I’m joining together with some of my co-workers at the Democrat and Chronicle to launch a new Watchdog blog at our paper’s website. We’ve been asked to write about first amendment issues and public service journalism, both here in Rochester and across the nation.
Much of my work at the paper involves working with databases, usually in pursuit of data-driven stories. Sometimes this means scouring public data sets in search of compelling stories. Sometimes this means working with another reporter to acquire and examine public records. And sometimes it means helping to present data online in an interesting way — with interactive maps, charts graphs, or stand alone applications. It’s often challenging but never boring.
My blog-mates are four veteran investigative reporters, each of whom does amazing work, and its an honor to be under the same banner as them. We’ll all use the blog to talk about watchdog issues, delve into some reporting process, and give some behind the scenes accounts of stories that we’re working on. If those subjects interest you, please check it out.