Show Me the Money
A Workbook of Sources, Story Ideas and Techniques for Reporters, Producers
and News Managers
funded by the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and
the Deer Creek Foundation © 1998
- Introduction
- Reporting on Television . . . by Sheila Kaplan
- Reporting on Radio . . . by Steven Rosenfeld
- Covering Reforms
- Becoming an “Ad Cop” . . . by Brooks Jackson
- Researching Politicians’ Voting Records . . . by Adelaide Elm
- Emerging Digital Disclosure . . . by Kim Alexander
- Electronic Filing/Disclosure Among the States
- Producing Stories: Ideas and Techniques . . . by Eric Hauser
When the candidate hits the trail, her goal almost always is to control the agenda and the debate. Too often, we let that happen — hanging with the campaign from the factory gate at sunrise to the dinner speech or debate after dark. We cover events. We also cover process — polls and strategy and money questions. So, we create the illusion that we focus on “issues” and “funding.”
Our listeners and viewers know, instinctively, the coverage — like our candidate’s campaign — can have little to do with their lives. We know that when they complain that we never report on issues and almost always look at the innards of campaign structure, or when they tune us out.
We can change that by grabbing back the initiative. Viewers and listeners tell us that what is important to them is a focus on their lives and how the candidates are speaking to them. We can lift the veil our candidate often moves behind when she sets the agenda. Who are her supporters? What have they given her or her campaign? What has she done in return? And how does that relate to the needs and aspirations of her constituents?
This is a lofty goal. It can be hard to reach in practice, in the milieu of daily deadlines, declining news budgets, and celebrity fixation. The goal of this manual is to help make more interesting the political investigations that we in news often assume will put viewers and listeners to sleep.
Jim Fry
Washington Correspondent
Belo Television
Washington, DC
John Miller
Executive News Director
WFAA-TV
Dallas, Texas