SALT LAKE CITY — Rachel George had researched the old football house, done her interviews, and she knew full well that it could have collapsed at any moment when high school students were allowed to go inside.
But it was only when she started assembling her final piece when it really hit her: Her story was going to ripple in her community.
“I started making bullet points: So-and-so lied, this was unsafe, and kids could have died,” George said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. This really matters.’”
George, the first-place APSE winner in investigative journalism, and USA Today’s Jodi Upton led a workshop on how to do stories that need uncovering and will make an impact in a sport or community.
“There are a lot of really important stories we need to be doing that use public documents,” said Glen Crevier, the sports editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the workshop moderator. “You don’t have to work on a big investigative team to do this.”
For her part, George was mostly on her own. Using information from several sources, she requested more than 700 pages of records about a field house at a local high school. From flipping through county
inspections, maintenance records and other documents, she discovered that the building was deemed unsafe even before it was condemned.
Her story led to renovations for the field house and set off a county-wide review of more public buildings.
Upton offered insight into USA Today’s groundbreaking database of college coaches’ salaries and other similar projects. She reviewed several documents anyone covering college sports should try to get: Coach contracts, outside income reports and NCAA budget evaluations are among the most useful, she said.
Such documents can contribute to stories about how much coaches make, how much universities subsidize athletic departments or if athletic spending falls within federal regulations.
Although some of the documentation isn’t uniform, Upton reiterated the importance of keeping colleges and athletic departments accountable by at least filing requests periodically.
Workshop Materials:
- Watchdog Journalism (.ppt) — Presented by Jodi Upton of USA Today.
The Jap Davis Field House at New Hanover High School in Wilmington, N.C., was condemned after a StarNews investigation by Rachel George revealed dangerous conditions for students.
