Title Slide ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE DATA

Great Sources, Great Storytelling

Briggs-Gammon Rosland

Ø  Blogger for the Reynolds Center for BusinessJournalism.org

Ø  Communications instructor at Alverno College, Milwaukee

Ø  Freelance writer Ø  Former business reporter and/or editor at

!e Philadelphia Inquirer, Bloomberg News and the Milwaukee Business Journal

Hudson Mike

Ø  Senior Editor at International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Ø  Author of “THE MONSTER: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America—and Spawned a Global Crisis”

Ø  George Polk Award winner Ø  Former Wall Street Journal reporter Ø  BIB winner: “Fraud and Folly: !e Untold

Story of General Electric’s Subprime Debacle”

Young Alison

Ø  Investigative reporter for USA Today Ø  Winner of two Scripps Howard Awards,

two Gerald Loeb Awards and two National Headliners

Ø  Former reporter and/or editor for !e Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Detroit Free Press, !e Arizona Republic and the Dallas Times Herald

Ø  BIB winner: “Ghost Factories”

GREAT STORYTELLING

ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE

DATA

LLCs, property records

“!ere was an existing paper trail, and no one ever went looking for it.”

-Brian Grow, Reuters, on Chesapeake coverage

Public utility "lings

“All of the information is there, but nobody ever reads it….Companies count on the fact that no one will ever read it.” – Mark Jaffe, Denver Post, on

Xcel’s SmartGridCity project story

Denver Post graphic

“A lot of times, business reporters give up, but there is so much information about private companies in SEC "lings.” - Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune, on stories about electric cars in Elkhart, Ind.

Full-text search on SEC site

https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/index.php

Tobacco libraries “It’s so rare that you have access to this level of detail. It’s like being invited into executives’ offices and have them open their "les and say, ‘Here, have a look.’”

-Patricia Callahan, Chicago Tribune, on the series on the risks of "ame retardants  

Chicago Tribune graphic

http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/

Data arranged by: Ø Business Ø Election campaigns Ø Environment Ø Federal spending Ø Health Ø Public safety Ø Transportation

Your suggestions?  

GREAT STORYTELLING

ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE

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Not just the numbers “What makes a story come alive is being able to physically see what a place is. Who lives there? Who works there? From then on, that place is a reality to you.” – Byron Harris, investigative

reporter WFAA-TV in Dallas

“Finding Mr. Johnson wasn’t easy. Most workers didn’t want to share details as freely as he did.”

-  Leslie Patton, Bloomberg on McDonald’s CEO pay vs. employee wages story

Sources

h"p://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm  

h"ps://www.linkedin.com/  

h"p://www.pacer.gov/  

http://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/partners/

“Fraud and Folly: !e Untold Story of General Electric’s

subprime debacle”

GREAT STORYTELLING

ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE

DATA

Tag everything “Trying to remember what documents you have is a challenge…. Every time I get a report, I tag it with content, speaker, source and source type.”

- Kate Willson, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on human tissue series

Organizing tools

h"ps://www.box.com/  

h"p://www.copernic.com/  

h"p://www.documentcloud.org/home  

h"ps://vimeo.com/62188625  Password:  ghos,actories  

GREAT STORYTELLING

ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE

DATA

Storytelling “People respond to deep narrative stories with a beginning, middle and end. Newspapers focus on the beginning and the end. But the middle can be fascinating. !at’s where some of best stories come out of.”

- Charles Duhigg, New York Times on “#e Power of Habit”

 

“When I outline, I set aside my notes and focus on storytelling.”

- Mina Kimes, on her Fortune story about railroad consolidation

Storytelling

Writing techniques

Overcoming challenges Focusing tips

Giving the story life

When to stop

Great storytelling

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Share your stories

rbgammon@rbgmedia.com Twitter: @RBGMedia Phone: (414) 336-2140

CONTACT US

Alison Young ayoung@usatoday.com Twitter: @alisonannyoung

Mike Hudson mwhudson@gmail.com Twitter: @michaelwhudson