Contest honors stats pioneer

The first time Ted Mellnik met Philip Meyer was at a seminar in the late 1980s. Meyer, already considered the father of precision journalism, was teaching journalists like Mellnik how to use social science research methods in their work.

Mellnik, database editor at The Charlotte Observer, still remembers that seminar. A few years ago, as he considered the impact of Meyer's use of social science research methods on modern journalism, Mellnik decided he should do something to help honor Meyer's contributions.

Furthermore, although Mellnik knew from personal experience that journalists across the country use computer-assisted reporting and social science methods to produce "spectacular" stories, their work often was not recognized in prestigious contests.

That, Mellnik thought, should change.

Three years later, it has. In September, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), IRE and the Knight Chair in Journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication introduced an award designed to recognize the best journalism done using social science research methods.

Named in honor of Meyer, who holds the Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Philip Meyer Journalism Award is planned as an annual contest that will make real the kind of recognition Mellnik imagined.

"I felt we had a lot of people who did spectacular work, and that they needed to be recognized," Mellnik says. "In awards, we tend to honor stories that get results - that put people in jail or result in reform legislation or something like that. But there's also a benefit to stories that establish a methodology and give reporters across the nation a tool that enables them to do good work for their readers."

Mellnik approached others with his idea, including IRE Board Member Steve Doig, the Knight Chair in Journalism at Arizona State University. Formerly associate editor for research at The Miami Herald, Doig has years of experience using social science research methods. For the past several years, he also has served as a member and chair of the IRE Awards committee, which annually honors the best investigative journalism in various media.

Meyer is known for doing that. He pioneered in using survey research as a reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers to explore the causes of race riots in the 1960s.

He inspired the profession to be more sophisticated and precise in its understanding of and reporting on social issues," says IRE and NICAR Executive Director Brant Houston. "He has been a mentor to many, many journalists - including myself - and he encouraged us to learn and use methods that made us and our profession much more credible."

"It started with his 1973 book, "Precision Journalism." He wrote that really 10 years before it started becoming easier to do the things he was talking about," Doig says.

Now in its fourth edition, "Precision Journalism," is widely used as a textbook in journalism schools.

Social science research methods that would make stories eligible for the award draw on tools used across a variety of disciplines, from sociology and demographics to geography and political science.

The award "will help recognize stories that have used social science methods to reveal patterns, trends and sometimes abuses in areas including social or economic or criminal systems," Houston says.

"Because IRE has been the leading organization in the area of using social science methods in investigative reporting and training people to do that, it made sense for the organization to cosponsor the awards," Houston says.

Nominations for the award must be postmarked by Oct. 31. Appropriate work published or aired between Oct. 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005, will be considered.

A panel of judges including journalism educators and social scientists will choose first, second and third place entries. Judging will be complete by late December, and the awards will be presented during the 2006 CAR Conference scheduled for March 9-12 in Newark, N.J.