Submitted by Melfi on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 13:38.
Our discussion in class today and my experiences with Cathy's Book have made me think about my experience with Public Records searching and reporting.
All journalism majors, including myself, are required to take "Fact Finding" a course that essentially teaches you about individual rights to public information as well as how to go about finding this information efficiently and legally for the sake of accurate reporting.
Although the class sounds rather boring to most (oo, the joys of perusing through microfilm, old forms and computer records at your local clerk of the court and county offices) I actually found it rather fascinating. It's amazing, and a little scary, that I know exactly how easy it is to dig up any kind of information on someone, and often times, it is equally possible to find supposedly private info like social security numbers, etc., just because of some clerical worker's blind mistake. read more »
