Instructor: David McKie

Office: 1-613-290-7380
Fax: 1-613-288-6523
E-Mail:

Week one | Week two | Week three | Week four | Week five |

Tuesday and Thursday mornings: 9:35-12:35 in lab two from July 11 to August 12. My office space is room 129 on the main floor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course will teach students how to locate, obtain and read public records with an investigative mindset. Students will learn to probe public records to uncover connections and patterns of information that might be invisible from reviewing one record in isolation. Students will learn how public records fit into a complete research strategy with the aim of telling, investigative, original and breaking stories, or simply adding context to ongoing stories.

The course will cover tools such as federal access-to-information and provincial/municipal freedom-of-information requests, as well as journalists’ legal rights to specific types of information and key repositories of public records. Although we will focus on many types of public records,  such as documents, the focus will be on electronic databases and can be downloaded an analyzed in Excel, mapping and visualization programs.

The course will encourage students to think laterally about these records, finding information that can help to find original stories, or stories that provided value-added context to the large issues of the day.

To aid our analysis of how these records can be used, the material will be classified into general themes such as government, the courts business with an investigative frame of mind. For instance, learning how to follow money: how it’s made, lost and hidden.

Such classifications will aid in our ability to cross-reference the information and think strategically about records, which will include, but not be limited to, the following categories:

GOVERNMENT

Hansard, Canada Gazette (and its provincial cousins); bills; statutes; regulations; policies; evaluations and audits; Orders in Council; budgets; estimates; public accounts; public sector salary disclosure; disclosure of contracts and travel in various jurisdictions; polls conducted for departments; formal and informal answers to questions from members of Parliament; discussion papers; municipal reports; minutes of meetings; Statistics Canada; and news releases.

LEGAL

Court decisions; informations (charges); exhibits; transcripts; civil filings;
bankruptcy records; search warrants; divorce documents; Judge Advocate General reports (the military); crime; statistics; records of professional disciplinary bodies and quasi-­judicial tribunals.

WHAT PEOPLE OWN

Land titles, mortgages, assessments, liens; shares in companies; and assets such as boats and cars.

FOLLOWING THE MONEY

Public securities filings (SEDAR, EDGAR); financial statements; management information circulars; annual reports; political campaign contributions; contracts and tenders at the federal, provincial, municipal levels and lobbyist registries.

SPECIALIZED RECORDS

Transport Canada’s online database of vehicle recalls; Health Canada’s drug, medical and consumer product safety data; Workplace safety data; Revenue Canada’s listings of revoked charities; federal and municipal lobbyist registries, environmental records such as the National Pollutant Release Inventory; food recall data; Industry Canada’s trade data, etc.

STORYTELLING

This isn’t a storytelling course, per se. However, evocative narrative is essential, especially for original stories. This means that in addition to the records discussed thus far, stories must have an essential element — people. That is, strong central characters who can help drive the narrative.

Since our focus is digital, stories will be posted to specific categories on this WordPress site, and they will be multi-media, using the tools you’ve already learned and some new ones that we’ll discover in this course.

ASSESSMENT

The normal journalistic standards will apply to the assignments. The work must be submitted on time. Generally, you will be graded on factors such as the precision and clarity of the writing, the thoroughness of the research that we’ve discussed in class, and the creativity needed to take your research and interviews beyond the regular suspects that populate too many stories, namely, spokespeople and oft-quoted officials. Specifically, you will be graded on the criteria established for each assignment. Grammatical mistakes and errors due to a lack of proofreading will all lead to a loss of marks. Factual errors may result in a failing grade. Written stories should be written in accordance with Canadian Press style.

Given that stories online lend themselves to a multi-media treatment to a greater degree than print, television or radio,  you’ll be graded on those elements and the extent to which they are seamlessly blended into the story. Whether it be a photo, timeline, map, chart, graph, the element must not only be a natural part of the narrative, but add value.

Multi-media elements such as photos, maps and graphs must be clear, contain value-added content and be properly sourced.

Style errors will also result in a lower grade, as will any of the elements described in the paragraph above that lack explanatory information. For instance, a photo must have a cutline and source. A timeline must be set up so that it makes sense and advances the narrative, just like you would set up a clip in a radio or television piece, or a quote in a print story.  

The assignments will be comprised of two parts: an explanation of the steps taken to locate the record(s), the reason the methodology was employed and how the material was employed as a source or major component of the story; and the story itself. Each part will be marked equally because it is important to reward the process ( as opposed to effort ) of finding the story. That means 50 percent for methodology and 50 percent for the story.

Assignments will be graded for both their journalistic and production values. Marks for the journalistic values will be based on the strength or newsworthiness of the story idea; originality of research; the depth of your research and the ability to overcome obstacles in gathering research, interviews, photos and other elements critical to the assignment.

The stories we produce each week will be posted on the class website and students will be encouraged to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to publicize their stories and solicit tips that could lead to more stories or follow-ups. In short, the class will be run like a newsroom.

And, finally,  10% of your grade will be based on your professionalism: showing up on time, participating in class, doing the readings, doing the assigned Excel skills (pivot tables and functions, for instance), responding to emailed queries promptly.

Students must achieve at least a B-.

A BREAKDOWN OF THE MARKING SCHEME

Research Component 50%

Depth of research 10%

Originality 20%

Creative use of material 20%

Total 50%

Storytelling 50%

Precision and clarity 20%

Originality 30%

Total 50%

*Marks will be deducted for errors of spelling, grammar and CP style.

See detailed rubric at the end of the outline.

Assignments are to be uploaded to our website in on time, and unless there are unusual circumstances such as a medical emergency, no extensions will be granted. If an assignment cannot be completed for a medical reason, you will be required to provide a doctor’s note.

The assignments — the stories, public records and explanation of research methodology — will be submitted as emailed attachments. The assignments will be graded promptly and the marks returned before the next class.

Assignment one 20%

Assignment two 20%

Assignment three 20%

Professionalism 10%

Assignment four 30%

Total 100%

Assignment one: A story based on a publicly traded company

Assignment two: A story based on legal records.

Assignment three: A story about a controversial public figure.

Final assignment: This final assignment will be the broadest in scope,
pulling together everything the students have learned, and cross-referencing a number of records belonging to the various categories discussed in class. Students will have to give some thought fairly early in the term to the way they want to tell the story .

Grading Scale:

A+ 90-­100

A 85-89

A- 80-84

B+ 77-79

B 73-76

B- 70-72

F <70

Students must achieve a B- in all classes. Disputes over academic performance and assessment will be dealt with according to the Academic Regulations of the School of Journalism. Students may appeal decisions of the Journalism Studies Committee to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

For more information, see the King’s calendar and the Dalhousie University Graduate
Calendar.

PROFESSIONALISM

The professionalism you exhibit in your conduct, work habits and assignments are emphasized because they will matter in your career.

Because we’ll conduct ourselves as professional journalists, you will be expected to exhibit the appropriate behaviour. That means attending class, showing up on time; being prepared and ready to make a meaningful contribution based the readings and work you’ve been assigned; paying attention to your instructor and colleagues and ignoring cell phones, email correspondence, Facebook, Twitter and text messages while in class; and promptly responding to the instructor’s emailed correspondence. You’ll also be expected to stay on top of current events, which is part of your obligation as a journalist. If you must miss class, you will be expected to communicate with the instructor via email beforehand. You will also be expected to exhibit the conduct of a professional journalist when working on assignments in the field.

You will also be expected to complete the readings, as they, too, will form the basis for our discussions.

If you find an in-class exercise or assignment is confusing, it is your responsibility to seek clarity.

READING MATERIAL

The course textbook will be Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide Third Edition. Because of the dynamic nature of news, the textbook will be augmented with online tutorials, outlining ways to use Excel, PDF-cracking software, Tableau Public and other programs that visualize data. The additional, online tutorials may also include steps to obtaining certain records, as well as tips from the reporters who write breaking stories based on public records.

As such, the course outline will be subject to changes.

COMMUNICATION WITH STUDENTS

In addition to regular office hours, communication will also take place through emailed correspondence and phone calls. The protocol will dictate that emailed queries be answered as promptly as possible because that is how it is done in newsrooms.

As such, it will be important for students to regularly check their email accounts for communications such as revisions to instructions for assignments or readings, additions to the syllabus, or notes about a particular news story that I want everyone to read.  For the most part, my lessons will be based on events making news. The excuse that I forgot to check my email is unprofessional and will not be accepted!

COURSE DETAILS

The class will meet every week for a total of six hours that will be broken
up into two sessions on separate days, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:35 to 12:35.

Since Excel is crucial to a lot of the work we’ll be doing, each class will begin with a 30-minute exercise designed to advance your knowledge. Between classes you’ll be able to practice using tutorials based on downloadable datasets.

These exercises will be followed by a general discussion about a news item that relates to the lesson of the day. From there, we will learn the research methods that we’ll need for the next assignment. In short, the classes will be designed to prepare you for each assignment. As such, I will carve out some time for you to get a head start on the assignment. For instance, in the first week, you’ll be given ample time to choose a publicly traded company and study the financial numbers you’ll be using for the story.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The School of Journalism vigorously enforces the highest standards of academic integrity.

Plagiarism is the duplication in whole or in part of work created for another purpose. This can be work done by another student, published work or even a student’s own work that has been re-purposed for a class. Plagiarism can be reflected in actual language, or in the duplication of an idea or a sequence.
Do not cut and paste information from the Internet. If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, consult your instructor. All cases of suspected plagiarism will be dealt with according to the policy.

Academic integrity issues will be dealt with by the Academic Integrity Officer of the University of King’s College, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Dalhousie Senate, as outlined in the King’s calendar and the Dalhousie University Graduate Calendar.

As well, the School of Journalism has a statement of ethics and professional standards that must be followed. It can be found at: http://ethics.kingsjournalism.com.

Please read this material carefully.

ACCOMMODATION

Statement on Accommodation:

Students may request accommodation as a result of barriers related to disability, religious obligation, or any characteristic under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Students who require academic accommodation for either classroom participation or the writing of tests, quizzes and exams should make their request to the Office of Student Accessibility & Accommodation (OSAA) prior to, or at the outset of, each academic term.

Please see http://studentaccessibility.dal.ca/for more information and to obtain Form A – Request for Accommodation.

A note taker may be required to assist a classmate. There is an honourarium of $75/course/term. If you are interested, please contact OSAA at 494-2836 for more information.

Please note that your classroom may contain specialized accessible furniture and equipment. It is important that these items remain in the classroom so that students who require their usage will be able to participate in the class.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week One(TOP)

What you will learn

Financial records of a publicly traded company

Learning how to pull tables out of PDFs and use Cometdocs to convert them to Excel files

Learning how to upload and annotate documents to DocumentCloud

Using Excel crunch numbers

Reading: Chapter 9 of Digging Deeper

Links

Canada Post Swings To Profit, Even As Mail Volume Declines
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/21/canada-post-reports-quart_n_7396514.html

SEDAR (Canada)
http://www.sedar.com/search/search_en.htm

Registry of Joint Stock Companies
https://rjsc.gov.ns.ca/rjsc/

Nova Scotia Security Commission
http://nssc.novascotia.ca/

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
https://www.sec.gov/

Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/index-eng.htm

BusinessDictionary.com
http://www.businessdictionary.com/

Campbell R. Harvey’s Hypertextual Finance Glossary
http://www.duke.edu/~charvey/Classes/wpg/glossary.htm

Tradingview
https://www.tradingview.com/e/MSuvXQsL/

Blackberry Stock Prices in TradingView
http://davidmckie.com/blackberry-2/

BlackBerry’s annual report annotated on DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2938892-BlackBerryFiscal-2016-Annual-Financial.html

Cometdocs
http://www.cometdocs.com

Global instability driving up security costs of Canada’s embassies, missions
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/07/13/global-instability-driving-up-security-costs-of-canadas-embassies-missions.html

2016–17 Part III – Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP)
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/hgw-cgf/priorities-priorites/rpp/rpp-1617-eng.asp

Global Affairs Canada Report on Plans and Priorities 2016-17
http://www.international.gc.ca/department-ministere/plans/rpp/rpp_1617.aspx?lang=eng

Global Affairs Canada Report on Plans and Priorities 2016-17_DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2993346-Global-Affairs-Canada-Report-on-Plans-and.html#document/p43/a307859

Bank of Canada cuts growth forecast as uncertainty mounts
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/bank-of-canada/article30899462/

Bank of Canada
http://davidmckie.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13861&action=edit

Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/start

Trade Data Online (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada)
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tdo-dcd.nsf/eng/Home

Parliamentary Budget Office stories
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/parliamentary-budget-office/

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/

Thursday Presentation.pptx

PBO_Overview_Queen&#39;s.pptx

Additional Links

For the tutorial that explains how to download an interactive stock-price chart, please click here.

For the tutorial that explains how to embed the Tradingview stock-price chart and the DocumentCloud annotations, please click here.

For instructions on how to upload data to infogr.am, please click here.

To see examples of vizualizations, including TradingView and DocumentCloud, please click here.

Resources

The colour of money.  Writing coach, Don Gibb’s, must-read article on using numbers in stories

Understanding Financial Statements
https://www.amazon.ca/Understanding-Financial-Statements-Journalists-Guide/dp/0972993738

Show Me the Money 2nd edition
https://www.amazon.com/Show-Money-Economics-Communication-Routledge/dp/0415876559

Tutorials

To download the DocumentCloud tutorial, please click here.

Assignment #1

1) A 600-word multi-media based on a financial statement uploaded to the specified category on our WordPress site. The story must have at least two multi-media elements (for instance, a photo and chart) and at least one interview with an expert such as a business professor or analyst who follows the company. While you will be expected to contact the company for an interview, an official voice from the company is NOT a requirement for the story. You may have to make due with an emailed correspondence (which is usually boiler-plate stuff), or what the company has said publicly in its financial statement ( management, discussion and analysis ), news release, testimony before a committee of some sort, or even a court document.

TIP: set up a Google alert for news about the company; use Twitter to find out which experts are tweeting about the company you’re following; try to read the financial statement in conjunction with others ( proxy statement for salaries, annual report for more information on how the company has fared for the year, or even a similar financial statement of a competitor.)

2) A 500-word explanation of your methodology sent to me as an emailed attachment.

3) The Excel workbook containing your calculations.

4) The PDF(s) MUST  BE UPLOADED to DocumentCloud with key sections annotated, allowing me easily see the sections that you used. Failure to do this will earn a deduction of half a mark.

The entire assignment is to be emailed and uploaded to the “InvestigativeAssignmentOne” category on July 21 before midnight.

Week two(TOP)

What you will learn

Legal records

Using Excel to construct timelines, which we will also cover in the Digi One course.

An introduction to court records (affidavits, search warrants, bankruptcy records, etc)

Links

Halifax taxi industry in crisis over sex assault allegations: cabbies’ group
http://www.advocatedaily.com/none-halifax-taxi-industry-in-crisis-over-sex-assault-allegations-cabbies-group.html

The Criminal Code
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/index.htm

Supreme Court of Canada
http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/home-accueil/index-eng.asp

Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada
http://csc.lexum.org/en/index.html

Federal Court of Canada
http://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/index_e.html

Tax Court of Canada
http://www.tcc-cci.gc.ca/main_e.htm

The scope of CANLII’s databases
http://canlii.org/en/databases.html

National Class Action Database
http://cbaapp.org/ClassAction/Search.aspx

List of Class Action Lawsuits
http://www.classaction.org/list-of-lawsuits

The Canadian Legal Information Institute  (a voluntary initiative and is not a comprehensive listing of all class action lawsuits currently underway in Canada)
http://canlii.org/en/index.php

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/home

Guidelines for Press, Media and Public Access to the Courts of Nova Scotia (Uploaded and partially annotated in DocumentCloud)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2995331-Guidelines-for-Press-Media-and-Public-Access-to.html

Estrie Language school going bankrupt, teachers told
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/estrie-language-school-going-bankrupt-teachers-told-1.2510995

L’Estrie language school shuts down
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/lestrie-language-school-shuts-down

Contract History from the federal government’s open-date website
http://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/53753f06-8b28-42d7-89f7-04cd014323b0

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/br02049.html

To download Estrie’s bankruptcy records, click here

École de langues de l’Estrie Inc: Restructuring Case (website of the school’s trustee)
https://www.richter.ca/en/folder/insolvency-cases/e/ecole-de-langues-de-lestrie-inc

Comedian Mike Ward ordered to pay $35K to Jérémy Gabriel
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mike-ward-verdict-1.3688089

Quebec Human Rights Tribunal
http://www.tribunaux.qc.ca/mjq_en/TDP/index-tdp.html

Quebec Human Rights Tribunal (on CanLII)
http://www.canlii.org/en/qc/qctdp/

Canada discriminates against children on reserves, tribunal rules
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/canada-discriminates-against-children-on-reserves-tribunal-rules-1.3419480

First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al. v. Attorney General of Canada
http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/chrt/doc/2016/2016chrt11/2016chrt11.html

Joint Statement from the Minister of Health and the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs on Responding to Jordan’s Principle
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mthd=index&crtr.page=1&nid=1094729&_ga=1.50601066.271139047.1416608551

Nova Scotia bishop arrested on child pornography charges
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Regional/2009-09-30/article-1280238/Nova-Scotia-bishop-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges/1

The bishop’s search warrant uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2995126-Search-Warrent-for-Bishop-Raymond-Lahey-s-Laptop.html

Canada Border Services Agency
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html

Child pornography seizure at Sprague results in significant jail sentence
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1038119&tp=1

To download the Agency’s commodities seizure database, please click here

Mike Duffy rehires 2 staffers caught up in expenses scandal
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mike-duffy-rehires-staffers-1.3679606

Duffy billed taxpayers for attending funerals, RCMP allege (The Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mike-duffy-filed-expenses-for-funerals-ceremonies-court-documents/article19695383/#dashboard/follows/

Mike Duffy’s summons uploaded to DocumentCloud

The Information Against Mike Duffy uploaded to DocumentCloud

Canadian spy Jeffrey Delisle gets 20 years for selling secrets to Russia (The Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-spy-jeffrey-delisle-gets-20-years-for-selling-secrets-to-russia/article8390425/

78445103-Court-documents-relating-to-charges-against-Jeffrey-Paul-Delisle.pdf

Jeffrey Paul Delisle court docs.pdf

Resources

Advocate Daily.com (Canada’s Legal News)
http://www.advocatedaily.com/index.html

Bankruptcydata.com
http://www.bankruptcydata.com/default.asp

Readings

Digging Deeper, Chapter 5

Assignment #2

1) A 600-word story based on a court document and uploaded to the specified category on our WordPress site. As was the case with the business assignment, the story MUST come from the document(s).  The story must also contain at least TWO interviews: one involving a major player such as the plaintiff, defendant, lawyer involved in the case; and an expert who can put the case into context. 

TIP: The story must either be new because no one has reported on it, or contain a fresh element of an ongoing story. Also, use other public records. So, for instance, if the court case involves a publicly traded company such as General Motors, then be sure to read its latest financial filing to see if the company discusses the court case.

2) A chronology of the key dates from your public documents in Excel. You can also turn the chronology into a visualization.

3) The story must contain at least three multi-media elements such as a video (please feel free to use your new mobile skills), audio clip, photo (cutline and photo credit) of the person you’ve interviewed, or a graph. The court document uploaded and annotated in DocumentCloud DOES NOT count as a visualization.

4) A 500-word explanation of how you put the story together and the rationale used to determine its newsworthiness. Here, I’m looking for contact information of people interviewed, or those you attempted to reach; links to key websites; a list of the public records, and a brief explanation of how you used the information in your story (direct quotes; context; an address, a name, a tip that led to another public record, etc.)

4) The court document MUST be uploaded to DocumentCloud and annotated. Failure to do so will lose you half a mark.

The assignment must be uploaded to the syllabus’ assigned category by midnight on July 28. Please email the Excel workbook with the chronology and the Word file with the background info as attachments.

Week Three(TOP)

Land title searches

Records from quasi-legal bodies such as tribunals and boards that deal with issues such as human rights, workplace transgressions and professional misconduct

Databases such as political donations and registered charities.

Links

Carson was in financial trouble before becoming Harper adviser
http://ipolitics.ca/2011/03/23/carson-was-deep-in-money-woes-before-joining-pmo/

Nova Scotia’s Property Online
http://www.novascotia.ca/sns/access/land/property-online.asp

Bankruptcy
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inbsf-osb.nsf/en/home

Discipline Committee Schedule
(The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario)
http://www.cpso.on.ca/whatsnew/committeeschedule/default.aspx?id=1448

All Doctors Search (The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario)
http://www.cpso.on.ca/publicregister/default.aspx?id=2048

Law Society of Upper Canada (list of disbarred lawyers)
http://www.lsuc.on.ca/with.aspx?id=2147486087

Elections Canada
http://www.elections.ca/scripts/webpep/fin/select_search_option.aspx

Elections Ontario
https://www3.elections.on.ca/internetapp/efsearch.aspx?lang=en

Quebec political contributions
http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/francais/provincial/financement-et-depenses-electorales/recherche-sur-les-donateurs.php#

Nova Scotia
http://electionsnovascotia.ca/content/political-contributions-disclosure-statement-annual-reports

Population of census metropolitan areas (Statistics Canada)
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm

Lobbyists (Ontario)
http://www.oico.on.ca/home/lobbyists-registration

Lobbyists (Quebec)
https://www.lobby.gouv.qc.ca/servicespublic/consultation/ConsultationCitoyen.aspx
http://www.si2.commissairelobby.qc.ca/en/commissioner/access_information

Lobbyists (Nova Scotia)
http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/lobbyist/

N.S. College of Physicians and Surgeons disciplinary decisions
http://www.cpsns.ns.ca/DisciplinaryDecisions.aspx

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/home

B.C. realtors voice unease over new foreign-buyer tax
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-realtors-voice-unease-over-new-foreign-buyer-tax/article31145792/

Sex allegations led to Tootoo’s ouster from Liberal caucus
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/sex-allegations-led-to-tootoos-ouster-from-liberal-caucus/article31146044/

Aspertame Kills
http://www.aspartamekills.com/

Geektools
http://www.geektools.com/

CSL Marketing
http://frozendrink.com/

The Wayback Machine
https://archive.org/web/

Building Permits
http://catalogue.hrm.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/1ae0b449678241b3b6d17f1b832ab7a8_0

Readings: Chapter 7 Digging Deeper

 Assignment # 3

A story on a newsmaker using extensive background research.

Aug 4 at midnight

The backgrounding assignment is designed to flex your inner sleuth. Though we’ve been recently introduced to new search tools such as bankruptcy and property searches, this assignment should allow you to draw on all the records we’ve covered thus far: financial statements, court documents, lobbyist records, political donations, to name but a few. Also be sure to consult Digging  Deeper.

The following is a Q and A that should help spell things out.

Who should I choose? It should be a news maker: a politician, businessperson, doctor, lawyer, lobbyist. The choice is yours. For instance, in class we suggested choosing candidates for participating in this fall’s municipal elections.

How many records are you required to use? At least three.

How many interviews should I do? At least two.

What if I don’t have enough to produce a full profile? Then use the information you gather as a jumping off point for a broader discussion about a public policy, or an important issue. For instance, a doctor who was punished for a botched surgery is allowed to continue practising. How is this allowed to happen? Should the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons have stricter rules?

Do I have to interview the subject of the profile? No.

Should I try to contact the individual? Yes.

Who else can I contact? Use your imagination.

How many words? 600. Please respect the word limit!!

What am I required to submit? The story uploaded to an assigned category on our website, and a separate 500-word account of the sources you use to produce the story. Again, please respect the word limit. I don’t need a chapter-and-verse account of the obstacles you encountered. The highlights will do.

What’s the due date? August 4 at midnight.

Will I be penalized for being late? Yes. Half a grade for each day.

Week Four(TOP)

What we will learn

Learning how to obtain records, informally, using the federal Access to Information Act

How to get stories out of records from previously-related records

How to make follow-up requests from previously released records

Links

Why Canada has a new way to choose Supreme Court judges
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-canada-has-a-new-way-to-choose-supreme-court-judges/article31220275/

ACOA – Disclosure of Contracts Over $10,000
http://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/8c9fdaf7-1039-40fa-8805-77f52905d300

Red tape forces Canada to stop providing Ukraine’s military with satellite imagery of Russian forces
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/red-tape-forces-canada-to-stop-providing-ukraines-military-with-satellite-imagery-of-russian-forces

Federal government’s Canada.ca one-website project proving costly — and confusing
http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/08/01/federal-governments-canadaca-one-website-project-proving-costly–and-confusing

Passengers try to fly out of Canadian airports with tear gas, blades, Tasers, guns and drugs
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/airport-security-guns-teargas-1.3701532

Breed of dog in deadly Montreal attack takes a bite out of the case for a pit bull ban
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/breed-of-dog-in-deadly-montreal-attack-takes-a-bite-out-of-the-case-for-a-pit-bull-ban-1.3009859

Access to Information (CBC)
http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/reporting-to-canadians/transparency-and-accountability/access-to-information/

Completed Access to Information Requests (Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
http://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/eng/transparency-transparence_completed-access-requests-demandes-access-completees.aspx

Search the British Columbia Open Information Catalogue
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/about-the-bc-government/open-government/open-information/browse-search-catalogue

Public Safety Ministers Syrian Refugee Briefing Note a 2015 00314
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3002453-Public-Safety-Ministers-Syrian-Refugee-Briefing.html 

6 scribes from The New York Times who ‘write good’
http://www.poynter.org/2016/6-scribes-from-the-new-york-times-who-write-good/424492/

Assignment #4 due by midnight on August 11

This assignment will be graded for two separate elements: the quality of the story, and the visualization, which will count for your next Digital One assignment. So 30 marks will be for the story portion; 15 marks will be for the visualization portion.

The purpose of this assignment is to get story from a records that has been previously released through the federal Access to Information Act, or a provincial Freedom of Information Law.

Since these records tend to be dated, the trick — as is the case with any public record — is finding newsworthy material. More often than not, the records will be censored with a reference to the section of the law that was used to make the exclusion.

Though this is hardly a definitive list, these are the circumstances under which you may be able to find news in the records:

– if they are reporting something that has yet to receive publicity (there was  a privacy breach)
– if a specific reference can be updated (a difficulty hiring certain kinds of workers)
– if a statement or comment contradicts what a public official or politician has said in public (employees at Public Works received adequate training in the new Phoenix system)
– if the record(s) in question provide an interesting back story to a well-known event (the email chain that revealed the panic that set in as a department was responding to a crisis)
– if the records provide an interesting springboard to an important discussion of public interest ( the failure of a regulatory  body like the Transportation Safety Board or the National Energy Board to get to the bottom of an investigation)

If your record contains one of these elements, you have a story worth pursuing. As has been the case with all the assignments, it’s crucial to analyze your record as soon as possible, start thinking about the voices and visual elements your story needs. In short, the narrative that we discuss in Digging Deeper.

The following is a Q and A that should help spell things out a bit further

How long should the story be? 600 words

What if I don’t have a document to work with, or the record I have contains nothing of news value? You can either choose from one of the documents uploaded to DocumentCloud, or choose a record from the websites of the first three links in this section: the CBC, Information Commissioner of Canada or the  B.C. government

Do I have to contact the government department, agency or Crown corporation that produced the document? Yes

What if the organization doesn’t get back to me? Not that in the story.

What if I only received an emailed response? Take note of it. Paraphrase the statement in simple language — to the extent that that’s possible — and look for any response that may have been made publicly through a news release, for instance.

How many interviews do I need? At least two.

Do I have to upload the access-to-information document to DocumentCloud and annotate it? Yes.

What happens if I don’t? You lose half a grade

What visual elements do I need? You’ll be required to produce at least two visualizations, including an infographic, which will be marked separately as part of your Digi One assignment.

So let me get this straight, there are two parts this assignment? Yes. The story portion of the assignment will be marked out of 20, just like the previous assignments. The visualization portion will be marked out of 15 and will count as your Digi One assignment.

Will I be required to submit a background document or any work in Excel? Only if you’ve used the latter to crunch numbers or produced a chronology.

Week Five (TOP)

A continuation of the lessons learned the previous week with an emphasis on connecting records to see patterns.

Reviewing regulations that make it possible for laws to function

Using archival records to bring history to life

One-on-one time for final assignment

Links

Remembering Jim MacNeill, publisher, editor, iconoclast (Ryerson Review of Journalism)
http://rrj.ca/ah-that-a-man-should-live-so-well/

I.F. Stone
http://www.ifstone.org/

National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting
http://www.nicar.org/
http://data.nicar.org/
http://www.ire.org/resource-center/listservs/subscribe-nicar-l/

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.
http://www.ire.org/

Ottawa studied pros and cons of tax on soft drinks
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-studied-pros-and-cons-of-tax-on-soft-drinks/article31314780/

Canada seizing more suspect money from Chinese travelers
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/asian-pacific-business/canada-seizing-more-suspect-money-from-chinese-travellers/article31306030/

New rules for landlords sound good to tenant of much-lamented building
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/07/new-rules-for-landlords-sound-good-to-tenant-of-much-lamented-building.html

Saskatchewan deputy premier quits cabinet after drunk driving charge
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/08/06/saskatchewan-deputy-premier-quits-cabinet-after-impaired-driving-charge.html

Justice minister hires academic who thinks Supreme Court erred on assisted dying
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justice-minister-hire-assisted-dying-adviser-1.3711684

INQUIRY INTO MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN TO BEGIN NEXT MONTH
https://www.myprincegeorgenow.com/33922/inquiry-missing-murdered-indigenous-women-begin-next-month/

Federal Orders in Council Database
http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/oic-ddc.asp?lang=eng&Page=secretariats