We knew that in recent years Strates Shows had entertained the agriculture officials who oversaw the contract at an annual carnival convention in Las Vegas. We had been told that cozy relationship went way back. State officials save the darnedest things, so I went to the records warehouse looking for proof of an old, friendly, relationship between agriculture officials and Strates Shows. Bless every man and woman who has ever whispered a tip in my ear and put food on my table. But, in my experience, tips are appetizers.
Records are the meat and potatoes of most investigative stories and many other stories.
Public records are critical to our work because they add richness of detail that, often, we can t get anywhere else. They make our stories more authoritative and, therefore, more believable. Sometimes they enable us to do stories that, otherwise, just couldn t be done knowing something is true is one thing, proving it is true is something else. Records can give us the proof we need to publish. Good record work also produces good interviews.