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This blog is for the course Investigative Journalism.

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Team blogs are up and running

I've added five team blogs to our cluster:
  ·Football Team
  ·Technology Team
  ·Housing/Parking Team
  ·College Town Vision Team
  ·Learning Gets Personal Team
They also are cross-linked in their sidebars.

The research topic groups streamlined

What is the impact of enrollment growth and the arrival of football on the future of UNCP?

1. Housing & Parking » Sha'Lace, Sonia, Brittany, Kelly

2. Technology, university-wide and in instructional facilities, both traditional classrooms and online » Brian, Brandon, Sonia, Kelly, Mark Sa.
3. Football » Nicole, Kelani, Brittany, Brandon
4. Personal Touch, including student academic success and retention » Kelani, Mark Sh., Brittany, Brian
5. College town vision » Scott, Kelly, Nicole, Kelani, Sha'Lace

(list revised March 15, 2006)

The umbrella and research topics (revised)

What is the future of UNCP?

1. Housing & Parking: Sha'Lace, Sonia, Brittany, Kelly
2. Technology:
    University-wide – Brian, Brandon, Sonia, Kelly, Mark Sa.
    Instructional facilities, classrooms, traditional, online – Brian, Sonia
3. Football: Nicole, Kelani, Brittany
4. Personal Touch:
    Student Academic Success – Kelani, Mark Sh.
    Retention – Brittany, Brian
5. College town vision: Scott, Kelly, Nicole, Kelani, Sha'Lace

(list revised Feb. 28, 2006)

North Carolina State Government Portal

This should prove to be an interesting source:
North Carolina State Government Portal

Research resources & resources for courses

The Reference Desk is the left-hand column on the Research Resources page.

And there are Resources For Courses.

Looking for a government agency?

SearchGov.com is a site of interest to researchers looking for specific governmental bodies and agencies.

There also is a companion military search site.

And there is a companion education search site.

An online public records directory

Here's a useful website:
SearchSystems.net Public Records Directory.

It claims to be the largest public record directory on the Internet, having been online since 1997, and with access to almost 40,000 searchable public record databases. It's a resource for:

• business information, corporate filings
• criminal records, criminal court filings
• offenders, inmates
• civil court filings
• vital records, births, deaths, marriages
• property records
• corporations, bankruptcies
• judgments, tax liens
• professional licenses
• unclaimed property
• sex offenders
• various recorded documents
• Uniform Commercial Code

Access to the site is free, but there is a delay on the links. You could sign up for DirectPass to eliminate the delay and the banner ads, as well as obtain discounts on what they call premium criminal record, bankruptcy, judgment, and tax lien databases.

The umbrella and research topics

What is the future of UNCP?
1. Housing – Sha'Lace, Sonia
2. Parking – Brittany, Kelly
3. Technology – Mark Sa., Mark Sh., Brian, Brandon, Sonia, Kelly
4. Football – Nicole, Kelani, Brittany
5. Instructional facilities (classrooms, online) – Brian, Sonia
6. Student success and retention – Kelani, Mark Sh.
7. College town – Scott, Kelly, Nicole, Kelani, Sha'Lace
8. Personal touch (academics) – Brittany, Brian, Mark Sh.

The original research possibilities

1. Lumbee recognition as a tribe
2. Racial graduation quotas in elementary schools
3. Varying insurance rates
4. Free meals in the cafeteria
5. Banner impact on students and faculty
6. Student gambling problem
7. Are greeks segregated?
8. Is UNCP prepared for emergencies?
9. How much does football really cost at UNCP?
10. Campus housing and parking problems
11. Classroom and campus technology needs
12. Standards for student success and retention
13. Should Pembroke become a "college town?"

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources. The mission of Investigative Reporters and Editors is to foster excellence in investigative journalism, which is essential to a free society. [SOURCE: IRE WEBSITE]

The IRE website has lots of reports on current investigative work around the country. Each item describes a newspaper's investigative journalism project, names the reporters, and explains the data resources the reporters tapped to get their stories.

Emergency preparedness at UNCP

Mark,
Chris Nicolini's piece in The Pine Needle on the nuclear trains passing through campus, as well as recent hurricanes and the general fear after Nine Eleven, stimulated the university to activate its emergency preparedness committee.

The committee is coordinated by Dr. Glen Burnette, vice chancellor for university and community relations. He would be a starting point for more information on UNCP's emergency plans.

Separately, Dr. Robert O. Schneider, interim associate vice chancellor for international programs and professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, is an expert on emergency preparedness. On his faculty website, he lists his research interests as emergency management policy and implementation.

Here's a link to Chris Nicolini's article:
Radioactive cargo runs through Pembroke: Spent fuel rods travel on tracks in front of UNCP

That was two years ago, in March 2004. Could it be time for a follow-up to see what has happened?

Which articles?

Read which articles for class?

A quick question

Is there a specific date that we need to have these articles read for class? Just wondering.

- Kelly

Articles online

In addition to the links in the right-hand sidebar, here are a couple of interesting articles about investigative journalism:

1. Investigative Journalism Despite the Odds - Watchdog Reporting Continues to Decline

2. Early examples of investigative journalism

Welcome!

Welcome to Investigative Journalism, JRN-460, a course exploring the watchdog role of American journalists who serve the public interest by observing and reporting the activities of governments, corporations, educational institutions, communications media, health care organizations, and environmental and safety institutions. The journalists' function of shedding light in dark corners is especially important when organizations are in a position to restrict the free flow of information.

Investigative reporters discover facts and write articles that highlight the need for change as they reveal fraud, waste, mismanagement, wrongdoing, conflict of interest and abuse of authority. In this capstone experience, seniors in journalism are learning about the research tools and reporting techniques that allow such stories to be told.

--Dr. Anthony Curtis

Professor
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
phone: 521-6616
email: acurtis@uncp.edu