we presented the story, we made sure to The Olympian, The (Spokane) Spokesman- to call the agency from work, considering some tell our readers that this was not a scientific survey Review, The (Vancouver) Columbian, the law enforcement agencies might have caller but merely a sampling of agencies. The series Yakima Herald-Republic, the Tri-City Herald, identification. included sidebars on how we did the project and The (Everett) Herald, The Bremerton Sun, the Lying, however, was not permitted. If some- how the law is often debated, especially among law Eastside Journal, the Lewiston (Idaho) Morn- one asked, “Are you a reporter?” or “Do you work enforcement agencies. ing Tribune, the -Pullman Daily News, for a newspaper?” the requestors had to tell the Some agencies, including not surprisingly those The Aberdeen Daily World, the Peninsula Daily truth. They also could not make up bogus reasons that failed, saw our audit as an attack and questioned for wanting the information. our results, but we had a sound methodology and News, the Skagit Valley Herald, The Longview Auditors had a checklist of things to observe, reports to back it up. Daily News, The Wenatchee World, The Centra- such as whether they were asked for identification Having written the main story, many readers lia Chronicle, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, or a reason for wanting the record. sent their responses directly to me. I received a total the South County Journal and The Bellingham The other questions were: of about 25 calls, letters and e-mail messages from Herald. • Was the reason you wanted the record a require- people all across the state pleased with the series. Participating weekly newspapers were ment of getting the information? Many had problems getting public information the Davenport Times, Chinook Observer, The • Did you have to submit a request in writing? from local and state agencies themselves. Journal of the San Juan Islands, the Goldendale • Did you get the final answer (denied or approved) Personally, it did feel good to do something that Sentinel and The Wahkiakum County Eagle. on the first visit? If not, how many working days might make government agencies more account- The Associated Press, Washington Newspa- until you got an answer? able, especially when it involves something as • If you got the information, did you get a photo- important as public information. per Publishers Association and the William O. copy? If so, what was the cost per page? Douglas chapter of the Society of Professional • What was the contact person like? (Helpful, Paula Lavigne Sullivan is a reporter at The Journalists also supported the project. neutral or antagonistic.) News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. She covers local The entire project and our methodology government, Census 2000 and does most of the can be found at www.openwashington.com. newspaper’s work in computer-assisted reporting.

MAY/JUNE 2002 37 FEATURES

In Denver, we benefit from a philosophy of openness in our district attorney’s office. LETHAL FORCE The district attorney reviews all police shoot- ings that result in significant injury or death to Questions raised determine whether the officer should be charged about police shootings with a crime. This criminal review is, in theory, separate from the internal disciplinary process and official inquiries that became the focus of our stories. After making a determination about whether to prosecute, the district attorney’s office issues Y ARAH UNTLEY B S H a lengthy and detailed decision letter. When the AND OF BRIAN D. CRECENTE letter is released, so, too, are the investigative THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS files. The files, which include police reports, written statements and videotaped accounts eShawn Hollis insists he was bolt- cluded that the medical evidence contradicted given by officers and witnesses, are a gold ing. the police account. Hollis, now 16, is paralyzed mine. The seventh-grader had broken for life. And Officer Keith Cowgill remains on Using the reports, letters and our newspa- into a home with a friend. When the force, undisciplined and undeterred. per’s own archives, we created a database of policeD arrived, Hollis sprinted out the back From 1990 to 2000, Denver police officers more than 6,000 pieces of information, including door. Suddenly, a bullet hit him in the shoulder shot 91 people, 35 of them fatally. The city has names, dates, addresses, weapons, race and indi- blade, slicing through his spinal cord, forcing paid nearly $3.7 million to settle lawsuits and cators of erratic behavior or mental illness. him to the ground. claims filed by the injured and the families of To check our work and to fill gaps in some of The officer who fired the shot told his col- the dead. the data, we gave the police department a list of leagues the would-be burglar twirled and pointed But the officers involved were spared from the cases we were including and requested more a pistol at him. The boy admits he was armed a full and thorough investigation – and hardly information. Officials there provided us with a but says his only weapon – a broken and empty ever faced discipline – because of a secretive handful of additional cases and, at our specific handgun – was tucked in his waistband. and outdated internal review process that is request, a numerical breakdown of officers dis- Three years later, Denver taxpayers are out protected by police unions, the department’s ciplined in connection with shootings. a record $1.2 million, after city attorneys con- top brass and city hall. The Denver Police Department refused The Rocky Mountain News’ analysis of cop to release the names of the officers punished, shootings originated last July. That month, we basing their denial on a state law that protects were called to seven police shootings, three personnel records. As we continued to probe, by Denver officers, the others by surrounding however, we learned that the department had metropolitan agencies. created a spreadsheet of cases reviewed by Our interest was piqued by what we were the Firearms Discharge Review Board, an witnessing in our community and by The Wash- internal group made up of the department’s ington Post’s impressive series, published that top officials. same month, on police shootings in Prince We had already done extensive research George’s County [See the March-April 2002 on the discharge review board and determined edition of The IRE Journal]. it would play a major part in our stories. The The Post, as part of its work, compiled board is supposed to review every police shoot- police shooting fatality rates for the 50 larg- ing, including those that do not result in any est law enforcement agencies in the country. injuries, and come to a conclusion about whether Denver ranked among the 10 worst in several an officer followed departmental policy. categories. Police watchdog groups say this disciplinary Police officials here lambasted the Post’s review should be more comprehensive than any findings, complaining that the numbers didn’t criminal investigation because it goes beyond tell the whole picture. So we set out to find data the narrow focus of the law. By the chief’s own that would. admission, however, the Denver department’s Firearms Discharge Review Board rarely delves Shooting connections any further. From the beginning, we knew we wanted to The information in the spreadsheet backed include fatal and non-fatal shootings. A look at up our finding – in stark detail. just fatalities would introduce too many vari- Although the data included no names or ables, including the level of care provided by locations, cases were listed by date and by a our trauma centers. brief description. With some more persistent

38 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

questioning, we were able to match the indi- With the help of staff writer Peggy Lowe, we vidual entries to each of the shootings in our published seven articles in a two-day series. We database. worked with our online team to put a searchable Here’s what we found: database on our Web site, giving readers their • Of the 126 officers who shot people, five were first chance to search for information about disciplined. The most serious punishment was police shootings by several different fields, a three-day suspension plus a one-day fine. In including an officer’s name. four of the cases, the officers were penalized The stories received a mix of feedback, with not for shooting a person, but for shooting at some saying it was time someone took a closer a car. look at law enforcement conduct and others • More than a third of the people shot were accusing us of pounding on police officers. mentally ill, high on drugs or alcohol or acting Interestingly, many of the critics mentioned irrationally in the moments before officers Sept. 11, as if to suggest that scrutiny of law fired. Only seven survived. Denver police are enforcement was no longer appropriate after the planning to implement a new crisis intervention World Trade Center attacks. program in hopes of lowering these types of The police department had already started shootings in the future. looking into other models for civilian involve- • The Denver Police Department does not have ment, including the creation of a disciplinary a comprehensive, computerized method for review board that would include two non-police tracking officers or identifying possible prob- officers. That work continues. The Public Safety lems. A deputy chief said the current system is Review Commission, meanwhile, is re-drafting a “hodgepodge’’ that relies upon institutional its budget to request additional funding. memory and occasional reporting. • The city’s only citizen watchdog group, the Sarah Huntley and Brian D. Crecente cover police Public Safety Review Commission, has failed news for the Rocky Mountain News. “Calling the to bring meaningful oversight to police shoot- Shots” won the Best of Scripps Award for Novem- ings. The group’s advocates say the account- ber 2001 in the category of specialty reporting. The project, including the News’ searchable database, ability process is stymied by politics, a lack is available at http://cfapp.rockymountainnews.c of funding for full-time investigators and a om/deadlyforce growing caseload. Rocky Mountain News Hal Stoelzle Hal

DeShawn Hollis, who was 12 when he was shot by a Denver policeman three years ago while burglarizing a home, talks with his mother, Sophia Robinson, about the recent $1.2 million settlement of the family’s lawsuit against the city. Hollis is wearing a hooded jacket because his injuries have left him hypersensitive to the cold.

MAY/JUNE 2002 39 FEATURES

Lead paint were teens. And several had exhibited suicidal one step further, suggesting that we also pay CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 tendencies. the inspectors to generate a formal, detailed geo- plotted the tainted addresses to produce Clearly, we needed “hard” documentation and bonded report on every house for inclu- a stunning map of the city’s “hot zones.” Our or we ran the risk of producing a series that sion in our stories. in-house database manager, Bobby Schrott, would not compel official action. • Finally, and most importantly, we would then supplemented this with information from While brainstorming with projects editor ask each and every family we interviewed various proprietary and online databases. Jim Asher, we hit on three important ideas: to sign a formal privacy release granting us Property tax records, for example, were • The first was to focus our efforts on one the right to collect their children’s’ records instrumental in discerning which landlords and neighborhood, the hardest hit in the city. from hospitals, schools and juvenile courts management companies owned the most toxic • The second was to hire our own lead paint on their behalf. houses. And corporate charters, filed online inspectors to test the houses we visited and Fox Butterfield ofThe New York Times used with the Maryland Department of Assessments verify that they were, in fact, contaminated. the same method in producing his landmark and Taxation, helped unveil a variety of shell Then-Managing Editor Bill Marimow went 1996 book “All God’s Children” to reconstruct ownership schemes. the life of a notorious juvenile killer – and it Not surprisingly, the map precisely matched STORIES WORTH NOTING worked similar wonders for us. the most rundown rental wards in the city, In all, we wrote some 25 stories, charting Baltimore’s notorious Civil War era slums. If you’re interested in more stories on lead the misery, lost potential and wasted lives of They rank among the worst neighborhoods in paint poisoning, the IRE Resource Center has poisoned children, teens and adults. the nation for syphilis, drug overdoses, gun- these available: We detailed how landlords had exploited related spinal cord injuries, teen pregnancy, the city and state’s Swiss cheese enforcement illiteracy, abandoned housing and murder. • Story No. 17937 – In May 2001, Peter Lord system by using shell corporations to mask of The Providence (R.I.) Journal examined their ownership of properties where dozens Focusing the effort the lives of children who have suffered of kids had been poisoned. As our investigation progressed, we would irreparable damage as a result of lead And, quite by surprise, we found ourselves learn that lead paint is potentially a contribut- paint in their homes. Lord’s six-part series in the enviable position of being sought after ing factor in all of these pathologies. addressed the impact of lead-paint poi- by doctors, attorneys, researchers, advocacy groups and whistleblowers nationwide. They It was here that our canvassing began in soning on brain development and drew earnest, block-by-block, house-by-house, one told almost mirror-image horror stories from attention to the thousands of Rhode Island family at a time. In less than two weeks, we such cities as Providence, Chicago, Newark, had amassed dozens of stories about poisoned children who have been victims. Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New kids who went on to develop disciplinary prob- • Story No. 15687 – David Dietz of The San Orleans. lems and learning disorders that led them to Francisco Chronicle exposed the lack of As with asbestos, tobacco and guns before drop out of school and drift into trouble with response from city officials, despite an it, lead paint promises to be one of the major the law. 18-month-old program to reduce lead- stories of the coming decade, with tendrils in We quickly realized, however, that the story paint hazards in San Francisco. virtually every beat. was overwhelming us. We had too much anec- • Story No. 13772 – WPTV-TV in West Palm The stakes for kids like Tarik are undeni- dotal information, the stories were too simi- Beach, Fla., investigated the potential able, but thousands of middle-class youngsters lar and the lead paint hot zones sprawled all are poisoned every year, too, by improper danger of lead paint on old playground over the city. We needed to focus our effort home renovations and do-it-yourself painting equipment, which had not been tested somehow. projects that release lead dust into the air. We also found that many afflicted families by any federal, state or city government. If the response from readers is any indi- had credibility problems. Some parents were Lab results taken from nine Florida parks cation, we would do much to advance the strung out on drugs or alcohol, many had exposed high lead levels and led officials public interest by giving this plague wider criminal records. And in a city where fully half to immediately close eight parks. coverage. the population lives in transient rental housing, • Story No. 6401 – Using a confidential list families commonly lost medical records in the of subsidized apartments and their own Jim Haner is a staff writer for The (Baltimore) Sun, specializing in urban affairs and investiga- course of their nomadic drifting – so there was lead inspector, WCVB-TV in Needham, tive reporting. In 2000, he won the Freedom no way to immediately verify their claims. Mass. found that housing agencies were Then, there were the kids themselves. Forum Urban Journalist of the Year Award for placing families in homes known to con- reporting on children brain damaged by lead Most often, they were unable to concentrate tain dangerous levels of lead paint. paint. In 1998, he won IRE’s Tom Renner Award long enough to give a coherent account of as co-author of a series on how organized crime their own experience. Many were paranoid, For copies, call 573-882-3364, or visit syndicates exploited New Jersey’s lax money edgy and prone to flashes of anger. Almost all www.ire.org/resourcecenter. laundering laws. He has twice been a finalist had records of violent crime by the time they for the Pulitzer Prize.

40 THE IRE JOURNAL FEATURES

in the aftermath of Sept.11, in a journal titled SEVERAL TRANSPORTATION Roads and Bridges published by Scranton Gil- lette Communications, Inc. No link is provided to that company, but a search in Google leads AGENCIES COLLABORATE you to the company’s home page where you will find a link to Roads and Bridges. A click ON TRIS WEB SITE on “article archives” results in a search page BY CAROLYN EDDS of the publication’s archives, allowing you to THE IRE JOURNAL choose to search by author (Wilkins) and the January 2002 issue. One result will return with or background and the latest infor- some literature from prior years. a link to that article on the Web site. mation on transportation issues, a Some of the information is available in full If you return to your search of the TRIS good place to start is with Trans- text from TRIS, while in other cases the docu- database, the last result on the first page is an portation Research Information ment may need to be obtained from a different article about a forensic study of the terrorist ServicesF (TRIS). A collaborative effort of source. When a document is available in full attack damage from Concrete International. several transportation agencies, including the text online, a symbol and the phrase “E-Doc” This bibliographic description contains a link Transportation Research Board, the Bureau of is displayed next to the document title in the to the American Concrete Institute’s Web site, Transportation Statistics and the U.S. Depart- search results. where you can select a menu item for publica- ment of Transportation, TRIS is a bibliographic In some cases, a link is provided to the Web tions. Follow the link to Concrete International database with more than 450,000 records. It is site of the company that published the article. and you can search the archives to locate the updated monthly. Article availability on the company Web sites desired article. From the search result on this Information found in TRIS includes biblio- varies. Some organizations provide the article Web site, you can follow a link to purchase this graphic records about transportation research on their Web site at no charge while others make article for $20. After your purchase, you can from books, journal articles, technical reports it available for purchase. download the article from the Web site. If you and other media. It also includes information For example, a search of the phrase “ter- do not have $20 to spend on an article, check from federal, state, local and association pub- rorism” – limited to information published in to see if your newsroom library has a subscrip- lications and conference proceedings. the last year – returns 32 hits. The first hit is tion to Dialog, because it might be available Coverage in TRIS dates to the 1960s, with an article about highways playing a critical role there. Also, a local university might subscribe to that journal. In addition to obtaining background infor- mation on a current transportation issue, TRIS can help you find experts or organizations to contact for your story. Information can be found on a variety of transportation issues, including bicycle helmets, school buses, railroads, airplanes, bridges and barges. You also can search by the name of your state or city to find transportation information published about your area. TRIS is searchable by keyword, author, title, subject, publisher, journal or conference title. Searches can be restricted to the previous year, or you can go back five, 10 or even 20 years. The search tips page provides advice on narrowing your search, such as using quotes around an exact phrase or using an asterisk as a wildcard. The link to the search tips page is next to the “Submit” button.

Carolyn Edds is the Eugene S. Pulliam research director for IRE. She directs the IRE Resource Center and helps maintain Web resources. Search page: http://ntl.bts.gov/tris Search tips page at http://199.79.179.82/sundev/examples.cfm Description of TRIS coverage: www4.trb.org/trb/tris.nsf/web/tris_coverage?OpenDocument

MAY/JUNE 2002 41 FEATURES

FOI report IRE news

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 comes in. When last we heard a pitch for secrecy National Headliner Award for from our municipal utilities, the argument was Annenberg School of Journalism Investigative Reporting that impending deregulation would doom them Selden Ring Award • Duff Wilson and David Heath, The Seattle to competing with private companies that do not • Dave Saltonstall and Heidi Evans of the New York Times, for “Uninformed Consent.” have to disclose their records. Thankfully, Cali- Daily News for their investigation into alleged fornia’s deregulated power markets have given financial misconduct and childcare improprieties John Jacobs Award our legislature pause, but the logic behind the at Hale House, a Harlem shelter for women and (Center for California Studies at latest call for secrecy falls against the immutable children. California State University) fact that publicly owned utilities cannot have the • David Lazarus, the San Francisco Chronicle, George Polk Awards privileges of private companies. for his coverage of the state energy crisis. Unless they can change their funding • International reporting: Sumana Chatterjee and Sudarsan Raghavan, Knight Ridder news- sources, municipal utilities are always going Education Writer’s Association papers, for “A Taste of Slavery.” to be, in part or in whole, taxpayer funded. The • Medical reporting: Duff Wilson and David 2001 National Awards for public must have the right to know how any Heath, The Seattle Times, for “Uninformed Education Reporting government agency spends its money. Consent.” Newspapers under 100,000 circulation: The utilities seeking this flawed exemption • Metropolitan reporting: Bill Theobald and • Peter Wong of the Salem, Ore., Statesman Jour- are right about one thing: The state must address Bonnie Harris, , for “Des- nal, second prize for breaking or hard news. some pressing security issues in the wake of tined to Die.” • of the Charleston Gazette, second Sept. 11. Everything else about this bill begs for • Regional reporting: Tom Roeder, the Yakima prize for investigative reporting. greater journalistic scrutiny, for tough questions (Wash.) Herald-Republic, for “Caught by the Fire • Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette, special about how the attacks of Sept. 11 make it neces- in the Canyon.” citation for breaking or hard news. sary to put public records within the discretion • Local reporting: Dave Saltonstall and Heidi • Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette special cita- of the state PSC. I’m hoping those questions Evans, the New York Daily News, for the Hale tion for a news feature or issue package. are being asked, and that they are asked in House series. • Mary Beth Pfeiffer of the Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) statehouses across the country. Readers and • Environmental reporting: Lisa Davis, San Journal, special citation for a series of articles. Francisco Weekly, for “Fallout.” viewers deserve nothing less. Newspapers over 100,000 circulation: • Kate Coscarelli of The Star Ledger in Newark, RTNDA 2002 N.J., first prize for breaking or hard news. Legal corner Edward R. Murrow Awards • William Hartnett of The Palm Beach Post, first • Dave Savini and Michele Rubenstein of WMAQ- prize for a news feature or issue package. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 TV in Chicago, and Deborah Sherman and Scott • Deb Kollars of The Sacramento Bee, second ing whether the First Amendment right of access Zamost of WTVJ-TV in Miami, for “Selling Inno- prize for a news feature or issue package. applies to military tribunals is whether access cence,” a joint investigative project. • Rosalind Rossi of the Chicago Sun-Times, would compromise national security concerns. • Valeri Williams of WFAA-TV in Dallas for “Lives second prize for investigative reporting. The qualified right of access recognized by the At Risk: An Emergency Room Investigation.” • Maria Sacchetti of The , Supreme Court clearly permits courts to excise • Robb Leer, Julie Jacoby, Gary Hill and Jim second prize for a special section or page. sensitive information as long as this is done in O’Connell, KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minn., for “A • Erik Lords of the Detroit Free Press, special a narrowly tailored way to satisfy a compelling Closer Look at Lasik.” citation for a news feature or issue package. governmental interest. Concerns about a media • Brigid Schulte and Dan Keating of The circus surrounding terrorist trials and predictions Associated Press Sports Washington Post, special citation for a series that members of the al Qaeda terrorist network Editors Award Finalists of articles. • Susan Ebbs of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & may be glorified or made into martyrs if they are • Ames Alexander and Liz Chandler of The Observer, special citation for a series of articles. on public trial can easily be addressed on a case- Charlotte Observer; Christine Vasconez and • Diana Henriques of The New York Times, special Mike Wager of the Dayton Daily News; Jim by-case basis – not by blanket closure orders. citation for investigative reporting. Just results come from openness. Secretive- Leusner and Debbie Salamone of The Orlando ness does little more than cloak corruption and Sentinel; Michael Dodd, Cheryl Phillips and Television: prevent the community from seeing justice be Paul Overberg of USA Today; Steven Fainaru • Chris Koeberl and Nickie Flynn of KWCH-TV done. National security concerns are extremely of The Washington Post. in Wichita, Kan., first prize for hard news and important, and the law correctly permits clas- investigative reporting. • Bill Ditton, Kathleen Johnston, Gerry Lanosga sified information to be excised from criminal Raymond Clapper Award for Out- standing Journalism of WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, Ind., second prize proceedings. But closure must be extremely for hard news and investigative reporting. limited and the heavy presumption of openness • Sumana Chatterjee and Sudarsan Raghavan of Knight Ridder newspapers for “A Taste of • Jeffrey Hirsh of WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, must apply. second prize for a feature or documentary. Slavery.” 42 THE IRE JOURNAL IRE SERVICES Hidden Camera INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND EDITORS, INC. is a grassroots nonprofit organization CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting within the field of WTHR a letter suggesting that as an elected offi- journalism. IRE was formed in 1975 with the intent of creating a networking tool and a cial, Cottey is not subject to disciplinary rules forum in which journalists from across the country could raise questions and exchange that apply to merit employees. ideas. IRE provides educational services to reporters, editors and others interested in That reaction outraged viewers who saw investigative reporting and works to maintain high professional standards. our piece. We received as many e-mails and phone calls about this story as we have on Programs and Services: any other that we’ve done. Naturally, some IRE RESOURCE CENTER – A rich reserve of print and broadcast stories, tipsheets and guides to help were supportive of the sheriff. Many of them, you start and complete the best work of your career. This unique library is the starting point of any however, harshly criticized his apparent double piece you’re working on. You can search through abstracts of more than 19,000 investigative reporting standard. stories through our Web site. Contact: Carolyn Edds, [email protected], 573-882-3364 Story fallout DATABASE LIBRARY – Administered by IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted The story generated numerous follow-ups Reporting. The library has copies of many government databases, and makes them available to news and was picked up by in media outlets around organizations at or below actual cost. Analysis services are available on these databases, as is help in the state. But it also prompted the sheriff to pro- deciphering records you obtain yourself. hibit his deputies from speaking to anyone at Contact: Jeff Porter, [email protected], 573-882-1982 our station about any department-related story. This obviously played havoc with our coverage CAMPAIGN FINANCE INFORMATION CENTER – Administered by IRE and the National Institute for of routine crime stories, and it lasted for more Computer-Assisted Reporting. It’s dedicated to helping journalists uncover the campaign money than a year. trail. State campaign finance data is collected from across the nation, cleaned and made available There was other retribution as well, includ- to journalists. A search engine allows reporters to track political cash flow across several states ing surveillance by the sheriff’s department in federal and state races. on several of our employees. Several months Contact: Aron Pilhofer, [email protected], 573-882-2042 after the series ran, the department arrested our ON-THE-ROAD TRAINING – As a top promoter of journalism education, IRE offers loads of train- investigative reporter on bogus DUI charges. ing opportunities throughout the year. Possibilities range from national conferences and regional The case smelled from the outset. For this workshops to weeklong boot camps and on-site newsroom training. Costs are on a sliding scale and single arrest, the department required at least fellowships are available to many of the events. eight deputies on the scene and a $90,000 drug Contact: Ron Nixon, [email protected], 573-882-2042 surveillance van. The deputies included an off-duty breath analysis operator brought in Publications from across town (another operator just around THE IRE JOURNAL – Published six times a year. Contains journalist profiles, how-to stories, reviews, the corner was inexplicably waved off), who investigative ideas and backgrounding tips. The Journal also provides members with the latest news registered our reporter’s blood alcohol level at on upcoming events and training opportunities from IRE and NICAR. exactly the legal limit. Months later, the depart- Contact: Len Bruzzese, [email protected], 573-882-2042 ment quietly signaled that it wanted the case to UPLINK – Monthly newsletter by IRE and NICAR on computer-assisted reporting. Often, Uplink go away, and the charges were dismissed as part stories are written after reporters have had particular success using data to investigate stories. The of an unusual diversionary agreement with no columns include valuable information on advanced database techniques as well as success stories admission of guilt. written by newly trained CAR reporters. The lesson: If you want to do a story like this, Contact: Jeff Porter, [email protected], 573-884-7711 keep your guard up. Anytime you investigate a prominent law enforcement official, particularly REPORTER.ORG – A collection of Web-based resources for journalists, journalism educators and with undercover tactics, expect to find yourself others. Discounted Web hosting and services such as mailing list management and site development under scrutiny as well. In the end, we chalk are provided to other nonprofit journalism organizations. up the repercussions against the station to an Contact: Ted Peterson, [email protected], 573-884-7321 occupational hazard. And the story was worth it – it was an interesting, important piece about a For information on: powerful politician whose actions didn’t match ADVERTISING – Pia Christensen, [email protected], 573-884-2175 his words. And it wouldn’t have been possible MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS – John Green, [email protected], 573-882-2772 without the undercover effort. CONFERENCES AND BOOT CAMPS – Ev Ruch-Graham, [email protected], 573-882-8969 LISTSERVS – Ted Peterson, [email protected], 573-884-7321 Gerry Lanosga and Kathleen Johnston are inves- tigative producers at WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Mailing Address: Indianapolis. IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211

MAY/JUNE 2002 43 Get the onscoop the year’s best investigations

The latest compilation book from IRE not only salutes the winners of the prestigious IRE Awards, it offers testimony from the winners.

Information is shared on how the work was completed, which techniques proved most valuable and what resources were utilized to win the print, broadcast, online and other categories. A great guide for launching similar projects in your own back yard! IRE members: $16 each • Non-members: $30 each Plus first-class postage: $4 for the first book, $2 for each additional book E-mail questions to [email protected] ORDER NOW!

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