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L.A. Times invites readers to collaborate on document clearinghouse

March 21, 2011

The L.A. Times has launched a guide to California public records, citing public interest in documents related to last summer’s corruption scandal in Bell, Calif. The site is essentially a reporter’s handbook on basic government reporting, with detailed explainers on covering public meetings, interpreting financial disclosures and accessing documents.

Times journalists Shelby Grad and Sam Allen offered this introduction and invitation for public participation:

Since the public corruption scandal broke last summer in the city of Bell, hundreds of readers have voiced con cerns to The Times about potential problems at the government agencies in their communities. The Times encourages read ers to share government records you consider news worthy or interesting. Send us documents and a Times staffer will review them and post them to this site, which also includes files obtained by our reporters.

Nonprofit news organizations have been leading the charge in collaborative accountability journalism, with sites like ProPublica publishing “reporting recipes” inviting reader participation in their investigations.

But mainstream news organizations have been slower to adopt such crowd-sourcing tactics. What other news sites are inviting their readers into the reporting process in creative and productive ways?

Amanda Zamora / Social media and engagement editor