WWL: New Media Tools for Transparency
The internet has become an incredibly useful tool for citizens looking to hold government accountable
The internet has become an incredibly useful tool for citizens and journalists looking to hold government accountable for the money it spends.
Add in non-profit organizations willing to do some data-mining, and it seems that nearly everything you’d need to track the bank bailout, the recovery, or the salary of state workers is just a click away.
But does more information mean we really get the story? Is there a new style of journalist whose job is to compile all the information out there – and make sure the rest of us can understand it?
We’ll talk with Kate Hinds, a public radio reporter working on Shovelwatch, a project tracking stimulus funds, and with a reporter from ProPublica, which is charting all aspects of government expenditures.
