Download - Investigative Business Journalism
Presented byAlec KleinProfessor, Medill School of JournalismNorthwestern UniversityLas Vegas, June 9, 2010
Alec Klein, who joined the faculty of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism last fall, is an award-winning investigative business journalist and bestselling author
Father: editor-in-chief, New York Times magazine
Busy guyDecided to write for high school
paperAssigned to cover run-of-the-mill
burglary
Came home from reporting the storyWrote draft of story, showed to
father“This is terrible”Did you call the school?Phone book: Mrs. Berman at home
Did you interview the police?HomeworkSubway on a school nightPolice station
Father flipped through notesMiraculously, found a quote from a
school security guard“Worst thing ever saw”Another miracle: Had noted she had
worked at school for nearly 25 years
Father edited my storyTranslation: He rewrote itLede: “In the worst breakout of
burglary in nearly a quarter century…
Page 1Hooked
Refining and pitching the investigative business story idea
To begin with, you need PHOAM
P:assionH:ookO:riginalityA:ccessM:arket
Image by flickr user marttj
They usually come from beats
That’s because they’re organic. They arise naturally in the course of reporting
To wit: Secret bonuses at City Hall
The anonymous tipster on AOLImage by flickr user MonkeyMike
This is not the same thing as a preconceived notion
Rather: Consider a set of questions that need answering
To wit: When cigarettes are under attack, why are cigars being glamorized? (Yachting magazine)
Let’s say you think you’ve hit on a great idea How do you check it out to make sure it’s uncharted territory? Lexis-Nexis Factiva Amazon Google The overriding question: Has it been done
before?
But who has time to pursue investigative business stories, especially when you’re on a busy beat and your editor is breathing down your neck to file early and often?
Get out of the office: kill or be killed Cub reporter: worked on vacations—only
time the editors couldn’t assign stories Worked on weekends Worked afterhours, after the proverbial
smoked cleared from the daily deadlines Bottom-line: find time
Darwinian approach: only the fittest will get on Page One
In the old days: Only three stories on Page One
Lot of reporters, few A1 slotsMistake: Walk into your editor’s
office with an ill-conceived idea
Such as: I’d like to do an investigation of poverty
Many a times: Bludgeoned in editor’s office
Finally figured out: Need to do some research before entering the torture chamber
But how much research?
About 20 percent That’s enough to tell you if you’ve got a
story or whether you’re going to spin your wheels
The 20 percent: What’s the story? A new trend? A twist on an old idea? How will you report it and how long will it
take?
Mistake: Never show editors your raw notes
Made that mistake on AOL
Editor: Don’t get it, nothing here. Go back to work
Then Enron happened
Editors: What was Alec working on?
This time: I wrote a memo
Set free for a year
Having a year to do an investigative business story sounds better than it is
You better come up with a great piece
Can you withstand making no progress for several weeks at a time? Maybe inbred
Back to the memoIt clarifies the issues.
It makes editors see. They can print it. They can ruminate over it. They can forward it by e-mail to their bosses. Then they can approve it
Let’s say your editors still say no
Then what?
Set your own agenda
The old model: the three-part series that took a year to report and runs in December in time for the Pulitzer entries
The new model: write episodically WSJ did this: Word was sent out at the
beginning of the year—let’s write about death
The episodic approach, it’s the way of the world: The economy, the industry. Investigative reporting is expensive
Build on your beat coverage Think this way: once a
month, craft a great piece of investigative reporting on the same subject
Over a year, you’ll end up with 12 pieces that amount to a worthy in-depth investigation into a single topic
The Las Vegas Sun, most notably including the reporting of Alexandra Berzon, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for public service, for a series of stories about the high death rate of construction workers on the Las Vegas strip. See www.pulitzer.org
Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post, 2008,for international reporting, for his episodic stories about private security contractors
Kevin Helliker and Thomas M. Burton of The Wall Street Journal, 2004 for their episodicstories about aneurysms
How to get people to open up
I was accused of being like this
We’re supposed to not know
Have them condescend to you
“Treat me like a fifth grader”
Don’t have an ego about this
Need to be absolutely sure to write authoritatively
New at WSJOrdered to write lead news story IBMEarningsSweatCall analyst: What’s P&L?Cancel subscription
You may know the answer alreadyTo wit: How old are you?Answer: 51Thought 52Yeah, actually 52 If small lie, is there a bigger lie
AOL series: Almost a year into itHad hundreds of confidential
documentsHad well-placed sourcesEditor called me into his officeMused: Wouldn’t it be nice …Vice president of finance
Ask the same question five times
But in different waysAt different timesTo wit: Do you know a vice president-level finance guy who had raised questions about AOL’s finances?
When to use the notebook
VersusWhen not to use
the notebook
When to tape record vs.
When not to tape record Billionaire: I want to
be able to deny I had this conversation
During the interview, you need to think about several things at the same time: The lede The images to capture The details to portray Is this the first of many interviews or a one-
shot deal? Why, why, why? The cosmic point Follow up questions
When people say you got it wrong, that you made a mistake, check it out thoroughly
Sometimes, it can help
Red Hat
The Reluctant Interviewee
What do you do when they won’t talk?
Options: Call E-mail Letter Certified letter: know
they got it, but act of war?
Intermediary: someone they know
Take chances Bridgestone/
Firestone
Don’t take no for an answer Surgeon General
Go there Gettysburg
Last Words of Advice Bob Woodward
Show up early
Me Show up late
When starting a new investigative business story, where do you begin?
The onion: otherwise known as the circling effect
Begin on the outside, work your way in: Family Friends Friends of friends Customers Suppliers Competitors Unions Associations Former employees Current employees Secretaries Executives
At their homes Afterhours On weekends Away from places
where they are monitored or overheard At bars Restaurants Bowling alleys
Places Where People Network: Conventions Industry gatherings Trade shows▪ Exchange business
cards▪ Socialize▪ Network
Yes, they can be a bit odd
But they often know their stuff because they have no other life
Don’t Dismiss the PR People
Example: secret bonuses
But also: AT&T cable assets “You didn’t ask
the right question”
Image by flickr user Meg Marco
Example:Anonymous tipster: “How did you find me?”
No secretIt takes timeTrustWillingness to protect sourcesAre you willing to go to jail for
them?
Exchange of information
Once you have information they want, then you become valuable
You have something to barter
As long as it’s not confidential information
Define the terms Explain why it’s important to go on the
record Move sources up the ladder
Off the record On background On the record
Sometimes, refuse to go off the record: why? It can tie your hands
Reading back quotes?
Showing stories pre publication
Do we let sources go? Do we let them change their minds?
My opinion: Let sources go
Example: AOL
No surprises Always let them know what’s going on,
even if it works against you Better for them to be angry at you
before publication than after, when it’s too late
AOL 21-page single-spaced letter
Credit raters Removed lead anecdote even though
information obtained independently
Repeatedly A Woodward technique You need to know when you can trust your
sources Eg.: Whether FTC would approve AOL-Time
Warner merger Origins: Editor: Woodward was a new reporter,
too FTC threatens pre publication: Last story you’ll
write Sources at the heart of the secret
What documents to look for and where to find them
The secret to investigative business reporting is…
Start with:GoogleLexis-Nexis
Factiva
You don’t need to know where all the public documents are
You need to know what questions to ask to find them
To wit: 192.com
Baltimore Sun investigation: Supermarket bankruptcy
Words of wise editor: “The good reporters know what’s missing”
Thinking: I never know what’s missing Did you check for hidden depositions? Not in court record: wads of cash in brown paper bags Before the jump on A1
What are they?Where do you get them?Sec.govCompany Web site
10k 10 Q: What’s the
first thing to look for?
Proxy: What’s the first thing to look for?
SEC public filings only go so far
What is considered “material” to investors?
Material: Any information related to a particular business that might be relevant to an investor's decision to buy, sell or hold a security
A company can slice its business into small sectors that don’t require disclosure
To wit: AOL
Former employees Sworn testimony Copies of contracts Business strategy
Where to find lawsuits State and federal suits
▪ Many online If not online, check Lexis-
Nexis If not there, check Pacer for
federal suits http://pacer.psc.uscourt
s.gov (not free)
Pulling documentsBig issue?Money
Goldmine Pacer
For what? Creditors; assets; debts; lawyers; suppliers; vendors
Key kinds? Chapter 7: liquidation Chapter 11: reorganization
SEC FCC FDA
Key: on almost every investigative business story, there is a government body that has some connection to it
Congressional Testimony Contradictions Remember the tobacco
executives who claimed they didn’t know anything about the addictive power of cigarettes?
Company e-mailInternal newsletters
Get on the mailing list, if possibleRemember: Don’t steal, don’t lie,
don’t break into computer system Chiquita Banana case
Wall Street analyst reports
Property records: County or other local office
Many online Good to check for:
Size, details of executive’s home
Other great resources: Planning department Zoning Construction Driver records▪ Depends on state; eg.
Maryland, need permission of driver for records
Better Business Bureau Consumer complaints
Uniform Commercial Code State records, secretary of state usually; shows
who has borrowed money, what used as collateral, etc.
Incorporation records Usually secretary of state; records of founding
of the business; who owns it; its executives; etc.
Hoovers Hoovers.com
Can get detailed tax filings—990s—of their finances from the nonprofits themselves
Or try Guidestar at www.guidestar.org
Airplane ownership search Landings.com
Finding lawyers Martindale.co
mMessage
boards, blogs
Web site ownership http://
www.whois.sc/ Internet archive:
old Web sites www.archive.org
ProfNet: e-mail queries for experts www.profnet.co
m
Referenceusa.com Superpages.com AnyWho.com Switchboard.com Infobel.com:
international directory
AutoTrack and other pay Sites: Expensive Metered Even at The
Washington Post: key holder
But good resource for information for investigative or beat reporting▪ Personal information:
telephone numbers▪ Neighbors▪ Legal judgments
Opensecrets.org: Center for Responsive Politics
Tray.com: Political Moneyline
Publicintegrity.org: Center for Public Integrity
Followthemoney.org: The Institute on Money in State Politics
Lobbyists and Other Legislative Resources: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara
lobbying on behalf of foreign entities
Congressional Research Service: http://www.opencrs.com
GAO Reports: www.gao.gov Thomas Web site:
http://thomas.loc.gov/: basic legislation, Congressional reports and records
www.reporter.org/desktop/tips/johndoe.htm Born, married, died Previous addresses,
relatives, associates Lawsuits,
bankruptcies, divorce, criminal, traffic
Home phone Attended college Real estate Etc.
Courtesy of Duff Wilson of The New York Times
Truth About Criminal Records: There is a national
criminal record database but it is not available to the public
FBI database Public access to criminal
records controlled at the state level
Each state has different rules about who may access records and what records will be available
Some records handled at the county level
FOIA: the good and the bad Secret bonuses “Oh, that bonus” Reprocessors
▪ List of reprocessors▪ No List▪ List▪ Names missing from list
Beware: They might leave stuff
out Of fishing expeditions Of unexpected costs
Sample FOIA letters: www.nfoic.org/sample-foia-letters
FOIA letter generator: www.rcfp.org/foialetter/index.php
Not public
They may say “Confidential”
You need to interpret, analyze, translate
AOL investigation at The Washington Post
How I discovered how AOL inflated its advertising revenue to pull off the biggest merger in U.S. history to create the largest media company in the world
Summer of 2001Sitting at my deskNot much going onPhone rangAnonymous tipster
Didn’t give his name or number Just told me: An AOL executive had
been suspendedPurchaseProLas Vegas dot-comRed flag: Gambling & dot-coms
Checked with sources; confirmedHad to do with accountingNot sure whatWaltzed over to my editors,
surprised that I wanted to write a story
Buried deep in the business section of The Washington Post: E5
Not even my mother reads that far
Nobody paid attentionBefore EnronAccounting scandals, not a big story
—yetStill, intriguedWhy was AOL official suspended?Who was PurchasePro?What was the accounting issue?
Did what any reporter would doStarted calling aroundWould call one person who would tell
me to call someone elseThat someone else would tell me to
call so-and-soSo-and-so would tell me to call three
other people
Eventually, I called one person“Hi, my name is Alec Klein, and I’m a
reporter at The Washington Post”Before I could say anything else:
“How did you find me?”Didn’t know I had found anyone until
he said those very wordsThen I realized: found my
anonymous tipster
Other doors openedMet more peopleWasn’t glamorousDingy hotel lobbiesBad restaurants where they wouldn’t
be seen with a Washington Post reporter
Spent a lot of time in one particular hotel lobby
Used public telephone So my calls couldn’t be traced back to
The Washington Post Sources were afraid of being seen or
heard talking to a Washington Post reporter
AOL was notorious for being more secretive than the Pentagon
Always in that hotel lobbyShoes shinedReading the paperHad cell phone latched to belt, but
was always using the public telephone
Would ask for change in the gift shopStrange looksHotel thought: drug dealer
Story began to come together like a jigsaw puzzle
Began to amass confidential documents Didn’t say “Smoking Gun” on them But pattern emerged AOL had been inflating its advertising
revenue to pull off the biggest merger in U.S. history to create the largest media company in the world
AOL created the illusion of significant advertising revenue in part through questionable accounting practices
For example: AOL legal case, turned it into ad revenue
AOL sold ads on behalf of eBay but AOL booked the sales as its own
Deals helped AOL clinch its historic merger with Time Warner
If AOL had revealed some of its financial weakness, Time Warner could have pulled out of the deal
After nearly year, my editor called me into office
Wouldn’t it be nice…Should’ve run for the hillsVice president of finance?Ask question five times
As far as we knew, never before had a newspaper pointed the finger at a major company’s finances
Usually a whistleblowerOr company comes clean If we were wrong by an inch, all over
Before my stories ran, wrote a 21-page, single-spaced letter, presenting AOL with my findings to give the company an opportunity to respond
Included everything Such as: hair plants imported from South
America Bumped into Dick Parsons in the AOL
lobby Hadn’t even noticed him
AOL ballistic High-powered law firm to kill stories Lead attorney known as the media killer Successful in fighting the media on other
big stories Involved in the famous case where 60
Minutes was prevented from airing a story about a tobacco whistleblower, which became the subject of the movie, The Insider
Pretty nervousTold girlfriend, now mother of my
children, that this might be the last story I ever write
Len Downie: called into his officeDidn’t actually talk about anythingSmiled at each other Just wanted to know who was this
reporter causing this ruckus
AOL and its lawyers came to The Washington Post
Why my stories should be killedHeading to the meeting: bumped
into the managing editor in the middle of the newsroom
Looked at me in utter shockHad shavedWas wearing a tieShirt buttoned all the way to the top
Managing editor: “You look like a defendant”
He was rightCan’t discuss details of meetingBut can tell this:Len Downie talked about smoking
cigars with Fidel Castro. That set the tone
Another thing: Meeting was held in the main newsroom conference room
On one wall, an old print plate: “Nixon Resigns”
On opposite wall, a framed classified ad, showing a picture of Gerald Ford
“I got my job through The Washington Post”
Suffice it to say, The Washington Post didn’t back down
Newspaper went ahead and published my stories
Day of the first story, AOL’s chief operating officer was forced to resign
Call from an AOL official: Congrats. Jaws of death
Within days, AOL confirmed the SEC had launched an investigation into AOL’s accounting as a result of my stories
Then the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation because of my stories
Then AOL admitted it had improperly booked $49 million in ad revenue
Then: $190 million
AOL was forced to revise two years of its financial results
Head of its business affairs division was locked out of his office and fired
Business affairs division that was the focus of my investigation was disbanded
Others went to jail
Ultimately, the company was forced to pay more than half a billion dollars to settle civil and criminal allegations
They even removed AOL from company name
No longer: AOL Time Warner Just: Time Warner
A term I invented to guide my reporting
Fair checkingAnother term I inventedPut yourself in their shoes Is it fair?Different than: Is it accurate?To wit: The paunch
AOL investigationThreatening lettersSources run for the hillsTrack them downBegGrovelBut can’t threatenCan’t coerceOnly: Do what’s right
Investigations on multiple platforms
Develop your own system
Be your own best secretary It’s not glamorous
but someone has to do it
Keeping track of mounds of documents, notepads, calls—need to be organized
My system: Daily log Phone log Contact list Cork board▪ Visualize key players▪ Calendar▪ Themes
The lede: Hours or days or weeks of anguish
Blood on the computer Should’ve done something else Work with hands Like a farmer
LAS VEGAS -- Chastity Ferguson kept watch over four sleepy children late one Friday as she flipped a pack of corn dogs into a cart at her new favorite grocery store: Wal-Mart.
The Wal-Mart Supercenter, a pink stucco box twice as big as a Home Depot, combines a full-scale supermarket with the usual discount mega-store. For the 26-year-old Ferguson, the draw is simple.
"You can't beat the prices," said the hotel cashier, who makes $400 a week. "I come here because it's cheap."
Image by flickr user Lone Primate
Classic anecdotal lede
Simple, straight forward
Nothing fancy about it
Quote that gets to the heart of the story: “You can’t beat the prices”
We can do this
The Los Angeles Times; that’s the lede from a series that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting
Me in the old days: Frantically flipping through notebook searching for the lede
Not there Me now: Report the
lede beforehand so you don’t have to search for it later in your notes
To wit: Lede to Stealing Time--grumpy old man
WSJ approach to ledes: All about the purity of the
lede Must be exactly on point Not sort of the point
▪ Joke:▪ Colon▪ Question mark▪ Pithy-sentence lede
KISS KeepItSimpleStupid
Okay, enough about the torture of writing
Here’s an overlooked aspect of writing: Tone The sound of the story Rarely is it
premeditated It should be
THE BOY LOVES GAMES OF CHANCE. He loves slot machines and playing cards and instant-win lottery tickets. He learned at an early age to count coins, and to bet them. He learned in the hospital that money comes in get-well cards.
Lisa Pollak’s story Baltimore Sun Winner of the 1997
Pulitzer Prize for feature writing
Read a book or other story that reflects what you’re doing
To wit: Writing about the civil war Read the classic, Killer Angels Wrote lede to reenactment of the
Gettysburg Battle Using old English Should’ve mentioned it to my editors
Let’s Get Down to the Nitty Gritty: Organizing the investigative business
story How I do it:▪ Divide by interviewee▪ Annotate my own notes▪ Develop a detailed outline from the notes▪ Review and re-review the notes▪ Can take days—or weeks▪ But you have a roadmap
The nut: everyone knows the nut, right?
How about the so-what graf: Otherwise known,
at least to me, as the cosmic point
The reason why we’re reading your story
Examples:▪ Greed▪ Hubris▪ Ambition
The To-Be-Sure Clause: Wall Street Journal thing The exception to the rule, or
the trend Up high To immunize yourself Because there’s always an
exception
Give the company or individual plenty of time to react and respond
Not enough to call the night beforeCall, e-mail, stop by—and repeatedlyTo wit: AOL
Six weeks, an eternity Risk: story leaks to competitors But must be done
One of my last Washington Post investigations in 2008: Military contracting In desert in suit (not a good idea) Carrying notepad Digital camera Camcorder
Everything I know about photography, I owe to Steve Liss, who taught me:
Now, we are all photographers When you’re shooting,
take a lot of pictures—at least 100 images
Camera is your notepad Record moments as
they unfold Don’t wait for the
perfect moment
The first way you view a scene is not always the best
Try different shooting angles Eye level From above on a chair From below on the floor Look for the inherent logic
of the shot;▪ eg,. a shot of giant
might be better from a higher angle
Don’t shoot everything from a wide angle
Look for other opportunities, such as close-ups, which can have more impact
Imagine, say, an expressive face
We’re now all in the business of gathering audio Online audio stories Online audio with photos
—slideshows All you need:
A digital camera A digital recorder that
can connect to a computer to download audio files
Audio Slideshows: You need to show how the
story begins How the subject gets from
point A to B to C Show in the photos what the
audio is telling The photos must match the
audio So take lots of pictures Helps to ensure that images
match sound Usually: you don’t want a
single image to linger onscreen for more than 10 seconds
For a three-minute slideshow, plan for at least 18 photos
There are two kinds of sound Natural sound, or “nats”▪ For a slideshow, you
usually need natural sound—eg., the sound of bacon frying in the background, the roar of the crowd
▪ Turn on the recorder, point it at the natural sound and capture a lot of it
▪ May help later during editing to bridge sections of your audio story
Interviews Beware of loud background
sound Move interview subject away
from that noise Hold the recorder close to the
subject, within a foot and a half
Avoid talking over the interviewee: “Uh huh” et al
If necessary: Nod head Beware of wind Stay away from yes or no
questions Ask open-ended questions:▪ Why?
We are all videographers now Use a variety of focal lengths and angles
Establishing shot, wide, tells the viewer where the story is taking place
Medium shot: takes the viewer closer to the action
Tight: close up No zooms or pans Shoot and move: Zoom with your feet Limit motion of the camera; use set shots
The rule of thirds: Divide the screen into thirds, with subject taking up one of the thirds—more visually arresting
Rule of 180 degrees Which way is the
subject’s nose pointing? Stay on that side Don’t switch sides Disorients viewer
Jump Cuts: Common mistake Two things don’t match
visually To wit: Person is in one
spot; in the next frame, he magically jumps to another spot
One way to avoid jump cuts: have person or action come into and out of frame before moving on
Walk away from the storyPut yourself in the subject’s
shoesIs it fair?Go through the story line by lineDifferent than fact checking; it’s
all in the nuances
The story may carry your name but it belongs to the paper, Web site, television station
It’s a communal project; must get buy in; editors must be on board
Must be willing to let go of the language; be amenable to change
One third of the investigative business story is the reporting
Another third is the writing The final third is the in-house hurdles
