The Digital Watchdog s First Byte:Journalisms First ComputerAnalysis of Public Records

by Scott R. Maier

This account ofjournalism'sfirst computer analysis ofpublic records chroniclesthe earlypromise ofcomputer-assisted reporting(CAR) and examines howmany ofthe challenges posed by technology more than 30years ago persist intoday's digital newsroom. The article documents how the Miami Herald in1968 transcribed and analyzed 13,000 keypunch cards to examine DadeCounty's uneven prosecution ofcrime. The result was a revealing series entitled"A Scientific Look at Dade Crime" and the inception ofa potentgenre ofpublic servicejournalism. But, as the Herald learned, technology does notmake a reporters work easier, justpotentially more incisive. Understandingthe difficulties the Herald encountered in 1968 gives perspective to the slowandfaltering advance ofcomputer-assisted reporting.

When the Miami Herald pubHshed "Crime & No Punishment," the 1994 computer analysis documenting thefaiHngs of the local judicial system evoked a strong

response.' Readers demanded reform. Attorneys volunteered to servegratis as deputy prosecutors. Officials toughened sentencing procedures.The eight-day series was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and deservedlywon awards from the Society for Professional Journalists, InvestigativeReporters and Editors, and the American Bar Association.^ Less heraldedwas another computer analysis exposing Dade County's flawed judicialsystem. That analysis also produced a series of investigative stories inthe Miami Herald 26 years earlier.

Scott R. Maier, a former newspaper reporter and CAR trainer, is an Associate Professor in theSchool ofJournalism and Commmiication at the University of Oregon. He can be reachedat:smaier@oregon.uoregon.edu.

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This account ofjournalism's first computer analysis of public recordschronicles the early promise of computer-assisted reporting and examineshow many challenges posed by technology more than 30 years ago persistin today's digital newsroom. While many academic and industry com-mentators contend the computer age has brought profound changes tojournalism, few have explored the history of this transformation.

Almost entirely overlooked in the Hterature is how the Miami Heraldin 1968 transcribed and analyzed 13,000 keypunch cards detailing DadeCounty's uneven prosecution of crime. The result was a revealing seriesentitled "A Scientific Look at Dade Crime" ^ and the inception of apotent genre of public service journalism that has become a mainstay ofeveryday reporting as well as the award-winning expose. But, as theHerald ruefully learned, technology does not make a reporter's workeasier, just potentially better. Understanding the difficulties encounteredby the Herald in 1 968 gives perspective to the slow and faltering advanceof computer-assisted reporting.

Computer Power Aids Reporters

The power of the computer as a reporting tool is well-documented.Articles in trade and academic journals extol the use of computers as ameans of gathering, organizing and analyzing information that can beused to develop substantive news stories."* In particular, computer-assistedreporting provides journalistic scrutiny of government with a level ofprecision never before possible. Unlike in 1968, when the Herald hzd topainstakingly copy by hand agency-written files and keypunch its owndatabase, reporters today directly access electronic government records.Notes communication scholar Margaret DeFleur, "With the power of thecomputer . . . reporters could identify trends, relationships and otherpatterns that would never have been apparent when paper records werestored in file folders within long rows of cabinets .... There was littlethat could remain undetected, as had been the case with a sea of paper."^In nearly every year since 1 986, reporters have won Pulitzer Prizes for

stories based on computer-assisted reporting.^

Journalists and communication scholars at times seem almostbreathless in their appraisal of the role of computers in the news industry.

Elliott Jaspin, the first to win a Pulitzer using computer-assisted reporting,contends that "a journalist who can't read a reel of magnetic tape is asilliterate as the 15* century peasant confronted by Gutenberg."'' Makinga similar historical comparison, Anthony Smith in Goodbye, Gutenbergheralds the computerization of print as "truly a third revolution in

communication" on scale with the invention ofwriting and the printing

7G Maier Fall 2000

press. ^ These historical metaphors ascribe mythic proportions to thecomputer, but the point remains that the news business has undergonefundamental change. Notes DeFleur, "A decade ago, few journalists wouldhave regarded the history of the electronic computer as relevant to their

craft. However, it is now a critical analytical tool. Like it or not, it has

become a part of the intellectual heritage of journalism, just as othermajor technologies, such as the power-driven press, the telegraph, and thelinotype did in the past."^

Computer-assisted reporting is less a new form ofjournalism than itis an extension of the time-honored tradition ofwatchdog and investiga-tive journalism. '"Computers enable skilled journalists to follow the data,to dig deeper and unearth underlying patterns and societal failings, just asgenerations of muckrakers have done using old-fashioned reportingtechniques. Drawing on an even earlier journalistic tradition, newsroomuse of computers extends John Milton's notion of a "marketplace of ideas"into systematic examinations of electronic government records."

Computer-assisted reporting also fits well with the concept of publicjournalism by generating information that reveals structural explanationsfor what is happening in a community.'^ But whether employed fortraditional or new forms of journalism, technology augments but does notreplace basic "shoe-leather" reporting or the need for skilled storytelling.As proponents have insisted fi"om the early days of computer-assistedreporting, the computer is akin to the telephone it is "just anothertool" for getting information.'^

"The Trouble with Machines"

In an event ofwhich historians took little note, the first use ofcomputers for news analysis occurred November 4, 1952, when CBStelevision made use of the Remington Rand UNIVAC to predict theoutcome of the presidential contest between Dwight Eisenhower andAdlai Stevenson. Defying pollster expectations, the computer accuratelypredicted a landslide for Eisenhower. But it was not until late on electionnight that Walter Cronkite and other newscasters accepted the computer'scall, prompting CBS commentator Edward Murrow to remark, "Thetrouble with machines is people."'^

The print media's use of computerized survey data dates at least to1963, when Newsweek published its reports on the "Negro in America."''In 1967, precision journalism pioneer Philip Meyer turned to computersto analyze survey data ofAfrican Americans living in an inner-citycommunity buffeted by race riots. '^ The resulting story in the Detroit FreePress, "The People Beyond M"^ Street," 'Splayed a major role in the FreePress staff's award of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for local general reporting.'^

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A year later, Miami Herald editors and business officials pondered howthey might harness their state-of-the-art computer to perform researchtasks beyond the human capabilities of the reporting staff. ^^ Out of theirdiscussion, "A Scientific Look at Dade Crime" was conceived. On the firstday of publication of the week-long series, the Herald boasted it had"ventured into a new area ofjournalism,"^" a claim that has stood the testof time. Though it is a common practice today, no other paper before hadused the computer to analyze government records.^' However, the seriesdrew little attention then or in more recent years. For example, theFreedom Forum's Newseum displays several examples of the early use ofcomputers in the newsroom, but missing from the exhibit is mention ofthe Herald's pioneering work. This account seeks not only to establish theHerald's place in history, but also to help explain why as is often the casewith technological innovation it took several decades for computer-assisted reporting to take hold in the newsroom.^^

Happenstance, Abandonment and Resurrection

As with many journalistic enterprises, the Herald's 1968 investiga-tion of Dade County's judicial system was more a matter of happenstancethan design. Herald reporter Clarence Jones, a hard-driving investigativejournalist, had intended to expose the corruption of a prominent judge.But the judge died while Jones was collecting the evidence against him.Rather than abandon his work, Jones decided to expand the investigationto search for a pattern of corruption in the Dade County judicial system.

The scope of the investigation was ambitious. Jones and his editorswanted to track how every major criminal action was handled over a year,from arrest to final disposition.^^ Calculating that it would take morethan two years to singlehandedly compile the information, the Heraldhired a dozen University of Miami law students to cull through police andcourt records. The newspaper also figured the crime investigation wouldbe ideal to showcase the newspaper's high-powered IBM 360.^"*

Herald editors considered Jones a natural choice to lead such aproject. He was intelligent (four years earlier, he had received HarvardUniversity's prestigious Nieman fellowship), he knew his way around thecourtroom, and from the newspaper's perspective, he also was technicallyminded. "The clincher," Herald Executive Editor John McMullan ex-plained in his weekly column, "was the important fact that Jones knewenough about mechanics to perform the periodic checkups on the familyVolkswagen."'^' At age 32, Jones already had made his mark as a journaliston the rise. He began working full-time as a reporter while still in journal-ism school at the University of Florida. By the time he joined the Herald

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in 1 964, he had experience as a poHce reporter for the Florida Times-Union and as a political reporter for t\ic JacksonsvilleJournal?^

Technology's Downside

The project proved more difficult than anyone had imagined. Thelaw students discovered the court documents frequently were inaccurateand incomplete.^'' Coding the information was a labor-intensive processthat required keypunching four computer cards for each of the 3,000arrests examined.^* Information systems manager Clark Lambert, de-

scribed by the newspaper's management as the ''Herald's resident genius incomputers," was brought in to handle the technical details.-^^ Lambertand other Herald programmers wrote computer programs in COBOL, ahigh-level computer language, for each calculation.'" Frequently, the

programs had to be reworked because the results either did not makesense or invited new questions to be answered. IBM officials, intrigued bythe novel use of computers in the newsroom, dispatched two program-

mers to assist the Herald}^Jones found himself in competition with his own newspaper, as the

IBM 360 was in high demand by the Herald's production, advertising andbusiness departments. The computer generally was free for newsroom useonly in the late afternoon. In desperation, Jones sometimes turned to acounter-sorter, a device using 19^** century technology to manually sortand count the computer cards. But the counter-sorter could only cross-tabulate variables appearing on the same computer card (each data setfilled four cards). Unlimited cross-tabulation required the ever-busy IBM360. Repeatedly, Jones would have to wait for idle computer time, only tobe frustrated by the results. "The most important thing I learned," Jonessaid in a 1968 interview, "is that a computer can only count. Ifwe aren'tsmart enough to tell it what to count, all we get is garbage."'^ Thecomputer produced so much "garbage" that Jones abandoned the project,packed his bags, and moved with his family to Washington, D.C., for aplum assignment as the newspaper's capitol correspondent.^'

But the project was unwittingly revived by a //(?m^/ publicist who,working far in advance of the intended publication of the crime series,had ordered a full-page advertisement in Editor & Publisher lauding thenewspaper's foray into computer-assisted journalism. "Meet our newestreporting team," the ad said, exhibiting a photograph ofJones sitting nextto a doctored image of a grinning IBM 360 (Figure 1). "ReporterClarence Jones. A Herald computer. Together they cracked the informa-tion barrier on Dade County's rising crime rate." The advertisement,running on page one oEditor & Publisher, could not be ignored. Recalled

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