This weekend, I appeared on an investigative journalism panel at the Women Action and Media conference. My fellow panelists were Aura Bogado of Pacifica Radio, and Maggie Mulvihill of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. Esther Kaplan of the Nation Investigative Fund was our moderator.
My talk was about using the public record to get the dirt on practically anyone. I walked the participants through a story I wrote about Dr. Eric Keroack, a crusading anti-choice physician who was chosen by George W. Bush to oversee America's largest family planning program.
In the article, I revealed that Keroack had admitted to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine that he couldn't prove that he'd done the continuing medical education credits necessary to keep his license.
I explained that I didn't need any special access or pull to get these documents. I was able to find what other reporters had missed because I understood how the medical board's record-keeping system worked and what documents were available on request.
I also talked about how to use the IRS 990 tax return of a non-profit organization to find the names of directors, salaries, assets, and other juicy details. You can look up these IRS 990s at the website GuideStar.org. (Free registration required.)
The WAM conference is organized by the Center for New Words and the MIT women's studies department.
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