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IN THE NEWS: IRE and NICAR offer data, stories and tipsheets to help cover the latest
Other resources for covering the news
Resources for covering ferry accidents
(Oct. 15, 2003)
As details emerge about today's Staten Island ferry accident, IRE and NICAR have put together some reporting resources to help journalists cover the accident and why it happened.
Those include databases, tipsheets to help journalists find good resources, previously published or broadcast stories about similar incidents, and Web sites that can aid deadline research.
Databases
Boat registration
NICAR's boat registration data has details on all nine vessels registered to the New York City Department of Transportation as of February 2003, including seven ferries. The data includes such information as where and when the vessels were built, their size and carrying capacity, and various identification information.
Storm events
This may be of interest because some witnesses have reported strong wind gusts at the time of the ferry accident. This is the official U.S. government database of storm events around the country. Fields in the database include: date and time the storm event began; event type; states and counties hit; latitude and longitude; property and crop damage values; and injuries and fatalities. Covering 1950-2002, the database can be a useful newsroom tool for adding punch to your weather stories. For instance, you will have a resource to determine how the storm ranks against previous ones in your area and beyond. The database can also yield enterprise stories, such as determining the most costly weather events to have hit your area. With the latitudes and longitudes, mapping some of the data is also possible.
To order the data, call the Database Library at 573-884-7711 or download an order form.
Stories
To order stories from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.
Story #18924
A WPIX-New York investigation in 2001 finds that the six-mile ferry trip across New York harbor, which is free of charge, may be a dangerous way to travel. "The seven-ferry system is the busiest in the world," the story reveals, but is no longer required to abide by the many basic safety standards. The main findings are that the ferryboats have quite insufficient life raft capacity for the thousands of passengers, life jackets have not been inspected for years, and "a major ferry accident is possible with disastrous results."
Story #16952
This computer-assisted reporting investigation from 2000 reveals that boats, inexperience and bad decisions are responsible for Wisconsin's boat accidents. Preliminary data shows that summer may have been one of the safest years in boating, but officials attribute it to the weather rather than a trend in safety measures.
Story #15457
The Kansas City Star reports in 1999 that as boat traffic has increased in Missouri, so have accidents, arrests, injuries and deaths. Missouri is one of the most dangerous states for boaters, according to an analysis of U.S. Coast Guard data. The agency tracks serious accidents, those involving injury or death, or damage exceeding $500.
Story #20030
Governing reports that "drunken boating kills hundreds of Americans every year. But the logistics of dealing with it aren't easy to handle." The 1997 story reveals that DUI laws are difficult to enforce when it comes to boating.
Story #15765
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that "Most people who died in recreational boat accidents last year (1998) in Florida drowned, and the vast majority of them weren't wearing life jackets. It's a long-term trend reflected in most waterways in the nation, but not in state laws governing safety on the water."
Story #16649
The Philadelphia Inquirer looked at the circumstances surrounding thirteen days in January 1999 when four clam boats sank and 10 men died off the New Jersey coast.
Story #13050
San Francisco Weekly found in 1995 that of the 17,964 tankers and freighters that entered the bay between 1990 and 1994, 132 were involved in accidents or near misses of some sort. And 43 lost power or steering or both. Of these, 15 were tankers. It is this group that is causing controversy over tug escort and speed limits.
Story #17317
A Boston Magazine investigation in 2000 examines the Coast Guard's vanishing ability to rescue mariners. It explores what happened when three fishermen, trapped inside their overturned boat, drowned while waiting for the Coast Guard to rescue them -- and also details several other marine tragedies. The investigation reveals that the agency's staff has become "overworked and underqualified," as its budget has been cut and its mission has "expanded exponentially in such areas as drug enforcement, refugee interception and pollution control." The agency has neither the legal obligation nor the top notch ability to rescue every mariner who calls for help.
Story #18763
The Times Picayune discovered in 2001 that state-commissioned pilots who navigate the Mississippi River are "letting inexperienced relatives and drug abusers take control of huge oceangoing ships on the most treacherous commercial waterway in North America." The stories examine the dangers involved in allowing river pilots, who are considered state officials, to elect and regulate the members of their three pilot groups that operate the Mississippi. The major findings are that 85% of the new pilots are related to existing members, and that those involved in accidents are rarely, if ever, disciplined.
Search for more stories in IRE's Resource Center.
Tipsheets
To order tipsheets from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.
Tipsheet #816
Although mostly about aviation accidents, this tipsheet from the 1998 annual IRE conference in New Orleans provides some tips on boating databases and covering boating accidents. It also includes some information on weather-related Web sites such as the NOAA National Data Center.
Tipsheet #773
Nora Paul's tipsheet from the 1998 national computer-assisted reporting conference in Indianapolis provides tips on using the Internet to find facts and sources for covering a disaster.
Tipsheet #868
Rob Gebeloff's tipsheet about transportation links on the Web from the 1999 annual computer-assisted reporting conference in Boston contains descriptions and links on all types of transportation.
Tipsheet #1232
From the 2000 annual IRE conference in New York, Bob Williams provides his list of the top ten Web sites for covering a disaster.
Tipsheet #1171
Beth Marchak's tipsheet from the 2000 annual IRE conference in New York contains tips as well as a list of data helpful in covering transportation accidents.
Tipsheet #1821
David Milliron's tipsheet from the 2003 annual computer-assisted reporting conference in Charlotte provides tips and Web sites for investigating transportation.
Search for more tipsheets in IRE's Resource Center.
IRE Publications
The Investigative Reporter's Handbook, Brant Houston's Computer-Assisted Reporting book and other helpful publications are available from IRE and NICAR.
Relevant information in The Investigative Reporter's Handbook includes a chapter on Investigating Transportation that specifically looks at water transportation.
The IRE Journal: The Coast Guard can help you search, too
This article describes how to search Coast Guard records for safety inspection records of passenger boats.
Published: Fall 1987
The IRE Journal: Mighty Mississippi: River pilot system rife with abuse
Jeffrey Meitrodt of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune writes about Mississippi River pilots. "They operate on the most treacherous waterway in North America. And under state law, they are free to elect and regulate themselves – a privilege shared by none of their peers in the United States."
Uplink: Boating crashes
This article relays one reporter's experience with boat-accident databases and how she used the state database to comment on the national angle.
Published: May 1999
IRE members can search the indexes of The IRE
Journal and Uplink. Back issues of The IRE Journal and Uplink may be purchased for $10 each. There is
an additional $10 user fee for nonmembers. Check with the Resource Center at 573-882-3364 or
rescntr@ire.org for availability.
Web Links
National Ferry Database, from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
The National Ferry Database is a comprehensive inventory of existing ferry operations in the United States and its possessions developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Contains six free downloadable tables:
- Fares -- information about one-way and roundtrip fares based on route segment and operators.
- Operators -- information about ferry operators, their contact information and details about their operation.
- RouteSegments -- information about route segments like the geographic area it falls under, the terminals it connects, the route type, etc.
- Routes -- information about routes and the terminals the route connects.
- Terminals -- information about ferry terminals, its location and facilities it has.
- Vessels -- information about each vessel surveyed.
| For
more information, contact: |
Jeff Porter
Database Library Director
IRE and NICAR
E-mail: jeff@ire.org
Voice: 573-882-1982
Fax: 573-882-5431 |
Beth Kopine
Research Director
IRE Resource Center
E-mail: beth@ire.org
Voice: 573-882-6668
Fax: 573-884-8151 |
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