Journalism Training Certification Program Session #5 Recap
Understanding local and state government was the topic of the fifth session of the yearlong PNA Foundation journalism training program held Monday. The session, moderated by former LNP Harrisburg bureau chief Brad Bumsted, touched on a range of topics from how to get familiar with a municipality or government agency that is new to a beat to covering a budget.
Among the tips shared:
- Make a point of building a relationship with a borough/township/city manager or secretary who can be a key source of information. Get familiar with a new municipality or agency to your beat by combing through their website if they have one, reviewing meeting minutes, acquainting yourself with its elected officials and reading past stories about it in your newspaper archives.
- Statements of financial interest disclose information about a public official’s source(s) of income as well as gifts of a certain dollar value threshold they accepted in their official capacity. They can be a great source for stories. State officials’ financial interest statements are available through the State Ethics Commission while local agencies hold their officials’ statement of financial interest at municipal or county offices. The statements are a public record.
- A government agency budget is a great source of information. When a new budget is adopted, look for what budget lines have increased or decreased substantially, what was eliminated or what is a new spending area and find out the rationale behind those changes. Focus especially on areas of the budget that touch people’s lives. If you need help figuring out what change in millage rate does to a tax bill, here’s a calculator that can help with that.
The journalism training program continues on Sept. 8 with a discussion of the Sunshine Act and First Amendment to be led by PNA media law counsel Melissa Melewsky and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press senior supervising attorney Paula Knudsen Burke. More information about this program is available here.