While most journalists get caught up in the horse race aspects of the November elections, one way to make your work stand out is to look more closely at campaign finance issues. Of course, that’s not easy to do, since the campaign finance laws and efforts at reform can be confusing even to some veteran reporters.
One of the best places to start exploring the topic is a new site run by the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, “Campaign Coverage: From the Checkbook to the Ballot Box.” That’s the name of a seminar that was run by the Center at the end of March in conjunction with the Seldon Ring Awards for Investigative Reporting and the Center for Responsive Politics (the Center itself is a partnership of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism).
The site brings together tips, advice, backgrounders, and more that all of us can learn from.
You will find text reports, PowerPoint presentations, and video (using Windows Media Player) on more than a dozen individual sessions. Here are some of them:
- The Idiot’s Guide to Money In Politics: Why It Matters and Who Should Care – the history and context of campaign finance law and regulation.
- Understanding the New Federal Commission Finance Laws – the impact of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
- Understanding State and Local Campaign Finance Laws – how local laws differ in various states.
- What You Are Up Against: Political Consultants Take Aim at the ’04 Elections – insider tips from political consultants.
- An overview of major sites that “follow the money” – including OpenSecrets.org and the Federal Election Commission.
Also available is something you might want to print out: bios and contact information for the seminar speakers.
The overall package is a good model for other training programs that want to reach a wider audience.
Your turn: Send your ideas on useful sites to poynter@sree.net.
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See winners of 2004 SAJA Journalism Awards.
