Do you know what your money is being spent on?

The meeting with WFLA investigative reporter Steve Andrews was probably my favorite field trip thus far. Steve talked about some of his biggest stories he's uncovered in the past five years. The story he talked about the most was his investigation against Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance. Basically, he found that they were spending a ridiculous amount of money on food, $20,000 a year actually.

TBWA is supposed to be a non-profit organization designed to get people jobs. Instead they spent a boatload of money on high-priced food and paid for it by using taxpayers money. Steve also found that they had planning meetings at the company presidents' home and at high-priced restaurants, where they spent money on lunch and dinner.

To break down what they spent on food, Steve found they were spending $13 a gallon on iced tea, $9 per slice of cheesecake from the cheesecake factory, $150 meals from the cheesecake factory, and $50 for a dozen gourmet cupcakes. Steve found that TBWA’s statewide were spending over $600,000 a year on food and they were paying for it using taxpayers money. Because of Steve's investigative reporting, TBWA was crippled. State and law enforcement investigations were put on TBWA, and later a federal investigation was put on them. The president of TBWA had to resign as well as at least two board of directors.

Steve stressed to us that it's imperative to be polite when trying to interview someone, especially while the camera is on. It looks bad on you, the reporter, if you are following someone with a microphone and invading their privacy. It makes the public not like you and relate to the person you are trying to interview.
Steve obtained a bunch of public records from TBWA. The only problem was that there was a BUNCH of records he had to go through. His partners told him he wasn't going to find anything but Steve trusted his instincts. He found plenty of key information from public records (he called it a goldmine) even though it took him forever to read through all of them.

Finally, some important statements Steve made were that it is a reporter's duty to follow the story to the logical conclusion. You work till you're done in this business. Also make sure to have at least 3 questions prepared (and write them down) before you interview someone. Lastly, don't give up on a story if your instincts say there's more to learn.

If you want to read more Steve Andrews articles, visit www.tbo.com and keyword search for his name.