Associated Press Reporting Handbook

Associated Press Reporting Handbook The Tools of Investigative Work Chapter 19

AP and Investigations • AP used to do the breaking news and features, but left the investigative pieces to the newspapers and television networks. • In recent years, the AP has looked into several issues, including safety at amusement parks and child labor in the fashion industry. • There is a greater emphasis on looking into political, economic and social injustice.

Investigative reporting is “a label for that front-page disclosure kind of story.” • Lou Boccardi, president AP • Meticulous with sources • Careful with reporting • Fearless about asking unpleasant questions • Ability to organize complicated stories • A willingness to do hard work

Associated PressReporting Handbook Investigations: A Mental Patient’s Death Chapter 20

“Somebody Help Me … I’m Dying”By BILL BASKERVILLAssociated Press Writer • Read the first part of the story: Page 175 • The stage has been set • The plot of the story has been revealed • We know she dies • We don’t know how. We wonder “Why?” • We leave her with her arms and legs strapped down

We learn about Gloria “Sissie” Huntley • Childhood love for animals – sets them free • Early teen years, she was a runaway • In Central State Hospital at age 13 • She couldn’t read well enough to hold a job • Gloria ran away again. Wound up in a Mental Hospital • She ran away to North Carolina and was in a mental hospital there • Returned to CSH and diagnosed psychotic

She went to to maximum security Forensic Unit after attacking two staff members at Central • Then we learn about the institution • The institution is 127-years old • Once called Central Lunatic Asylum • Use of restraints • U.S. Justice Department investigating • Derrick Wilson dies in restraints • Huntley had asthma, epilepsy and bad heart

Doctor warned of her condition • Staff became menacing toward her when he asked them to be more nurturing. They resented having to give her special treatment • She was sent to a part of the hospital where mental patients charged with crimes are kept • “One day I will get my life togetter (sic). I hope you can see that before it is too late.” • Central State Hospital’s use of restraint was determined to be excessive

Associated Press reports about Huntley’s case prompted CSH to stop using restraints as part of its treatment regimen • Huntley had been left alone for about 30 minutes • “Bluish tinge to entire face. No pulse or BP … pupils fixed & dilated. Skin cold and clammy, body flacid … No response to enterventions (sic).” • It was too late

Stuffed into a garbage bag was the sum of her life: a hospital-issued yellow pajama bottom; a pair of worn-out gray pants with holes in them; a yellow T-shirt; a blue jacket; romance novels; a partially used tube of toothpaste and other toiletries; coloring books that perhaps bespoke ties with the happier days of childhood. • “O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to assist me in this my hour of urgent need.”

Bill Baskervill • A voice on the phone: • “I’m calling from a phone booth on Midlothian Turnpike. I have something very important to show you.” • An eight-page memo: “Duty to Warn.” • Baskervill was a 30-year veteran of AP • The David Hackworth call (1992)

Baskervill was working in the Richmond Bureau • Sgt. Roberto Bryan at Fort Bragg would talk to him. War Crimes in Panama • Taco Bell and bomb checks • Talking to military commanders • Accepted a job as news editor • “Worst mistake I ever made.” • Four years was all he could take and he returned to reporting

His work has won awards, changed government and changed lives • “ I get awards. I accept them to be polite. But I’m not in the business for awards.” • “For me, the pleasure is in the reporting -- the raw journalism of doing these stories.” • His life has been his writing and he is most proud of his stories to help better treatment for the mentally ill • He investigated the death of Skander Najor, who died of an untreated illness at Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute

Maura Patten, a patient at Western State Hospital, who had severe respiratory disease and complained that she was dying. Two days later she was dead • Maura’s roommate • They threw Baskervill out of the hospital • “It doesn’t bother me…” • “I don’t think it’s a talent. It might be a pathology,” he says and laughs.

Associated PressReporting Handbook Investigations: All the Pretty Horses Chapter 21

Created to Save Horses, Program Sends Them to Their DoomBy MARTHA MENDOZAAssociated Press Writer • Horses being slaughtered, instead of protected • Bureau of Land Management employees were profiting • Public adoption • Being sold to slaughterhouses • Healthy burros and horses, not lame or old

The AP traced more than 57 BLM horses sold to U.S. and Canadian slaughterhouses • Meat was shipped to Belgium • AP found that 90 percent of the horses rounded up each year go to slaughter. This is thousands of horses • Horse meat supplants suspicious beef “mad-cow” disease has many people fearful • Not all send their horses to slaughter • The BLM has not submitted reports since 1992

An advisory council has not been convened. • “They’re a wonderful part of America, and we’re here to protect them. Of course, we’ve got a ways to go.” Tom Pognacik, BLM director.

Martha Mendoza • Two weeks with AP, three weeks in New Mexico. • Animal Rights Group • News conference fiasco. Whistleblower was screaming • Making calls • U.S. Attorney had investigated. There was evidence of wrongdoing, but no charges were filed

Freedom of Information Act • Database of federal employees • Barbara King, the AP’s director of editorial training, says it is not surprising that Mendoza was able to pull off a project of this magnitude • “She is exhaustive in finding all the sources she can in her reporting.” • “To learn whether the program was working as mandated by Congress.”

The story made an enormous splash, but there was no legal action. • The U.S. Senate investigated • The program director was replaced • Adoption rules were rewritten • The slaughterhouse was burned down by animal rights advocates. • She moved on • It had all started with a news conference that had gone all wrong.

Associated PressReporting Handbook Investigations: Doctors and Tobacco Chapter 22

Healers Raising the “Killer Weed”By ALLEN G. BREEDAssociated Press Writer • Doctors profiting from tobacco • None smoked • Positions of trust • Family practice, psychiatry, oncologists • One-time regional director of the American Cancer Society • Tobacco farming doctors advising their patients not to use tobacco

760 doctors and health care workers who own valuable federal tobacco-growing rights • 23 states • Doctors control production of more than 7 million pounds of tobacco, enough to make 193 million packs of cigarettes a year • $13 million in tobacco sales • “I’m too greedy” -- $4,000 a year leasing his rights to grow tobacco • “maintain that part of my heritage.”

“If they’re stupid enough to smoke, that’s their business, I suppose. I’ve never had time to feel guilty about something like that.” • “I’m overweight, but I’m not blaming Heinz because they make ketchup with sugar in it.”

Allen Breed • Southeast regional reporter for AP • Database of people who owned tobacco rights • Match it against Kentucky doctors • Agriculture Department released the database • Sorting out the names

He is a bear on ACCURACY • Calling the doctors took a month • He asked the hard questions • He questioned whether they took the “Hippocratic,” or hypocritical, oath • They told the story – their quotes • Some were petrified • Is it worth it? • A new technique with every story • Tax records and deeds can give you leads

Reporting is “frustratingly challenging. I hate being told that I can’t have access to something … I just like the challenge.”

Associated Press Reporting Handbook