One secret to investigative reporting is the ability to keep secrets.
That was part of the message from panelists B.J. Schecter of Sports Illustrated, and Teri Thompson and Nathaniel Vinton of the New York Daily News during the investigative reporting workshop at the 2011 APSE Summer Conference in Boston.
"Keep your circle closed during the process," Schecter said.
Schecter, the executive editor of integration for SI and SI.com, said his team, which included reporters and editors from CBS and SI, branded a recent package about college football recruits from Top 25 teams and their criminal history, "Project X," and kept all information gathered within that circle.
Part of the reason for secrecy, Thompson said, is to protect confidential sources.
"We get calls often — 'The FBI's at my door, what do I do?'" said Thompson, who is managing editor for sports and oversees the Daily News' investigative team. "You have to be careful not to give them legal advice."
Thompson said her team conducts background checks on those sources and relies on its reporters to "figure out who is a fraud and who isn't."
Transparency can be just as vital as secrecy in some parts of the process.
Sports Illustrated published a methodology box with its story and shared information with schools that called wanting to know
about specific players and/or the crimes they committed.
"Accuracy and being fair was especially important to us," Schecter said. "Not one person questioned a fact in the story." "Make sure you explain what off the record is and what not for attribution is (to your sources)," Thompson added.
Organization, communication, clear understanding of assignments and legal advice also are important parts of investigative reporting.
Schecter said the idea for SI's story, which found that 23 of the 25 schools investigated did not conduct criminal background checks on recruits, was born from a conversation with a freelance reporter.
Through Freedom of Information requests and many interviews, SI discovered that 204 of the nearly 3,000 athletes it investigated had criminal records.
"We tried to change the conversation — at least among coaches and ADs in the NCAA," Schecter said.
