{
  "id": "2003-septemberoctober-new-beat-book",
  "slug": "2003-septemberoctober-new-beat-book",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-septemberoctober-new-beat-book.html",
  "year": 2003,
  "month": "September/October",
  "monthNum": 9,
  "headline": "New Beat Book",
  "kicker": "Bits & Bytes",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors)",
  "summary": "IRE publishes \"Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter's Guide To Campaign Finance,\" a resource written by veteran journalists that provides guidance on investigating campaign finance through documents, data, and databases from sources like the FEC.",
  "keywords": [
    "campaign",
    "finance",
    "reporting"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Government & Politics",
    "Data & Databases",
    "Journalism & Newsroom"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "From lobbying to loopholes, soft money to hard money, reporters will find useful information and inspiration in \"Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter's Guide To Campaign Finance.\" Written by veteran journalists Michael A. Weber, Aron Pilhofer and Derek Willis, this is the latest publication in IRE's Beat Book series. It includes chapters on gathering documents and data and using campaign finance databases, such as those from the Federal Election Commission. There's also information on finding local and state data, and putting together your own database. The book costs $15 for IRE members and $25 for nonmembers. For details, see www.ire.org/store/books/campaign.html or call 573-882-3364.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1999-september-tipsheets-on-campaign-finance",
      "score": 0.466
    },
    {
      "slug": "2003-novemberdecember-readmetxt-ire-tipsheets-on-campaign-finance",
      "score": 0.417
    },
    {
      "slug": "2002-july-august-covering-money-votes-and-power",
      "score": 0.38
    },
    {
      "slug": "2004-march-getting-set-for-election-coverage",
      "score": 0.378
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-januaryfebruary-the-money-trail-tracking-campaign-cash",
      "score": 0.37
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-septemberoctober-new-beat-book.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-septemberoctober-new-beat-book.json"
}