I have written in the past about how useful it is for journalists to have personal websites (see the columns here and here). While most such sites are simple portfolios of the writers’ work, some sites offer a wider range of material that make them worth visiting. Starting with today’s column, I will occasionally spotlight small websites run by journalists. If you know of such sites, e-mail me at poynter@sree.net.
Today’s example of a journalist who maintains a site that helps others is Duff Wilson, an award-winning investigative reporter for the Seattle Times. His site, Reporter’s Desktop, is hosted on Reporter.org, a site-hosting service from IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors).
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Wilson’s site helps cut down on what he calls “bookmark blizzards” — the flurry of browser “favorites” that most of us have accumulated as we moved around the Web. We bookmark site after site, and end up with long lists we seldom use. His site serves as a one-stop shop of some of the best resources for journalists.
One particular part of his site is worth a second bookmark: “Who is John Doe – and where to get the paper on him.” It’s a simple list of resources you can access to get personal information about (almost) anyone in the U.S. It works so well because you get to think the way a terrific investigative reporter — in this case, Wilson — thinks. Follow the steps he’s outlined and your stories will be much better reported.
Wilson has run the site since 1996. He started collecting links, he says, for himself. He then started sharing them, and others found it useful. He says that after presenting the site at a couple of national conferences, “people liked it so much, I decided to continue.” He gets hundreds of e-mails from around the world with suggestions, corrections, and additions. Visit his site and send him your thoughts. [One of the many things he does right: he includes an e-mail AND a telephone number so you can find him easily].
Have a site you like? Let others know. Send your suggestions to poynter@sree.net.
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