Since the Boston Herald got its computer-as- sisted reporting program going in April, reporters David Armstrong and Alan Levin have produced computer stud- ies on Massachusetts polluters, dwindling defense con- tracts and suprising sources of campaign money. The Herald got the toxic-release inventory tapes for Massachusetts companies last spring. Levin, who had attended the Missouri Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting's TRI/DART seminar in April, downloaded the tapes and analyzed the data with XDB software.
He found that Massachusetts companies were using inreasing amounts of Freon 113, a chloroflourocar- bon known to damage the ozone layer. Levin and reporter Nick Tate put togeher a three-story package that ran on page 1 of the July 2 issue. Among the Herald's findings: Massachusetts industry ranked third in the nation for Freon use in 1987 and 1988. - Thirty-one of 48 Freon-using plants increased usage Perhaps the most sobering fact in the package was that Freon rele.
today will still bc destroying ozone 140 years from now, wiping out up to 300 times its own weight of the protective gas before it's done. from 1987 to 1988. Increases by small and mid-sized companies nullified reductions made by the state's largest users, General Electric Co. and Raytheon. Overall, Freon use went up. One of the package's smaller stories explained how Freon destroys ozone, allowing the sun's ultraviolet rays to reach the Earth's surfa and wreak havoc on food chains and increase incidences of skin cancer.
Another side-bar explained new ways to replace Freon, which is used to clean circuit boards and electronic equipment. Digital Equipment Corp., for example, "pioneered a new cleaning method" that isn't so new to most of us: soap and water. Defense Department tapes were the source for Armstrong's study showing how Massachusetts manu- facturers and their workers are suffering from defense cuts. The effect of the cuts was not news when the three day series was published in August.
Contractors were al- ready laying off hundreds of employees and announcing plans to lay off thousands more. But Armstrong's articles put the problem in perspective. Day one's stories explained why the end of the Cold War and Reagan-style deficit spending could mean a dim future for Massachussettes' defense-reliant economy. The Reagan Administration's defense buildup had been a major force behind the 1980s boom in the Massachusetts economy, Armstrong's study showed.
The second day's stories were about congress- men's attempts to bring home a piece of the shrinking defense-contract pie. Armstrong grouped the state's con- tracts by congressional districts to show exactly which congressmen had garnered the biggest pieces. The series finale reported how government- dependent contractors in Massachusetts were trying to wean themselves by looking for contracts with civilian companies at home and overseas.
The Herald reporters has a major obstacle to clear before they can attempt a computer-assisted study of the campaign contributions in the Massachusetts governor's race: The state's contribution records are not computer- ized. Herald management decided to ship the records to a data-entry company for the considerable task of cre- ating a computer database of contributions. So far, the paper has spent more than $10,000 competerizing the records.
Armstrong said it's well worth it. The Herald also bought complete records of contribu- tions to the 1988 presidential race. By comparing these contributions to those of the governor's candidaties, Armstrong and reporter Jonathan Wells were able to show that candidates who were making a campaign of Dukakis- bashing were also relying on the Duke's former contribu- tors for campaign money. Armstrong's study also found that a surprising amount of contributions had crossed party lines.
Both Democratic primary candidates had tapped former Bush supporters for more than GOP candidate Steven Pierce. And the other Republican candidate, William Weld, had received $61,500 from 1988 Dukakis supporters, nearly two-thirds as much as he had gotton from Bush contribu- tors. Lately, Armstrong and Levin have had to help out with the Herald's campaign coverage, and computer- assisted projects have taken the back seat.
But not for long, Armstrong said. "After November, we're really going to go bonkers on this thing," he said.