In the first part of this series I looked at bringing general news sources and blogs into one place; in the second I looked at social media discussions. This final part looks at how to know what government departments are saying and doing, even if no one is reporting it. Data and documents provide some of […]
I’ve delivered data journalism training in Scotland twice in the past few months, and thought I’d share some tips on what data is available there, given that most guidance on data journalism focuses on data in England or the US. General statistics and data Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics has a ‘data download’ page which allows you […]
TweetThe minutes of meetings at public institutions are an often-overlooked source of possible story ideas and leads. Local authorities and hospitals regularly have their board meetings scrutinised by reporters – but university council meetings are less closely followed. Many universities … Continue reading →
Since 2011, all councils have been required to publish expenditure on items over £500. At the CIJ Summer School this year, Paul Francis and Ted Jeory explained how to turn this information into a story… What is ‘expenditure’? Individual invoices Grant payments Expense payments Payments for goods and services Credit notes Transactions with other public […]
Every time something goes wrong in the NHS it creates a paper trail… And that means that investigators can use the Freedom of Information Act to find out exactly what has happened. THE SYSTEM If something happens on a ward … Continue reading →
Over on Help Me Investigate Health, we’ve published a list of Freedom of Information emails for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) – the new bodies controlling local health spending in England. The list was compiled two months ago for Health Service Journal by Tom Warren and Matt Burgess, shortly after the new bodies took control, but is only now being published by HMI. As […]
Help Me Investigate has compiled a list of Freedom of Information emails for the new bodies overseeing local health spending in England. The list was compiled for Health Service Journal by Tom Warren and Matt Burgess, and is reproduced here … Continue reading →
3 examples this week show how you can still tell important stories based on Freedom of Information requests even when you don’t get any results. In the first, a national story, 54 FOI requests were sent to mental health trusts. 6 could not say how often any form of restraint was used, and: “Half of […]
Tweet MAP: The Department for Education’s spend across London hotels in 2012/13. The Department for Education spent more than £1m of taxpayers’ money on hotel rooms for staff last year, including at 4* hotels in the heart of London. The … Continue reading →
Tweet The Department of Education continues to perform poorly in responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, according to recently published figures. The figures, published by the Ministry of Justice, show the department responded late to 21% of the requests they … Continue reading →