The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "electronic records" ...
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Data Negotiation: All you've got to do is ask...
This PowerPoint walks you through the process of negotiating for data. Key to successful data requests is knowing the law. O'Neil and Dowdell provide excellent resources for FOIA information. They suggest who to speak to about documents; what to expect; what to ask for and to ask often. They also recommend always getting electronic records when available. Included are recommendations when your requests are denied.
Tags: FOIA; open records; data negotiation; government records; open records; close records; freedom of information act; sunshine laws
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Property, mortgages and foreclosures
The authors explain how paper and electronic records from property transactions, mortgages, property taxes and foreclosures can provide essential information for reporters on that beat. The authors refer back to their own experience using those records to offer tops about finding and understanding similar data.
Tags: real estate; property; taxes; Home Mortgage Lending; mapping; Census; demographics
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Tracing and using International Archives
This tipsheet is essentially a list of internet sources that are helpful for journalists. The list is divided into categories, which include Portals, Records, Parliaments and Political Parties, Religion and various geographic areas.
Tags: internet; backgrounding; search engines; electronic records
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Corporate Documents
This tipsheet is a good guide to understanding corporate documents. It covers good starting places, like SEC filings, and lists helpful websites, like www.bloomberg.com. The tipsheet explains all different kinds of common forms, like 8-K and Schedule 13-D. Finally, it talks about different kinds of helpful documents like UCC filings and court records.
Tags: taxes; corporate records; 10-K; S-1; shareholders; proxies; Securities and Exchange Commission; Electronic Data Gathering; Analysis and Retrieval system; Uniform Commercial Code; PAC; Political Action Committee; CEO; business reporting
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Law and Order -- Part 2: Courts and Prisons
This tipsheet offers several examples from the Columbus Dispatch of when CAR can be used minimally and still enrich the story. The stories that Dutton offers as examples are not super number-heavy and do not require hours and hours of analysis, but they each incorporate CAR in a way that makes them stronger.
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Tracking the dollar in government
D'Ambrosio gives tips on how to root out "legalized corruption": political payback to friends and financial supporters of candidates. He notes which government records to look for and where to find them, and gives two SQL query formulas to match criteria in separate electronic databases.
Tags: tracking the dollar; CAR; computer-assisted reporting; check register; contracts database; election finance database; pensions database
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Access to Electronic Records
The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press released this helpful state-by-state guide to obtaining government data in the spring of 2003. The first fourteen pages cover various changes being made on the FOIA frontier, like invasion of privacy laws and what exactly constitutes a public record. The actual guide includes the law governing FOIA in that particular state, cases and opinions that have altered it, and fees and software that might be related.
Tags: CAR; electronic records; data; databases; FOIA; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; open records
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Electronic Open Records
This was part of Watson's presentation on the process of an electronic open records request and the interpretation of the data. (It serves as an example on how to process this kind of information.)
Tags: health care; Medicaid; dentist
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Tips For Getting Public Records in Texas
This tipsheet covers the basics for requesting public records in Texas. It also provides tips for getting certain records based on information from the state Attorney General's annual public records training for government employees. The tipsheet addresses recent changes to the law, such as changes made because of homeland security issues. It also covers negotiating for records, submitting a PIA request and disputing the cost of filling requests. It states what data is allowed to be withheld and what must be released.
Tags: Public Information Act; data negotiation; databases; CAR; FOIA; HIPPA; electronic records
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The lost stories: How a steady stream of laws, regulations and judicial decisions have eroded reporting on important issues
This tipsheet, a "white paper" published by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, reviews a host of stories journalists are now hampered from doing because of restrictions on government records. Acts of Congress, new rules by federal agencies, decisions by courts, and overreactions by administrators and bureaucrats have led to a host of "lost stories" that are no longer informing the public about how its government works. The tipsheet also discusses future risks that journalists should watch for and advises journalists on how to compensate for the shortfalls in access.
Tags: FOIA; open records; public records; public access; driver records; medical privacy; homeland security; courts; privacy; electronic records