Caleb Booker

Just a preface: when I use the term “Investigative Reporting”, I’m talking about trying to discover something people don’t want you to know. This doesn’t include the run-of-the-mill “be sure to do your background work” kind of stuff.

I’m having a love/hate relationship just at the moment with investigative reporting. I love it because it’s stimulating, but I hate it because it eats at my time like crazy. I don’t have much time to spare lately, and unfortunately some people who’ve been arbitrarily secretive have backed me into investigative mode. So I’m resenting it, even if it is fun.

In the Metaverse, however, having to do a little poking around is inevitable if you want to get to the bottom of the really interesting stuff. This post is, for the most part, just a way of reminding myself of a few things. I’m in the middle of investigating something pretty nebulous right now that’s going to take me quite some time to work out.

Here’s a quick tip-sheet of things to do when investigating something that people aren’t being up-front about for whatever reason:

1. Interview everybody. - Everybody. Your best friend when investigating an executive is the building’s janitor. Your best friend when investigating a merchant is an ex-employee. Don’t even think of skipping someone because they “don’t matter”. Geniuses are often clerks.
2. Leave nothing un-Googled. - Do searches for every single thing associated with your subject, even if you think you already know everything about it. Did a company come up? Check out what people have been saying about them lately. Know just a first name? Search it anyhow. Most of the time it comes up with nothing, but about one in fifty times it comes up with a stunning home-run.
3. When two things relate, search for them together. - Know a person’s pseudonym and a company name but don’t know the person’s real name? You’d be shocked how often it’s just served right up by a search engine when you put pseudonym and company together in a search.
4. Dig where Google can’t see. - You’re going to have to repeat steps 2 and 3 elsewhere I’m afraid if you really want to know anything. In fact, you’ll have to do it in several other places. Hit the searches inside virtual worlds, inside other Web 2.0 apps, mapping applications, and any other private directories that could possibly apply.
5. Remember Networking basics. - You’re going to be beating the bushes, which means asking a lot of questions. That means asking favors. If you’ve done your networking right before this point, you’ll have helped out so many people and introduced so many friends to each other that asking favors won’t be a big deal. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared to make it worth someone’s while if they help you out. Trade for credit, information, or some other kind of favor. Try to avoid cash - the information gained through cash purchase is usually worthless.
6. Confidentiality is sacred. - Not much is sacred in this world, but if you want to learn anything you’d better learn to keep your mouth shut sometimes even under penalty of torture. If a source asks me to preserve their anonymity, then that’s it. It’s a solid black-and-white issue. It’s understood that a betrayal of confidence is an injury.
7. Interviews are either dancing or combat. - I can’t believe how many people, reporters even, don’t get this. When you’re trying to accomplish something with a conversation, it’s either a dance or a fight. If you’re friends, it’s a dance. You flow together in the moment, exploring emotion and expression while getting to where you need to be. Relax, go with the flow, and you’ll get the information you need even if they aren’t real sure you should have it. If you’re strangers or opponents, prepare your best word-fu. They have what you need, and you must extract it. Make no move without knowing what effect it will have. Use feints, fakes and dodges before you open with a few jabs. Keep a power-strike ready when they’re open for the kill. Use the hail-Mary only if you’re about to lose. Remember: if they walk away without spilling their guts, you’re the one left dead on the matt.
8. Become an expert in everything the subject likes. - I was once researching someone who had a sail-boating hobby. I didn’t know their name. I studied up on boating, what the names of the most popular clubs were, their histories, the history of sailboats in (the country of origin)… eventually a cryptic offhand comment was made that I realized was actually a boat’s name. I discovered where the boat was docked in real-life, got a membership list of the yacht club, cross-referenced it with the company profiles that were associated at the time, and I had my name. It’s not always that easy but hey, learning is its own reward.
9. When truly stumped, consult. - I can’t count the number of times asking the advice of my peers has helped in the past. Ask your friends for advice on how to proceed. You never know. Also, do hit http://www.journalismnet.com/ for all of the cool links there.
10. Timelines, Timelines, Timelines! - Get all of the events down on a timeline. Dates and times are pretty much always critical. I’ve yet to see an occasion where it didn’t matter when something happened.

Ok, that’s all off the top of my head. Let me sit on this overnight, and go through my list and see what I’m missing in the current investigation.

Posted on September 30th, 2007 under new media, press. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.