Value of a story list: Texas Watchdog finds wasteful travel
Lynn Walsh
- Photo by Flickr.com user ztephen
Steve Miller and Lynn Walsh of TexasWatchdog.org perused Houston Independent School District procurement cards last year for a story about employees with bankruptcy records getting the cards, Lynn says in a blog. As they searched the data, they became interested in how the cards were used for travel.
“We noticed flights purchased on extremely short notice. And it kept happening, sometimes for trips lasting three or four days,” Lynn says. “This led to a request to further inspect travel records, which ended up as Friday’s story.”
They used a public information act request to get travel receipts and records. Their story says:
“Poor planning, a preference for costlier direct flights, disregard of the district’s policy that favors driving to destinations within 200 miles, and the use of a travel agency that tacks $30 onto each plane ticket have cost the district dearly — even as it wrestles with a massive budget deficit and eliminates teaching jobs.”
Today’s Tip: Start a story list.
As you review data and notes, jot ideas in a separate idea file. Do this to avoid the temptation of getting off track on your main story and to ensure you don’t let a possibly good idea bypass you.
Lynn says the next story will look at travel among higher-ranking officials.
No Train-No Gain has tips on developing story ideas and presenting them.
Once you develop the ideas, don’t bury them in an obscure folder on your computer. Place them right on your desktop so you can refresh and review your ideas. Ask yourself: “What’s the best story I could be doing right now?” Make sure that’s on your list.
One technique to move ahead on those ideas is the two-notebook strategy. Use one notebook for the daily stories you are working on. Keep a second notebook handy to grab when you have 15 minutes or an hour to work on a longer-term story. Make notes after each interview in that second notebook on whom you need to call next and what you need to ask them. Then, you’re ready to “Swiss-cheese” — plug the few holes in your day with the next interview or task in your longer-range-story notebook.
