Journalists sometimes ask why The Heritage Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy established its Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting (CARR) program in October 1999. There are three basic principles underlying the Heritage CARR program:

• Heritage believes CARR is among the milestones in the journalism profession’s development. This is because CARR provides the tools to move journalism from what is often anecdote and secondary source-based reporting on public policy issues to a data-driven approach that includes significant original research. As a result, public understanding of complex public policy debates and proposals can be greatly enhanced by the more widespread use of CARR techniques in print, digital and broadcast newsrooms. Heritage believes CARR skills should be required skills for all journalists and bloggers covering public policy issues. 

• Heritage believes the policymaking process can also be improved when more and better data are available to policy-makers. This is why Heritage has since 1996 invested heavily in its Center for Data Analysis. The primary mission of CDA from its inception has been to provide Members of Congress and the Executive Branch on both sides of the aisle with independent, methodologically transparent and peer-reviewed analyses of public policy proposals. Making these same analytical capabilities available to journalists represents a logical step in leveraging Heritage investment in CDA.

• Heritage believes the public has the right to know how its business is being conducted in government. As a result, Heritage enthusiastically supports efforts to put billions of dollars worth of government procurements on the Internet and other efforts to increase transparency in government operations. Encouraging and facilitating CARR will enhance the ability of journalists to perform their constitutionally protected role as independent watchdogs on government

The following are just a few of the initiatives in the history of the CARR program.

Partnership With Sunlight and CRP

Beginning in 2007, The Heritage Foundation partnered with the Sunlight Foundation and Center for Responsive Politics. The result was an expanded emphasis on the role of the Internet in data collection and presentation.

Instructors included Heritage fellow Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor at the Washington Examiner; Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis; Greg Elin and Bill Beach of the Sunlight Foundation; and Sheila Krumholz and Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Database 101/201 at the National Press Club

These events provide intensive, hands-on CARR training for journalists and bloggers with limited or no previous experience working with databases. Classes are limited to no more than 12 participants and are taught by experienced journalists and data analysts.

Attendance is free and all materials are provided at no cost, including the latest edition of the textbook "Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide" by Brant Houston, former executive director of Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE).

More than 300 editors, producers, reporters and researchers representing virtually every major news organization in America have attended the Heritage CARR boot camps since their inception in 2000.

The events are hosted by The Heritage Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy in coordination with the National Press Club's Erik Friedheim Library.

On the Road

Instructors of the CARR program took the boot camp on the road in October 2007 with the support of the Show-Me Institute and Missouri Broadcasters Association. Broadcast journalists took part in daylong workshops in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis, Mo.

Society of Professional Journalists Convention

For the first time in the history of the CARR program, instructors were invited to present a day-long boot camp at the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Washington, D.C., in October 2007. Journalists from newspapers and online outlets from across the country took part in the training.

National Journalism Center

More than 50 National Journalism Center interns have graduated from the boot camps since the two groups began partnering in 2002. Depending upon the interns’ scheduling needs, these CARR programs are typically one-day events or integrated with the National Press Club training.

Paul Miller Fellows Program

In addition to the regular schedule of Database 101/201 CARR boot camps hosted by the Center for Media and Public Policy, it also partners with professional journalism and new-media organizations to provide specialized CARR training. In the past, the National Press Foundation’s Paul Miller Fellows have taken part in a half-day seminar.

The Paul Miller Fellows are selected by NPF and are drawn from major domestic and international media organizations with Washington, D.C., bureaus. The special CARR program for the fellows has included teaching sessions on using spreadsheets, finding and using data on the Internet and other aspects of CARR.

Media Bloggers Association

The Center for Media and Public Policy has partnered with the Media Bloggers Association for a two-day boot camp as part of MBA’s BlogNashville national meeting in 2005. It is believed this event was the first such training ever provided for bloggers seeking to upgrade their journalism skills. David Kamin of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities joined the instructors for the boot camp.

The Media Bloggers Association held another boot camp in 2006 at the Freedom Forum’s Diversity Institute training newsroom.

Media General and Bureau of National Affairs

Special half-day and one-day CARR seminars have been provided for editors, producers and reporters for Media General, Inc. in Richmond, Va., and for editors and reporters of the Bureau of National Affairs, the respected Washington, D.C.-based newsletter publisher.

Analytical Analysis for Journalists

The CARR program often partners with journalists doing CARR-based projects, including those of unusual complexity requiring advanced analytical and processing capabilities. For example, Heritage partnered with reporter Mike Hedges, then of Scripps Howard News Service, in analyzing claims that the Justice Department's COPS program reduced the nation's crime rate. For the York (Pa.) Daily Record, Heritage conducted an unprecedented analysis of the role of judges' backgrounds in criminal sentencing in Pennsylvania courts. And Heritage worked with reporter Cheryl Wetzstein of the Washington Times examining changing public attitudes on divorce, as reflected in the General Social Survey.

All of Heritage’s partnering work is methodologically transparent and we encourage partners to seek independent peer reviews. Pre-publication confidentiality is guaranteed and we understand the critical importance of meeting deadlines. We are especially interested in partnering with journalists on reporting projects concerning healthcare, homeland security, defense, Social Security and federal spending issues, but virtually all public policy issues provide "target-rich environments" for enterprising journalists.

Computer Modeling

Journalists are just beginning to tap the many ways in which computer can be a valuable reporting resource. Among the eight models maintained by Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis and available to journalists through the CARR program is the U.S. economic model described by the New York Times as among "the most frequently used" in Washington.

Investor's Business Daily used Heritage’s U.S. economic model to compare the 2000 presidential candidates tax proposals. Other available models include the Heritage World Trade Model that measures things like the economic impacts of changing trade trends and tariffs and the Social Security Rate of Return Model, the first to project returns by ethnicity and geography.

Heritage can also build computer models for specific news projects, as we did for Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau. That model tested claims by federal officials that U.S. Census undercounting causes increased costs for local and state governments through unfunded federal mandates.