Profiting from Public Service

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Profiting from Public Service

• The story behind the series

The Asbury Park Press and Gannett New Jersey
Newspapers
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How it came about

• Local investigation leads to biggest probe ever
  of the New Jersey Legislature
• Details, Details A local town had put a powerful
  state senator on its payroll for 116,000 a year.
  The mayor, in turn, gets a 105,000 a year state
  job.
• Broader issue What led to this and how could
  this be legal?

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Story development

• Determine what the story is NOT about
• Its not a political story
• Its not a story about Republicans or Democrats
• Its not about who is running for office

• Determine what the story IS about
• It is about how your tax dollars are spent
• It is about how a corrupt system flourished
• It is about how it affects all of New Jersey

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Triangulate with readers
Readers
Information
Writing
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Look at Pay-to-Play money

• Check registers how the money is spent
• Contracts database who gets the money
• Campaign contributions database
• Pensions database shows jobs, salaries over
  time
• Professional services appointments, or no-bid
  contracts

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Other sources used

• Built database of 1,500 pages of financial
  disclosure records
• Campaign contribution database of 500,000 records
• Database of 3,000 bond issues in New Jersey worth
  54 billion over five years
• Profile database of lawmakers
• 100 people and experts

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Common values

• Build a relationship with readers by addressing
  issues they are concerned with Property taxes,
  government waste and efficient services
• Involve real people in your stories through
  photos and quotes
• Give them news they can use Drive them to the
  Web by placing massive amounts of information on
  the site in a user-friendly format

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Results

• Strong editorials led the way for voters
• Powerful GOP Senate president defeated in what
  was once a safe district
• Ethics becomes the number one topic in the
  campaign
• Lawmakers clamor to pass good-government reform

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Impact to date

• Higher voter turnout in contested districts
• Defeat of ethically challenged incumbents
• Passage of sweeping ethics reform bills
• Local towns and counties jump on the ethics
  bandwagon to ban pay-to-play and nepotism