Watchdog Journalism Ideas
Dayton Daily News Assistant Managing Editor John Erickson recently presented a session to The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution staff that focused on watchdog journalism and how to
write stories that get readers’ attention. Erickson distributed a list of watchdog stories that can be done in
any community, big or small. Here is a sampler of those story ideas.
• Non-profits.
Non-profits
aren’t supposed to be about money, but some of their executives are paid like
corporate CEOs. Compile a list of the top wage-earners among non-profit
corporations and rank them.
• School
superintendent salaries. How much do superintendents make? Who gets a car allowance?
What other perks do they get?
• City
credit cards. We
found a city manager who was using a city credit card to charge meals, drinks
and who knows what else at an area strip club. To top it off, he claimed he was
dining with a host of prominent local officials. Find out who uses the city
credit cards and ask for their expense forms.
• State
fair finances. Many
state fairs are economic losers, but Georgia isn’t one of them,
according to a recent story in the New York Times. Do a “fair by the numbers”
and count more than the number of food items on a stick.
• DNA.
Every state has
a DNA database that compares known offender profiles with the available
forensic evidence. It’s been used to both convict and free suspects. Examine
how it’s been used in your state and who’s gotten off.
• Unpaid
parking fines. With
cities everywhere strapped for cash you’d think this would be a ready source of
revenue. But the Dallas Morning News last year found the city hadn’t collected
something like $40 million in unpaid parking fines.
Find out who isn’t paying the fines and what the city is doing about
it. In Dallas’
case, two businesses owed more than $100,000.
• Campus
crime. Another
one of those can’t-miss ones. Crime rates are dropping almost everywhere. What about
on college campuses in your area?
• Executive
pay. Type in
www.sec.gov. Each March companies have to file their 10Ks from the previous
year.
Be sure to include all stock options, deferred compensation and
bonuses. For example, the president of Key Bank in our town received a salary
of $950,000, but a total compensation package of nearly $5 million.
Reprinted with permission from Cox Academy Training newsletter, October
2006