Time was when backgrounding a story subject wasn't for the fainthearted. It meant leafing through sheaves of yellowed clips, poring through dusty volumes, and reviewing sheaves of public records. Only the high-powered investigator with all the time in the world would attempt to deeply background a subject; the ordinary beat reporter working on daily deadlines didn't stand a chance. Even the privileged reporters who had the time to delve deeply into a subject's past wouldn't go on-line.
Resources such as Lexis/Nexis, Dialog, Datatimes, and Dow Jones News Service were too expensive and not available to mere reporters. The explosion of the Internet and other on-line services has changed all that. Indeed, much of the information that once was available only by combing through books and dusty paper records or by paying hundreds of dollars for high-priced databases now can be obtained for no more than the $20 monthly it costs to connect with a local Internet provider or the $9.95 per month subscription to a commercial on-line service such as CompuServe or America On-line.
Clips, Lexis/Nexis, Dialog and hard copy volumes such as "Who's Who in [fill in the blank]" are still invaluable resources that should be used if they are available. But journalists who want to mine all there is to know about their subjects - or even get basic information on deadline - do well to expand their horizons beyond the stalwarts. All it takes is a couple of on-line connections, ordinary journalistic curiosity, and a sense of adventure.
Assuming you already have a computer, a modem running at a speed no slower than 28.8 kilobytes per second, a phone line and communication software to let them all talk to one another, you also need: An Internet account that provides access to the World Wide Web. This should cost about $20 monthly through either a national or local Internet Service Provider (ISP) and will let you surf the Web for as many hours as you like, using a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer.
An account with a commercial on-line service such as America Online or CompuServe. America Online recently changed its price to $19.95 for unlimited access, mirroring most ISPs. CompuServe costs $9.95 monthly, including five hours of access, with additional hours at $2.95. CompuServe, especially, has deep research databases and is generally regarded a superior research tool. Either service also provides access to the World Wide Web, but the connections offered by ISPs are often faster and more stable.
An account with a private data broker such as Database Technologies, CDB Infotek or IRSC, providing on-line access to specific information on individuals, their property holdings, etc. Some services can tell you what kind of car a prospect drives, how much his home and other property is worth, whether she owns an airplane, and more. The World Wide Web has achieved near divine status in the pop-culture consciousness.
And the Web likely is the greatest (though least organized) collection of information known to humankind. It's all there wheat, chaff, and in between - in amounts that rapidly become overwhelming. The trick is to use the Web well, to learn how to focus your Web surfing so that you quickly get close to what you want. There is a myth that the World Wide Web is the Internet, but it's not. The Internet is simply a worldwide network of interconnected computer networks.
Strip away all the hype and the Web is merely a means to navigate the Internet by way of an easy-to-use "point and click" interface. All you really need to know is that you use a "browser" such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer to move around the Web and that a Web address looks something like this: http://www.nicar.org/nashcar Known as a "Universal Resource Locator" or "URL," this address directs the Web browser to open a particular Web page; all Web pages have an address that resembles it.
Knowing a little bit more about Internet addresses can help a lot. For example the ".org" in the above address signals that the page is located on a computer connected to a nonprofit organization. The address would end in ".edu" if the site were associated with an educational institution; ".gov" if it's an official government site; ".mil" if it's military; ".net," if the page is on a computer attached to an ISP; and ".com" if it's associated with a business.
This "domain hierarchy" can help you evaluate the quality of the information provided. What can you find? More than you possibly could imagine. Web sites will help you locate prospects' addresses and telephone numbers, articles written about them, and the socioeconomics of the neighborhoods where they live. In general, data that can be sold will not be available for free on the Internet. That means that Lexis/Nexises of the world are not likely to go away.
Neither are the America Onlines and CompuServes of the world, where much of the same information is available at lower cost. Among them are: Dun & Bradstreet and TRW business profiles. Knowledge Index, a subset of Dialog containing more than 100 databases, including many major regional and national newspapers and many professional journals. The Biography Research Center, providing access to the full range of Marquis Who's Who volumes and more.
Magazines and newspapers. The Magazine Database searches 250 popular magazines; the Newspaper Archives accesses 55 daily newspapers. Private data brokers, who electronically compile public records from around the country, can be the mother lode for researchers wanting to find out everything about a prospect. One of the most popular data brokers is Database Technologies of Pompano Beach, Fla., which offers a service known as Autotrak.
While DBT does not offer information as comprehensive as some of the others, the price is right: $1.50 per minute, with no sign-up or subscription fee. Other brokers, such as CDB Infotek or IRSC, can be more expensive and charge monthly access fees. But they offer more information, up to and including information gathered from state court systems. On-line research will involve a learning curve. Plan on investing some time and money before you get proficient.
Don't throw your books and other resources away. The on-line world is just one more tool researchers have at their disposal. It doesn't replace other sources, it supplements them. Remember that no single on-line resource will provide everything there is to know about everybody and everything. Remember, too, that information gathered via modem is subject to the same sort of errors as information gathered on paper.
Use what you find on-line as a road map, but verify everything.