Diggin' for information

This week's readings provided a lot of insight into how to get information that is not necessarily always given voluntarily. Depending on the nature of your story sometimes you have to dig deeper to find facts and information; sometimes you have to dust off old documents and files to uncover the truth. The chapter "The Hunt" had a wealth of info in regards to scavenging for documents. I never knew that there were designated "retention schedules" for when a file could be discarded and depending on the story that you are researching, to find that an important/key document was destroyed well before it should have, that in itself could be a story or at least a juicy detail for your viewers/readers. In the section headed as "Map the government" I began to realize just how many official papers are in existence for just one organization. There are files for agency initiatives and financial statements and contracts and guidelines and inspections and employee lists....the list goes on and on.

The article about undercover recording, "Getting it Recorded" was a fun read. It reminded me of a class session we had in B3 where we examined how you should proceed with certain stories given certain topics or conditions. I remember my group pulled a card with a scenario that described a news station getting tips about a racist and prejudiced realtor that was refusing to sell homes to minorities. My group decided that we would send myself and another Caucasian reporter in at separate times with a hidden camera. Each of us would present ourselves with the same credentials and finances to see what the response of the realtor. So this article gave me insight into how we might have been able to carry out that hidden recording if we pursued the story in real life. I found it amusing that the first piece of advice was to talk to your lawyer to understand what would be plausible and what wouldn't be. I do know that different states hold different guidelines about recording people. In Arizona, you can record/broadcast a phone conversation without the other person's consent. A popular radio show in AZ uses this to their advantage for a hot segment where radio callers try to catch their lovers/spouses having an affair.

All in all, these were very entertaining and informative reads this week. I enjoyed them and learned a lot.