The campaign finance story: Putting it all together David Donald Training Director Investigative Reporters & Editors

Summary  Basic tools  Basic documents and data  Sourcing, interviewing  Selling, writing and editing the story  Taking it back to the newsroom

Basic Tools  Online - The Web, commercial databases  Documents and data in-house  Books from the profession  The Spreadsheet  The Database Manager

Kinds of stories  Contributor and special interest influence  Candidate expenditure trends  Breaking – or bending – the rules  Routine checks of filings  Coordination among candidates and party levels  The incremental investigation  Add two or three of your own ideas

Getting started  Always think and then communicate (at the appropriate time) minimum story promises to editors  Look to add context for other stories to build editor enthusiasm  Comparisons and trends are almost always stories  Think incremental at first

The Paul Williams Way  Conception of investigation:  One-time tips  Regular source cultivation  Clips  Angles after the one-time story  Looking: Walk-arounds, drive-arounds -- Investigative Reporting and Editing by Paul Williams, Prentice-Hall, 1978

The Paul Williams Way  Feasibility:  Obstacles – skills, time, cooperation?  Resources - document availability, reporter availability?  Competition?

The Paul Williams Way  Go-No Go?:  Minimal story  Base-building, research list for standards (Knight Center has given you much of this.)

The Paul Williams Way  Planning:  Files  Duties  Schedule  FOI and Open Records Needs

The Paul Williams Way  Original Research:  Paper and data trails  People trails  Re-evaluation: How often?  Analysis of gaps

The Paul Williams Way  Writing and Re-Writing:  Outline  Chronology  Appropriate leads  Graphics  Publication  Follow-up plan

Documents  FEC records and databases  IRS political nonprofits (527s) records  State and local campaign finance records and databases  Federal, state and local contract records and databases  Incorporation records  Court records

Sourcing, Interviewing  Making time  Doing your research on the person  Making the ground rules clear  Let them talk  Scripting the interview

Writing and editing the story Writing and editing the story  Accuracy  Humans  Use of graphics  Use of chronologies  The screenplay: Tension and resolution

Getting editor buy in  Again, always think minimum story  Know your editor and manage up by anticipating responses and needs  If you have to use the buzz words, use them  Believe in coaching and journalism as a cooperative endeavor

Promise yourself now  List three small tasks to accomplish on Monday  List an objective for the first week back  Write one goal from the seminar  Agree to remind each other of the objective at the end of the week  Agree to remind each other of the goal two weeks later