Mary Field was excited by the possibilities. The investigative TV producer had just spent an intensive week at MICAR's computer-assisted reporting training seminar. When she returned to her station, WGN in Chicago, Field came up with a story idea: to examine the windy city's property taxes.
But there was one thing Field didn't have: the hardware and software necessary to do the story. Field's news director was not convinced installing CAR technology would fit in with the station's priorities under a tightening budget. So she had to look elsewhere.
After weeks of searching, Field found a former academic interested in her subject. She had the data. He had the ability to download the information, so the two began a partnership.
Of the 134 journalists who have attended the seminar, only four have been broadcasters.
It is not surprising that Field had to go through so much effort to use the skills she acquired at the MICAR seminar. Of the 134 journalists who have attended the seminar, only four have been broadcasters. Although major newspapers have experimented with computer-assisted journalism for several years, few broadcast outlets presently use computer-assisted reporting.
Some attribute the lack of interest in CAR to the visual element required of the broadcast medium. "The thinking by broadcasters is that computer-assisted stories are computer stories and they're not," Field said.
She also credited her knowledge of computer-assisted reporting with expanding the way she visualized stories. "There have been other stories that I've done that I wouldn't have done before because of the way I now know the government stores its information."
The station put together a piece on Chicago's efforts to catch those who failed to register their cars. The city spent roughly $20,000 to employ an army of patrols which would walk the streets searching for offenders and then ticket them. WGN reported that the data was stored on tapes, and all the city had to do was run the two tapes against each other, a move they reported would save taxpayers thousands of dollars. The city changed their policy as a result of the story.
But the reality of the technology is costly by some standards. It runs about $14,000, including hardware, software, training and access to the database.
Brooks Jackson, a correspondent with CNN's special assignment unit, can relate to the cost limitations. Jackson recently shared a sample of stories researched using CAR methods with CNN management. He also proposed they buy the appropriate equipment and hire a CAR specialist to run it. The result? Management was very enthusiastic but so far there has been no money committed to the project. "International expansion is hot, so every spare nickel is going in that direction. For the moment everything domestically is on hold," said Jackson.
There's also the matter of time. Television stories run much shorter than print pieces and usually require less time to put together. Jackson said that, in an industry where every second counts, computer-assisted stories may appear to be too time consuming. "Because TV is so demanding logistically, correspondents spend all their time traveling and doing ten takes in front of the Capitol. The ratio of producers to correspondents is one-to-one. We're already stretched thin doing the kind of stories we know are there."
But the future holds promise. In fact, at a recent seminar for the Radio and Television News Directors Association, broadcast news executives appeared very excited about the technology. One news executive, who said he'd like to keep his identity secret because he'll be the first in his market to use computer-assisted reporting, proclaimed a bright future for CAR in television.
"Electronic journalism is the frontier for TV investigative reporting," he said. "There's almost an infinite amount of information which is available to the public and the media which we have in the past not even tapped. We are going to be able to do stories we have never been able to do in the past."
The news executive purchased the equipment almost as soon as he returned to work. He said he hopes to have a new computer-assisted reporting program on line by September.