Summer Investigative Reporting Course

Training for experienced professionals worldwide in advanced investigative journalism reporting

techniques.
Over three weeks in the summer, participants learn to recognize when a story should be a longterm
project, how to use data to form the backbone of a story and the multiple ways of reporting a longterm
investigation.
UPCOMING COURSE: July 10 to 28, 2017
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The Program
The course covers the fundamentals of investigative reporting including:
the methodology for developing story ideas and launching a project
the criteria for testing a hypothesis
how to find documents and data internationally to support the reporting
understanding and utilizing financial documents
varied methods for interviewing sources
ethically sourcing information
structuring an investigative project
writing the longform narrative
Throughout the program, faculty provide instruction on using digital tools for researching and finding
sources including:
where to find data and how to acquire, clean and analyze it
using data to create a framework for a project
reporting the narrative around the data
making it visual and useable to readers
Another critical component of the program is exploring how journalists can collaborate with media
partners to build strong coalitions and stories with wider impact.

Participants are urged to arrive with ideas for stories they can start or continue when they return to the
workplace, using skills they learn throughout the course lectures. Participants are encouraged to work
with colleagues in the course on strategies for how to report their stories, find potential sources and
ways to develop the project.

Who Should Apply

The Summer Investigative Reporting Course is for journalists worldwide who report stories as well as
editors who manage investigative projects or teams. Workshops focus on developing a major project
but lessons are intended to be used by journalists in their everyday reporting. Beat reporters from all
departments are encouraged to consider attending.
Fellows from every media platform newspapers, magazines, television, radio, wire services and
digital news outlets are encouraged to apply. Participants annually come from at least 12 nations and
cover topics ranging from politics and the environment to sports and the arts to local and international
news.
University journalism educators are encouraged to consider applying.
A strong competence in spoken and written English is required. This workshop is not for beginners. It
requires that participants have an extensive background in journalism, including but not limited to,
investigative reporting. Participants should arrive with advanced skills in Excel and other database
management programs to better utilize the data training.

The Faculty
Instruction is provided by professors who are part of Columbia Journalism Schools full-time and
adjunct faculty and by other highprofile professional journalists around the country with extensive
experience conducting investigations and teaching. Faculty members are multiple winners of the most
prestigious journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, R.L. Polk Award, Alfred I. duPont Prize,
Maria Moors Cabot Prize for coverage of the Americas and many more.
They report for media outlets including ProPublica, International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists, The New York Times, Vice News, Frontline, Thomson Reuters and the Tow Center for
Digital Journalism.
The Summer Investigative Reporting Course is designed in conjunction with Columbias Toni Stabile
Center for Investigative Journalism, which trains graduate students in investigative reporting. That
program is directed by Sheila Coronel, the Stabile Professor of Professional Practice in Investigative
Journalism and the Journalism Schools Dean of Academic Affairs. Prior to arriving at Columbia,
Coronel and her colleagues founded the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism to promote
investigative reporting. In addition to teaching at Columbia and leading the instruction for the Summer
Investigative Reporting Course, Coronel conducts training workshops and lectures on investigative
journalism for associations, conventions and institutions around the world.

The Summer Course is directed by Ernest R. Sotomayor, Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Latin
American Initiatives. An instructor in the Journalism Schools core Reporting course, Sotomayor
worked at newspapers for 26 years before joining Columbia. He runs journalism training programs for
professional development at Columbia, in Latin America and at various other organizations. He also
lectures on journalism at universities.

tigative Journalism
REQUIRED TEXTS.
David Protess and Rob Warden. A Promise of Justice. New York: Hyperion, 1998. Barry Scheck, Peter
Neufeld and Jim Dwyer. Actual Innocence. New York: Doubleday, 2000.
OVERVIEW
This course will explore the watchdog role of journalists in American society. The tradition of
investigative reporters who expose wrongdoing and sometimes crusade for change has a long and
proud history that stands alongside more conventional journalistic practices. We will examine that
tradition by learning the reporting techniques that allow both print and broadcast stories to be told and
by understanding the societal factors that shape their content and impact.
Our focus will be on stories about wrongly held convictions that is, exposes of miscarriages of
justice. We will examine the root causes of wrongful convictions, assess the scope of the problem and
discuss ways to determine the presence of injustice.
Further, we will use advanced reporting methods public records, database searches, interviewing and
other techniques to investigate evidence of real-world miscarriages of justice. The primary goal of the
fieldwork component is educational: to learn investigative journalism by practicing it. Additional goals
include experiencing the quest for truth, and, where the truth is that an injustice has occurred, finding
paths to right that wrong.
In sum, the course will immerse students in the theory and practice of watchdog journalism as applied
to the criminal justice system.
The course will combine class sessions with extensive field experience. The class sessions will include
lectures and discussions of the journalistic, legal and societal underpinnings of the subject. The
experiential learning will involve investigative reporting, by teams of students, of four criminal cases.
The Classes and fieldwork will be augmented by audiovisual presentations of investigative stories and
guest speakers who have first-hand knowledge of the subject, including journalists, attorneys and
former prisoners who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. At least one event will be
sponsored by Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions, a new Medill-Law School project. (The
instructor will describe the relationship between the Center and this course on the first day of class.)

The class sessions will be held on Mondays from 3 to 6 p.m., but occasional weekends or evenings will
be necessary to do team reporting or accommodate guest speakers. Whenever possible, team meetings
will be held during regular class hours, either in Fisk 207 or B 18.
The following topics will be covered this quarter:
March 27: The Role of the Journalist in Exposing Miscarriages of Justice
April 3: What Causes Wrongful Convictions? How Can a Journalist Spot a Credible Claim of
Innocence?
Assignment: Scheck et al., Actual Innocence; Chicago Tribune, "Trial and Error" (handout)
April 10: The Paper Trail: Finding and Interpreting Legal Documents Assignment: Review case files (in
B 18)
April 17: The People Trail: Investigative Interviewing Techniques
Assignment: IRE reading materials (handout)
April 24: Panel Discussion of the "Ford Heights Four" case Assignment: Protess and Warden, A
Promise of Justice
TBA: NU Center on Wrongful Convictions Public Forum
June 5: Presentations of Students' Reporting Projects/Popular Portrayals of Legal Injustice (Watch and
Discuss Movie) Assignment: see EVALUATION
A bibliography of supplementary readings accompanies this syllabus.
(Note: Legal and ethical concerns will be part of each class discussion rather than being considered
separately.)
EVALUATION:
1. Team reporting project. Students will work in teams doing investigative reporting of cases that must
have had unjust results. The specific cases will be discussed the first two weeks of class and, no later
than April 10, students will choose the case they will investigate. Each team ultimately will prepare a
memorandum of investigative findings accompanied by interview notes and any documents obtained
during reporting. These written materials will be turned-in on June 5 and presented to the instructor and
the rest of the class. Students will receive both an individual and group grade (weighted equally) that
together will be 75 percent of the grade for the course. Note: The instructor will provide verbal
evaluations of individual and group performance as the quarter progresses.
2. Attendance and participation. Class attendance and participation is essential. In addition, students
are expected to be actively involved and helpful to other students in the team reporting project. As
much as one-third of a letter grade may be added to or subtracted from the final grade based on
performance in class and team activities.
3. Historical profile. (Optional for continuing students). Each student will profile a person who was
wrongly convicted of a famous crime in American history. The profile should describe the case and

analyze the variety of factors that contributed to the miscarriage of justice. Particular attention should
be paid to the role of the media in covering the case and, where applicable, exposing the injustice.
Length guideline: 1,500 2,000 words. Due date: April 17. 25 percent of the final grade. Profile
subjects will be distributed on the first day of class.