COM 660 Syllabus - Revised

COM 660 – Investigative Reporting – Fall 2004-05

Instructor: Dr. Ron Bishop
Office: PSA Building, Room 324
Office Hours (Fall): T and TH, 1:30-5, or call to set up a time to meet.
Office Phone: 215-895-1823 (office); 302-239-6367 (home)
Class Location: Korman B-103
Email: bishoprc@drexel.edu or rcbsam@comcast.net or rcbsam@aol.com

Ron's Blog: www.theinfieldflyrule.blogspot.com

Purpose of the Course: To get you thinking (and writing) like an investigative journalist. Investigative journalists explore matters of keen importance to their readers. Through your reporting, you help readers understand the increasingly complex world in which they live. It helps if you have an unyielding sense of curiosity about how things work – and (often) don’t work.

In investigative reporting, journalists take the initiative on a story, rather than letting a story come to them. These matters have often caused a sense of outrage in readers; on other occasions, readers have to be introduced to their outrage; it grows slowly. In many cases, the subjects of your work are actively trying to hide something; thus, you must be persistent, keeping your reader’s needs firmly front of mind.

Text: B. Houston (2002). The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook. St. Martin’s.

In Addition: I think it’s vital that you start reading at least two top newspapers every day – you can go the tactile route, and actually buy the newspaper, or read them online. You can make the choices here, but I’d start with the New York Times. Stuffy? Yes. Elitist? Probably. Unable to police its own employees? Now and then. But it’s still the one of the best newspapers in the country.

You should also plan on making regular visits to the Investigative Reporters and Editors website (http://www.ire.org/). It’s a treasure trove of ideas and tips on how to conduct effective investigative reporting.

Another excellent source of tips and information is http://www.powerreporting.org/ – and it’s all free! More sources to come...

Projects

You will write two (count them, two) 6-8 page stories this term. The first is due Week 5, the second on the day on which our final exam is scheduled.

Story 1:
Track down the resume of a prominent public person – a politician, a corporate higher-up perhaps, or…oh, I don’t know, a university president. Your task is to confirm everything on that resume – everything. You will call every place of employment, every university listed, every affiliation, every reference.

Keep a list of the sources you consult, and the contacts you make (names, phone numbers, and emails). You will hand these in with the final story. You may be surprised by what you find. Write a news story based on your research.

These are your deadlines:

Name and affiliation of person: Week 2
Rough draft: Week 4
Final draft: Week 5

Story 2:

The topic for the second story is up to you. It can be a question that has not been answered, or questionable activity by an individual or institution that has not been addressed. Either way, the topic must be one that has impact, and that has provoked concern or outrage on the part of the public.The impact does not have to be national – it can be a local story, or even a Drexel-related story.

I’ll be working on a story right along with you – more on this in class.

Some possible topics:
1. Do uniforms make schools safer, and students less likely to fight?
2. Why do government officials target folks who are in the U.S. illegally to work, but don’t prosecute the companies that hire them?
3. Do service learning programs actually produce long-term volunteers?
4. In states that approve gambling, how much is spent on gambling addiction programs?
5. What is the Federal Trade Commission going to do with all of the numbers it has racked up on the Do-Not-Call Registry?
6. Are college and high school libraries the victims of unfair budget cuts driven by claims that “we can get this online?”
7. Is there a “language police” out there censoring school textbooks?
8. Are there even small amounts of toxic chemicals in the food we buy at the store?

I’ll pass along additional ideas as we go. You must submit a list of sources and source contact information.

Here are your deadlines:
Topic and Source List: Week 6
Rough draft: Week 9
Final draft (w/source list): Final Exam Period

Your topic/source list should include a brief discussion of the story’s impact. You will discuss the leads you’ve followed, the books and documents you’ve read, the sources you’ve contacted, and any dead-ends you’ve hit in your pursuit of the story. Keep a copy of the memos for yourself, and put all relevant material (copies of key documents, laws/regulations, court filings, summaries of secondary source material) in a three-ring binder, which you will hand in with the story.

Some Professorly Advice: Don’t wait until week 5 to start researching the story.

But Wait, There’s More…

Each week, we will work on in-class (and out of class) mini-projects designed to familiarize you with the workings of society’s institutions: schools, corporations, the courts, corporations, municipalities, and professional organizations, just to name a few. We will use the searching and exploration as a discussion starter – journalism in real-time, if you will.

While you will work on as many of the miniprojects as time permits, you are required to hand in only one per week - each is worth two points. The choice of which one to hand in is up to you. They must be submitted to me via email by the Friday after we meet so that I can give what I hope is adequate feedback.

Week 1: Who put the investigative in investigative reporting?

How is investigative reporting different from “typical” reporting? How did IR originate?

Do we still think the Muckrakers and Woodward and Bernstein have relevance? How do people see investigative reporters?

Mini-project: After class introductions, take a pad and a pen, and journey about our fine campus. Stop five people and ask them if they think aggressive, balanced investigative reporting is important to a democratic society – after they stare at you like you’re nuts, ask them if good investigative reporting has value to our society?

Trust me: you’ll be amazed at the responses. Make sure you take down their names and hometowns, and that you accurately take down what they say. You’ll come back to the lab, we’ll discuss what you’ve found, and you will write a 1-2 page story on your findings.

We’ll also explore websites designed to help reporters (and others) gather information on individuals – anywho.com, for example.

We’ll engage in a quick review of journalism basics: quotes, relationships with sources, cultivating sources, use of anonymous sources, primary and secondary sources (how redundant can you get?).

For Week 2: Write a one-page memo about a piece of investigative reporting that you’ve read, paying special attention to: the issue, the outrage, the sources, the conclusions and suggestions for change. The key word here is critical. Are you satisfied, as a reader, and as a journalist, that the reporter has done a solid job?

Now for the fun part: address the email to the reporter or reporters who wrote the piece and send it to them. Be prepared to share any responses you get with the rest of us – how much work went into the piece? How many dead ends were hit in writing it? Any interference from outside sources – officials, or advertisers, for example?


Week 2: Gathering Information

Just how easy is it? How do we obtain documents? How do I find someone? How do we make use of databases? What the heck is a Sunshine Law anyway? And a Shield Law?

How does a journalist use the Freedom of Information Act? Does the FOIA really help journalists and benefit their readers? Are there too many exemptions? How do these exemptions impact the gathering of information and the presentation of news?

Mini-project: Visit the website of the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org) for background on recent changes to the FOIA.

Track down sample FOI and Sunshine Law letters (from any state) and related material. What is the language like? What kinds of hoops do journalists have to jump through to get information?

Contact the FOIA officer for a government (local, state, or federal) agency or corporation. What’s their take on FOI? Talk about recent requests by reporters for information. Bring your findings to the next class, or share them via my blog.

Miniproject: write a 1-2 page memo to Attorney General John “The Singing Paranoid” Ashcroft detailing your support for/objections to, recent changes in administration of the FOIA.


For Week 3: Obtain the ethics code (or code of conduct) of an organization of licensed professionals (doctors, lawyers, funeral directors, for example). Bring it with you to class, but before you do, contact the organization and find out how many complaints have been filed so far in 2004. How many investigations have been launched? How often is disciplinary action taken?


Week 3: Licensed Professionals

Bodies like the American Medical Association (ama.org) and the American Bar Association (aba.org) exist to do more than through fancy conferences for their members. They field complaints about the actions of folks in the profession.

Some organizations take complaints seriously, and go after the offender. Others are little more than an office and some letterhead. Laying your hands on the complaint file is tricky. Make sure you’re up on the complaint procedure. Local law libraries and the Administrative Hearing Commission, based usually in the state capital, will often make available administrative filings from these organizations.

Mini-project 1: Obtain a recent complaint filed with a licensing board. You can even touch base with someone you know who is about to, or has filed, such a complaint. What are the key allegations? Write a 1-2 page story about their claims. Make sure you get a response from the person or company named in the complaint.


Week 4: Investigating the courts and law enforcement officials

We’ll spend some time reviewing the court system – climbing the ladder, so to speak, from local to state to federal, from trial to appellate. We’ll discuss dealing with attorneys -- how to tell those who really want to help you from those who simply want to see their name in your stories.

We’ll also explore the sometimes tricky dance between journalists and law enforcement. They can be your best friend (as in, a steady source of information) and a formidable enemy (if you hit a nerve with an investigation).

A few websites and places to get us started: U.S. Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov), Federal Bureau of Investigation (www.fbi.gov), the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, township police websites, www.findlaw.com, and www.atla.com.

For the federal courts, start with http://www.uscourts.gov/. For state courts, visit the National Center for State Courts (www.ncsconline.org).

Mini-project 1: Select a local municipality and find out how often its police officers are disciplined, and for what reasons. Where did you find the information? How do these figures stack up against national and regional averages? What’s being missed, if anything? Write a newsbrief about your findings.

In-Class: We hear a lot about how litigious Americans are. Find statistics that support – or don’t support – that claim.

In-Class: Check the docket in an education-related state or federal court case. Select one whose subject matter interests you; church-state issues, or even illness caused by spoiled cafeteria food. What’s next in the case? What are the larger issues? Is the case part of a larger litigation trend? Contact the attorneys and write a one page story about the case.

Email me the story before next week’s class.

Also for Week 5: Have a brother or sister? Would you like mine? Sorry – do you know someone who does? Are they in elementary, middle, or high school? Arrange to take a look at the texts from their classes. How old are they? How accurate are they? How filled with stereotypes are they? How much do they cost?

Week 5: Education or "Is Our Children Learning?"

REMINDER: Your first story is due tonight.

Are no children truly left behind these days? Public officials spend a lot of time, but not enough money (some would say), on improving America’s schools. Of course, for me, the big bone of contention is the definition of “improving” – and of “education” for that matter. Who gets to create and modify these definitions?

It’s easy to find villains here – private companies, hired by public officials to resurrect failing schools, the public officials themselves, the teachers – but the bottom line for any reporter is how these actions and school policies impact the student.

And college? You’re better equipped to talk about the issues than I am. Why is a decent college education so damned expensive? Why do universities spend so much money on sports? And that’s for starters.Mini-project 1: Go back (literally, if possible) to your high school and explore the relationships (contractual and otherwise) that your alma mater has with corporations. How is education, as delivered by these folks, changed by these relationships?

In-Class: What are the graduation rates for the various varsity NCAA sports? How about here at Drexel? How do these compare with schools in our athletic conference? How is this rate calculated?

For Week 6: Bring with you the 2003 budget for your hometown. Be ready to talk about the fate of your tax dollars. Any surprising revelations? Surprising relationships between officials and vendors?


Week 6: Government

Here, we will investigate the activities of local, county, state, and federal officials. Leave your political views at the door (I’ll do my best to do the same) when you explore the conduct of government officials. Remember that in many cases, these are folks whom we elect, and who are supposed to serve us. They often forget that.

You can start by thinking about where the money will come from to pay for the damage caused by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. It's also worth thinking about the scope and depth of news coverage of hurricanes.

In-Class: Do the best you can to answer these questions: What is the conviction rate for the district attorney in your county? What is the racial breakdown of arrests in your hometown or in a nearby major city? Pick a judge on a state or federal court – how often are his or her decisions overturned on appeal? How does this compare to his/her colleagues?

Mini-project: Since our class is scheduled to meet on Election Day this year, I thought it would be neat to get you out there, covering an aspect of the election.

You can either pick a particular race (for Congress, or Mayor), or spend a couple of hours at a polling place and its surrounding neighborhood, looking for a good story. Along the way, I'd like for you to check for any irregularities - like the signs that told African-Americans in one voting district in 2000 that the election was being held the day after Election Day.

A couple of other things to look for: do the folks working for the candidates follow folks into the polling place (a no-no). Is anyone being dissuaded from exercising their vote? Is the ballot confusing? Is someone there to help confused voters? Are their bilingual signs, where needed?

You can check with any number of organizations for background information - People for the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org/) is a good starting point. You can find a quick primer on federal voting law at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/intro/intro.htm.

For a great source of information on campaign financing, visit http://www.open-secrets.org/. A group called Votewatch (http://www.votewatch.us/) has set itself up to monitor the elections - you can even participate by sharing your election day experiences or by being a Mystery Voter.

You should also check out the Federal Election Commission's website at http://www.fec.gov/ - and the Department of Elections site in your state of choice. The FEC's page for the Help American Vote Act of 2002 is found at http://www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htm.

The ACLU offers visitors to its website an excellent explanation of our right to vote: http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights/VotingRightsMain.cfm. Also visit the Center for Voting and Democracy: http://www.fairvote.org/about_us/index.html.

And finally, visit the National Voting Rights Institute: http://www.nvri.org/.

After all is said and done, you will write a 2-3 page story on some aspect of your experience. You can post to my blog in real time, to let us know how things are going.


Week 7: The Business of America is Business.

Your first task is to tell me who said what I’ve used for the title of this section.

The corporate model has insinuated itself into nearly every part of our lives – our schools, for example. Is this a good thing? I’m skeptical.

Actually, the business of America is access – as in how business gains access to policymakers at all levels of government. Think Enron. Its execs had seats at the table when Vice President Cheney cobbled together our nation’s energy policy.

The phrase that drives me nuts when I see it is “onerous on business,” as in regulations or government policies that force businesses to spend money to make their products and services safer. Think 1970 Pinto – or lawn darts.

Excessive regulation of business is not necessarily a good thing, but weak, hollow, unenforced regulations are definitely bad – and potentially damaging.Bottom line: Keep an eye on legislation that proposes to strengthen or weaken regulations on the conduct of a business.

And what about labor unions? To read recent coverage, you would think they were weak and/or rife with corruption,Some websites to guide you: Securities and Exchange Commission
(www.sec.gov), Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov), Antitrust Division, Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (www.eeoc.gov), the National Association of Attorneys General, the attorney general for your own state, and various corporate sites.

Mini-project 1: Visit one or two “hate sites” devoted to a particular corporation – http://www.walmartsucks.com/ is an example. What complaints does this group have against the company? Do they seem legitimate to you? What issues have the mainstream media covered – and which have they bypassed?

Contact the group and ask for a short interview with a representative about one of the issues. Write a 1-2 page story about your conversation. You MUST get a comment from the business whose activities are being criticized.

In-Class: Consult the National Labor Relations Board website – what companies are the least friendly when it comes to attempts by their employees to unionize?

Run this hypothetical scenario past a couple of our local, state, or federal officials (via email or phone): a legislator plans to introduce a bill that would require corporations to economically rebuild the neighborhoods that they decimate when they take business to another country. How did they react? Write a 1-2 page story about these conversations.

For Week 8: Talk to two or three friends or relatives about the medications they take – total up the (pre-insurance) monthly cost. Contact the makers of at least one of the medications and ask them why it costs so much.

Option: Contact someone who was recently hospitalized, and ask if they will share a copy of the bill for their stay. Then contact the hospital, and ask for an explanation of each charge.For either option, write a 1-2 page story about your journey.


Week 8: Health Care and Charities

Choice and cost – for most folks, these are the most important issues in this arena. It costs too much to obtain care, and there is little choice in physicians when one deals with an HMO or PPO. There is also concern that HMO’s deny access to new/experimental treatments.

New drugs also find their way to market with alarming speed – remember Fen/Phen? How long has it taken for the last few major new drugs to make it from the drawing board to market?

A few sources to consider: Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov), American Medical Association (www.ama.org), National Committee for Quality Assurance (regulates HMO’s).

Mini-project 1: How many hospitals in the Philadelphia region are in compliance with all pertinent state and federal regulations – in short, how many hospitals are fully licensed to do business? Which ones are not?

In-Class: Who does the media tend to blame for the rise in obesity in our kids? Where does the blame actually lie?

On to charities…

Some possible sources: the Internal Revenue Service (www.irs.gov), the Foundation Center, the National Charities Information Bureau, http://www.guidestar.org/.

In-Class: Select a charity and try to find out how much its top executives make. Is that charity spending the recommended 60 percent of funds raised on programs? Where is the money going?

For Week 9: Walk the two or three-block area near your home or office – are there any questionable environmental practices going on – by residents or local businesses? Write a 1-2 page story about what you find, complete with comments from local officials.

Also: Obtain an Environmental Impact Statement stemming from a recent construction project in your area.


Weeks 9-10: The Environment, Transportation and Utilities

Two words: Gale Norton. Critics of the Bush Administration charge that energy companies have had far too much influence over the creation of the President's energy policy. Are you listening, Dick Cheney? Of course, you are - John Ashcroft has seen to that...

Sources: Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov), the Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org), the National Resources Defense Council (www.nrdc.org), PECO (www.peco.com), Amtrak (www.amtrak.com), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Highway Administration (FHA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Division of Motor Vehicles for NJ, PA, DE, the Federal Communications Commission (www.fcc.gov), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In-Class: How serious is the federal government about developing alternative sources of energy? Find out how much money is spent on such initiatives – has it increased to any significant degree over the last few decades?

In-Class: How many folks actually follow the law and properly dispose of paint and other chemicals? Explore the enforcement mechanisms in your state.

For Week 10: Interview a representative of a faith-based community organization that helps the poor. Without divulging your real purpose, keep track of how much religious content comes across in the discussion. What are the main obstacles to getting help to the poor? How much success have they had recently? How do state, local, and federal officials affect their efforts? Write a 1-2 page story based on the interview.


Week 11: Banks, Insurance Companies, the Disadvantaged

REMINDER: Your second story is due the Tuesday of exam week at noon.

Children/Disadvantaged: Children’s Defense Fund, Coalition for America’s Children, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Pennsylvania’s Department of Youth and Family Services,Insurance Companies: Consumers Union, Insurance Group of the Consumer Federation of America, Independent Insurance Agents of America, U.S. General Accounting Office (www.gao.gov).

Banking: U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, U.S. Department of Justice (usdoj.gov), Securities and Exchange Commission (sec.gov).

In-Class: How much is spent in your state on job training as a percentage of the entire state budget? How does that figure stack up against other states?

In-Class: Where does that annoying extra ATM charge go – how did banks get the go-ahead to charge us, anyway?

Policies

Attendance
It’s vital that you attend, especially since we’ll be working together to complete the in-class projects. If you must miss class, please call me. If you miss more than three classes, you will be in danger of failing the course.

Class Discussions/Mini-Projects
I encourage you to become an active participant in our in-class journeys. I will beg, cajole, prod, and finally insist that you toss your two cents in, at least occasionally. Investigative reporting is a rugged, sometimes dirty, but ultimately fulfilling mission – and it keeps you off the streets. I will do my best not to dismiss anyone’s thinking on a subject, and I hope everyone else will do the same.

Deadlines
It would be silly for me to state for the millionth time that journalism is all about deadlines – oops, I did it again (Sorry, Britney…). Two points will be deducted for every day your story is late.

Grading
I try to keep it simple. I work with a 100-point scale. Here’s how it breaks down:
Mini-projects: 20 points
Story 1: 40 points
Story 2: 40 points

Plagiarism, or “Where Have You Gone, Jayson Blair?”
Let’s keep this simple; frankly, I’m tired of all of the hue and cry on the subject – from professors and from newspaper editors: You must attribute all information obtained from outside sources. If I learn that you’ve lifted, borrowed, stolen, snagged, snapped up, taken, pilfered, seized, or snared even the smallest bit of information without attribution, you will receive no points for that project – and you may fail the course.

Rough Drafts
I’ll be happy to look over drafts you’ve written at any stage of your story preparation. Email them to me as a Word file – I’ll respond as quickly as I can – or I’ll let my three-year old son Neil have a look (he’s great with leads).

Submissions
If you'd like, you can submit your work to me in person or via email (as an attached Word file)...
or you can post it to my blog - yes, my blog! Here's how it will (I hope) work:

Post your story to http://www.theinfieldflyrule.blogspot.com/. I'll look at it, then send you comments in a subsequent post. Your colleagues are free to comment, too.

You will then post the final version to the blog. It's that simple (or so they tell me).

The end result? A news vehicle of our very own, which you can share with friends, family, classmates, the cast of Scrubs - anyone.

And now, please restore your tray tables to their upright and locked position.