How do you fit enterprise stories around the many other demands you face to write dailies, file web updates, tweet and shoot video? This session focuses on taking advantage of the plethora of local data available online to spot and develop quick-turnaround stories. Learn how to develop a data state of mind, find newsworthy data and begin to analyze data sets. Spot the enterprise stories in the numbers. Trainer Dave Umhoefer directs the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University, where he teaches investigative reporting. @GovWatcher

1. Freedom from government handouts: finding and developing
investigative ideas
Dave Umhoefer, O’Brien Fellowship at Marquette University
Updated September 2019
10. Specialize. A second major, a niche based on your interests and hobbies. Even
a healthy obsession will do. It will give you confidence and sharpen your eye for
stories.
9. Start small. Chip away; hoard bits and pieces of possible topics to investigate.
8. Follow your instincts. Reporters tend to know a little about a lot of things.
What interests or amazes or angers you will likely strike readers the same way.
7. Follow the (big!) money. Cliché, sure, but too often, reporters overlook big-
dollar items that seem routine, while focusing on hotly debated matters of little
consequence.
6. Listen for the silence; look for the absence. Elected officials often say little
when controversial proposals are approved at public meetings. Don’t mistake
silence for lack of controversy. When examining documents and data, think about
what’s missing.
5. Use your Open Records law. Do it early and often, to mine for the truth behind
events. Routinely ask for e-mail and other correspondence on hot topics. Train
your public officials to hand ‘em over – and you might not even need to make a
formal request.
4. Use your analytical skills. Routinely request, gather and review data on
contracts, expenses, cost overruns, campaign donations, salaries etc.
3. Get to know sources and listen to EVERYBODY. Get sources out of their
buildings and far from the office, where they will tell you more in an hour than in
a year of listening to them talk in public.

2. 2. Make friends with your editor. Or, at least, peace. Do whatever you need to do
to have real conversations with them about possible stories, gossip you’ve heard,
tips that have come in, stories you are working on. Develop some trust.
1. Know the law! Or the ordinance, rule or regulation governing your subject.
Rulebook. Look it up before you dive in and you’ll be way ahead of the game.
BONUS Tips:
Promise vs. reality: What is the subject of your story
promising/claiming/asserting about his/her own conduct/success?
The test of time: On the crucial decisions on which stories to pursue and which to
let go, imagine how history will look back at your coverage. Did you get the big
stuff, the important stuff? Give people a rough idea of who were the good guys
and bad guys?
Keep a few secrets. Store a couple developing ideas in your hip pocket. You can
take some chances going after a big story without fear of failure.