The Craft of Research

It’s been a busy month and I’ve yet to post any news, so here goes.  For starters, I bow to your reporting efforts…

Evan Buxbaum wrote about a plan to bring a Gourmet market to Melrose.

Erin Horan has news on a Baptist church and some Black History Month profiles.

And Minty Grover is also on the Black History Month profiles beat.

Speaking of profiles, I finished mine on Staten Island hoopster O.D. Anosike; only you know how a clip search made it better.  And as long as I’m citing my own work, see if you can figure out the background research I did on this profile of a woman boxer.

Last but not least, here’s the promised Facebook page I mentioned in class that includes a number you can call to check if someone is a Level 1 sex offender in New York.

The bonus: Next time we’ll be discussing how to find video and graphics for use in your stories.  For a preview, watch the segment below that I helped out with just yesterday!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Welcome (and for some, welcome back) to “The Craft of Research,” the official research blog for the Spring 2012 Broadcast Craft class of Marc Kusnetz and Susan Farkas. It’s the spot for research lessons, handouts, news, tips and whatever else comes up during the semester, including links to your work.

For example, I know Evan Buxbaum, Sarah Pizon, Martin Burch and (especially) Minty Grover have been busy during the past month.

My name is Jack Styczynski, and this is my eighth semester teaching at the J-school. When I’m not here, I’m a researcher at NBC and the New York Times. My full professional story is here. Personally, I love college hoops, everything New Orleans, gospel (disco!) music and the spring semester…because there are no beat memos!

Let’s get back to work!

On duty in Studio 3A at NBC, home of MSNBC dayside programming.

Back in the studio at NBC today.  A few years ago, I posted my memories of September 11th, 2001.  Here are some of the research requests I worked on that day:

• Background information on Barbara Olson and David Angell
• Contacts for mass terrorism organizations
• Death tolls of other atrocities
• Map of the World Trade Center area
• Number of workers in the WTC

Think about how you might find these items today.

It’s especially good to be working at NBC today, remembering my day here on 9/11.  I just wish Times Square Church pastor David Wilkerson could have seen this…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Don’t forget our special court research session on Wednesday!  Here’s an example of my latest court research success.  (Yup.  Even college basketball reporters need court research.)

Here’s a research-inspired story by a CUNY J-school graduate now working at NBC:

Earlier this week, I was telling one of my former students–who’s rapidly approaching graduation–that I’ve always targeted the specific places I wanted to work (rather than just trying to find where the openings are), so I figured I’d share one of my success stories.

When I was in grad school, I knew I’d like to be a researcher in the NBC Information Center after having become familiar with it years earlier as an intern and freelancer in the sports department.  Anyway, we had a school assignment where we had to survey a library, so I set it up to spend a few hours at NBC’s version and interview the manager there.  When I finished the assignment, I sent her a copy of my report, which she seemed to like.

Several months later, as I was approaching graduation, I saw a posting for an entry-level job there, and I contacted her.  “Remember me?  I’m the guy who interviewed you.  Will you interview me now?”

The rest is history.

So the moral of this story is, even if you don’t have a similar school assignment, it might be worth faking one…or more. 😉

And here’s a funny addendum to the story too… (more…)

Usually, weeks pass without Wikipedia playing any role in my research, but I had two experiences in recent days that I thought worth passing along.

First, last Friday, seconds before MSNBC’s Chris Jansing was about to go on the air with a story about boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s latest foray into the news, she asked if he had been a champion.  I immediately answered yes, and then knowing I had precious little time to check any details, Googled him.  Watching me, Chris asked to view the Wikipedia link that appeared in the results, and we saw Mayweather had won nine championships in five weight classes.  I said we can’t vouch for Wikipedia, and she agreed, making sure to couch what she ultimately said on the air with the words “something like” nine championships in five weight classes.  I felt pretty good with her disclaimer.  With more time to check it out later, it essentially turned out to be correct (boxing championships are not as black and white as championships in most sports, so it’s debatable).  Let me add that most research I do is not under that tight of a deadline.  Given even 10 minutes, I wouldn’t have checked Wikipedia at all.

Then today, I got a research request at the Times asking for an article in the Pensacola News Journal from June 31, 2003.  Of course, there is no such date as June 31st, and the requester said the citation came from a Wikipedia entry on Judge Roger Vinson.  It was supposedly an article about the judge having stuffed bear heads above the door to his courtroom and removing them under pressure.  Checking Nexis, I found no stories like that in the Pensacola paper or elsewhere, and told the requester I thought the entry may be false.  He called the judge’s chambers and found out it was completely made up.  The judge’s wife had even heard Rush Limbaugh repeat it and freaked.  Minutes later, Wikipedia had been revised, with the passage in question removed.

I guess you can consider this an update to the Wikipedia video Barbara Gray shared at the Nexis orientation.

Former NBC researcher and CUNY J-School Research Adjunct Jerry Bornstein has passed away.  Read about Jerry here and watch a video of him talking about his job below.  The last minute of the video is especially poignant.

I mentioned The Local earlier this week. NBC has launched New York Nonstop as well, a possible competitor to NY1. See video below.

Behind the Scenes at WNBC’s New York Nonstop from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.

As our two presidential candidates visit Ground Zero and everyone else recalls the events of seven years ago, I mark today as the first 9/11 since the WTC attack that NBC’s Information Center (i.e. research department) is back in Manhattan after spending the interim years in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Most of our days pass by without making much of a dent in our memory, but I remember virtually every detail of my work day on September 11th, 2001.  (more…)