CONTENTSFEATURES THE IRE JOURNAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 17 FOI REPORT ARCH PRIL Knowledge of scientific results M /A 2004 now endangered by OMB plan 4 Investigative reporting, By Charles Davis FOI laws go hand in hand Freedom of Information Center to ensure open government By Brant Houston The IRE Journal 18 - 29 PRESCRIPTION FOR ABUSE 5 NEWS BRIEFS AND MEMBER NEWS OVERDOSES 6 PANELS, CLASSES SET Medicaid records reveal FOR CAR CONFERENCE link between drug deaths and doctors, pharmacies 7 Newseum to honor By Fred Schulte sacrifice of Don Bolles (South Florida) Sun-Sentinel 8 ATLANTA IRE CONFERENCE PREVIEW ROGUE MARKET Shadow distribution system 9 HIGHER ED calls into question safety, Land grab costs taxpayers $139 million, origin of diverted drugs fells university foundation, school president By Gilbert M. Gaul and Mary Pat Flaherty By Dan Popkey The Washington Post The Idaho Statesman OFF-LABEL RX 10 WAR CRIMES High percentage Recent war atrocity stories of drugs prescribed recall investigative reporting milestones for uses not approved By Steve Weinberg by FDA The IRE Journal By Chris Adams and Alison Young 11 Army files, interviews detail Knight-Ridder rogue Tiger Force killings in Vietnam Newspapers By Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss The (Toledo) Blade 14 UNCIVIL SERVANTS Getting records on state employee discipline requires significant test of public records law By Thomas Peele Contra Costa Times 29 HOME FLIPPING ABOUT THE COVER Speculators, loan schemes cause housing foreclosures Prescriptions that land in By Ken Alltucker people’s medicine cabinets are The Cincinnati Enquirer taking increasingly varied routes 30 New investigative authors echo to get there. themes of original muckrakers By Steve Weinberg The IRE Journal Cover photo by 32 MILITARY ASSAULTS Len Bruzzese, The IRE Journal Few sex offenders, abusers face justice in military ranks or service academies By Miles Moffeit and Amy Herdy The Denver Post MARCH/APRIL 2004 3 FEATURES FEATURES THE IRE JOURNAL FROM THE IRE OFFICES VOLUME 27 NUMBER 2 Investigative reporting, EDITOR & IRE DEPUTY DIRECTOR Len Bruzzese FOI laws go hand in hand MANAGING EDITOR Anita Bruzzese to ensure open government ART DIRECTOR BRANT HOUSTON Wendy Gray SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR uite often journalists have been shy about writing stories about freedom of information and Steve Weinberg Qthe reluctance, if not downright hostility, of officials when asked for public information. In fact, if we wrote about public records requests at all, the articles have obsessed over how the CONTRIBUTING LEGAL EDITOR release of public records invades our privacy. David Smallman Fortunately, that has changed. The closing down of records that protect the public, the ill- founded citing of national security to close off those records, and the increasing invasion of EDITORIAL INTERN Katie Underwood privacy by public officials all have created an attitude change. News organizations are now more frequently pointing out when a sunshine law made a record available and they are doing “audits” of how public officials violate the law. Recently, we reported in our Web feature Extra!Extra! (www.ire.org/extraextra) on a project, IRE led by Chris Davis and Matthew Doig of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and 29 other Florida IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR newspapers to test the availability of public records in 62 of the state’s 67 counties. They found Brant Houston that public officials “ignorant of the law or paralyzed by suspicion, regularly thwart citizens exercising their constitutional right to inspect public records.” BOARD OF DIRECTORS It was an excellent project that will be detailed in a future issue of this magazine, but we also need to show how open records laws protect the public. CHAIRMAN This issue of The IRE Journal does just that, displaying how investigative reporting and David Dietz, Bloomberg News freedom of information go hand in hand. PRESIDENT Despite the frustrations that journalists often encounter, the laws still can be tools to pry infor- Shawn McIntosh, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution mation loose that will keep our governments accountable and ensure a working democracy. The articles in this issue show how journalists effectively employed the laws in working on VICE PRESIDENT their stories – whether about war atrocities, pharmaceutical misdeeds or how officials perform, David Boardman, The Seattle Times or don’t perform, their jobs. TREASURER And if anyone needs further proof of how important open records laws are, a review of the Duane Pohlman, WEWS-Cleveland contest entries we receive annually (nearly 600 this year) gives many, many more examples. On the contest form we ask the entrants whether they used open records laws and what results they Paul Adrian, KDFW-Dallas/Fort Worth had. Their responses are illuminating and at the same time a how-to tutorial. Stephen K. Doig, Arizona State University Although we have heard (or experienced) horror stories about endless obstacles, delays and James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post lack of responses, the entries demonstrate the success rate is still high enough that every journalist should know the laws and how and when to use those laws. Andy Hall, Wisconsin State Journal At IRE we use these resources to teach journalists to have “a document state of mind” and Dianna Hunt, Fort Worth Star-Telegram to always seek the document that brings us closer to the truth. And we teach that a well-aimed Stephen C. Miller, The New York Times open records request is often key to getting that information. Cheryl Phillips, The Seattle Times Because of that, we make sure that our Better Watchdog Workshops, co-sponsored by the Deborah Sherman, KUSA-Denver Society of Professional Journalists, have a specific session in which some of the best media lawyers Nancy Stancill, The Charlotte Observer and knowledgeable journalists go over the FOI basics and answer as many questions as they can. In addition, FOIA and sunshine laws are brought up throughout entire workshop day. Stuart Watson, WCNC-Charlotte We do more than that by having FOI panels at our larger conferences, filing amicus briefs, working with the Freedom of Information Center (http://web.missouri.edu/~foiwww) at the Mis- The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is published souri School of Journalism (run by Journal columnist and associate professor Charles Davis), six times a year by Investigative Reporters and and supplying resources and links at our Web site on FOI (www.ire.org/foi). Editors, Inc. 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Yet, we hope to go further by producing a practical open records guidebook for journalists Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. E-mail: [email protected]. U.S. subscriptions are that will the abundant archive of information we have from more than 20 years of IRE contest $70 for individuals, $85 for libraries and $125 entries. for institutions/businesses. International sub- The guidebook will provide the nuts-and-bolts strategies for requesting and getting docu- scriptions are $90 for individuals and $150 for ments for investigative stories and keep us at the forefront of the struggle for democracy and all others. Periodical postage paid at Columbia, good government. MO. Postmaster: Please send address changes to IRE. USPS #451-760 Brant Houston is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted © 2004 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 MARCH/APRIL 2004 5 FEATURES I FEATURESR E N E W S IRE taps David Donald editor of The New York Times; and James Steele, MEMBER NEWS editor-at-large for Time Inc. and half of the longest- as new training director ebra Bade has been named editor David Donald of the Savannah Morning News running investigative reporting team in American has been named the new training director of IRE journalism. The session will be moderated by Brant Dof news research and archives at the and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Houston, executive director of IRE and an associate Chicago Tribune Editorial Information Center. professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Reporting. He will coordinate and conduct She was the deputy information editor. workshops on investigative reporting and com- The panel will look at the special challenges an puter-assisted reporting for print and broadcast election year presents for investigative journalists Marcus Baram has been named news journalists. as politicians spin and attack every story and how editor of amNew York, a free daily newspa- deeply broadcast, newspaper, magazine and online A veteran journalist, Donald oversaw the com- per published by the Tribune Co., aimed at puter-assisted reporting and research programs at the organizations are delving into the obvious or hidden Morning News after stints on the education beat and agendas. young commuters in New York City. He was the projects team. He was a lead organizer of IRE’s The panel will examine the issues, evaluate a reporter at the New York Daily News and the the record on current investigative reporting, and regional conference in Savannah in 2002 and has New York Post. Daniel Borenstein has been spoken on panels at IRE’s annual conferences. He talk about what needs to be done by the November succeeds Ron Nixon, who joined the (Minneapolis) election day. named editor of Knight Ridder’s Sacramento Star Tribune projects team as computer-assisted Information on attending the presentation will be bureau that joins the California capital staffs of posted at www.ire.org/training/otr.html. reporting editor. the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury “We are pleased that David Donald has joined the IRE staff,” said Brant Houston, IRE’s executive Editor Boot Camp News. He had been the political editor at the director. “He brings a wealth of teaching experience will offer CAR training Contra Costa Times.