The spreadsheet - available here - will calculate the percentage of any newspaper's coverage that is based on monitoring the local council.
Chie writes:
"I have set it up so that every time anyone edits anything I’ll be notified. If you accidentally delete anything, don’t panic. You can either go to Edit and click Undo or, if the error was more extensive, Go to File > Revision history and keep clicking “Older” until you get to the version you wanted. Then click OK."
The investigation has so far looked at The Brighton Argus and Sussex Express, the Birmingham Post and Mail, and the Darlington and Stockton Times, while the Lancashire Evening Post is in progress.
If you can help by looking at any other paper - or inviting someone who could - please join the investigation.
The two papers returned very similar results. In four weeks,Sussex Express produced an average of 4.15% of council news in its news pages and The Argus, an average of 4.46% over five days.
Join the investigation here and read Chie's blog post here.
"Davies, for example, asked a reporter on a regional paper to keep a diary for a week. In just five days the reporter published 48 stories. He came across one original story in that period, but he didn't have time to pursue it, so he let it drop. "
A recurring question from journalists who look at Help Me Investigate is 'Why should I want to do my work in public and risk a rival stealing my story?'
There are 2 answers to this, which I'll deal with in turn.
Answer 1: It's not for you if you can do it all by yourself
If you have enough time to keep your story to yourself and do all the work yourself, then fine: you don't need the site.
Help Me Investigate was launched to address a number of problems. 2 of them are: journalists not having the resources to pursue stories; and people not feeling that the media is interested in the same things as they are.
So by all means choose to do all the investigating yourself, but if you need to ask for help - if, for example, you don't have the resources, or the story is such a long shot then you cannot risk investing enough time in it - then the site is here. The trade-off is that, yes, it means doing it in public, which takes us onto the second answer.
Answer 2: The rules are changing
The idea behind the 'exclusive' relies on a monopoly model of media where you could hold onto your story for months.
That model is breaking down, and a key element in the new model is that distribution is in the hands of users. If you really want to make an impact with your investigation then engaging in a passionate community around it will be key.
There's also a long-term strategy here which is: if you invest time in an investigation which benefits others in the Help Me Investigate community, they are more likely to help you again, and to tip you off to other stories. This is already happening with the site: journalists who pitch in get tips; those who just take, don't.
