UCSC SciCom: Policy and Investigative Reporting

This class focuses on in-depth and investigative reporting, where science and technology meets public policy and society. We will cover essential skills of investigative reporting, including obtaining documents through Public Records Act requests, using online reporting resources, computer-assisted reporting, and ethical and legal issues. After 10 weeks, students will complete an article of ~2000 words, concentrating on an issue of societal/political importance.

Schedule

• March 29: Using data in journalism

  An introduction to data-driven journalism, with examples; Basic online resources for science reporters: databases of scientific literature, patents, grants, clinical trials etc.

• March 31: Individual meetings

  Discussion with five students to refine your story ideas.

• April 7: Investigative approaches

  Discuss examples of investigative reports selected by students, studying methods employed.

• April 14: Acquiring and cleaning data

  Tips, tricks and tools for pulling unruly data down from the web: extracting data from web tables, automating bulk downloads of multiple files, and web scraping — without having to write any code. We’ll then use Open Refine to clean and process data — and learn how to save the steps so in future it can be done with one click!

• April 21: Interviewing data: using databases and SQL

  Beyond the spreadsheet: Using databases to interrogate data and find the story. (We will use SQLite and the SQLite Manager add-on for Firefox.)

• April 28: Finding and telling the story by visualizing data

  Data visualization in reporting and storytelling. After a discussion of basic principles, we will put them into practice using Tableau Public.

• May 5: Backgrounding non-profits, companies and people

  Guidestar and CitizenAudit.org for researching non-profits; SEC filings and other tools for researching companies. Who sent that email? Who runs this website?

• May 10: Guest lecturer Ben Welsh, editor, Los Angeles Times Data Desk

  Ben will talk about how the LA Times integrates data journalism into the newsroom. Preceded and followed by individual meetings with Ben to discuss your projects.

• May 19: Individual meetings

  After initial edits and Ben’s feedback, a catch-up with five students to make sure everything is on track to deliver the best article possible!

• May 26: Privacy, security, and e-sleuthing

  Who sent that email? Who runs this website? Also: The tracks you leave, and how to cover them, if necessary. Setting up encryption, to protect yourself, and your sources, from prying eyes.

• June 2: Misconduct and ethics in science and journalism

  Reporting on scientific misconduct and research ethics. Case studies in journalistic ethics. What would you have done?