By Steven Baguma
Bureau Chief, The New Times
Cyangugu, Rwanda
Hosted by the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Promoting Investigative Reporting and Research for Better Journalism in Rwanda

For the entire period I have been in the U.S. on the six month Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships, I have learned a lot about what journalism is like in this country.

My reporting stint at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, though challenging, has helped me do interviews with various sources under direct supervision/coaching by my editor, and after a lot of effort I have had all my stories published, though I did some rewriting at times, I really have no regrets.

As a professional journalist from Africa—Rwanda to be specific—just seeing my by-line in the paper was inspiring!

However, it was not until the final stage of the fellowship that I had an opportunity to learn about two important elements that will always, in my opinion, make journalism in this country admirable—investigative reporting and research.

Investigative Reporting
With investigative reporting, having done a little bit of it at my newspaper back at home, I had always wanted to make a professional comparison of this kind of journalism in Rwandan newsrooms and in the United States.

Before I came to the States I vaguely thought investigative reporting was about unearthing scandals done mostly by politicians. Though I authored a number of investigative pieces, I did not care about establishing the “standards” and the consequences. Basically I did not go deeper in investigations.

But now I clearly know that this kind of reporting is more than just political scandals. According to the 4th Edition of “The Investigative Reporter's Hand Book,” many members of the journalism association Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) agree that investigative journalism/reporting, is “The reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, of matters of importance to readers, viewers or listeners. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed.”

I now understand that investigative reporting requires journalists to dedicate their time, resources and know-how to meticulously and extensively report issues that concern the community. Things like food, water, unemployment, health care, education, transportation, justice, taxation, environment and poverty are some of the issues worth reporting exhaustively.

Well, in mid July what had seemed a dream, became reality as I spent a couple of fruitful hours with the Post-Dispatch Investigative Reporter/Editor Joe Mahr and he shared with me an insight into this kind of journalism in the States in general and at the Post-Dispatch in particular.

From him I got to know that while pursuing his investigative projects, there are three elements he considers:

1. Identifying the wrong/controversy/scam/foul play based on the clearly established standards (laws, rules and regulations or ethical codes)
2. Identifying perpetrators and parties associated with the wrongs and standards
3. Identifying the consequences to the society

He said one story can take him as long as year. He said the First Amendment and Freedom of Information Act make it quite easy for reporters to access public information. Sometimes this information is accessed electronically by tapping into databases of mostly, city, state and federal agencies.

He added media newspaper managements facilitate such projects both financially and in provision of equipment like computer software Microsoft Access and Excel are used in storage and analyzing data. And most importantly by giving them time. Reporters are granted the right to determine how much they need to work on a particular story. Time here is unlimited!

For instance he is working on a story of criminals/fugitives who have eluded justice despite arrest warrants having been issued by police countrywide.

Capitalizing on the flaws in the police systems in some states where they don't put the arrests in the national data base, these suspected criminals are still at large and as consequence they end up committing similar or different offenses ranging from robbery to rape to murder.

To us journalists in the developing world, it's pretty unbelievable a reporter can access police, court, and correction center (prison) records from all states that make up this vast country whereas for journalists from Africa, it's always hard, if not impossible, to access a single file in a single government department!

I also visited the headquarters of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), a journalists' organization with great repute as far as investigative journalism is concerned, and the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting (NICAR), in Columbia at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

I spent some good time talking to Jeff Porter, the director of the IRE and NICAR computer assisted reporting (CAR) database library. We spoke about investigative journalism and CAR. With CAR, he told me how NICAR staff access information from government databases. They download the information from the Internet or get it on CDs and cassette tapes.

Since this information comes in raw form, they use software like Access and Excel to process the data so it can be used by journalists. They confirm the authenticity of the data with sources and then instantly release it upon request for instance in case of breaking news.

In the event where NICAR has no requested data NICAR staff refer journalists to reliable sources—mostly government agencies such as the Department of Education, Homeland Security, Justice Department, and federal, state and city governments.

Recently NICAR used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map and locate thousands of sex offenders who live near schools. This helped television stations carry out investigations and analyses on the issue.

I also flipped tip sheets like The First Day on the Beat, Investigating Cites and County Governments, Managing and Juggling: How to do Investigative Reporting on the Beat. I took several back to St. Louis with me. IRE tipsheets are available at http://www.ire.org/resourcecenter/tipsheets.php

I read through published investigative reports that have won IRE prestigious awards. The most interesting investigative work belonged to Ken Ward, Jr., of the Gazette in Charleston, West Virginia. His story, “Beyond Sago: Coal Mine Safety in America” won one of five 2006 IRE Medals—the highest honor awarded by IRE for investigative reporting. This special report is about risks related to coal mining in the United States. The summary reads, "Nearly 40 years after passage of the federal coal mine safety law, U.S. coal miners continue to die on the job because of widespread violations by coal companies and lax regulation by the government. And, while explosions and mine fires draw media and political attention, most coal miners die alone, one by one in roof falls and machinery accidents that could have been avoided if the operators they worked for complied with existing laws." Read the story here http://wvgazette.com/section/Series/Beyond+Sago/2006121612

Later in the day I toured The Daily Missourian, a daily newspaper run by students of the school of journalism, I was impressed by their well organized and equipped newsroom!

The newsroom is spacious, has enough computers for all the journalists, has an advertising and marketing department, and it has its own printing press. At home in Rwanda there is no media house that has enough computers for their reporters, enough money to rent or own its own building or printing press. I was amazed that a student publication could have all of these things when a professional publication in Rwanda can not.

At the end of the day, I bought a number of books about computer assisted reporting, investigative reporting, and about journalism in the United States. These books are for my personal library and to share with other journalists at home in Rwanda. I also thought it wise to join IRE because of its reputation so I can enjoy the wide range benefits of being a member which includes free access to the 2,000 tipsheets and 20,000 investigative stories. Below is the link to the membership benefits http://http://www.ire.org/membership/benefits.html

Jeff also showed me how a reporter can create a personal database of useful information like statistics for future reference in reporting, by soliciting and analyzing and sorting information with Excel and Access.

Research
Before going to Columbia I had an in-depth chat with one of the folks in the research department of the Post-Dispatch as he told me many things about their work.

Basically, this department provides a wide range of information to reporters instantly, both upon request and whenever the researches think something is important for the newsroom to know.

I asked him what information is most often requested by reporters and his answer was: contact information of individuals and companies, stories written about companies and individuals in other newspapers (that's if they are involved in a big project in St. Louis, or running for a public office), statistics and photos.

On how they get all the information, he said apart from the newspaper subscribing to various online resources like, LexisNexis, Factiva, Accurint, Autotrackxp, Pacer, Newslibrary, Refenceusa and Tracfed, they also have hard copy materials. As a matter of fact, research is a missing link in Rwandan newsrooms—there are neither online nor hard copy materials for research, no research staff and no library.

Journalists in Rwanda just rely on information provided by sources or at times they personally know a little bit of the background through archives. So honestly, context and background is not important. Newspapers run “empty” stories or inaccurate information thereby misleading the public. In some cases the few news organizations who care run apologies (corrections) to clear their image.

That's why I would like to urge fellow journalists and media managers at home through the workshop I am planning to conduct in late October, to embrace this crucial element that has eluded our media for long.

Rwanda does not have the Freedom of Information Act, like the U.S. and other countries, but as of now there's ongoing consultation in Rwanda among the media fraternity on a press law revision bill, therefore at the workshop I will cite American examples of how this provision can help ease access to things like police records, budget expenditure reports and any other public information.

It should be noted that there is a press law that has been in effect since 2002, but now it's being revised to incorporate things like online media, and to emphasize more on access to information, things that were disregarded in the previous law. The revised bill was passed by the cabinet in 2006 and by the time I left Kigali, it was being debated upon by the media fraternity and translated into English and French before it could be tabled to parliament.

After realizing its advantages I together with colleagues at home can push for something on accessing public information, a tool that would help Rwandan journalists in research and investigative reporting as well.

At the workshop I will try to convince the attendees that research has helped American newsrooms save time and minimize errors in their daily reports thereby boosting their credibility, readership and sales as well.

I will also assure both managers and journalists that research units also facilitate investigative reporting as they not only provide reporters with vital information but also leads for future probing.

Having said that, I will try to convince media managers to equip research units with computers and adequate software as a means of promoting computer assisted reporting (CAR). Government ministries and NGOs have got databases, and apart from political and controversial stuff other data can be easily accessed.

For investigative reporting in particular at the workshop I will use examples from IRE and Joe Mahr to convince media managers and fellow journalists to embrace this kind of reporting to make journalism have more of an impact.

For the aspiring investigative reporters, I will highly recommend Joe's approach of identifying the wrongs based on standards, identifying alleged perpetrators, and involving the view points of the standards' authorities or experts and then reporting the consequences to society.

With the bosses, I will urge them to facilitate their journalists in the investigations financially, morally, and by purchasing high-tech material that would help reporters investigate stories on corruption, women and children violence, genocide, and land related wrangles, as social and injustices and greed are unearthed.

I will measure success by hopefully observing the change that will have taken place in Rwandan media, and the way it will be commanding respect from readers and especially politicians.