Sunshine Review:Writing government accountability articles
From Sunshine Review
There is no denying that working for government transparency is closely connected to exposing the need for government accountability. In Sunshine Review's quest for a transparent government we'd like to archive reports about government corruption along with government entities which are working to become transparent. Here's how:
Contents |
What you need to start writing
- the right title
- the right content
- useful category tags.
These three topics are addressed below in order.
Topics ripe for coverage
Sneaky Spending
This could include allocating illegal funds, taxpayer funded lobbying, earmarks, pork barrel spending or accepting questionable gifts.
- no reports yet
Ethic Reports
Is a political official doling out jobs to friends, family or even convicted felons? Report here on improper hiring procedures.
- no reports yet
Criminal actions
When political officials or agencies engage in dishonest or illegal behavior not defined above. This could include intimidation tactics, deliberate impediments to transparency or abuse of the powers granted to that official or agency.
Transparency blocking
Do political officials take actions to block transparency efforts or FOIA requests? Write about it.
We welcome other suggestions...
Picking the Right Title for the Article
At present, the preferred format is to start your title with the name of the state, followed by the descriptive language by which the report is about.
- See also Sunshine Review's Community Norms
Examples:
The easiest ways to create these articles is to write the title in the search bar. If an article pops up then you may expand on the existing article. However if a Red link with the title of your article pops up simply click on it and begin editing.
Writing the article (the right content)
To write an article well:
- Have at least 3 sources about the occurrence that you'd like to report
- Divide the article up into standard or useful sections, as suggested below.
Finding Content
One of the best ways to find out what is going on in your state is to set up Google News and Google blog feeds. These you can do by setting up an iGoogle homepage, a sage reader (a firefox add on) and creating customer searches for "FOIA", "open records" or other key word searches.
If an article has already been started and you want to add to it, these resources can be consulted for additional detail and information.
- Do a Google search to see if you can find the websites covering the situation.
- With these changes make sure to ask yourself "Who, what, when, why, where, and how?" It's as practical for Sunshine Review as it is for journalists.
Also consider breaking the article down into the following sections:
- A summary of the report
- Background on the subject
- How it was exposed
- What was the outcome of the occurrence?
- How government transparency could have helped or prevent the occurance
- Go to Project Vote Smart’s website and research the different rulings that judges or legislatures involved. Look for voting records here.
- Check out The National Conference of State Legislatures for easy to use charts containing I&R law by state and any recent changes.
- Look at the Lexis/Nexis website for newspaper articles about the law
- Lexis Nexis is a subscription only website that allows you to look at numerous local and national newspaper articles (including an extensive list of old articles). If you have access to it through your college or local library it is an incrediable resource.
- If you do not have access to Lexis Nexis, make sure to check out Google News
- Consult Wikipedia
- Try a Google blog search.
Break it down
One of the great things about Sunshine Review is that you can break a measure down into easily readable segments. Below are some suggestions for sections you can break the article into. If you don’t have any information to place in a particular section, you can still put in a market for the section heading. This might inspire future readers to add appropriate information in that section.
Typographical tip: The way to create a section heading or title is to surround the title with two equal signs, like this:
==The case for support== ==Controversies== ==Press coverage==
Helpful tip: its useful to create your wiki page in "Notepad" (if you are using a PC) or any other type that has a text editor.
Introduction
Typically an article will start out with a 3-4 sentence basic introduction that states the amendment, installment or restrictions of the initiative or referendum law. That will be followed by additional information broken down into sections. Here are some sections you might consider:
- Notable people/organizations involved
- The impact of not having transparency to track it
- How it was exposed
- How transparency would have prevented it
- Press coverage
- What’s happening now
- References
- External links
- As always include references and external links to give your article credibility.
Formating your page
If you are at loss for how to write in "wiki" please check out our new page and editing articles.
Also remember to categorize your page and to cite your sources.
Also remember to cross-link your pages. Link to the states, the initiatives and other key players/organizations that are mention in profiles.
Categories
Sunshine Review is archiving articles with Dynamic Page Listings. Because of this we ask you to include the following categories in all your reports:
- [[Category:STATE News]]
- [[Category:PORTAL TOPIC]]
- [[Category:MONTH YEAR]]
And if about a prominent person...
- [[Category:FIRST NAME LAST NAME]]
