Eight steps reporters should take before Trump assumes office by Dana Priest.
Reporters should paste these eight steps to their bathrooms mirror for review every day, not just for the Trump presidency:
Rebuild sources: Call every source you’ve ever had who is either still in government or still connected to those who are. Touch base, renew old connections, and remind folks that you’re all ears.
Join forces: Triangulate tips and sources across the newsroom, like we did after 9/11, when reporting became more difficult.
Make outside partnerships: Reporting organizations outside your own newspaper, especially those abroad and with international reach, can help uncover the moves being considered and implemented in foreign countries.
Discover the first family: Now part of the White House team, Donald Trump’s children and son-in-law are an important target for deep-dive reporting into their own financial holdings and their professional and personal records.
Renew the hunt: Find those tax filings!
Out disinformation: Find a way to take on the many false news sites that now hold a destructive sway over some Americans.
Create a war chest: Donate and persuade your news organization to donate large sums to legal defense organizations preparing to jump in with legal challenges the moment Trump moves against access, or worse. The two groups that come to mind are the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Civil Liberties Union. Encourage your senior editors to get ready for the inevitable, quickly.
Be grateful: Celebrate your freedom to do hard-hitting, illuminating work by doing much more of it.
Don’t wait for reporters to carry all the load.
Many of these steps, “Renew the hunt” comes to mind, can be performed by non-reporters and then leaked.
A lack of transparency of government signals a lack of effort on the part of the press and public.
FOIA is great but it’s also being spoon fed what the government chooses to release.
I’m thinking of transparency that is less self-serving than FOIA releases.