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Chapter 15
Computer-assisted reporting
Introduction – the aims of this lecture
are to help you understand:
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Computer-assisted journalism
The web and internet
The impact of computers on journalism
How to find valid information online
How to avoid online dangers
The basics of spreadsheets
What is computer-assisted reporting
(CAR)?
• Using computers to gather data and information
• The data and information can then be used to:
– Generate story ideas
– Add to an existing story (research/investigative
journalism)
– Find people to interview
– Generate exclusive articles which could not have
been developed otherwise
What is computer-assisted reporting
(CAR)?
• At a basic level, it is something most
journalists do today – use computers to
help find information for stories
• At a more complex level, it is finding
information many people do not know
exists
• It is also about researching online
without being fooled by false information
• And it is about interpreting statistics
What CAR is not
• CAR is about online news gathering and
research (or input) – it is not about online
publishing (or output)
Levels of CAR
• At its shallowest level CAR is about
going online to check a fact, find a
phone number, or contact someone by
email
• At its most complex level, it requires
journalists to ‘dig’ for information to
inform stories by using computers to
analyse complex databases and
statistics
Some basic concepts
• The web and the internet are not the same
• The internet is the network. It supports the
world wide web, email, file transfers and
other functions
• The web relies on browser software such
as Microsoft Internet Explorer to find and
download page images, sounds, graphics,
photos, and video
More basics
• Anyone, anywhere, can put anything
online
• The web is not a lawless frontier – there
have been some monumental lawsuits
resulting from online defamation
• There have also been major problems
with breaches of sub judice contempt on
the web
Legal perils
• Something that may be legally safe to
publish in one jurisdiction may be fraught
with danger legally in another – for
example, the Gutnick defamation case
• ‘Lifting’ information you find online is highly
dangerous – questions about ethics and
plagiarism aside, fines for breach of
copyright can be up to about $60,000 for
an individual and $300,000 for a company
Don’t make a fool of yourself
• It is as important to check your facts in
the online world as it is in the real world
• Do not take online information at face
value unless it is from a totally
trustworthy site
• If you are tricked by a hoax, it could be
the end of your career
Verifying what you find online
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Ask who put the information online?
Is the author mentioned on the website?
Does the website have contact details?
Is there a street address as well as an
email address?
• Does the author have the authority to be
saying what they have put online?
(beware of celebrity endorsement)
Clues to identifying fake sites and
false stories
• Look at the address of a web page (its URL)
• Read the content – is it plausible or does
something seem wrong with the content or
how it is written?
• Is there a street address and a fixed-line
telephone number?
• Who is behind the site? Is there a way of
checking if they are legitimate?
Searching newspaper archives
• A good way to find background
information
• You have to be an insider, a student with
access via a university library, or pay to
gain access
• You can expect to pay upwards of $1.75
per article downloaded when searching
News Limited or Fairfax papers
The two biggest news archives
• NewsText is the most comprehensive
newspaper archive in Australia. It can
be accessed at
http://www.newstext.com.au
• Fairfax papers can be searched through
Fairfax Digital at
http://www.fairfax.com.au/index.ac
Tips for web searching
• There is much more to the web than
Google
• Think carefully about appropriate search
terms – the better your key words the
more likely a good result
• Use advanced searches
• Make a habit of Boolean searching
• Use meta-search engines
Searching the hidden web can reveal
• Original documents
• Documents which were prepared or created in
the past but which are no longer generally
available
• Photographs and recordings as well as written
information
• Court documents
• Government documents
• Statistics
Shortcuts to the hidden web
• Two websites designed for Australian
journalists which aim to make it easier
to access the hidden web are
Computer-AssistedReporting.Com and
the OzGuide OzGuide
• Those sites contain links to diverse
areas ranging from court transcripts to
odd spots and hoaxes
Using spreadsheets
• Number-crunching is a very powerful
CAR technique that can be used to
generate stories
• Put raw data into Excel/SPSS
spreadsheets
• Extract meaning from the data by
using formulae and sorting
• Interview informed sources about
your new findings