Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
Express-News reporter Guillermo Contreras wrote a story detailing a federal investigation of two Mexican brothers: Mauricio and Alejandro Sánchez Garza. Federal officials allege the brothers laundered drug money in San Antonio for Mexican cartels.
What happens when you’re hit by a city vehicle and file an insurance claim against San Antonio? Now you can find out by searching a database that tracks every claim filed against the city in the past decade. I stumbled across this story by using Google’s advanced search options. Google lets you search specific websites …
This is pretty great. First, a new, in-depth journalism project called Matter set a fundraising goal of $50,000 on Kickstarter. They reached it in 38 hours. They set a new goal of $75,000. They reached it in four days. Related: What’s Evernote for? How about making a vast, searchable archive of all your files They …
The Texas attorney general’s office announced yesterday that it has sued the Texas Highway Patrol Museum, a nonprofit telemarketing organization based in San Antonio that raises millions of dollars in the name of helping state troopers. I had always been curious about the museum, which is housed in a brick building at St. Mary’s and …
One of the golden rules of writing is show, don’t tell. The same holds true for stories based on public data. Check out this cool interactive map by Nolan Hicks and Yang Wang showing food stamp recipients by Zip code for the whole state of Texas.
What others are saying about watchdog journalism … Successful watchdog sites focus on audience engagement | Block By Block A healthy future for investigative journalism | Steve Buttry Memo to IRS: Get out of the way | American Journalism Review The end of the scoop | Hannah Waldram Finding new models for investigative journalism | …
Bob Costas’ grilling of accused Penn State child molester Jerry Sandusky should be mandatory viewing for all journalism students who want to learn how to handle a confrontational interview. Costas wielded a strong command of the facts. Listened intently to each answer. Asked focused questions and follow-up questions. And he wasn’t satisfied with vague proclamations …
Flustered locksmith dude: “Like, what are you doing? I don’t know … what’s going on?” Reporter uncovering locksmith scam: “My name is Brian Collister. I’m with the Trouble Shooters. I’m an investigative reporter. And you’re busted.”
Many thanks to Rick Casey, Bruce Kates, and the staff at KLRN’s Texas Week for having me on their show to talk about the Texas Highway Patrol Museum and its little-known purpose as a telemarketing operation. Check out our past news coverage of the museum, which is actually a telemarketing operation that spends only a …
The Texas Highway Patrol Museum sits on a prime piece of property near downtown San Antonio, across the street from Rosario’s Café y Cantina. Business is booming at Rosario’s, but not so much at the museum. It usually looks empty every time I drive by or hang out in King William. I’ve been curious what …