News Library News Online
Vol. 24, No.4/Summer 2002

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ASIDE BAR
By Leigh Poitinger

This year's annual SLA conference had great sessions and fun events as usual. To see a recap of the News Division conference programs with links to the presentations, go to www.ibiblio.org/slanews/conferences/sla2002/.

And if you haven't seen Barbara Semonche's web site with photos from the News Division's awards banquet at the Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, take a look at www.ibiblio.org/journalism/nwsaward2002.html. You'll see award winners M.J. Crowley, Sharon Clairemont, Jim Hunter and Hannah Sommers. Thanks for sharing, Barbara!

IRE Conference

SLA wasn't the only conference in June. Several news researchers attended the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in San Francisco. Los Angeles Times researcher Nona Yates talks about her favorite session:

"As a special projects researcher at the Los Angeles Times, Iíve worked with all kinds of computer databases and public records. At this year's IRE conference in San Francisco, one of my favorite panels (and most useful) was "Unsung Investigative Documents" with panelists James Steele, editor-at-large at Time, Inc. and a leading investigative reporter; Mike McGraw, a special projects reporter at the Kansas City Star; and Joe Stephens, a member of the Washington Post's investigative team.

Using anecdotes about their own projects, they showed an enthusiasm and joy for the "paper chase" that only an investigative reporter or researcher could love. When they admitted that they all shared that strange malady, a love of documents - all kinds of documents from phone bills to Fed Ex bills to appointment calendars - I knew I was right where I belonged.

Stephens talked about the importance of "layering" information from a variety of sources such as public officials' phone bills, gas station credit cards and Federal Express billing records to reveal connections that might not be readily apparent.

McGraw, a self-described "data geek," emphasized the importance of "schmoozing and documents" in the pursuit of a story. He related that although many post-Sept. 11 stories referenced FAA data and numbers, the more interesting story to him was the one underlying all the numbers.

Steele, who with his partner Donald Barlett has been doing investigative projects for over 30 years, pointed out that the most "unsung" document is the one document you rarely use or encounter. He emphasized the importance of never assuming where something might be found, that valuable information may be contained in something as obscure as a "bunker fuels" report, as happened in one of his projects.

Finally, he made the important point that one should always assume that the information is out there, unless proved otherwise. Which is something that librarians have always known and an important thing to keep in mind as more and more information becomes available."

You can see the conference schedule at www.ire.org/training/sanfran/. And don't forget to look at the IRE's Tipsheet Database ( www.ire.org/resourcecenter/initial-search-tipsheets.html) to see handouts from most of the sessions.


Last Updated: 08/27/02
Leigh Poitinger
newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com