Talk Roswell Action Committee Online News : News > TRAC Editorial http://talkroswell.org/ Talk Roswell Action Committee (TRAC) online news website en-gb All trademarks are © their respective owners. The comments are property of their posters.All other content is © Talk Roswell Action Committee (TRAC), 2000 - [php] echo date('Y');[/php]All rights reserved. | About This Site | TRAC Privacy Notice | TRAC Disclaimer info@nospam.com (Talk Roswell Action Committee - TRAC) info@nospam.com (Talk Roswell Action Committee - TRAC) Sat, 19 May 2012 20:59:52 -0400 Sat, 19 May 2012 20:59:52 -0400 http://backend.userland.com/rss e107 (http://e107.org) 60 The Citizen Army Solution http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.43.6 This was copy from newmexico.watchdog.org
This is what TRAC would like to see here in Roswell.

The Citizen Army Solution

By Jim Scarantino on April 23, 2010
Print This Post Print This Post Since we exposed vehicle abuse by a division director at the New Mexico Corrections Department, tips on other government misconduct have been flooding in.  Misused funds in a school district, highway department hijinks, bullying by regulators, a supervisor faking their hours, federal stimulus funds for illegal immigrant labor, and on.  Keep them coming. We are thrilled that people feel they can trust us with this information–and their anonymity.  But we can’t do it alone.  State government in New Mexico is riddled with corruption, inefficiency, political favoritism, incompetence and waste.  It’s going to take a lot of journalists to expose it all, more than New Mexico has now.  We need an army of citizen journalists to step into the breach. And not just New Mexico.  Everywhere. That’s why I am in Pittsburgh for the next several days at the request of American Majority.  I am providing basic training for future citizen journalists and muckrakers.  This is my second go at such training.  Last year, the Albuquerque Tea Party asked me to introduce their activists to blogging, social media, public document requests and the like.   On a damp Saturday morning in November, 80 people jammed into a windowless basement in an office complex (the space was provided gratis and the ATP doesn’t have the Bill Richardson’s kind of walking around money).  Some attendees were inspired to become more involved with the Tea Party.  Some dedicated themselves to becoming video correspondents covering the New Mexico Legislature.  Others launched massive e-mail broadcasting programs to keep a growing number of people informed about events in New Mexico and around the country. The video correspondents caught the Legislature and legislators doing things they shouldn’t.  Their video reports showed the disrespect career politicians show taxpayers when they’ve become arrogant about the security of their positions.  The citizen video correspondents embarrassed a couple of powerful folks in the Roundhouse by doing no more than showing the world, via YouTube, what goes on in there. A counterpart of mine, Trent Siebert of Texas Watchdog, precedes me in training citizen journalists.  As the result of a session he led a while back, a woman in North Carolina became a citizen journalist.  She dogged a story about something in government that didn’t seem right to her.  Using basic skills picked up in Trent’s class, she pursued and reported facts that led to the criminal indictment of miscreant public officials. We need an army of such citizen journalists in every state.  There is so much wrong with government at all levels, the shrinking newspapers, the television stations that have pulled their statehouse reporters, the radio stations that have cut their news desks, and myself and my fellow Dogs–we can’t get it done.  We’re not there on the eastern plains in Chaves County watching a highway crew screwing off.  We’re not there at a casino in the middle of the day when a state official and his staff are playing the slots.  We’re not there at a school board meeting in Grant County when a board member matter-of-factly explains how special education dollars are being siphoned off to make life for administrators cushy (I’m thinking of all you wonderful tipsters who get to me too long after the fact). An army of citizen journalists will again make government afraid of the people, instead of the other way around.  That’s the way it’s supposed to be. If you can catch training offered by American Majority, do so.  The Computer Assisted Research and Reporting course offered by The Heritage Foundation is incredible.  Don’t be put off by “The Heritage Foundation.”  They definitely have their agenda.  But their course is so good, and non-partisan in the skills it teaches, it has been taken by hundreds of professional journalists, law enforcement agents and others.  (I had my training at the Press Club in Washington, D.C. ).  You can catch Republican shenanigans as well as Democratic malfeasance with what you’ll learn.  You might be able to get a scholarship to help with the costs. The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which helped us launch this site, is also out there to help. Here’s the best book on the subject, easy to read and follow:  Computer-Assisted Reporting:  A Practical Guide, by Brant Houston (3d ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s) If you can attend any training on inspection of public records and open meetings law in New Mexico, don’t pass up the opportunity.  The New Mexico Independent from time to time gives seminars on these subjects.  The New Mexico Attorney General has a free handbook on public records and open meetings.  The opportunities are out there to learn and they are free. But don’t wait.  Get going now.  Use you camera, tape public meetings and speeches, start asking to see public records on how your money is handled, start a blog, twitter your stuff, put it on Facebook, upload video to YouTube.  Show the world the documents you uncover using www.scribd.com. Stick to the truth. Be factual, even understated.  If you blew the whistle on something significant, professional journalists can take it further and expand the story.  Let them.  Make your motto, “Steal my stuff.” Rely more on documents and photos than what you’re told and scribble down on your notepad and you’ll do fine.  Remember, truth is an absolute defense.  You’ll have fun, join a growing movement, and help set this country right.  And when you get a tip, jump on it.  Like we did on the Charlene Knipfing birthday frolic story:  Get in your car and drive to the restaurant and snap photos of state vehicles being misused.  Then put it on your site.  That’s how you reward whistleblowers in state government for their courage and integrity.]]> baw@nospam.com (Billy Wood) Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:02:16 -0400 http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.43.6 TRAC Monthly Meeting http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.29.6
Wood spoke about the proposed sign ordinance, stating that it had been postponed again and was not discussed at the Sept. 10 City Council meeting.]]> toni@nospam.com (Toni Wiebenga) Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:35:03 -0400 http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.29.6 August TRAC Meeting http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.26.6
RPOA representatives Robert Scribner and Erik Hiatt spoke to members about the importance of having more Police Officers out on the streets.]]> toni@nospam.com (Toni Wiebenga) Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:59:00 -0400 http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.26.6 Editorial in the RDR on July 12 http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.2.6 toni@nospam.com (Toni Wiebenga) Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:00:13 -0400 http://talkroswell.org/news.php?item.2.6