John Tedesco

The classic stereotype about journalists is that we’re all backstabbing vultures who would sell our mothers for a good story.

Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, we only sell our mothers for really, really good stories. But more importantly, we’re actually an amazingly friendly, collaborative bunch.

I’m in Boston where more than 1,000 people are trading tips, offering advice and learning from the best journalists around at this year’s Investigative Reporters and Editors conference.

This is the place to be if you’ve ever wondered, say, how Washington Post reporters figured out the complexities of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. You get to listen to the actual reporters who worked on the story. They’re essentially saying, “Here’s how we did it, and here are some tips we learned to help you work on the same kind of story.” It’s a goldmine for anyone who cares about journalism and wants to do it better.
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Flustered locksmith dude: “Like, what are you doing? I don’t know … what’s going on?”

Reporter uncovering locksmith scam: “My name is Brian Collister. I’m with the Trouble Shooters. I’m an investigative reporter. And you’re busted.”

Bob Woodward is one of the most famous investigative reporters on the planet. So it’s nice to see he’s still spending some evenings tracking down sources and knocking on their doors, just like he did during his youthful Watergate years.

The perfect time to knock? 8:15 p.m., after dinner but before bed time. Good to know.

American Journalism Review delved into the declining state of investigative journalism last week with articles and videos that quantified what’s been lost — and what might be gained:

Investigative shortfall: “Kicked out, bought out or barely hanging on, investigative reporters are a vanishing species in the forests of dead tree media and missing in action on Action News. I-Teams are shrinking or, more often, disappearing altogether.”

The nonprofit explosion: Investigative nonprofit news organizations are sprouting up across the country. But there are pitfalls: “Whether carried out by a CEO or a development pro, fundraising is a consuming and never-ending quest at journalism nonprofits, as much a part of their business as advertising sales are to a publisher in the traditional media world. With the task come issues that are foreign to newsgatherers. Precisely what money to take under what conditions requires often thorny ethical decisions. Just because money comes from civic-minded foundations or deep-pocketed do-gooders does not mean it is free of strings or baggage.”

Living the Dream: A profile of the nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism: “These are not suits who ran newsrooms. Most of these people starting these are rank-and-file reporters. It’s like reporters and editors taking over the profession.”

What others are saying about watchdog journalism:

JimmyCsays: How the Kansas City Star is relying on in-depth stories: “The plan hinges on developing a lineup of reporters who can consistently deliver front-page, “enterprise” stories — articles that spring primarily from recent news developments. Where breaking news is the engine of a paper, enterprise stories — in combination with graphics, photos and packaging — flesh out the machine and make it whole.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: Why Brian Tierney loved the news business: “No disrespect to TastyKake, but we aren’t delivering krimpets. We are delivering investigative journalism. We are giving voice to the little guy getting picked on. That is the part that is exhilarating.”

Media Matters: Conservative think tanks and free-market groups, such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation, are hiring investigative reporters.

Columbia Journalism review posted an interesting feature story about nonprofit investigative news organizations, and how they take different approaches to funding and sharing their content. The CJR story opens with a telling anecdote about a meeting at California Watch. At the meeting, the editors agree that one of their reporters, after months of digging, has uncovered a big story:

But then the conversation veered in a direction unfamiliar to traditional newsrooms. Instead of planning how to get the story published before word of it leaked, the excited editors started throwing out ideas for how they could share Johnson’s reporting with a large array of competitive news outlets across the state and around the country. No one would get a scoop; rather, every outlet would run the story at around the same time, customized to resonate with its audience, be they newspaper subscribers, Web readers, television viewers, or radio listeners. California Watch’s donors—at this point, a handful of high-powered foundations—expect it to publish high-impact investigative journalism about California as widely as possible.

My favorite line: How journalists are a persistent bunch and continue to push for ways to do watchdog journalism. “I do have a need to investigate the bastards,” said Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity.

My only quibble with this story is that it has a Texas-sized hole: There’s no mention of the Texas Tribune or Texas Watchdog. Wuh?

What others are saying about watchdog journalism:

Jane Podesta: Lou Grant-style editor J. Todd Foster didn’t cut back on investigative journalism at his small newspaper, which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Nieman Journalism Lab: High-quality investigative journalism can’t rely on just one or two sources of cash. Texas Tribune Founder John Thornton says news ventures must rely on “revenue promiscuity.”

David Eaves: Debunking five myths about old and new media.

Bronstein at Large: Phil Bronstein interviews Bill Gates about social media, the future of investigative journalism, and how he likes the iPad.

Rosland Gammon had an interesting Q&A with investigative reporter Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who uncovered rampant fraud in a $350 million, taxpayer-subsidized child-care program. Her series of stories, Cashing in on Kids, led to criminal charges against the scammers.

A video profiling Rutledge offers a glimpse at the tedious grunt work required to get the story. Rutledge relied on insiders with access to key documents, and she staked out people who were abusing the system.

After months of work, here was the lede for her first story:

On paper Angela Hale is a child-care provider.

She reported taking care of the same five kids seven days a week while their mom supposedly worked at a lawn-care service, even in the winter months.

The government paid Hale more than $30,000 last year for her child-care business.

It appears the government got duped. Hale didn’t care for the kids at times she said she did, nor did the mom legitimately work, the Journal Sentinel found.

The newspaper spent four months investigating the $340 million taxpayer-financed child-care system known as Wisconsin Shares and uncovered a trail of phony companies, fake reports and shoddy oversight.

Maybe investigative journalists — whether they work in newspapers, broadcast, or online — need to produce more of these “How We Did It” videos. They might help bridge the disconnect between the public perception of what reporters do, and the reality of what they do. “Investigative reporting requires a lot of shoe leather work — knocking on doors, tracking people down, and a lot of research,” Rutledge said in the video.

That kind of work takes time — and money.

What others are saying about watchdog journalism:

Nieman Journalism Lab: Former Washington Post Editor Len Downie says for-profit news orgs won’t create enough journalism.

The Guardian: How investigative reporting makes use of the internet.

Now the Details: Jeffrey Dvorkin argues there’s a downside to nonprofit investigative reporting.

What others are saying about watchdog journalism:

True/Slant: Matt Stroud interviews investigative journalist Steve Weinberg about his decision to work with journalists paid by the Church of Scientology to investigate the St. Petersburg Times. “Is it OK for veteran investigative reporters to write for the Scientologists? Or is working for an organization ‘so hostile to outside journalists’ just not right?”

Nieman Journalism Lab: Conservative nonprofit groups are hiring investigative reporters, which could muddle the landscape for other nonprofits that try to hew closely to news operations.