Journalism Archive

Tips On Interviewing Prisoners

Posted December 18, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

Journalist’s Resource is out with a tip sheet on interviewing white-collar prisoners. They come from Eugene Soltes who shared what he learned while doing research for Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal. Here are the bullet points on that article and a link to the full discussion that adds good context to these suggestions.  More  

Tracking Big Layoffs In Your Region & Across Illinois

Posted December 4, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

During the the final month of the year, we are going through the archives of Tip Of The Week.  Here is one to check every month.

 

In our Tip Of The Week this time, a way to keep tabs on potential layoffs in your area.       More  

The Art Of Interviews-Closing Them

Posted November 27, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

Tip Of The Week has been a IBANewsroom feature since we launched in June.  Here was one of the early tips.

This week’s tip might seem basic, but it’s always important, as someone once said, “to be brilliant on the basics.” A good infielder takes a lot of ground balls in practice.  More  

Journalists Make Sure You Monitor These Things Election Day!

Posted November 4, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

You’ve worked hard this election season. Our Tip Of The Week comes from the Journalists’ Resource web site.   Here are some some pointers on what you should keep an eye out for on election day.

 

Monitor these things on election days:

  • Long wait times (Is the wait longer than 30 minutes?
  •  More  

Getting WARNed On Local Job Losses

Posted October 30, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

In our Tip Of The Week this time, a way to keep tabs on potential layoffs in your area.     Large employers are required to issue notification of pending layoffs.  The State issues a report on the last day of the month called a WARN report.  It stands for the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.  More  

A Guide To Reporting On Religion

Posted October 23, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

A big help for radio/TV newsrooms on covering religion is out this week.   The National Association of  Broadcasters and its NAB Education foundation released the Awareness in Reporting/Reporting on Religion Toolkit. 

The on-line toolkit contains excellent content and its user-friendly.  There is a lot included, but it kicks off with some general guidelines to remember when covering religion:

  1. Religion can be controversial and the beliefs and practices of faith groups – which they claim are divinely inspired – can be at odds with societal values or a journalist’s personal beliefs or worldview.
  2.  More  

Here’s A Guide To Campaign Finance Resources

Posted October 16, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

Campaign Finance Resources: Sources of information and data  compiled by Kent Redfield.

Kent Redfield
kredf1@uis.edu
217-971-8691
Illinois statewide and legislative elections
Private campaign contribution and expenditure databases – 2000 – 2018
State board of election data with value added through standardization and coding

Illinois Election Data– Scott Kennedy
https://illinoiselectiondata.com/
Best source of current and historical Illinois election data – open access and subscription data
Developing a strong campaign finance data presence – Tracks targeted legislative races

Illinois State Board of Elections
http://www.elections.il.gov/  More  
Searchable and downloadable data base of campaign contributions (1994 to present) and campaign expenditures (2000 to present)
No value added – providing access to electronic public documents
Downloadable election data for primary and general election by candidate,

A Great Freebie for Tracking Court And Business Records

Posted October 2, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

Get the Sqoop!   With a hat tip to both Ren LaForme and Samantha Sunne, this site offers a way to search court records, business filings and other documents.   It also allows you to set it up to alert you to new documents of interest.  While there is a subscription fee usually attached to it,  More  

Easy FOIA Tips From One of Illinois’ Best Reporters

Posted September 18, 2018 by Bill Wheelhouse

Associated Press Political Writer John O’Connor is an expert at using FOIA to obtain documents for scoops and added depth to his reporting.  He spoke to the Illinois News Broadcasters Association convention over the weekend.    He has advice for those who would like to do more of this type of reporting.   More