Alec Klein, an award-winning investigative journalist and Northwestern University professor, presents tips for finding investigative story angles and pitching those story ideas during the free, full-day workshop, "Finding Your Best Investigative Business Story." This training event was hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the the SPJ Madison Pro Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sept. 28, 2013. For more information about free training for business journalists, please visit http://businessjournalism.org. For more tips on how to develop investigative business journalism stories, please visit http://bit.ly/investigativebiz2013.

1. Presented
by
Alec
Klein
Professor,
Medill
School
of
Journalism
Northwestern
University
Madison,
Wis.,
Sept.
28,
2013

2. About
Me
Northwestern
University
Professor
Alec
Klein
is
an
award-­‐winning
investigative
business
journalist
and
best-­‐selling
author,
formerly
of
The
Washington
Post
and
Wall
Street
Journal.

3. ¡ Father:
editor-­‐in-­‐chief,
New
York
Times
magazine
¡ Busy
guy
¡ Decided
to
write
for
high
school
paper
¡ Assigned
to
cover
run-­‐of-­‐the-­‐mill
burglary

4. ¡ Came
home
from
reporting
the
story
¡ Wrote
draft
of
story,
showed
to
father
¡ “This
is
terrible.”
¡ Did
you
call
the
school?
¡ Phone
book:
Mrs.
Berman
at
home

5. ¡ Did
you
interview
the
police?
¡ Homework
¡ Subway
on
a
school
night
¡ Police
station

6. ¡ Father
flipped
through
notes.
¡ Miraculously,
found
a
quote
from
a
school
security
guard
¡ “Worst
thing
ever
saw”
¡ Another
miracle:
Had
noted
she
had
worked
at
school
for
nearly
25
years

7. ¡ Father
edited
my
story.
¡ Translation:
He
rewrote
it.
¡ Lede:
“In
the
worst
breakout
of
burglary
in
nearly
a
quarter
century…
¡ Page
1
¡ Hooked

8. Finding
and
pitching
your
best
investigative
business
story

9. To
begin
with,
you
need
PHOAM
¡ P:assion
¡ H:ook
¡ O:riginality
¡ A:ccess
¡ M:arket
Image
by
flickr
user
marttj

10. ¡ They
usually
come
from
beats.
¡ That’s
because
they’re
organic.
They
arise
naturally
in
the
course
of
reporting.
¡ To
wit:
Secret
bonuses
at
City
Hall
¡ The
anonymous
tipster
on
AOL
Image
by
flickr
user
MonkeyMike

11. ¡ This
is
not
the
same
thing
as
a
preconceived
notion.
¡ Rather:
Consider
a
set
of
questions
that
need
answering.
¡ To
wit:
When
cigarettes
are
under
attack,
why
are
cigars
being
glamorized?
(Yachting
magazine)

12. ¡ Let’s
say
you
think
you’ve
hit
on
a
great
idea.
¡ How
do
you
check
it
out
to
make
sure
it’s
uncharted
territory?
¡ Lexis-­‐Nexis
¡ Amazon
¡ Google
¡ The
overriding
question:
Has
it
been
done
before?

13. But
who
has
time
to
pursue
investigative
business
stories,
especially
when
you’re
on
a
busy
beat
and
your
editor
is
breathing
down
your
neck
to
file
early
and
often?

14. ¡ Get
out
of
the
office:
kill
or
be
killed.
¡ Cub
reporter:
worked
on
vacations—only
time
the
editors
couldn’t
assign
stories
¡ Worked
on
weekends
¡ Worked
after
hours,
after
the
proverbial
smoke
cleared
from
the
daily
deadlines
¡ Bottom-­‐line:
find
time

15. ¡ Darwinian
approach:
only
the
fittest
will
get
on
Page
One
¡ In
the
old
days:
Only
three
stories
on
Page
One
¡ Lot
of
reporters,
few
A1
slots
¡ Mistake:
Walk
into
your
editor’s
office
with
an
ill-­‐conceived
idea.

16. ¡ Such
as:
I’d
like
to
do
an
investigation
of
poverty
¡ Many
a
times:
Bludgeoned
in
editor’s
office
¡ Finally
figured
out:
Need
to
do
some
research
before
entering
the
torture
chamber
¡ But
how
much
research?

17. ¡ About
20
percent
¡ That’s
enough
to
tell
you
if
you’ve
got
a
story
or
whether
you’re
going
to
spin
your
wheels.
¡ The
20
percent
solution:
§ What’s
the
story?
§ A
new
trend?
§ A
twist
on
an
old
idea?
§ How
will
you
report
it,
and
how
long
will
it
take?

18. ¡ Mistake:
Never
show
editors
your
raw
notes.
¡ Made
that
mistake
on
AOL
¡ Editor:
Don’t
get
it,
nothing
here.
Go
back
to
work.

19. ¡ Then
Enron
happened
¡ Editors:
What
was
Alec
working
on?
¡ This
time:
I
wrote
a
memo
¡ Set
free
for
a
year

20. ¡ Having
a
year
to
do
an
investigative
business
story
sounds
better
than
it
is.
¡ You
better
come
up
with
a
great
piece.
¡ Can
you
withstand
making
no
progress
for
several
weeks
at
a
time?
§ Maybe
inbred

21. ¡ Back
to
the
memo
¡ It
clarifies
the
issues.
It
makes
editors
see.
They
can
print
it.
They
can
ruminate
over
it.
They
can
forward
it
by
email
to
their
bosses.
Then,
they
can
approve
it.

22. ¡ Let’s
say
your
editors
still
say
no.
¡ Then
what?
¡ Set
your
own
agenda.

23. ¡ The
old
model:
the
three-­‐part
series
that
took
a
year
to
report
and
runs
in
December
in
time
for
the
Pulitzer
entries
¡ The
new
model:
write
episodically.
¡ WSJ
did
this:
Word
was
sent
out
at
the
beginning
of
the
year—let’s
write
about
death.
¡ The
episodic
approach,
it’s
the
way
of
the
world:
the
economy,
the
industry.
Investigative
reporting
is
expensive.

24. ¡ Build
on
your
beat
coverage.
¡ Think
this
way:
once
a
month,
craft
a
great
piece
of
investigative
reporting
on
the
same
subject.
¡ Over
a
year,
you’ll
end
up
with
12
pieces
that
amount
to
a
worthy
in-­‐depth
investigation
into
a
single
topic.

25. ¡ The
Las
Vegas
Sun,
most
notably
including
the
reporting
of
Alexandra
Berzon,
won
the
2009
Pulitzer
Prize
for
public
service,
for
a
series
of
stories
about
the
high
death
rate
of
construction
workers
on
the
Las
Vegas
strip.
¡ Steve
Fainaru
of
The
Washington
Post,
2008,
for
international
reporting,
for
his
episodic
stories
about
private
security
contractors
¡ Kevin
Helliker
and
Thomas
M.
Burton
of
The
Wall
Street
Journal,
2004,
explanatory
reporting,
for
their
episodic
stories
about
aneurysms

26. ¡ Please
feel
free
to
contact
me
at
alecklein@gmail.com.