Learning about the Law

Here's a guide to Montana courts and answers to questions about the state's legal system. Here's a guide to legal words phrases. Here are some you need to know from the start:

-Actual malice, Affadavit, Answer, Appeal, Arraignment
-Bail/Bond, Bankruptcy, Beyond a reasonable doubt
-Circumstantial evidence, Class action suit, Complaint, Compensatory damages, Concurrent sentences, Consecutive sentences, Cross examination
-Damages, Defamation, Double jeopardy
-Felony
-Grand jury
-Habeas corpus, Hung jury
-Indictment, Information
-Judgment
-Liability, Libel
-Mistrial
-Parole, Plaintiff, Probation, Preliminary hearing, Preponderance of the evidence, Probable cause, Punitive damages
-Remand
-Settlement, Statute of Limitations, Subpoena
-Voir dire
-Warrant

We're Going to Court Monday

That's right. Let's meet in the second-floor lobby of the Missoula County Courthouse at 2:15 sharp. We'll sit in on a Justice Court session, the honorable Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech presiding.

We'll report on a story for a midnight deadline, so bring your notebooks, recorders and pens. We'll also make a quick visit to the Clerk of District Court's office, the honorable Chris Arneson guiding.

Get Ready for Monday's Council Meeting

Take a look at the City Council’s agenda for tomorrow night. Remember, we’re covering stories, not meetings, so pick a couple issues that you think might be worthy of covering and be prepared to talk about them in class. In other words, do some background work.

Also, I’m changing the assignments for the week. Besides Monday’s council story, I’ll ask you to polish your candidate interview story, based on my comments. Be working on the story from your beat about the election, but we’ll make that due early next week.

See you in class.

Revealing Questions for Candidates

Here are some of my ideas. Add your own as comments.

1. Who are your heroes? Why?

2. Have you ever voted for someone in the other party? Who and why?

3. What advice does you spouse give you about campaigning?

4. How would you rate the press coverage in this campaign?

5. What's the strangest suggestion you've received from consituents?

6. What's the hardest job you've ever done?

7. What's the best book you've ever read?

8. What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Covering Elections: The Basics

Here's a list of things journalists should consider when they cover elections.

1. Background your candidates -- We've already talked about this, but it's important. Who are these folks? Who are their friends and supporters? Who is endorsing them? Who is giving them money? What's their history? Where do their private and public histories intersect?

2. Illuminate candidates' stands on the issues -- You'll get some of this by covering debates, forums, press confernces, speeches, etc. It's important not only to cover what they say, but to verify the accuracy of it. Track their comments on an issue over time to see if they changing the tune. Are they pandering to the crowd? What issues are they ignoring? Are voters' opinions on issues being solicited? In call of this, be sure to put the issues in context. How does this affect my readers?

3. Cover the "horse race" -- The press overdoes this, partly because it's easy, but it still matters. Pay attention to the polls (Are they credible? Valid statiscially?). What strategies and tactics are the candidates using? How effective is a candidate at organizing, raising money, etc. How is the electorate changing? How are registration and voting laws affecting the process? Look for oddities in the collection and counting of votes? Is the process fair?

Better Election Coverage

Some questions election reporters should ask themselves:

1. Are we covering the "horse race" (stories about polls, campaign tactics, personnel) at the expense of issues?
2. Are we asking questions voters care about?
3. Who is going uncovered?
4. What issues are going undebated?
5. Are we trying to get to the truth of campaign allegations?
6. Are we giving voters and candidates an opportunity to respond?

Good Election Fact-Checking Sites

PolitiFact.com -- Another good site sponsored the St. Petersburg Tims and Congressinal Quarterly. Check out the "Truth-o-Meter" and the new "Flip-o-Meter."


Factcheck.org -- Probably the best all-around election fact-checking site. It succeds in being a nonpartisan resource that moves quickly to sift the truth from fiction from national campaigns.

How to "Truth Check" a Campaign Ad

Stories sifting fact from fantasy in campaign ads are becoming more frequent as checking them becomes easier to do. Here are some examples in print and broadcast.

Some pointers for doing your own 'Truth Check' story:

1. Insist that candidates provide sources to back up their advertising allegations. Most will. In fact, check the sponsor's Web site first. If they refuse to offer proof, you've got a story they're really going to hate.

2. Most often, candidates will point to their opponents' voting records. Look up the bills and votes yourself. Don't rely on their opponents' "spin." If we're talking about state legislation, go to the Montana's Legislature's site. Click on "bills" for the right session. You can search by bill number, sponsor or general topic. It's easy to verify a vote or see what a bill would do, but often the bill's costs are the issue, so be sure to look at the "fiscal note," which is the state's best guess at costs for taxpapers. If we're talking about federal legislation, go to the Library of Congress' Web site.

3. After you've seen the facts, bounce your finding off of both candidates or their people. You can include their reaction in your story. They may offer you more context or sources, too.

Some pitfalls:

A. Make sure you're reporting a candidate's final vote on the issue at hand. Legislators may vote many times on a single bill: at the committee stage, on amendments to a bill and finally on the bill as amended. Here's an example: In 1997, state Sen. Mike Taylor initially voted to deregulate the wholesale price of electricity, a highly controversial idea in Montana. But he changed his mind on the third and final vote, making him one of the few Republicans to ultimately reject the idea. He's running this year for the state's Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.

B. The questions legislators face are not always black and white. For example, a legislator could support a sale tax as an additional tax or as a substitue for eliminating or cutting other taxes. The effect on taxpayers could vary enormously.

C. Beware of singling out a lawmaker's vote as his or her only vote on some controversial issue. Often Democrats and Republicans will offer similar solutions to some problem. A Republican legislator who votes against a Democratic version may vote for his party's solution instead.

Contact Info for Legislative Candidates

Those of you looking for contact information on Montana legislative candidates can find it here.

The Paper Trail: A Guide to Backgrounding People

You'll be surprised at what you can find that's readily available: news clips, business directories, phone and criss-cross directors. You'll find much of that and more online from your local university library. Google, Lexis-Nexis, social networking sites -- of that can help, but don't overlook public records when you're investigating an individual. Not all of them are online, but many are.

Here are some public records that may prove helpful:

BIRTH RECORDS (Montana makes them available 30 years after a birth.)

SCHOOL RECORDS (Dates attended, degrees conferred, theses written, dissertations. No grades. No school disciplinary action.)

PROPERTY RECORDS (Counties have this stuff: Who owns what, property assessments, taxes paid and unpaid, improvements, even a map.)

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE RECORDS (You can see a marriage license but not the application. Divorces are civil actions.)

BANKRUPTCIES (Individuals have to file with a U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Lots of detail here about what people own and owe.)

DRIVERS' LICENSES, OTHER LICENSES (Hunting, fishing, etc. You may not get to see the application but you should be able to find out if a person is licensed for these activities. It will cost you a couple of bucks, but you can check with the Montana Highway Patrol to see if someone has speeding tickets.)

PROFESSIONAL LICENSES (Most states keep these records for doctors, nurses, lawyers, public school teachers, pilots, cosmetologists -- anyone who needs a license to do their job. You can find out what the qualifications are for different jobs, or if someone is, in fact, licensed.)

COURT RECORDS (Criminal and civil histories -- convictions, judgments, complaints, depositions, affadavits for probable cause, affadavits for warrants, etc. Sometimes private records -- health, income, etc -- will show in a civil or criminal court case if they are offered in evidence. Much of this is on file at the court house, although some things are online. Check out Missoula District Court dockets.)

PRISON RECORDS (Who's there? Why? In Montana, you can find that stuff on CONWEB. Yep. That's what they call it.)

MILITARY RECORDS (It's not online, and it takes a while, but you can verify of service, rank, medals and commendations.)

CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMITS (Check with the Sheriff's Department.)

LENDING INFORMATION (UCC filings document some loans. Check with the county clerk and recorder, Secretary of State.)

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE SALARIES (Check with the human services officer in the agency that employs them.)

VOTER REGISTRATION INFO (You can find out if someone voted but not how they voted.)

VOTING RECORDS (Local government minutes, legislative and congressional journals, vote-tracking sites, Project Vote Smart, etc.)

CAMPAIGN CASH (Check the Federal Election Commission's database for donations to candidates for federal office. Another place to go for federal campaign cash is opensecrets.org . For campaign finance infomation on local legislators, check with the county election officials. For statewide candidates, cheick with the Montana's Commissioner of Political Practices. For contributions from previous Montana election cycles, check http://www.followthemoney.org/)

ELECTRONIC ACCESS LAWS

For state-by-state laws on access to public records, check with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

WANT MORE?

Take the Net Tour offered by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.

Monday Sept. 15 Assignments

Remember that we'll meet Monday at the regular time BUT in Room 316 to hear from Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Maurice Possley. Please see his work that I linked to on the Sept. 4 post. BRING THREE QUESTIONS, and I'll expect to hear you ask them.

Also, I'm giving you your choice Monday night:

1. You can cover the City Council meeting for a midnight deadline. (Planning and zoning issues)

Or ...

2.You can cover the gubernatorial debate on campus for the same deadline. That event starts at 7 p.m. in the Montana Theatre, PAR/TV Center. Candidates Republican Roy Brown, Democrat Brian Schweitzer and Libertarian Stan Jones will be there. Will you?

If you choose the debate, focus your story on the exhanges that show their differences on the issues and in style. Hit the highlights. Don't speculate on who won or lost, but you can report about the crowd an its responses to the answers. (Rememeber, this will be on TV too.)


Here's some background on Gov. Schweitzer: http://www.votesmart.org/summary.php?can_id=40832

Here's some background on his Republican challenger: http://www.votesmart.org/summary.php?can_id=20942

Here's some background on third-party candidate, Stan Jones, a Libertarian: http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=40338

Tonight's Agenda

For those of you who couldn't find it over the weekend, here you go.

Tips for Writing on Deadline

1. Have a good idea of what the story might be before you begin your reporting. That way you're thinking about potential ledes from the start.

2. As you're taking notes, mark passages or quotations that support the potential ledes rolling around in your head.

3. When you start to write, see how far you can get without looking at your notes. Then go through the notes to fill in the blanks for quotes, examples, etc.

Ask Tax Man: What are Property Taxes?

I'm so glad you asked. It’s important to understand how property taxes work because they’re the biggest source of tax revenue for local governments (cities, counties and school districts). The state and feds rely more in income taxes.

THE MILL LEVY

Property taxes are based on a property’s value. Once the value is determined, local governments assess – or levy – something called a mill. Think of one mill as $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value. (Another way to express it would be $.001 for every $1 of taxable value.)

Here’s how it works: If my home has a taxable value of $3,000 and the city decided to levy 100 mills, then my tax bill would be $300, or $100 for each thousand dollars of taxable value.

You can also see why actual tax bills vary around the city, though every pays the same 100 mills. Property values vary. The state calculates taxable values by looking at sale prices and then applying various deductions and tax rates that vary based on the type of property. For instance, in Montana homes and most businesses pay the same tax rate. Farmland and property owned by nonprofits pay a different rate.

HOW LOCAL GOVERNMENTS DETERMINE MILL LEVIES

First, the city adds up the taxable values of every piece of property within the city limits. Let’s say it’s $100, 000, 000. (That’s called the city’s tax base.) Then the city multiplies the tax base by the value of one mill ($.001). The result is how much city would raise for each mill it levies:

Our example:

$100,000,000 (total taxable value in the city) X .001(one mill’s value) = $100,000 (what one mill in taxes will raise citywide)

Let’s say the city decides it needs to raise $60 million. If you divide $60,000,000 by $100,000 (what one mill would raise) you get 600 mills. That means each property owner in the city would have to pay $600 for every $1,000 of their property’s taxable value.

THINGS THAT CAN MAKE PROPERTY TAXES RISE

1. More government spending. (New bond issues, inflation in the cost of services, shifts in state and federal spending.)
2. Higher property values. (Every few years the state reassesses all the property in Montana. It’s a nervous time.)

ONE THING TO REMEMBER: IT ALL ADDS UP

A person’s property tax bill includes mill levies from the city, the county, local school districts and even state government (mostly for education). We even pay special property taxes in our individual neighborhoods for things like street repairs, sidewalks, street lighting, etc. They call these SIDs, or Special Improvement Districts.

WANNA SEE TAX MAN'S PROPERTY TAX BILL?

It's a public record.

Coming Soon: Justice Reporter Maurice Possley

Mark your calendars. On Monday, Sept. 15, we will meet from 2:10 to 3:30 p.m. in Room 316 to have a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning criminal justice reporter Maurice Possley, formerly of the Chicago Tribune. Please click on the links at this site to read his work. Your assignment: Prepare at least three questions for him and post them as comments to this blog entry.

Assignments

For this week:

Your first beat stories are due to me by 5 p.m. Friday. Send them as WORD e-mail attachments, and follow the copy preparation rules (double-spaced body copy, white space at the top of the first page, etc.)

Also, this weekend, please check the City Council's agenda for Monday night. Click the links. Get as familiar as you can with the issues. Bring your questions to Monday's class.

Next week:

We're covering Monday night's City Council meeting for a midnight deadline.

You'll also be expected to write a story from your chosen beat.

Covering the City Beat

For the next few weeks we’ll be covering the City Beat and its most important institution, city government, which is responsible for:

Protecting the public – It enacts ordinances to control public behavior; funds, hires and manages police and fire departments; monitors local air and water quality; provides sanitary sewer service; identifies and fights health threats, oversees the building of roads, streets, sidewalks and street lighting; monitors and inspects building construction.

Planning for growth – It reviews and approves new subdivisions and the extension of city services; establishes what type of buildings can go where (zoning).

Enhancing the quality of life – Establishes and maintains parks; funds and directs recreation programs; sponsors and oversees public events (farmers’ markets, festivals and concerts).

Raising money to pay for all that – Plans for spending (builds a yearly budget), raises money through general property taxes (those everyone pays), special property taxes (those paid by a few for a special purpose like sidewalks), fees (building permits, business licenses, development fees), and grants or loans from state or federal governments.

HOW CITY GOVERNMENT WORKS IN MISSOULA

The city hires professionals and lumps them into departments to oversee all of these activities.

Voters also elect a mayor to ensure that the departments are doing their jobs. In Missoula the mayor also presides over City Council meetings.

Voters two people from each of six districts, or wards, to sit on the City Council. The 12-member council makes the big decisions on services, growth and taxes. The council consists of several committees that study different needs and make recommendations to the full council.

The council meets every Monday (except for holidays and fifth Mondays of each month) to conduct public hearings and make decisions on items brought to it by its committees, the mayor and residents. An agenda is posted at least two days before each meeting so residents and city officials alike can prepare to participate.

THE REPORTER’S JOB

Give residents information they need to understand and participate in decisions that could affect their well-being. Be watching for impacts on services and taxes

Beat Assignments

Here's a list of beat assigments based on your requests. There's still time to change your mind, however. No one picked natural resouces/environment so that's still available.

The beats:

1. Justice I (cops and misdemeanor courts) -- Gerrity, Garcia

2. Justice II (state and federal district courts) -- Arneson, Gundlach

3. K-12 education (Missoula public schools) -- McLean, Whalen

4. Politics (2008 election) -- Dusek

5. Public health -- Klein, Gallagher

6. Higher education -- Maier

7. Minorities -- Rawn, deBouver

8. City and county government --Braaten

9. Natural resources/environment -- Roussi

10. Engergy/transportation -- Pulliam

Welcome to Public Affairs Reporting, Fall '08

Here are your first assigments:

A. By midnight tonight, send me the story from the short speech I gave in class. Send it as a Word attachment to dennis.swbold@umontana.edu

B. By 9 a.m. Tuesday, send me an e-mail with your first and second choices for a beat to cover. I’ll let you know your assigned beat by the day’s end. (Make sure you use your grizmail account.)

The choices are:

1. Local government: How are city and county governments dealing with issues such as public safety, transportation, growth? How are your readers affected? Read: Governing. Major institutions: City Council, County Commission.

2. K-12 education: Tens of thousands of Montanans are either enrolled in local schools or have children attending them. All of us pay tax to support the schools. What are children learning? How are they performing? Is the education community meeting students’ needs in the 21st century? What educational controversies do schools face? Are schools spending taxpayers’ money productively? Read: Education Week. Major institutions: Missoula County Public Schools.

3. Higher education: As consumers of higher ed, you have a vested interest in how the system works (or doesn’t work, as the case may be). Follow the changes and controversies: cost, access, changes in administration, curriculum, interaction with societal issues and controversies. How are colleges performing? Read: The Chronicle of Higher Education. Major institutions: UM, ASUM.

4. Justice I: You’ll cover breaking crime and disaster news in the Missoula area. This beat involves making the rounds constantly. Major institutions: Missoula Police Department, Campus Safety, Missoula County sheriff’s Department, Missoula Fire Department, Municipal (city) and Justice (county) courts.

5. Justice II: You cover cases in district (state) and federal courts. How is justice being served? What’s happening in newsworthy criminal cases? Who’s suing whom in civil cases? Major institutions: Missoula County District Courts (We have four district judges who handle cases involving violations of state law or civil cases between Montanans.) We have a federal courthouse with a U.S. district judge and a U.S. magistrate. (They handle cases involving violations of federal laws and suits between citizens of different states or against federal agencies.)

6. Public health: You’ll cover issues of interest to the public health, like outbreaks of disease, new diseases (West Nile) or health trends of concern (obesity, smoking, etc). You cover changes and controversies in the local health care system (access to services, costs, changes and trends in treatment options). Read: The Nation’s Health (http://www.apha.org/publications/tnh/default.htm). Major institutions: City-County Health Department, St. Patrick Hospital, Community Memorial Hospital, UM’s Curry Health Center.

7. Natural resources, the environment: You’ll look for local angles to environmental controversies such as climate change, air and water quality and the health of forests, grasslands and wildlife habitat (wildfires). Read: High Country News (http://www.hcn.org/). Major institutions: U.S. Forest Service, the EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, city air and water quality officials, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Lots of environmetal organizations too: Clark Fork Coalition, Five Valleys Land Trust, Friends of the Bitterroot, Wilderness Society, etc.

8. Energy/transportation: This beat gets more important with every jump in gas prices. What’s happening with access to and costs of energy? Utility rates? What’s new in alternative fuels? Public transportation? Alternative modes of transportation? What’s happening to roads and runways? Access and cost of air, rail or bus travel, etc. Read: http://www.freetrademagazinesource.com/37/categories.aspx?AffiliateID=84797996&gclid=CPjB3te9opUCFR8ViQodhX8xjw
Major institutions: Mountain Line, Missoula International Airport, local and state street and highway departments, federal Department of Energy, Northwestern energy.

9. Undercovered communities: Think of it as the minorities/civil rights beat. What sort of discrimination do you see? What stories are NOT being told about minority communities? You should find a lot of stories among not only racial and ethnic minorities but with the disabled, religious minorities, fringe political or social organizations, gay, lesbian and transgender people, etc.

10. Politics: You’ll be covering elections, and there are a million ways to do it. We have local contests galore and you can find local election angles to national campaigns as well. Read: Local, state and national election news. Major institutions: Local party central committees, county election officials (they run the elections), Montana Secretary of State, Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, Federal Election Commission, etc.

News Features and Profiles

Need some models for your in-depth news feature? Check out work of your fellow journalism students nationwide at the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Look at the Features, In-depth and Personallity/Profile entries.

Keep Those Ballots Coming

If it's too late to get your municipal ballot in the mail, you can drop it off at the Missoula County Elections Office, 200 W. Broadway. County officials also will accept ballots at the following locations, from 7 am. to 8 p.m., on Election Day only:

• Rattlesnake School, 1220 Pineview Drive
• Paxson School, 101 Evans
• Russell School, 3216 Russell
• Hellgate Elementary, 2385 Flynn Lane
• Cold Springs School, 2625 Briggs

Is Justice Served?

Cops and courts writers face such a steady stream of daily stories that they sometimes overlook articles about how the justice system works. It's a rich field for enterprising journalists. For great story ideas, check out Covering Crime and Justice, a Web-site produced by some of the nation's top justice journalists and featuring basics of beat coverage and a great assortment of story ideas.

Another thing to keep in mind is your obligation to see that the system is fair. Sometimes cops and prosecutors go too far. Check out the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers for examples. The folks at Truth in Justice have some resources too.

The Endorsements Assignment

Here's what I need from each candidate group by midnight Monday:

1. How much money has the candidate raised and spent as of Monday?

• List the totals for each category. (You may have to add up the totals from a couple of reporting periods).
• List the major donors (say $100 or more) and provide their city and occupation, if available.

2. List the organizations and prominent people ((Parties, business groups, etc.; mayor, other council members, politicians, etc.) who have endorsed them.

Resources on the Justice Beat

Missoula Police Department daily public reports
Checking these skimpy reports is a start. Look for more serious sounding events and those with A8 or A9, indicating they were serious enough for a report to be written. A good beat writer will also make daily calls, early in his or her shift, on routine sources, usually, detectives, to see what's new.

Missoula County jail roster
The public jail roster reflects charges listed at the time of booking. For the current status of the charges against an individual, contact the Missoula County attorney's office 258-3246. The roster can tip you off to arrests that didn't appear in the city public reports because they were made by other law enforcement agencies.

The Laws:

• State criminal laws


• Missoula municipal ordinances


• Federal criminal code

State and tribal courts

Federal courts

The Ponyter Institutes links for crime reporters

The Budget: It's About People, Not Numbers

By now, you should know that writing about public affairs is writing about people, not processes, not dry statistics or numbers. That goes for even the most number-driven story: budgets. The critical questions are the same as always:

• Who wins?



• Who loses?



• Why?



• Whose taxes are going up?



• Whose services are being cut?

Once you understand the the answers, the trick it to write about them without getting lost in the numbers. One key is to use only the meaningful numbers and make comparisons that readers will easilty grasp. Here are some tips that might help.

One of the pitfalls in writing about spendig or taxes is making accurate comparisons over time. Because inflation eats a way at a dollar's buying power, you'll need to adjust for its impact. Here's a handy calculator that can help you do that.

Resources for Backgrounding Candidates

Ask for a résumé or CV. Smart candidates these days have Web sites and post résumés and other interesting stuff there. Ask them to help fill in any unexplained gap, and double-check items that sound unusual or too good to be true.

STUFF YOU CAN CHECK ON YOUR OWN:

A. Education: You can’t get their grades, but you can confirm the dates they attended a school and degrees conferred. Be on the lookout for exaggeration.

B. Awards and honors: Check for publicity concerning such by contacting people or associations that confer them. Again, be on the lookout for exaggeration, especially in things they tout, as in a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.

■ You can verify claims of military service by checking Military.com.
■ Poynteronline has a good tip sheet for military info.

C. Occupations: If there’s reason to be skeptical, check these directly. How long did they work there? What positions did they hold? How did they leave? Voluntarily? Check employer Web sites, association directories, etc.

D. News history: Check the archives of your local newspaper for mentions. Go back several years. Why were they in the news? (If they’ve moved here recently, check the paper where they used to live.) Always check Lexis-Nexis, Newsbank and other news databases.

E. Criminal and legal history: Check with the Clerk of District Court for felony charges or civil suits filed in Missoula County. Justice and Municipal courts have misdemeanors. You can check the state’s criminal history database, but it will cost you $11.50 per request. However, searching the state’s correctional offender network to locate people in prison is free. So are the state’s sexual/violent offender databases. You can get federal information though a database called PACER, but it costs. (I have an account.) Again, the Web is a good starting place.

F. Political/Public service history: Again, start with a basic Web/News search, but there are other databases, including minutes of government meetings and government directories. You can also check to see if they’ve given money to state or federal candidates. If you’re researching the voting record of a state or federal elected official, check with the good folks at Project Vote Smart.

G. Property and taxes: If they own property in Missoula County, you can look up its physical description, location and tax information. To see if they own property elsewhere in the state, check the Montana Department of Revenue’s Web locator.

H. Business records: If people own businesses, you can check to see what type they are and who represents them. Remember that incorporated businesses can own property, so search the property-tax databases for that information too.

I. Bankruptcy: Bankruptcies, in which individuals or businesses seek protection from their creditors, are filed in a special federal court. You can get this through PACER. The nearest U.S. Bankruptcy Court is in Butte.

OTHER ELECTION/GOVERNMENT TOOLS

For information about a Montana candidate’s past fund-raising, check the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices site. It can lead you to information about lobbyists, too. For information about groups running so-called issue advertisements (“527 groups”) , see Opensecrets.org.

Covering the Candidates

Besides covering tonight's City Council meeting, I want you to file a photograph and a short biographical report on your council candiates this week.

Due by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5 -- A jpeg. photo and biographical information on your candidate. Keep it short and answer the following:

Name and Ward (also indicate whether your candidate is an incumbent) :

Age:

Occupation:

Marital or domestic partnership status:

Education: (degree and major)

Professional and military experience:

Public service:

Party affiliation:

Due by class Monday, Oct. 8 --

• Q&A (10 questions)


• Background report

Writing on Deadline

It's rarely easy, but you will get better with practice.

Preparing -- even for a few minutes -- helps tremendously. Otherwise, get in the habit of thinking of a simple lede or headline as you report. You'll tweak it as new information comes in, but the process gets you ready to write.

One trick that works for me is to write a bare bones version of the story without looking at my notes. I'll flesh out the details and add quotes from my notes on the second run-though. That way I don't get bogged down in details at the start.

Here's some other advice on deadline writing from the pros.

This Week: Council, Taxes, Election

We'll be covering tonight's Missoula City Council meeting. The story deadline is midnight. You're on your own as far a prepping for the assignment, but you know the drill by now. Don't go tonight without an idea or two for the story. Bring questions to class.

No beat story this week, but I want you to start digging into the City Council candidate you'll be be assigned to cover today. We'll draw for candidates and teams.

We'll be talking about the property tax in today's class. Here's some official literature on the subject from the Montana Department of Revenue, which administers taxation. The tax, which provides money for cities, counties and schools, is collected at the county.

Let's Hear it for Hillview Way

Barring any surprises, it's the public's night to tell the City Council what it thinks of the a $3.3 million plan to rebuild Hillview Way, a twisty, dangerous road serving Missoula's South Hills. Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller gave you a good look at the project last week, so you should be well prepared. She followed up with another good piece Monday.

If that's not enough, here's a map of the project and a fact sheet produced by the city's Public Works Department.

Take good notes so you can give readers a sense of the debate. It's hard to say if the council will vote on this after the hearing. If it does, you'll want to build your story on the decision and reaction. If it doesn't, then give readers a sense of the hearing (without getting lost in the process.)

You might even draft a few grafs of background ahead of time.

Your other assignment this week: A story from your beat.

Assignments for the Week of Sept. 9

Here's what's due this week:

1. A story from Monday's Missoula City Council meeting. Deadline: Midnight Monday.
2. A story from your beat. Deadline: If you've got breaking news, the story is due by midnight of the day it happens. News features are due no later than noon Friday.

Local government reporters: There's a city primary election Tuesday. See me after class for details.

Covering City Hall: Preparation is the Key

The action starts at 7 p.m. Monday night at the weekly Missoula City Council meeting. Get there (140 W. Pine St.) early and grab a seat where you can see who's talking. Before you go:

• Read the agenda and follow the links on issues you think might be newsworthy.
• Read Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller's story in Sunday's paper about "roundabouts."
• Go to the paper's archive link and click on advanced search. Look for any other articles on "roundabouts" over the last 12 months. (Hint: You'll have to change the search dates.) You should find an earlier story about the Miller Creek Road project.

You should also take a look at Keila's Monday story about a controversial plan to rebuild Hillview Way, a dangerous road that curves through Missoula's southern hills. The story anticipates a public hearing on the project scheduled for Monday the 17th. Good beat reporting like this gives people a chance to participate in the process.

Welcome to Public Affairs Reporting

I'll use this space to continue class discussions, post assignments and publicize your best work. It's also a handy reference guide to links that can help you on your beats. Don't be shy about diving in. For starters, you might check out these tips from the pros for covering a beat.

On the Record: Backgrounding Business

Learning how to learn about a business can come in handy.

In some ways, businesses are like individuals: They own things (property records), they pay taxes (property-tax records) and they sue people or get sued (court records), and they can go broke (bankruptcy filings).

Beyond that, they also leave special paper trails with:

-- Licensing agencies, agencies than permit corporations (Secretary of State's office)
-- Regulatory agencies (OSHA, EPA, FAA, FTC, state and local agencies, etc.)
-- Agencies that contract for products and services, or that grant business loans (SBA, CDBG, etc.)

What you can learn may also depend on what kind of business you're investigating.

Privately held businesses are generally owned by families or small groups of individual investors, who share the profits and the risks. They do not sell shares to the public. Typicially, you'll find less public information about them, although you may find plenty through trade or business sites, such as Hoover's.com. (Its free service offers basic info and links to news and press releases. Try searching for Mars, Incorporated. The pay service will look up company's public paper trail.)

Publicly traded companies share the profits and risks with shareholders, who buy and sell shares to the public in stock markets. To protect shareholders from being swindled, such companies are regulated by federal and state governments.

The federal regulator is the Securities and Exchange Commission, which To requires such companies to file a whole string of public reports, which can tell investors -- and reporters -- a lot about the way the company operates. You'll find annual and quarterly financial reports, announcements of major changes in ownership, etc.

In Montana, the State Auditor regulates companies that sell securities (stocks and bonds) and insurance. The auditor occasionally investigates wrongdoing and can instigate prosecutions through the courts.

Nonprofit companies or organizations are a different breed of business altogether. Most are exempt from paying taxes, and in return for that special treatment they must file an annual report (IRS Form 990 or PF990) that outlines what they do, how much money they take in and spend, who runs the show, etc.

Companies are required to keep copies of these reports for inspection but you can also order them from the IRS or find them online through an outfit called Guidestar.

On the Record: Backgrounding Individuals

You may be surprised to find at what you'll find on Google, Lexis-Nexis, Facebook, etc., but don't overlook public records when you're investigating an individual. Here are some public records that may prove helpful:

Birth records (Montana makes them available 30 years after a birth.)

School records (Dates attended, degrees conferred, theses, dissertations. No grades.)

Property records (Deeds, property assessments, taxes paid and unpaid.)

Marriage and divorce records (You can see a marriage license but not the application. Divorces are civil action.)

Bankruptcies (Individuals have to file with a U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Lots of detail here about what people own and owe.)

Driver's licenses and other licenses (Hunting, fishing, etc. You may not get to see the application but you should be able to find out if a person is license for these activities.)

Professional license information (Most states keep these records for doctors, nurses, lawyers, public school teachers, pilots, cosmetologists, etc. You can find out if someone is in fact licensed.)

Court records (Criminal and civil histories -- convictions, judgments, complaints, depositions, etc.)

Some military records (Dates of services, rank, medals and commendations.)

Concealed weapons permits (Check with the Sheriff's Department.)

Some lending information (UCC filings document some loans. Check with the county clerk and recorder, Secretary of State.)

Salary information for public employees (Check with the human services officer in the agency that employs them.)

Voter registration information. (You can also find out if someone voted but not how they voted.)

Public officials' voting records (Local govt. minutes, legislative and congressional journals, Project Vote Smart, etc.)

State and federal campaign donations (Check followthemoney.org for donations to state candidates. Check opensecrets.org for contributions to federal candidates.)

Make Readers See

Here's an old post, but a goodie.

It's not easy getting busy people to read longer stories. You have to make it worth their time.

Make readers join you in solving a mystery, in sharing a vicitim's pain, in exposing an outrage, in puzzling over what makes the powerful tick. Make them wonder if there isn't a better way to solve problems that threaten their safety, lighten their wallets or disturb their peace.

Show rather than tell.

Make readers sense the mystery, feel the outrage, smell the danger, hear the disturbance, sting from loss. It's not easy to write pictures into readers heads. It take just the right words, and less is usually more. It takes pacing (short sentences, like short breaths, shows tension) and a deft hand on the zoom lens (zoom in to focus closely on an individual example; zoom out to show a problem's widespread effect). It takes an ear for the sounds of words that click together to make an emotional effect.

You'll probably never do it well unless you read journalists who do it well, journalists like Jim Sheeler, Julia Keller, Kim Murphy, Walt Bogdanich, Abigail Goldman and Nancy Cleeland.

They'll make it worth your while.

Profiles: Portraits in Words

Profiles can round out good beat coverage. But doing them well takes time and an artist's eye for telling detail.You also need a good reason -- a news peg -- to do them.

Good profile subjects are often people wielding great power or those about to wield it. Sometimes they're about quiet people doing remarkable things behind-the-scenes. Other times, they're about ordinary people whose stories illuminate great public problems.

Good profiles put their subjects in the context of the news and reveal their passions or motives. The best ones look at their subjects from lots of perspectives and aren't shy about focusing on flaws as well as strengths.

Poor profiles are superficial, vague and distant. The worst are hero-worshipping puff pieces that seem as if the subject paid the reporter to write them. Nobody's perfect, as they say. And in public affairs, it's a rare leader who climbs to prominence without making enemies as well as friends.

Complexity is what makes people truly interesting, anyway. Capturing it requires intelligence and flair -- and lots of sources.

You're not a judge; you're not the jury

Believe it or not, some of the people arrested and charged with committing crimes are not guilty.

So play it straight in police stories. Dont' write that a Missoula man has been arrested for robbing the bank. If he's yet to be charged, say he's been arrested in connection with the robbery at the bank.

If prosecutors decide to charge him, then lead with that: A Missoula man has been charged with robbing the bank.

I'd be wary even after a judge or jury had decided the case. For instance, I wouldn't write that a bank robber has decided to appeal his sentence. Unless he's confessed to the crime, or the evidence is overwhelming, I'd say a man convicted of robbing the bank has decided to appeal his sentence.

It's a sublte but imporant point.

Good Election Coverage

You'll find some good stories on ballot issues and candidates at Montana Votes, a Web site professor John Saul and I have put together to feature good student work on the election.

The Seattle Times has an especially good profile today on the Burns-Tester race.

Resources on the Justice Beat

State and Local Resources

Montana law gives you access to:

Daily incident reports – They’re often skimpy and filled with code. But they’re a start.

Daily arrest reports – Name, DOB, charge.

Jail logs – Who’s in jail, arresting agency.


Other Local and State Web resources

Missoula Police Department

Missoula County Sheriff’s Department

Missoula County Detention Facility.

Montana’s court system. Find links to various branches and resources of Montana’s judicial system, from the state Supreme Court down to Municipal and Justice of the Peace courts.

Montana’s laws. It’s all here, but Title 45 is the state criminal code. You’ll find descriptions of different crimes and any sentencing guidelines.

Montana Supreme Court decisions. You can read them yourself.

Montana State Law Library. Look up old court decisions. Contacts here can help you research a case.

Montana Department of Justice. We elected a state attorney general, who acts as Montana’s top prosecutor. He also represents the state in lawsuits. His department covers everything from law enforcement and forensics (State Crime Lab) to gambling regulation. It also keeps state crime stats.

Montana Department of Corrections. Officials here track everyone convicted of felonies. They have databases of violent and sexual offenders and everyone currently in the state prison system.


Federal Resources

The U.S. Attorney for Montana. The federal Department of Justice picks a top prosecutor to handle federal crimes in every state.

Federal Criminal Code. Here are the crimes that could land you in U.S. District Court and the federal prison system

U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney General runs this huge department. It’s responsible for enforcing federal law.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. The federal government’s chief law enforcement agency. There are others: the Drug Enforcement Agency; the Border Patrol; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Bureau of Indian Affairs, etc.

Federal courts in Montana. The U.S. District Court is the main trial court from crimes and civil suits in the federal system. But there are other federal courts: Federal Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Tax Court, etc.

Federal Prisons. If you’re convict of federal crimes, you go here.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Appeals from U.S. District Court are heard here, in San Francisco.

U.S. Supreme Court. The high court, the court of last resort in the federal system.


Resources for Journalists

Covering Crime and Justice: A Guide for Journalists. Great primer on how to cover various aspects of the justice system. It’s written by top criminal justice reporters.

Powerreporting.com. A wonderful guide to resources on crime and justice issues.

Harmful Error: Investigating America’s Local Prosecutors. Here’s an example of reporting on the system itself. How well does it work?

The Innocence Project. Sometimes the system fails, as these folks know only too well.

Hit the Campaign Trail

One way to get to know your candidate or subject is to tag along on a campaign trip. You'll get to see how well they handle the people, the pressure and the questions. For a good example of this kind of story, check out Gwen Florio's recent trip to the Hi-Line with Jon Tester.

How to 'Truth Check' a Campaign Ad

Stories sifting fact from fantasy in campaign ads are becoming more frequent as checking them becomes easier to do. Here are some examples in print and broadcast.

Some pointers for doing your own 'Truth Check' story:

1. Insist that candidates provide sources to back up their advertising allegations. Most will. In fact, check the sponsor's Web site first. If they refuse to offer proof, you've got a story they're really going to hate.

2. Most often, candidates will point to their opponents' voting records. Look up the bills and votes yourself. Don't rely on their opponents' "spin."

If we're talking about state legislation, go to the Montana's Legislature's site. Click on "bills" for the right session. You can search by bill number, sponsor or general topic. It's easy to verify a vote or see what a bill would do, but often the bill's costs are the issue, so be sure to look at the "fiscal note," which is the state's best guess at costs for taxpapers.

If we're talking about federal legislation, go to the Library of Congress' Web site.

3. After you've seen the facts, bounce your finding off of both candidates or their people. You can include their reaction in your story. They may offer you more context or sources, too.

Some pitfalls:

1. Make sure you're reporting a candidate's final vote on the issue at hand. Legislators may vote many times on a single bill: at the committee stage, on amendments to a bill and finally on the bill as amended.

Here's an example: In 1997, state Sen. Mike Taylor initially voted to deregulate the wholesale price of electricity, a highly controversial idea in Montana. But he changed his mind on the third and final vote, making him one of the few Republicans to ultimately reject the idea. He's running this year for the state's Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.

2. The questions legislators face are not always black and white. For example, a legislator could support a sale tax as an additional tax or as a substitue for eliminating or cutting other taxes. The effect on taxpayers could vary enormously.

3. Beware of singling out a lawmaker's vote as his or her only vote on some controversial issue. Often Democrats and Republicans will offer similar solutions to some problem. A Republican legislator who votes against a Democratic version may vote for his party's solution instead.

See How They Run

Here are the election assignments. If you want to switch with someone, I need to know quickly.

Amber – Karen Townsend, district judge’s race.
Karen – Dusty Deschamps, district judge’s race.
Emma – Jon Tester, U.S. Senate
Jessica – Conrad Burns, U.S. Senate
Oriana – Open-space bond issue, Missoula County
Colin – County charter, Missoula County
Patrick – Enforcement of marijuana offenses
Katie – Jean Curtiss, county commissioner
Leslie – Jim Edwards, county commissioner
Mike – Mike McMeekin, Missoula County sheriff
Alex – Don Mormon, Missoula County sheriff
Brian – Frenchtown schools bond issue
Dillon – Casey Gunter, justice of the peace
James – Karen Orzech, justice of the peace
Sean – Shrinking the City Council.
Miller – Nonpartisan City Council elections

Covering Elections

Before the Election

POSTURING – Who’s thinking about re-election? Who’s considering a challenge?

FILING STORIES – Who are they? Why are they running? Who's behind them?

Covering the Campaign

SEE HOW THEY RUN – Events (picnics, appearances), debates and forums. What are they saying? Is it consistent? What aren’t they talking about?

SELLING THE CANDIDATE – What’s true? What’s misleading? What does it say about style and integrity? What kind of advertising works? Truth-in-advertising stories are more common these days.

FOLLOW THE MONEY & SUPPORT – Who's giving it and why? It’s an important gauge of strength in big races. In lesser races, it’s at least window into who’s supporting a candidate, which can be telling.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPE? – Good profiles take time, but they can give readers a peek into a candidate’s head and heart. What makes a candidate tick? What were his or her formative experiences? Who are their friends and enemies? How are they perceived?

THE POLLS – Beware. At best, they’re only snapshots of voters’ leanings. At worst, they’re campaign devices themselves. Who’s doing the poll? How are the questions phrased? What’s the margin of error?

THE ISSUES – What are they? What's at stake? Are the candidates talking about issues voters want discussed? Are they ducking others? Some news organizations sponsor town halls or focus groups to help guide their coverage.

OTHER FACTORS – What about those third-party candidates? What effect are bloggers having on the race? What steps are the parties taking to ensure that their supporters actually vote? Are their problems with registration?

Election Night

WINNERS AND LOSERS – Reaction? Difficulties in voting or counting the vote. Where will the candidates be? Got cell phones?

After the Vote

HOW DID THEY WIN? -- How did a candidate win? What part of the city, county or state gave him or her the margin of victory? What do candidates, voters, expert observers say were the factors?

FOLLOWING THROUTH – Are they making good on campaign promises? Are donors with vested interests getting special treatment?

More Election Resources

1. Missoula County Election Officials : You'll find sample ballots and voting rules. Go to their office at the county courthouse and you'll find campaign finance reports for legislative and local races. This is the place to be Election Night for results. After an election, you can find out who voted.

2. Secretary of State: Oversees state voting process. They publish an voters guide too.

3. Federal Campaign Cash and Donors: The Center For Responsive Politics` tracks donations in races for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Watch the dates, though. You could go straight to the Federal Election Commission too.

4. 527 Committees: These organizations produce advertising apart from the campaigns. The messages are clearly slanted , but they're careful not to tell you how to vote. An outfit called Source Watch tracks them. So does opensecrets.org.

5. State Campaign Contributions: Records for donation to statewide races and ballot issues are kept by Montana's commissioner for political practices. Nothing on-line yet.

6. Project Vote Smart: Lots of information here. You'll find candidate bios, links for campaign finance info, voting records, positions on issues. You'll need to verify this stuff, though.

Backgrounding Candidates: Who Are These People?

Before you interview your candidates, make sure you know something about them. You'll ask better questions. You won't get snowed quite so much. Here's some tips on researching a candidate's background.

1. Read all about them. Many candidates these days will include links to favorable news coverage on their Web sites. A better strategy is to newspaper archives or check with Lexis-Nexis or Newsbank. Look for clashes in d substance and style. Build your story around the differences.

2. Visit Project Vote Smart. You'll be glad you did. The nonprofit, nonpartisan site tracks all sorts of information about candidates. You'll find biographical details, links to how much money they've raised, their positions on major issues of the day, their voting records or better yet, how their voting records look to various special interest groups. Has your candidate voted with or against education most of the time? That sort of thing.

3. Check the candidates' Web sites (all serious candidates have them now). See if the information matches what you know to be true about them. See what the political blogs are saying. (Most of them are hightly partisan, so put them in context.)

4. Check the political advertising on You.tube.com. How are the candidates portraying each other on television? It might be fun to ask them to react to the commercials. Which one bugs them the most? Is the tenor of the campaign nasty or civil? Are the commercials informative or vague and fluffy?

5. Check in the candidate's home counties to see if they've been convicted of a crime or the subject of lawsuits.

Only after you done these things should you site down and write a list of questions you'd like to ask your candidates. Craft them carefully. Make candidates response to specific points with specific answers.

If you've read the clips, you'll know that stuff cold. Toss in some odd but revealing questions such as "Who's your political role model?" or "What mistake have you learned the most from?" or "What's the one thing people would be surprised to know about you that hasn't been reported?" (Montana's Lee State Bureau reporters ask candidates what's the latest book they've read -- other than the Bible, of course.)

Let the Sunshine In

Montana has strong open meeting and open records laws and a constitutional "right to know," but enforcing them is an endless fight.

It's not just a Montana problem. Reporters in other state are making the fight too.

And then there's federal government, which has become increasingly stingy with information since 9-11.

Stay abreast of these battles. Every reporter who caves in makes it harder for those who follow.

Writing a Council Story

If you’ve done your homework, you’ll know what might be newsworthy before you ever get to City Hall. Be alert, and take lots of notes. Get the best quotes. Get correct spellings. Be thinking of leads as the meeting rolls along.

Generally, two kinds of stories come out of a local government meeting:

1. The council takes action on some controversial proposal.

Missoula dog owners, be warned. The city has raised the penalties for letting Fido roam without a leash.

The City Council voted Monday to ….

2. The council debates some controversial idea or listens to arguments from residents. Action will come later.

Dog owners by the dozens told the City Council Monday that the fines in its proposed new leash law – some as high as $5,000 – are way too harsh.

“I try hard to keep Fido under control, but dogs being dogs, they just get away sometimes,” resident Larry Labradoodle told council members at last night’s hearing on the proposed ordinance. “Cut us some slack, will you?”

The writing gets straight to the point. It doesn’t mess around. It’s conversational and easy to understand. It doesn’t wallow in “governmentese” or bog down in “procedure,'' as in this poor lead:

After listening to canine owners’ complaints for more than three hours, the City Council voted 7-5 Monday night in favor of substitute amendments to the proposed animal control ordinance that emerged earlier in the week from the council’s Public Safety and Health Committee. (That’s nice. So what did they do?)

Or in this awful concoction:

The City Council listened patiently as residents argued for hours Monday about the topic of leash laws.

Sniffing for News on the City Beat

Stories are everywhere on the City Beat, once you know what to look for. The City Council’s weekly agenda is good place to start.

The first thing you see are minutes of the most recent council meeting, which can help you figure out the history of some recent controversy. Next, the council will schedule its committee meetings for the week. Makes some notes. Could be that the story you’re interested in is being discussed in one of the committees. At the very least, it tells you when and where you’ll find council members during the week.

The next stop is the consent agenda, containing items for council approval that received unanimous consent from various committees during the week. You might find news here. For example, take a look at Item No. 6 and follow the link.

Public hearings can sometimes be very newsy, especially if what the council is considering has the potential to affect a lot of people in some serious way. If you quote speakers during hearings, make sure you get their names. If you’re really into the beat, you’ll know which public hearings are likely to be controversial Monday. Chances are, council members argued about it earlier that week in a committee. If you can’t make it to the committee meeting, at least read committee minutes before Monday night. You’ll have a leg up on any discussion. If you read Sunday’s Missoulian, you’ll see that city beat reporter Bob Struckman has already written a backgrounder on the issue at stake in Monday night’s second public hearing.

Committee reports can be newsy too. They usually contain recommendations on various ordinances or resolutions. And because they’re not on the consent agenda, it means the committee couldn’t agree entirely on whatever it is they discussed.

Items to be referred are problems that council members or city staffers want the council to discuss. Think of it as “coming attractions.” You’ll get your first look at future controversies here. If you see something interesting here, make a note of which committee it was referred to. You’ll want to cover that meeting for sure.

The agenda also includes lot opportunities for council members, city staffers and the public to sound off on anything. Sometimes its news. Sometimes it might be news to more legwork. Sometimes is hot air.

The bottom line is that the more time you spend with the agenda, and following the links to background information, the better you’ll perform on Monday night.

A Virtual Trip to City Hall

The City of Missoula has a pretty good Web site. You'll find links to the city's laws (Municipal Code) and agendas for City Council meetings and meetings of council committees. You'll also find a good FAQ with answers to such burning questions as "How do I find out who's on the council and what ward they represent?" and, an oldie but a goodie, "How do I go about getting copies of records such as minutes, ordinances, resolutions, contracts, etc.?" Heck, you can even get daily police reports on this site.