Matt Doig

From the discussion presented by Matt Doig, I learned a great deal about the power of investigative journalism. I was impressed by the fact that the Sarasota Herald-Tribune was such a powerful force in enacting change through investigative journalism. The concept of the story detailing teachers sleeping with students over a span of time rather than one case in particular was very enterprising. Not being a native citizen of Florida, the small size of a town such as Sarasota in comparison to Tampa would make me doubt their ability to take on larger newspapers in terms of good investigative reporting. However, the reporting on teachers sleeping with students affecting legislative bodies to enact new laws proves to me that no paper is too small to make a difference in the larger community. Before today's speech, I believed that in order to work on high profile stories and make a difference in the community would require myself to move to a large city.

In addition to learning about the capabilities of investigative reporting to enact change, I learned about use of public records. Unless I believe it to be a long-running or story of great importance, I believe I will steer clear of requesting national public records. The case of the 9/11 terrorist plane instructor was a great anecdote in describing the length of time it takes some national records to arrive in a journalist’s hands. In contrast, Doig did encourage me to not give up when it came to my quest of unearthing public documents. He made it seem that if you pressed hard enough and threw the law books at agencies that you were requesting records from that sooner or later they would cave in to your request.

One topic that I would have liked Doig to go into more detail about would have been doing investigative work in other states. I would move out of Florida for a job and am a bit nervous when it comes to being understanding of other state’s public records law. If I were to move to another state, would I have to learn the state’s system specifically or are there standards which apply nationally that I could adhere to.