FIRST WORD

BY DAVID MCKIE

The objectivity of method Computer-assisted, investigative reporting is making waves in the courts and beyond.

Reading through the 109-page affidavit of National Post investigative reporter Andrew McIntosh is instructive on many levels.

For those who may not be following the story, McIntosh and his paper are fighting an attempt by the RCMP to – in effect – smoke out a source who has helped him write dozens of stories over the past few years about Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the way he intervened to help a businessman in his riding get federal money from, among other places, the Business Development Bank of Canada.

In short, the stories have cast doubts on Chrétien’s ethical conduct and the ability of the BDC to operate as a viable and credible institution.

In the affidavit, McIntosh argues why the RCMP should not be allowed to force him to produce a confidential document, a document that if handed over would make it possible for the Mounties to identify McIntosh’s source.

Journalists continue to fight for the right to protect the anonymity of sources, who may be bureaucrats and former government officials whose information allows journalists to tell important stories. However,McIntosh’s affidavit operates on another level that is equally significant. A careful reading makes it clear that the award-winning journalist exercises what American media guru Philip Meyer characterises as “the objectivity of method.”

Using federal and provincial access-toinformation laws, court searches and property searches, McIntosh was able to painstakingly unearth documents that allowed him to piece together a narrative about some disturbing characters who received federal money from the BDC, Human Resources Development Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency.

As Meyer points out, good investigative journalists “document the steps in executing their tests with a paper trail that any other investigator could find and follow and come out with the same results.”

Now many investigative journalists, including McIntosh, are using another research method that continues to gain prominence: computer-assisted reporting.

Media magazine has devoted a lot of space to CAR with a regular column and the occasional feature. However, a recent event gave us an excuse to place an even greater emphasis on CAR. The Canadian Association of Journalists and the Missouri-based Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) teamed up to hold the first-ever conference on computer-assisted and investigative journalism. The event was a watershed, a recognition of the fact that an increasing number of newsrooms are using computers and the objectivity of method to mine data in ways that would never have been imagined a few years ago.

In this edition of Media we have two examples of CAR. CBC television’s The National ran a feature length documentary by reporter Natalie Clancy. She was able to build a database that allowed her to reach disturbing conclusions about the level of crime in Vancouver’s Indo-Canadian community.

Our second example is The Toronto Star and its series of stories on racial profiling by the Toronto police. The paper fought a two-year battle to obtain a police database, which then allowed The Star to chart arrest patterns. The conclusion? Race matters. In this case,black skin.The stories created a storm of controversy, with the police threatening to sue. In addition, the stories forced an important issue onto the national agenda.

While objectivity of method may be important, it is also essential that the stories be written evocatively enough to have maximum impact. In his writer’s toolbox column, writing coach Don Gibb warns reporters who use computer-assisted, investigative reporting against overwhelming their audiences with statistics, that sometimes less is more. He also advises that we mustn’t forget narrative tools such as character development and plot.

There are a few Canadian and American books to help journalists navigate their way through the world of databases. To help in that regard,we have put together a bookshelf of material produced by some of the leading journalists and educators on both sides of the border. These books touch on various aspects of computer-assisted, investigative reporting — everything from building databases, to using different methods to interpret the results, to knowing where to go on the Net to find data.

There is also interesting reading in the affidavits provided by journalists from media organizations supporting the National Post, namely the CBC, Globe and Mail and the Canadian Association of Journalists. Reporters representing these institutions discussed the importance that sources have played in allowing them to break stories that produced changes.

There are those who argue investigative journalism is waning, that news organizations’ commitment to the craft is diminishing in a world seemingly dominated by staged events and soundbite journalism. But the work of the journalists featured in this edition of Media magazine challenges that notion. The fact that media outlets that are normally the National Post’s fiercest competitors have joined in the battle to protect our right to keep sources confidential speaks volumes about the commitment to investigative journalism.

Objectivity of method, indeed.