Wednesday, May 06, 2009
The Web's Got the Power!
The third and final installment of tips, tricks and sites to check out from the New England First Amendment Coalition's Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism Seminar. Check out the first and second installments as well.Government Contracts: http://www.usaspending.gov/
- search by company, state, agency, product, or congressional district and export the data to a spreadsheet
- know these Web sites can be incomplete; cross check with press releases, news stories, agency Web sites and SEC filings
- Check out the S-1 reports from companies selling stock; the 10-Q quarterly filings; the 10-K annual report; the Def-14 proxy that is filed before a shareholder meeting and the 8K used for special reports and announcements
- Other sites to check out:
- www.10kwizard.com (subscription)
- www.secfilings.com (subscription)
- Finance.yahoo.com (Free and has other features for following companies)
- www.guidestar.com
- Foundationcenter.org
- Nccs.urban.org/database/index.cfm
- Philanthropy.com (Chronicle of Philanthropy –– offers a free subscription to journalists)
- File an annual report with the Labor Department called an LM-2
- Find them here: http://erds.dol-esa.gov/query/getOrgQry.do
For searching multiple sites at once:
- Zoominfo: http://www.zoominfo.com
- Pipl: http://www.pipl.com
- Icerocket: http://www.icerocket.com
- Domain Tools http://www.domaintools.com
- Allwhois http://www.allwhois.com
- The Wayback Machine: www.archive.org/index.php
- Cybercemetery: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/default.htm
- GPO Access GAO reports: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/index.html
- FedStats: http://www.fedstats.gov/
- NationMaster http://www.nationmaster.com
- Excluded Parties List System (GAO) http://www.epls.gov/
- Federal contracts http://www.usaspending.gov
- National Sex Offender Public Registry: http://www.nsopr.gov
- Center for Responsive Politics: http://www.opensecrets.org/
- State financial disclosure at Center for Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/StateDisclosure/
- Lobbying Disclosure Act Database http://soprweb.senate.gov/
- Congressional staff salaries/Congressional travel http://www.legistorm.com
- Congressional travel reports from the original source: http://soprweb.senate.gov/giftrule/
- Maplight (combines contributions and voting records): http://www.maplight.org
- Official government site for campaign finance data: www.fec.gov/disclosure.shmtl
Labels: FOIA, investigative journalism, seminars/workshops, Web sites
continue...Public Records Hiding in Plain Sight
Second installment of tips and info from the New England First Amendment Coalition Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism seminar. Check out the other installment here.- Rule of Thumb: If the public pays for it, the records are public
- Know that federal agencies have more time (20 days) to provide information than state agencies (10 days)
- Ask if the information you’re looking for has been requested before –– you can FOIA a FOIA request
- If they deny your request, ask for it in writing and keep the denials, in case you need to appeal –– and to include them in your stories
- Know the appeal process for FOIA documents and use it (It can be found here: http://www.mrm.mms.gov/FOIA/appeal.htm)
- When sending FOIA letters, ask for access to information, not copies of it, in order to circumvent costs
- They should have digital copies of the info. If they don’t, there’s probably a story there
- Use the general law/charter/document that created the agency to find out what information they have to keep and who they have to report to. Use that info to request documents you know they have to keep.
- Records Retention Schedule dictates how long they have to keep documents. RI’s can be found here: http://www.sec.state.ri.us/Archives/pra/sched_dev/general_schedules/
- Also look for agency reports to other state or federal agencies; agency indexes of lawsuits, settlements or disciplinary decision
- Get copies of their policy and procedure books –– use their language in your requests
- Settlements are public if taxpayer money is being used to pay for it
- Use the Federal Audit Clearing House to search for federal audits (to know what to request) from agencies like the local housing authority or any agency that has to make a report to the federal government: http://harvester.census.gov/sac/
- Get Federal Criminal Justice Grant applications and awards for local courts, as well as performance reviews (for past grant rewards): http://www.ojp.gov/funding/solicitations.htm
- Talk to career civil servants rather than political appointees –– they’ll be more willing (sometimes) to give you information because they are proud of their work and unconcerned about politics.
- Programmers are your friends: if an agency says it will take X amount of hours to create a document, ask to speak to the programmer. You’ll usually find the search you’re looking for can be done in a few minutes.
- Unless the fee for FOIA requests is free, don’t pay for it. Know that you can also apply for a fee waiver.
- American Community Surveys are the best census data available for smaller communities. Otherwise, the best you’ll get is the older census data. Find the ACS here: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
Labels: FOIA, investigative journalism, seminars/workshops, tips and tricks
continue...That information? It's free.
My paper sent me to the New England First Amendment Coalition's Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism Seminar last week at the Boston Globe. The seminar was a full day chock full of tips, tricks and cool stories from seasoned journalists about how to get information from the government when they don't want to give it to you. I had to present what I learned to my team today at work, so I figured, "why not share the fruits of my labor with loyal Ten95 readers?"So here you are, readers. The first installment of my notes from the seminar. Enjoy!
Mark Benjamin (Salon.com)
Story about US soldiers in
- A “15-6” is Army speak for an informal investigation where an officer investigates him/herself.
- When asking for a copy of an Army investigation, you often get a summary, not the entire document.
Pulitzer finalist for report on mentally unfit soldiers being sent into war: http://dartcenter.org/content/mentally-unfit-forced-to-fight
- use government language to ask for information they say you can’t have
- good FOI letter generator: http://www.rcfp.org/foialetter/index.php
- understand the law better than the bureaucrats using it to restrict your access
- know the timetable of how long an agency has to keep a document
- personnel matters are not confidential
- If you start an FOI request, finish it to the end. Otherwise, agencies will begin to think that if they give you a hard time, you’ll drop the issue.
- Make all requests to a higher official, not the press person, when possible, that way, if you have to get into a fight, you’re dragging the higher official into the issue as well
- Documents created as part of an investigation aren’t open while the investigation is ongoing, but documents that existed prior to the investigation (that may be included as evidence in the investigation) are open
- Ask what the investigation is –– specifically, ask for the letter from the person ordering the investigation to the investigator. You’ll find out if they are really investigating the right thing and it could lead to another story.
Labels: FOIA, investigative journalism, seminars/workshops, tips and tricks
continue...Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Finding inspiration
I'm so tired of hearing my peers talk pessimistically about journalism. And especially when I see journalists, much older than we are, continuing to do big things in our uncertain industry.Inspiration is not hard to find. One of my mentors, Bob Butler, is a laid off journalist. Yes, that's right. He was laid off from a regular staff position at KCBS San Francisco news radio in 2006. But I see Bob as an example of a journalist who keeps it moving — he's not publically wallowing in negativity or depression over the state of the industry.
Not only has he continued contributing for KCBS, he's been a mainstay for the Chauncey Bailey Project. The project was recently written about in the New York Times.
In addition, he's the president of the Bay Area Black Journalist Association and regional director at the national level.
He's keeping busy. And for me, that's inspiring. Raise a glass to people who triumph over adversity and do damn good work in the process.
Bob Butler (right), with Thomas Peele and Mary Fricker.Photo: New York Times
Labels: inspiration, investigative journalism, layoffs, mentorship, the industry
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