21st Century Muckrakers: Staying Local, Digging Deep

21st Century Muckrakers: Staying Local, Digging Deep

Fall 2008: Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

On this point, editors, reporters and newspaper readers agree. In a time of cutbacks and a shrinking news hole, at a moment when print is in peril and digital is dominant, watchdog and investigative reporting must remain at the core of journalism’s mission. In this third part of our 21st Century Muckrakers project, editors and reporters speak to how metro and regional newspapers are confronting the enormous challenges of today and offer clues to where this kind of reporting will likely be headed tomorrow. —Melissa Ludtke, editor Read more

Making Firm a Newspaper’s Focus on Investigative Reporting

By David Boardman• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘In an age when our critics love to crow that news is an undifferentiated commodity available anywhere, investigative reporting clearly isn’t.’ Read more

Investigative Reporting: Strategies for Its Survival

By Edward Wasserman• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

New funding mechanisms and newsroom changes are needed if watchdog journalism is to thrive in small and midmarket news organizations. Read more

Investigative Reporting: Keeping It Relevant, Keeping It Local

By Paul D’Ambrosio• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘Our story selection is attuned to answering the question a reader might ask: How does this affect me?’ Read more

The Benefits of Computer-Assisted Reporting

By Jason Method• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘… in this day of easily accessible data, computer expertise can be a great equalizer.’ Read more

Remembering the Value of Investigative Journalism

By Rex Smith• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

A newspaper editor describes six newsroom strategies that ensure that watchdog reporting thrives—even at news organizations where resources are limited. Read more

Finding Support for a Lengthy Mission

By Brendan Lyons• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

To do this investigative story, ‘we needed the total investment of our editors, our newspaper’s publisher and, in turn, Hearst Corporation executives.’ Read more

Needed: A Leader to Champion the Cause

By Doug Pardue• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

In restructuring The Post and Courier’s newsroom, the top editor strengthened the focus on investigative journalism in the newspaper and on the Web. Read more

Employing Different Strategies With Two Projects

By Ron Menchaca• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘… investigative reporting can be just as effective at revealing why something did happen as it can be in documenting how something could happen.’ Read more

Joining Forces to Produce Public Service Journalism

By David Ledford• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘By using a model like this one, we can more effectively use our staff to do investigative journalism that holds government institutions accountable.’ Read more

Connecting Congressional Earmarks With Campaign Contributions

By David Heath• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

An investigative reporter creates a database of earmarks revealing the relationship between wasteful spending and political favors. Read more

Investing in Watchdog Reporting

By Mark Katches• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘… the Journal Sentinel has built a 10-person Watchdog Team with a robust Web presence called Watchdog Online.’ Read more

Public Investigator: Transforming Tips Into Stories

By Ellen Gabler and Raquel Rutledge• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

Two reporters use quick-hit, watchdog journalism to investigate local issues—and blog about what they do. Read more

Nurturing Newsroom Talent With Local Investigations

By Michael Sallah• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

‘For projects, the newspaper now typically links a lead investigative reporter with beat reporters.’ Read more

When Fierce Competitors Join the Same Team

By Gary Schwab• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

North Carolina’s leading newspapers now publish each other’s investigative work ‘as prominently as we would have had we reported them ourselves.’ Read more

Investigative Talent Departs After Awards Come In

By Dave Murray• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

The Blade’s commitment to investigative reporting endures despite the loss of key reporters to larger news organizations with better pay. Read more

Changing Circumstances Delay An Investigation—and Lead to a New Approach

By Steve Eder• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

With The Blade’s I-team no longer functioning, the paper’s only investigative reporter now partners with beat reporters to do watchdog stories. Read more

From Idea, to Beat Reporting, to Investigative Project

By Lois Norder• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

At the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the I-team created a new strategy to make certain that watchdog journalism is featured in the newspaper. Read more

Team Reporting on a Watchdog Project

By Darren Barbee• 21st Century Muckrakers• September 15, 2008

Tensions surfaced as an investigative team produced a six-part series amid pressures of a downsized newsroom. Read more

Zimbabwe: Overcoming Obstacles to Get news Out

In Zimbabwe, Courage Is the Journalist’s Companion

By Andrew Meldrum• September 15, 2008

‘What Mugabe did not want the press to report was how he was using systematic state torture and violence against blacks opposed to his rule.’ Read more

Graphic Art as Political Commentary

By Chaz Maviyane-Davies• September 15, 2008

The arresting images (above and below) created by Zimbabwean graphic artist Chaz Maviyane-Davies are editorial comments presented as art. Stifled by racial discrimination in white minority-ruled Rhodesia, Maviyane-Davies went into exile and studied art in … Read more

Zimbabwe: Telling the Story, Reporting the News

By Wilf Mbanga• September 15, 2008

‘The finer points of journalism have, regrettably, had to be compromised in the desperate battle for access to information. This is guerrilla journalism ….’ Read more

The Emotional Tug of the Zimbabwean Story

By Tracy McVeigh• September 15, 2008

‘I’ve fallen hard for the country and for its people and ache to go back. And when I am there, I feel more challenged as a reporter than I’ve felt anywhere else.’ Read more