make your own failure factories

Chris Davis

Deputy Managing Editor Data/Investigations

@TimesDavis

Michael LaForgia

Investigative Reporter

@laforgia_

where to find stories

Look around your communities. Which groups of people are being unfairly denied access to the basics?

Examples:

Highway planning
Public transportation
Quality health care

Job loss/outsourcing
Population loss/flight
Planning that emphasizes suburbs over cities
Emergency services (ambulances; 911 response times)
Infrastructure (water pipes)
Law enforcement abuses
Quality representation in court

"Conventional wisdom is the enemy of investigative reporting."

- Walt Bogdanich

honing your story idea

Remember: It has to be something serious, and specific.

It can't be:

"Black kids are doing worse in school than white kids."

It can be:

"The Pinellas County School Board made decisions that created the worst schools in Florida."

knowing when you have a story

Ideally, you can prove it numbers.

developing a hypothesis

Don't focus on the phenomenon.

Instead, focus on policy and practice.

Remember: What policymakers have not done over time
is as important as what they have done.

vetting your hypothesis

You'll need a basis for comparison.

embrace using data

Forget the term "data journalism."

These days, on most beats, data is the most authoritative source. If you're not regularly interviewing it, you're not doing your job as well as you could be.

using data to test your hypothesis

Test conventional wisdom, like: "These black kids are failing because they're poor, and their parents aren't involved enough."
Test assumptions, and explode popular myths.
When the data bears out your hypothesis, your work as reporters is starting, not ending.