I like to think I'd gotten to know Oklahoma's Open Records Act pretty thoroughly.
Now it's time to start all over.
Since I moved to South Florida, I haven't had time to dive into the state's fairly broad sunshine laws. Sitting on my desk is the pretty hefty --- and I must say kick ass --- Florida Public Records Handbook.
It's tough starting over in a new state when it comes to sunshine laws. When you've been somewhere for a while, you get used to the lame excuses and how to maneuver around them.
About a week ago, I had my first negotiation for some electronic records in Florida. I usually play dumb in a first conversation, letting them explain themselves and then I take some time to craft up a response.
I figure it's also useful to play dumb early because you can give them enough rope with which to hang them. But, in this instance, I also needed some time to go back and do some reading.
So here goes...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
And what a good thing to see....
William Hartnett, CAR specialist at the Palm Beach Post, points out a fine follow-up to an earlier post of mine.
And it was right under my nose. A nod to him for doing my work for me.
The Sun-Sentinel is hunting a municipal reporter to cover Pompano Beach, where yours truly lives.
"Spanish skills as well as knowledge of computer-assisted reporting are preferred."
I like.
And it was right under my nose. A nod to him for doing my work for me.
The Sun-Sentinel is hunting a municipal reporter to cover Pompano Beach, where yours truly lives.
"Spanish skills as well as knowledge of computer-assisted reporting are preferred."
I like.
Monday, October 29, 2007
There's got to be a better way......
The Houston Chronicle's Chase Davis has put together a great idea for the Knight News Challenge.
His idea for a sort of collaborative lawmaking site --- to put it lightly --- is very interesting.
I covered the Legislature for about two years at The Oklahoman before becoming the database editor. When I stepped back and noticed how we covered the Legislature --- afraid to miss any little event, a feeling of obligation to write about every back-and-forth political nonsense spewed in a "statement" --- I always thought there had to be a better way.
I just didn't know what it was.
I think sometimes we fell in the trap of thinking the public gave a crap about what went on inside the state Capitol. We thought the public cared whether former House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan got along.
Or whether they called each other names.
Kings in a castle syndrome, I suppose.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find a way to combine our knowledge of the beat and how things work in legislative bodies with the power of the Web? Like I said, Chase's idea really seems like a gigantic step in that direction.
I've really got a data crush on some of the stuff the folks at the NY Times are doing with some of the national elections, such as this gem on visits by candidates. They did something similar with campaign contributions.
I've always thought it'd be wonderful to come up with a way to show a flow of campaign contributions vs. bills moving through the Legislature. And we wouldn't have to stop there --- you could add in a number of other variables.
Again, I'm not sure what else, though.
But there's got to be a better way.
His idea for a sort of collaborative lawmaking site --- to put it lightly --- is very interesting.
I covered the Legislature for about two years at The Oklahoman before becoming the database editor. When I stepped back and noticed how we covered the Legislature --- afraid to miss any little event, a feeling of obligation to write about every back-and-forth political nonsense spewed in a "statement" --- I always thought there had to be a better way.
I just didn't know what it was.
I think sometimes we fell in the trap of thinking the public gave a crap about what went on inside the state Capitol. We thought the public cared whether former House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan got along.
Or whether they called each other names.
Kings in a castle syndrome, I suppose.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find a way to combine our knowledge of the beat and how things work in legislative bodies with the power of the Web? Like I said, Chase's idea really seems like a gigantic step in that direction.
I've really got a data crush on some of the stuff the folks at the NY Times are doing with some of the national elections, such as this gem on visits by candidates. They did something similar with campaign contributions.
I've always thought it'd be wonderful to come up with a way to show a flow of campaign contributions vs. bills moving through the Legislature. And we wouldn't have to stop there --- you could add in a number of other variables.
Again, I'm not sure what else, though.
But there's got to be a better way.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Even daily reporters need CAR....
Joey Senat, a media law and public affairs reporting professor at Oklahoma State University's journalism school, always told us to stay in a public records state of mind.
In today's world, we need to take it a step along. We need to also stay in a data state of mind.
Ziva Branstetter, projects editor at the Tulsa World, once told a panel I attended that the best ideas for investigations typically spring up from beat reporters. I think it's the same way with CAR stories.
I've always preached that all beat reporters need data skills.
When I first arrived at the Sun-Sentinel earlier this month, one of the first people who e-mailed me was Mc Nelly Torres, who I'd seen around at several IRE and/or NICAR conferences. Mc Nelly, a member of the consumer watchdog team here at the paper, had done some neat analysis of gas pump inspections in south Florida.
"In South Florida, 34 percent of the gas stations inspected in the past
three years had at least one gas pump that failed accuracy tests used to determine if the devices are giving consumers the correct amount of gas they pay for, a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis found."
Mc Nelly produced a great Sunday p1 by requesting the data from the Florida agency with oversight. She knew not only how to get the data, but how to analyze it.
Newspapers across America are spending an awful lot of money training reporters how to get audio and video, and then how to edit it. But aren't newspapers missing the boat by forgetting about content? It doesn't matter what kind of equipment you have or how much audio/video is on the Web site if the content isn't there.
Isn't that what we dislike about TV? All flash but no content?
CAR skills aren't hard to pick up. It just takes time and some monetary commitment from organizations.
Steve Lackmeyer, one of the finest reporters around, is old school. He's a shoe leather guy. But Lackmeyer recognized CAR skills aren't a substitute for shoe leather reporting --- they show you how and where to do better shoe leather reporting.
Lackmeyer, a mentor of mine at The Oklahoman, went to NICAR with me in Denver. He went through some of the boot camp stuff on Access and Excel. He came out excited.
"I can do this!"
This after just a couple hours of training.
I hope the industry doesn't forget that content is the No. 1 issue. Without content, we have nothing.
And I can make a great case that CAR skills will pay off big for beat reporters and the content they produce.
Mc Nelly's story proves it.
In today's world, we need to take it a step along. We need to also stay in a data state of mind.
Ziva Branstetter, projects editor at the Tulsa World, once told a panel I attended that the best ideas for investigations typically spring up from beat reporters. I think it's the same way with CAR stories.
I've always preached that all beat reporters need data skills.
When I first arrived at the Sun-Sentinel earlier this month, one of the first people who e-mailed me was Mc Nelly Torres, who I'd seen around at several IRE and/or NICAR conferences. Mc Nelly, a member of the consumer watchdog team here at the paper, had done some neat analysis of gas pump inspections in south Florida.
"In South Florida, 34 percent of the gas stations inspected in the past
three years had at least one gas pump that failed accuracy tests used to determine if the devices are giving consumers the correct amount of gas they pay for, a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis found."
Mc Nelly produced a great Sunday p1 by requesting the data from the Florida agency with oversight. She knew not only how to get the data, but how to analyze it.
Newspapers across America are spending an awful lot of money training reporters how to get audio and video, and then how to edit it. But aren't newspapers missing the boat by forgetting about content? It doesn't matter what kind of equipment you have or how much audio/video is on the Web site if the content isn't there.
Isn't that what we dislike about TV? All flash but no content?
CAR skills aren't hard to pick up. It just takes time and some monetary commitment from organizations.
Steve Lackmeyer, one of the finest reporters around, is old school. He's a shoe leather guy. But Lackmeyer recognized CAR skills aren't a substitute for shoe leather reporting --- they show you how and where to do better shoe leather reporting.
Lackmeyer, a mentor of mine at The Oklahoman, went to NICAR with me in Denver. He went through some of the boot camp stuff on Access and Excel. He came out excited.
"I can do this!"
This after just a couple hours of training.
I hope the industry doesn't forget that content is the No. 1 issue. Without content, we have nothing.
And I can make a great case that CAR skills will pay off big for beat reporters and the content they produce.
Mc Nelly's story proves it.
What this place is about....
Apparently I don't have enough to do.
So today, I'm trying out a new blog. This is on top of my other site.
I wanted a place where I could talk about journalism.
Journalism Bull is a nod to the stock market. I'm not ready to hang up the cleats on journalism because of the Internet. A friend of mine, who admittedly is a lot smarter than me when it comes to these types of things, tells me he's a bear on the industry. But maybe we're talking Xs and Os.
He was talking about newspapers. I'm talking about journalism. Then again, I don't think the buzzards are circling around newspapers just yet, either.
But it won't take long if we aren't careful. Chalk it up to cheerleading, if you want.
As for journalism, I think the Internet is great for journalism. It provides us a medium to do things print couldn't --- and expand on topics that newspapers prevented because of space reasons.
You'll probably see me talk about data and its role in journalism a lot --- mainly because that's what I do.
So, at risk of rambling with no point and boring you, here we go....
So today, I'm trying out a new blog. This is on top of my other site.
I wanted a place where I could talk about journalism.
Journalism Bull is a nod to the stock market. I'm not ready to hang up the cleats on journalism because of the Internet. A friend of mine, who admittedly is a lot smarter than me when it comes to these types of things, tells me he's a bear on the industry. But maybe we're talking Xs and Os.
He was talking about newspapers. I'm talking about journalism. Then again, I don't think the buzzards are circling around newspapers just yet, either.
But it won't take long if we aren't careful. Chalk it up to cheerleading, if you want.
As for journalism, I think the Internet is great for journalism. It provides us a medium to do things print couldn't --- and expand on topics that newspapers prevented because of space reasons.
You'll probably see me talk about data and its role in journalism a lot --- mainly because that's what I do.
So, at risk of rambling with no point and boring you, here we go....
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