Investigative Reporting: Research

Gathering records before you need them

• Always ask for more than you need.
• Request the whole database, not a printout.
• Request every field of data, not just the ones you need now.
• Take a records inventory of your beat.
• What records are routinely created? Make a schedule and get them.
• Know the Open Records Act, especially the parts regarding electronic records and allowable fees.
• Track records requests. Make a spreadsheet or desktop folder and check on them routinely.

10 records you should request regularly

• Payrolls, including employees’ names, titles, hire date, salary
• Budgets in electronic format. Compile several years’ worth and see changes over time
• Emails related to any topic you are writing about. AG has said these are public
• Personnel actions
• Tort claims and lawsuits, including settlement payments
• The whole packet that board members or councilors get, not just the agenda
• Minutes of meetings you couldn’t make
• Inspections of any major facilities in your community … nursing homes, day-care centers, hospitals, jails etc.
• Jail log
• Police blotter

Finding information online and on paper

• Be sure to verify that it comes from an official source such as a .gov site. Be sure to cite your sources of information.
• You may be getting only summaries of the information, not the information itself.
• Day-care center and nursing home inspections summarize findings online. Paper records have the detail. Same with OSCN in many counties.
• If you have the time, it’s always best to pull the actual paper records.
• Give people a chance to comment on what you’ve found.

Researching People

• Public Database Reporter's tipsheet
• Basic background checks
• Google (advanced searches and email alerts)
• Social media
• Death certificates and Social Security death index
  
  
• Criminal:
  1. Oklahoma State Courts Network
  2. On-Demand Court Records
  3. Oklahoma Department Of Corrections
  4. Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator
• Financial:
  1. Property records in your county
  2. Corporate holdings
  3. Secretary of State, search for corporation entities. Search by entity name, service agent or name of person.
  4. Uniform Commercial Code filings by creditors of a debtors collateral (at county clerk offices)
  5. Bankruptcies through PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records
• Civil:
  1. Lawsuits
  2. Divorces, marriages
• Public employees:
  1. Job title, salary, dates of employment
  2. Employment application
  3. All disciplinary actions resulting in loss of pay, suspension or demotion
  4. Emails

Research Sites: