WEB-BASED RESOURCES
(Adapted from materials originally prepared by Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute)
(Revised March 2007)
Story ideas suggested by Poynter’s Al Tompkins (posted by 6:30 a.m. weekdays)
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2
Prof. Jeff Stein of Wartburg College (portal site, including this document with hyperlinks)
Iowa Broadcasters Association
http://www.iowabroadcasters.com
Iowa Broadcast News Association
Iowa State Bar Association
Iowa Newspaper Association/Foundation
Headline summaries from a fast and easy-to-load site that lists the leading headlines for hundreds of newspapers and online news sites around the world
Census data organized by state, demographics, etc.
Legal news with links to top stories involving courts, suits and issues, often providing original documents online
Non-profit organizations and their tax returns (every charity that takes
in $25K has to file an I-990 form with the IRS), including the listing of
salaries for board members and employees
Campaign finance information for federal races, including who is giving
money and how much
http://www.opensecrets.org
Voting records of senators and members of Congress are found
here, as well as legislative tracking and candidate platform position
Iowa legislature and specific language from the Code of Iowa
Background information on any city or town in the United States
Create an FOI letter to most government agencies with a few clicks using this form-based site
http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php
Journalism ethics guidelines written by Poynter’s Bob Steele and Al
Tompkins for RTNDF
http://www.rtndf.org/ethics/ethicsguidelines.shtml
Society of Professional Journalists
Poynter Institute for Journalists
Radio-Television News Directors Association
Investigative Reporters and Editors
http://www.ire.org/
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
FYI Other Polls featuring public opinion and surveys from Gallup, news organizations and Pew
http://www.people-press.org/otherpolls/
Driving distance between two cities calculator, with link to other “conversion” pages
http://www.onlineconversion.com/drivingdistance.htm
Phone number identifier
Crime statistics including campus crime stats, crime rates, historic data and national links
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stsoc.html#uscrime
Campus crime statistics and reports from colleges and universities
http://www.securityoncampus.org/crimestats/index.html
Live weather radar including every NEXRAD sweep in the country
http://www.wunderground.com/radar/map.asp
Find a person in the United States or Canada
Let’s say you want to know more about this person but don’t want to call them
yet—maybe you could call a neighbor. Click the “near an address” button, enter
in the person’s street without his/her house number and you will get all
addresses and phone numbers on the street. Choose the ones nearest your target.
Sex offender registry sorted by county, with photos and description of crimes involved
http:/www.iowasexoffenders.com
Court records including pending cases and past records
http://www.iowacourtsonline.org
Property ownership and valuation may often be found on county web sites through this portal
Profile of any county in the United States from a clickable map
http://www.fedstats.gov/qf/
Corporation ownership and records of filings with the Secretary
of State’s office
Election information for Iowa, including deadlines and archives of past election returns
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections
Local newspapers may be found on this site, with links to every known local newspaper in the United States
http://www.newspapers.com/index.htm
Portal sites with links to hundreds of sites, including news archives
http://www.assignmenteditor.com