ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that the judicious and skillful use of computer-assisted reporting (CAR) techniques can create good news stories. Review stories that have been done at other news organizations and see if people can apply their approaches and acquire similar databases to illuminate issues in their area. The Resource Center at Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) has thousands of CAR stories indexed at its Website. Many of these stories have been entered into the IRE awards contest and have contest forms that reporters filled out to explain how they did the story, what databases and documents they used, and what challenges they faced. Those contest entries have been scanned by IRE, and people can download and review them. The National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) and the IRE offer many resources revealing how journalists have researched CAR stories and what databases and software were used.
