Computational journalism promises to rejuvenate investigative reporting
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter” (Thomas Jefferson, 1787).
As newspapers across the nation cut back their staffs or fold up for good, a reasonable concern is how the watchdog role of the “fourth estate” will survive — especially at the local level — in defense of democracy, to ensure good government, and to promote the well-being of citizens.
One answer is provided by the Knight Foundation, which just named the Pulitzer Prize-winning database editor of The Washington Post to chair a “computational journalism” initiative at Duke University.
“We hope that the Knight Chair will help sustain investigative reporting through the emerging field of computational journalism. It holds the promise of combining traditional public records and database work with new methods and tools that employ statistics and computer programming to help renew watchdog coverage. Sarah Cohen is the ideal person to fill this chair.”
In addition to teaching undergraduate courses, Cohen will help lead the development of open-source reporting tools that will help lower the costs to journalists of discovering and researching stories
Democracy will be better served by people who possess both the savvy of working with data, and strong investigative skills. Working smarter is one answer to the problem created by a shaky newspaper business.
Cohen has effectively demonstrated how data savvy can be used by reporters to serve the watchdog role of journalists:
Cohen shared the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2002 for The Post series, “The District’s Lost Children,” which uncovered failures by child welfare agencies that contributed to dozens of children’s deaths. In 2007, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for her role in “Harvesting Cash,” a series of more than 20 articles that spotlighted abuses of the U.S. farm subsidy system.
She also shared the 2009 Goldsmith Award for Investigative Reporting for a series about landlords driving tenants out of rent-controlled housing and then redeveloping the properties. She has taught journalism courses at the University of Maryland and is the author of “Numbers in the Newsroom: Using Math and Statistics in News.”
In order for investigative journalists to use that data savvy in the service of democracy, they’re going to need some source data. NolaStat is a policy reform idea advocating for New Orleans City Hall to publish open data from a centralized Web site accessible to all.
I just spent $623 to obtain records from the City Park Improvement Association which is bent on privatizing City Park. Some records indicate that million dollar sponshorships will be available in exchange for private lockers and other amenities. I believe the City has to pass on this proposal (the Park being City property) but the City, despite having two Councilmembers on the City Park Board, has shown little interest in this project which has developed behind closed doors. I would like to post these records somewhere. cityparknola.org., although informative, has not responded to my inquiries. Nor has Gambit responded to the following letter:
By Hand-Delivery
Clancy Dubos
Gambit Communications, Inc.
3923 Bienville St.
New Orleans, LA 70119
Re: City Park Golf Course Expansion
Dear Clancy:
Pursuant to a “confidential” term sheet released in 2007 by the City Park Improvement Association (the CPIA) in response to a public records request the CPIA is considering a 90-year lease of 400 to 500 acres of City Park (the actual acreage is a matter of dispute) for the purpose of establishing a golf course concession and expanding the footprint of the pre-Katrina golf courses as currently set forth in the Park’s Master Plan.
The action contemplated is part of a larger proposal, by the Bayou District Foundation, Columbia Residential of Atlanta (linked to the former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson scandal), Commercial Properties Realty Trust of Baton Rouge, the Fore!Kids! Foundation and Monarch Real Estate Advisors, Inc., to develop the former site of the St. Bernard Housing Development.
The golf component of this proposal is said to cost $46,000,000, with FEMA said to be funding $4,000,000, the LRA $6,000, the State of Louisiana $6,000,000 and the balance from the otherwise unspecified “private sector.” Under R.S. ____________ the newly created City Park Taxing District is authorized to . . . .
According to the term sheet released in 2007 the base rent to be paid by the golf course operator will be a projected $500,000 a year upon the execution of a lease OR the opening of the golf courses’ opening. The tenant would also have the right to operate food, beverage and merchandise concessions. The financial projections released by the CPIA in 2007 obviously pre-date the subsequent downturn in the national and world economies.
The decision to alter the Master Plan on the size of the golf operations, and presumably on the granting of the lease, will be made by the Board of Directors of the CPIA, a self-perpetuating body composed of 36 private members, 12 of them designated by elected and other officials, dating back to 1891. Under R.S. __________ the CPIA is nominally a creature of the State of Louisiana under the auspices of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism
The Park itself is owned by the City of New Orleans. A history of the City’s ownership and governance is set forth in the Louisiana Supreme Court case of City of New Orleans v. State of Louisiana, 443 So.2d 562 (La. 1984), a litigation involved the State’s unsuccessful attempt to assert control over Audubon Park, the history of which is similar to that of City Park.
While the golf proposal contemplates eventual “execution by all responsible authorities,” discrete inquiries of the City of New Orleans departments of Parkways and Parks and Property Management and the City Planning Commission, which exercise Home Rule Charter responsibilities for municipal parks and properties, reveal that these agencies are generally uninvolved with Park affairs, and specifically uninvolved in the golf courses proposal.
The State Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism has had little to say about this project. The State Division of Administration has not addressed the applicability of the State’s public bid and public lease laws, which would appear to apply (see CASE CITE).
On the federal level there has occurred no public discussion on the propriety of using FEMA funds to expand, rather than replace, the golf courses which existed before Hurricane Katrina. Further, at a recent public hearing conducted by the CPIA, it was acknowledged that no environmental assessment or impact statement has been conducted, as may be required by the National Environmental Protection Act.
This proposal has largely been avoided by the media save for some Times Picayune Sports Section coverage (on the possibility of higher fees for local golfers and the possibility of the poaching the Zurich Classic from its current West Bank location), the occasional letter to the editor, and neighbor ListServe postings.
Accordingly, this letter will serve to solicit some coverage by Gambit on this matter, or alternatively the opportunity to submit an opinion piece by those concerned about this project.
Sincerely,