Center for Public Integrity

[Guest guest]

With 6 billion people on the planet and 270 million living in the United

States, who can blame anyone for thinking that one person can't make a

difference? But don't believe it for a second. "

That's how , founder of the Center for Public Integrity, begins

his pitch for the " Citizen muckraking " section on the center's website. " The

goal of the Citizen Muckraking project is to outline some basic techniques

of investigative reporting that you - or any other citizen - can use to

obtain information about the toxic-waste dump in your neighborhood; the

city-council zoning decision that seems to benefit one of the council

members personally; the reason your utility rates have been going up; why

some property-tax assessments increase yearly but others don't; etc.

Information truly is power, and we will show you precisely how to get the

facts. "

They've broken down the section into three parts: Opposition Research,

Follow the Money, and Freedom Trail. This is an encouraging site maintained

by a group which is increasingly making its presence felt in investigative

journalism.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/home.asp