Lessons I Learned This Month in Research and Investigation Skills Development.
“Investigation and research is essential in journalism. Many mistakes are made the reporter failed to fact check his or her information. This course will show me how those mistakes can be avoided by performing effective online research and this way, avoid falling into ethical pitfalls.” I wrote this entry in my Tumblr Mastery Journal back in January, when I started my online classes at Fullsail. It was for our first course in the New Media Journalism program, Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership. When I described what I expected to learn in Research and Investigation Skills Development, I didn’t quite realize how much research would be required from us for each individual assignment. I have to be completely honest, and admit that I was very disappointed with the grades I obtained in this course. I was getting A+ until Legal Aspects of Media, and it was in Research and Investigation Skills Development that I got my first B+. I was terribly disappointed, but I have to admit that it provided incredible motivation to produce better and higher quality investigation and research skills. I understood that in writing a story, there must be plenty of background research and an array of well-supported sources. By relying on government and public records, rather than on private websites, my articles came across as more genuine and valid. Our instructor provided us with valuable resources, such as YouTube video tutorials for important topics like Researching Data, Finding and Requesting Interviews, Investigating Interviewees’ Statements, Defining and Finding Experts, and Finding and Using Public Records. One example of this kind of detailed research, was the one we had to do for the Week 4 Discussion Board, where we had to search through public records and find three links relevant to the beat of our website. I admit I was at a loss because my website, Artfilmfile.com, is related to news, articles and interviews about independent and foreign films. What public record could I find on that??
However, it occurred to me that maybe there had been lawsuits involving independent filmmakers or perhaps even film festivals that I could search for; once I knew what road to take, the research became a lot easier for me. By first searching cases involving filmmakers, I stumbled onto several government websites like U.S. Courts.gov, California Courts website, the Orange County Clerk of Courts, just to name a few. I was amazed to find how many libel, defamation, and First Amendment court cases I found that were related to independent filmmakers. If I had not been given this assignment, I probably would have never known about it.
I won’t say this class is a breeze because that would be terribly misleading. But what’s certain is that I came out a much better investigative journalist as a result of it. Now I have a better grasp on researching trustworthy sources, how to find them on the web, and accurately support my data with solid evidence such as hyperlinks to pertinent websites. In addition, I realized that investigation and research is much more than just typing in a Google search; it means having enough criteria and professionalism to discern the truly valuable information from potentially unreliable material.
Additional Resources:
Week 1 Roadmaps and Readings
Week 2 Reading and Tutorials
Week 3 Readings
Week 4 Readings and Tutorials