Take my money, please. Preparing for budget and tax stories

On Wednesday we're going to consider the way local budgets and taxes are covered. There are a variety of approaches to this topic, some more full of piss and vinegar than others. Some that make more sense than others, too.

Examples of the former often show up on local blogs, like this missive from EcoRoving Blackbirds, which is actually an exclamation point response to Pete Talbot's less explosive thoughts at 4&20 Blackbirds.

Now that you see how much fun covering a local budget debate can be, here's the more pedestrian approach the Missoulian took, covering the city budget one step at a time:

• Aug. 6: A $250,000 budget deficit is revealed.
  
• Aug. 14: That gap widens to $367,000.
• Aug. 21: Debate about what to do gets heated, and cut short.
• Sept. 9: City Council passes the budget.

Cities, of course, aren't the only entities that struggle with budgets. Counties, federal agencies and national parks all struggle to balance needs and wants with money coming in.

Read these to get a sense of how a budget story might unravel. Read the agenda for next Monday's city council meeting so you can know before you go. Monday, Oct. 6, you'll be covering the meeting with a midnight deadline.

Police activity log for the weekend of Sept. 26-29

Police activity logs for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are posted.

Get your voters' guide here

The official voters' guide to the 2008 November elections has been released by the Secretary of State's office. It is especially useful for those interested in initiatives.

The low down on committee activities

City Council member Bob Jaffee takes it upon himself each week to write up his impressions of what's gone on in committee meetings. He posts it to a list serve and lively give and take ensues. It's a nice way to check in on the basics of meetings you have missed. I'll try to post Bob's thoughts here for the rest of the semester. That's him over to the right. He's the one in glasses.

Profiling your candidate: The details

Here is how I'd like you to profile your candidate. Copy and paste this list at the top of your story, and fill in the blanks with your answers:

House District ##: FirstName Last Name
PARTY
AGE:(Confirm birth date with candidate and put age as of Election Day. If there age changes between now and election day, mention that here.)
OCCUPATION:
HOMETOWN:
FAMILY:
EDUCATION:
POLITICAL OR PUBLIC SERVICE: (Past experience.)
CAMPAIGN WEB SITE:

After that, you are writing a basic candidate profile. Who are they, what issues most interest them, what makes them qualified for and interested in this job they are seeking; what do others who know them have to say about them.

Aim for 750 - 1,000 words. Make it complete, fair and balanced. Make it interesting. Check your facts.

Everyone has two stories related to this, due Oct. 3. For most people, those stories are a candidate profile and a race story that you'll write with the reporter who profiles your candidate's opponent. Others will write a short (150 word) summary of a ballot initiative and a longer story profiling the issue. See my previous post if these assignments are not clear to you.

Think about the big picture

Remember to consider the bigger picture when thinking about the House candidate you are profiling. What does it matter if this person wins? What does it matter to the people he or she will represent, and what does it matter to the make up of the Legislature? Chelsi Moy wrote an overview of the legislative situation. Think about where your candidate falls in that scheme.

Police activity for Monday

Here is the daily public media log of calls responded to Monday by the Missoula Police Department.

Police reports for Homecoming weekend

Here are the daily police logs for Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Homecoming. Some light reading for you on your sickbed, Cameron.

Get your door codes this week

Beginning Friday, doors to computer labs will be locked after 5 p.m. The rooms are available to reporting students 24-7, so be sure your GrizCard works in the card swipe to get into the building and get your door keypad combo from Judy in DAH 412. She works 8-noon, Monday through Thursday.

Campaign coverage: And we're off!

Everyone should now have a local candidate or ballot issue to cover as we dive headlong into local government and election reporting.

The goal is to have a comprehensive J-school election guide up in time to be a useful resource to voters in Missoula, and with Prof. Swibold's Rural News Network, the state.

Take a look at the sample ballot from the Missoula County courthouse to get you started.


Here's a rundown of the assignments and deadlines we went over in class today:

Week of Sept. 22: Your beat story this week should be news on your beat that is related to an election -- any election -- this November. File by noon Friday or midnight as the story breaks.

Wednesday, Sept. 24: Come to class with a basic understanding of your candidate or issue, the people who may vote on them, and key issues of concern in the race.

Week of Sept. 30: No beat stories due. Work on election stories and Beat Report #2.

Friday, Oct. 3: Deadline for candidate profiles, race overviews, issue stories and issue briefs.

Monday, Oct. 6: Beat Report #2 due. We will all attend the City Council meeting this evening at 7 and write stories from that meeting for a midnight deadline. Each of you will have a story from your beat due this week, as well.

Click here to see who is assigned to cover which races.

Police, commmittee and environmental news, all in one

For your inspiration, here is the Missoula daily police activity log, along with a short run down of activity in some city council subcommittees and a link to a typical daily update on environmental stories being noticed across the country.

Police activity log for Monday Sept. 15

Here is the daily police activity log for Sept. 15, posted Sept. 16.

Assignments for Week of Sept. 15

Due this week:

1) A justice beat story that you come up with on your own. Could come from court or court documents; could come from the arrest log; could be a trend or a story you trip across and recognize as news. Same rules as usual: Due at midnight the day it breaks or by noon Friday.

2) Your second beat story. I hope you are becoming familiar with your beat, meeting people and noticing news. Pick a story idea that has a good chance of panning out. Come away with a story for this week as well as some new story ideas and a couple of new sources. Build your beat.

X) You do not need to file a story from Maurice's talk.

Class Monday: Maurice Possley at 2:30 in Rm 316

Class meets today at 2:30 in Room 316. We'll be hearing from Pulitzer Prize-winner Maurice Possley, whose work on the justice beat has often focused on instances where an innocent man has been sentenced to die. He is in Missoula to help start a Montana branch of the national Innocence Project.

You should be prepared to write a 300-500 word story about Possley and his work. Check out some of his work and come ready to ask questions and hear where the story takes you.

Police log for Sunday, Sept. 14

Here is the police log for Sunday, Sept. 14.

Police log for Saturday, Sept. 13

Here is the police log for Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008.

Police activity log for Friday Sept. 12

I've posted the police log for Friday Sept. 12.

Friends list

I've appreciated the brain storming that's been going on among you all as you share ideas. To help that continue, here is a list of who has what beats, along with last names so you can email each other. Use your grizmail accounts, please

Public health
Abbott, Alaina M.
Rott, Nathaniel D

Local government
Behan, Collin P.
Benham, Joshua R.

Agriculture
Bennion, Kimball L.
Woodburn, Justin L.

K-12 Education
Bradshaw, Shanda D.
Warzocha, Troy J.

Environment
Diehl, Elizabeth A.
George, Carmen L.
Lehman, Kyle D.

U of M
Flandro, Carly
Steve Miller

Growth
Gyermek, Megan E.
Norskog, Victoria D.

Justice
Rasmusson, Cameron J.

Police activity log for Thursday

Here is the daily report for Missoula police and sheriff's activity on Thursday Sept. 11, 2008, posted Friday, Sept. 12.

Covering Maurice

Class will meet at 2:30 in DAH 316 on Monday. We'll be meeting with Maurice Possely regarding his work exonerating people on Death Row. I'll ask you each to write a 500- word piece about Possely and what he has to say. Take some time before then to look on the Web and learn what you can about Maurice -- who he is and what kind of work he's done.

Your short stories on Possely will be due Monday at midnight. If you cannot make that changed class time, you may attend the meeting on Saturday, Sept. 13, of the Montana Independence Project and report on what Possely has to say there. For more information about the Saturday meeting, see my Sept. 5 post.

Wednesday class & assignments

We're going to do it all today: Class and courthouse.

I'll keep class to one hour, but want to talk specifically about news writing and pitfalls. That should help you with the assignments most of you will be writing: Beat reports (file by email, properly formatted, by deadline,) and Court briefs. I will collect documents on two prelims each group hears today. I'll copy them after we get back to campus. You should be able to pick up court documents by 4:00 Wednesday at my office. Four paragraph briefs are due tonight by midnight.

Public Media Report posted

Here is the Public Media Report for events of Monday, Sept. 8, posted Tuesday, Sept. 9.

United Bankruptcy: If your mother loves you, Part 2

Holy cow. Well, since class met three hours ago, a false news report that made it onto a newspaper's website caused United Airlines stock to decline by 99.92 percent. The airline is frantically trying to set the record straight -- and the newspaper is denying that it ever posted anything? How did this happen? Malicious hacker or sloppy net editor? It'll be an inside media story to watch as it gets sorted out.

Local interest Web sites

You're not the only ones keeping a close eye on what's going on in Missoula. Local bloggers of all stripes are a busy bunch. Missoulapolis and 4&20 Blackbirds are two blogs with different perspectives on what's news in this place (and look at all those useful links they point you too as well!)

J-tech, the printers and help

If you have tried to print from one of the classrooms and been unable to, please take the time to go to Jtech and let Peet and the tech support guys for the building know about it. Filing a ticket is the only way they can get to the bottom of your problems. Even if it seems that everyone else is having the same problems, file a ticket.

The same is true for any other tech-related problems in Don Anderson Hall. File a ticket.

I put Jtech under favorite links on this page.

If your mother says she loves you, check it out.

People can say pretty much anything they want to: it was suicide; Miley Cyrus is dead; Sarah Palin fought federal earmark spending. It is a reporter's job to be sure the information that makes it into the news is sound information. (It's not clear; she's not dead; not very hard, she didn't)

Be exacting about the information you use. It should be accurate. It should be attributed to a named source. It should be true to the context in which you are using it.

Public Media Report posted

Here is the Public Media Report for today, Monday Sept. 8. I'll try to post the report every morning at least for the duration of our focus on the Justice beat.

Learn about the Montana Innocence Project

The Montana Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization with a mission to identify and exonerate innocent Montana inmates who've been wrongly convicted.

As a class, we're going to meet with Maurice Possley (that's his photo up there,) about this on Sept. 15 from 2-3:30 probably in DAH316. I'd encourage anyone who is interested to also attend the Saturday workshop described below. If you miss Maurice on Monday, please make an extra effort to attend on Saturday.

UM Journalism Profs. Dennis Swibold and Clem Work are on the board of directors for the Montana Innocence Project, as is Jeff Renz at the UM law school and others. Jessie McQuillan has been hired to direct the project.

The Project is sponsoring a day-long seminar/training on "Wrongful Convictions & Freeing the Innocent" led by investigative reporter and former Pollner professor Maurice Possley, who recently left the Chicago Tribune. This will be an excellent learning opportunity and a condensed introduction to the issue of investigating wrongful convictions.

Here are the details:
What: Wrongful Convictions Seminar
When: Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008; Welcome at 9:30 and sessions from 10-3 with lunch break
Where: Don Anderson Hall Room 316
Anyone with interest or questions can contact Jessie McQuillan, executive director of the Montana Innocence Project, at 544-6698, or mtinnocenceproject@gmail.com.

Nationwide, DNA evidence has helped exonerate 220 innocent Americans, and another 200 or so wrongly convicted people have been freed thanks to other forms of evidence. Montana is one of the last states to launch an innocence project, and to date, three Montana men have been cleared by DNA evidence.

Guidance for those struggling with beat reports

Never mind the hippies, how are you doing on your beat reports due Monday?

I've talked to a couple of people who have been struggling with format. I've left it up to you how you format your report. Still, if you'd like a little structure, I'd expect every beat report to have sections such as:

• This is my beat -- A broad overview. Spend some time thinking about what your beat encompasses.
• Recent news on my beat -- Spend some time reading both local news about your beat (Missoulian, Indy, New West, Kaimin) and national news. Remember that specialty publications may help you understand your beat, eg. The Chronicle of Higher Education is something higher ed reporters should look at; K-12 reporters should see Ed Week.
• Key sources on my beat -- People, publications etc. that you anticipate using as sources on your beat for the rest of the semester. This part should be for you, not me. If you know how to get a hold of people now, if you've already introduced yourself to them and asked for their help, it'll be easier to get ahold of them when your big story breaks.
• The schedule on my beat -- Are there regular meetings or annual events that are going to happen on your beat this semester? Figure that out and put it in your report.
• Story ideas -- Every step of the way you should have felt the wheels turning. The more you learn about your beat, the more story ideas should tumble into your mind. Write them down. Get your notebooks going. You don't have to pursue every story, but keeping track of your story ideas will give you a well to get to when you thirst for your next story idea.

I hope that helps. See you on Monday when we'll talk about beat stories for the week ahead, review writing you submitted earlier and talk about the Internet and the scavenger hunt.

Have a great weekend.

Assignment overview

Here's what we'll be working on next week:

On Monday your first beat reports are due. We'll talk about the Internet as source; and about writing. I'll give back your speech coverage.

In class on Wednesday, we'll talk about your beat reports and about the stories people are working on for their first beat stories. Some of you may have filed them already by then. That's fine. Come ready to talk about story ideas and how to make them work.

Then, Wednesday at 1:20 p.m. we will meet outside the Missoula County Courthouse annex. Half the class will spend 30 minutes in Judge Karen Orzech's courtroom at Justice Court, the other half will meet with Shirley Faust to learn about record keeping in District Court. If you are late, find the District Court office and join that group. At 2 p.m., the two groups will trade places. I'll stay with the courtroom group.

At 2:30, I will pick up documents from a couple of the first appearances each group watched. I'll make copies of these for you and have them available back at my office by 4. I'll leave them there; pick them up when you can. Your assignment: Write two four paragraph long briefs using the documents I provide and any notes you take in court. These are due at midnight on Wednesday, via my umontana.edu email.

If you don't have someplace pressing to be at 2:30, I'd encourage you to wander around the courthouse and make your way across the street to city hall. Learn the lay of the land. We will all be working the Justice beat for a few weeks.

The first stories from your beat are due no later than Friday at noon. Breaking news stories should be filed by midnight the day they happen. These stories should be as long as they need to be, not longer, not shorter. If you need a limit, don't go over 750 words.

Your beat, your new flame

In the event that you want to review my New Beat Love speech for inspiration, here it is. Were the direct quotes you used in your story accurate? Did you figure out that Gay Talese is the most famous master of the art of hanging out (but that he did not write or ever give this speech?) Go here for a list of who is covering what beat.


Love Your New Beat

There is an art to hanging out. In this age of multi-tasking and over- full schedules it sometimes feels like there’s not a moment to spare. But it’s different for a reporter new to a beat – you can’t afford not to spend time with your new infatuation

And it should be an infatuation, this new beat of yours. The more intimately you know it, the more it will reward you. The reporter who knows their beat completely and compassionately will find stories others would miss; will meet sources others would overlook; will have a cell number when others only know the office number.

Treat your new beat as you would a major crush or a new flame: spend time with it; learn about its nightmares and its dreams. History and budgets are the scars and aspirations of a beat.

Find its pulse. Know what it sounds like when its excited, when its sleepy. Know who wields power on your beat – and who feels afflicted by it. Know the rules of your beat. You have to know the usual routine in order to report when the unusual happens.

Anticipate changes in your new beat’s moods. Know the laws and the calendar that governs the rhythms of its life. Know its news. Read coverage from long ago, and from yesterday and today – it’s like thumbing through high school yearbooks together, a window into a time before you.

This new flame isn’t perfect. Flaws and criticism are part of its complexion. Know its wrinkles and listen to its critics. They complain because the beat is a part of their lives, because it affects them or afflicts them.

The powerful, the powerless, the engaged and the merely interested – these people on your beat, they are your own heart, they are your readers. When you neglect your beat, when your attention wanders, when you miss the story or drop the ball – that’s heartbreak.

A beat reporter becomes the never-sleeping eyes and ears for a community with countless distractions. Regardless of what your beat is, the basic expectations are the same: You need to be ready, curious, questioning and, above all, you must be there.

This semester, remember how important it is to just hang out together. With your beat.

Links for covering the Justice beat

Navigating the Justice beat means knowing your way around the courts and understanding the normal process for handling different levels of crime. We covered a lot of ground with that in mind today. Feel free to check my notes if you need a refresher.

A lot of basic information about daily events on the Justice beat are now online. These include:

* The Missoula County jail roster, which tells you who is in jail and gives you an idea who was arrested last night.

* The U.S. District Court docket, which tells you which cases are scheduled for what and when in that court.

* The city's daily activity report is not online, but gets emailed to a broad list of subscribers. This report is available to the public at the front desk at the Police Department. Peruse the 26-page report I received this morning to see how much goes on in Missoula, and how little is written in this report.

None of this information will do you much good as a reporter unless you know the people and issues that are important to your community. For that, you need to hang out -- but with a real sense of purpose.

Beat reports due next Monday, not Wednesday

Your first beat reports will be due Monday Sept. 8, not the 3rd as I incorrectly posted early (I changed it. Thanks Tori.) They'll be due the first Monday we have class of each month.

The point of this first beat report is to encourage you to get the lay of the land of your new beat. Probably the most important questions you'll need to answer are: What's the type of news that emerges on my beat and what news stories can I anticipate happening this semester? To figure that out, you should read a lot of news from the recent past about your beat, learn where news tends to happen on your beat and who cares about it. Talk to lots of people about it.