Investigative Reporting
Prof. Walter Robinson's Investigative Reporting and Advanced Reporting Classes
Distinguished Professor Walter Robinson teaches investigative reporting courses to leading graduate and undergraduate students. Selected through faculty recommendations and because of their distinguished course work, the students divvy up the reporting and research in small groups under Prof. Robinson's direction. He acts as their editor, guiding them as they "prospect" story ideas, burrow through public records and even conduct surveillance as they prepare for publication. Since 2007, these classes have produced 18 page one investigative stories in The Boston Globe.
At the Globe, Prof. Robinson led a team of reporters who won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. He spent 34 years at the newspaper, and directed the investigative unit, the Spotlight Team, from 2000 to 2006. He came to the university in 2007. "I think of the classroom as a newsroom," he said. "They are not ‘students’ but journalists. They are investigating and reporting real news."
2011 Investigative Stories
Students find parking rules ignored by restaurant valets
Traffic often crawls through some of Boston's busiest downtown streets as restaurant valet parkers leave diners’ empty cars double parked. In their reporting for an article published on the front page of the Boston Globe on December 21, students in Prof. Walter Robinson's Investigative Reporting class observed a large number valet parked cars in front of some of Boston's most prestigious restaurants. The article, "Valet parking violations punished lightly, if at all," noted that the Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing rarely punishes violators. One restaurant owner found violating parking regulations was forced to suspend entertainment for two days. Read the article.>>
Student reports on community colleges and guns
•It took police three days to arrest a MassBay student for caring a semiautomatic 9 mm handgun to campus. In, "Open-access policy has risk: guns on campus," graduate student Callum Borchers writes, "...when Darryl Max Dookhran, a reputed gang member with a history of violent behavior, applied to Massachusetts Bay Community College, he didn’t have to report any of his transgressions. Three weeks after Dookhran enrolled, he was apprehended carrying a loaded semiautomatic machine gun around campus, nine days after a student first reported seeing him with a weapon." Borchers wrote this story as part of the Investigative Reporting Seminar let by Prof. Walter Robinson. Read the story.>>
Two jobs for one public employee
• How can one man work two full-time jobs at the same time and rake in an average salary of $200,000 a year? Rachel Kossman, a student in Prof. Walter Robinson's Investigative Reporting seminar, looked at public records to reveal that Lt. Richard G. Covino worked with the Massachusetts Port Authority Fire Department from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. At 3 p.m., the same day, he worked as a paramedic for Boston's Emergency Medical Services Department. An article written by Ms. Kossman and Prof. Robinson entitled "One Man, Two Jobs and a Question," appeared on the front-page of the Boston Sunday Globe on May 1. The report said the two jobs resulted in Covino working long hours with few hours rest, endangering public safety. Both agencies said they were investigating the situation. Read the story.>>
Students investigate firefighter work shifts
• Students working with Prof. Walter V. Robinson have found that the city of Boston turns a blind eye on costly shift-swapping among firefighters. This practice has led some to avoid years of work. The article, "Trading the call of duty for a call of convenience," appeared in the Boston Globe on Sunday, Jan. 30. The student reporters found that more than "70 firefighters owe comrades between three months and a year of workdays." The article was written by Callum Borchers, Gal Triperman Lotan and Prof. Robinson, with contributions from Stefanie Geisler and Cecilia Akuffo. Globe Staff Writer John M. Guilfoil also contributed. The report was done for the Investigative Reporting Seminar taught by Prof. Robinson. Read the story.>>
2010 Investigative Stories
Investigative Reporting Students Get Two Front-page Globe Stories
• The Democratic nominee for state auditor Suzanne M. Bump, and her husband Paul F. McDevitt, call two locations their home and reap the benefits of a personal property tax break for both locations, apparently violating state law. The Oct. 7 article titled “Auditor candidate claimed two property tax exemptions: Bump entitled to only one, state officials say” was written by School of Journalism student Stefanie Geisler and Prof. Walter V. Robinson with assistance from Gal Tzipeman Lotan, Cecilia Akuffo, and Callum Borchers as a project for Robinson’s Seminar in Investigative Reporting. Read the story.>>
• On October 12, students in Prof. Robinson's class published a follow-up story that also appeared on the Globe's front page. The story, "Campaign disclosure improving: But Bump lagging in reports on donors," was written by Gal Tziperman Lotan, Stefanie Geisler and Walter V. Robinson. Cecila Akuffo and Callum Brochers contributed to this report. Read the story.>>
Students Report on Racial Disparity At City Firehouses
• Danielle Ossher, Courtney Brooks and Prof. Walter Robinson investigated and wrote a major story for The Boston Globe, published August 1, detailing racial disparity between black and white firefighters in city firehouses. Thirty-seven years after a federal court order to increase minority hiring, reporting based on city records found, “…many of Boston’s individual units have become increasingly segregated by race, as both white and minority firefighters choose to work alongside their own as part of a seniority system that gives veterans great leeway to decide where they serve. Almost half of Boston’s firehouses are now either more than 85 percent white or more than 50 percent nonwhite…” Bret Silverberg, Chelsea Reil, Lauren McShane, Peter Martin, Rachel Kossman, and Sarrah Benoit also contributed to the story. Read the story.>>
• Students in Prof. Walter Robinson’s Investigative Reporting class reviewed the aggressive fund-raising practices of state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and discovered that he had received campaign contributions from companies that have or want business from the treasurer's office and the five agencies he oversees, including the pension board. The front-page story in the Boston Globe, March 21, was written by graduate student Aaron Lester, undergraduate Michele Richinick and Prof. Robinson. Graduate students Marino Eccher, Kelly Glista and undergraduate Pamela King contributed to the reporting. Read the story.>>
2009 Investigative Stories
• On December 30, a page one Globe story by Professor Robinson's five seminar students disclosed that many statewide officeholders had failed to report occupation and employer information for thousands of their major donors, even though state law requires candidates to collect and report that information. In the article, which was written by graduate student Kelly Glista and undergraduate Pamela King, several candidates pledged to rectify the underreporting. Read the story.>>
• Marino Eccher, a graduate student, wrote a front-page article in the Boston Globe on Nov. 10 about US Rep. Stephen F. Lynch's role in engineering federal grants for a community health center where his wife, Margaret, works and to a substance abuse center where she is a board member. The story is headlined, "Lynch's wife tied to agencies he won grants for." The report was prepared in the investigative reporting seminar under the direction of Prof. Walter Robinson. Read the story.>>
• "When police park at HQ, regular rules do not apply," February 16, by graduate students Colby Cremins and Emily K. Williams. Contributing to this article were Graduate student Jennifer Skala, and undergraduate students Anne Baker, Danielle Capalbo, Emma Johnson, and Casey Ramsdell. Maria Cramer, a Globe staff reporter also contributed to the story. Read the story.>>
• A follow-up story, "Illegal police parking unabated. Officers still using spaces reserved for the handicapped," appeared on April 2. It was written by graduate student Emily Williams and undergraduate Casey Ramsdell. Read the story.>>
2008 Investigative Stories
• "A parking deal for the chosen ones. City-owned space used by the well connected," December 12, by undergraduates Kate Augusto and Matt Collette. Read the story.>>
• "Trusts for mentally retarded neglected," August 31, by Stephanie M. Peters. Read the story.>>
• "No broad inspections at Fenway, Garden. Reviews omit structural issues," June 30, by Nikki Gloudeman. Read the story.>>
• "Stalled case points to woes in city's disability system. Delays since 2000 accident keep hurt officer on payroll," April 22, by graduate student Molly Feit. Read the story.>>
• "Courts strip elders of their independence. Within minutes, judges send seniors to supervised care," January 13, by Jeff Kelly, Maggie Kowalski, and Candice Novak. Read the story.>>
Boston Firefighter Disability Coverage
• "Doctor defends firefighter diagnosis," July 21 by Walter V. Robinson. Read the story.>>
• "On injury leave firefighter stood out as bodybuilder," July 14, by Walter V. Robinson with contributing Globe reporter Betty Grillo. Read the story.>>
• "Fire Dept. disability backlog costs city. Delays in decisions add up to millions," January 11, by Walter V. Robinson and Nikki Gloudeman. Globe correspondent Jesse Nankin and Globe staff reporter Matt Carroll contributed to this report. Read the story.>>
• "Firemen getting enhanced pensions," January 7, by Walter V. Robinson and Jesse Nankin. Globe correspondent Jesse Nankin and Globe Staff reporter Matt Carroll contributed to this report. Read the story.>>
• "High-end fare, with side order of violations. Some of the city's top eateries cited for lack of cleanliness," August 26, by Jennifer Nelson and Bobby Hankinson. Read the story.>>
• "State fails to curb usurious pawnshop rates. Little oversight as poor bear brunt," April 30, by Donna Roberson. Read the story.>>
• "Mayor's plan on guns appears to miss mark. Little impact seen for taking licenses," April 23, by Michael Naughton and Hailey Heinz. Read the story.>>