Backgrounding
To “background” someone is to take a thorough look at their work, financial and criminal histories to ensure that the public has all the appropriate information about an individual that they need.
Here are some of the people on whom reporter should do a background check:
- 1. All candidates for local, county and state elected office;
2. Anyone we profile in a story;
3. Anyone assuming a leading role in a public agency, nonprofit or nongovernmental organization;
4. Any educator or business leader in the news;
5. Anyone who is the focus of a crime-related breaking news story;
6. Anyone else who the reporter thinks he or she needs to background.
The first thing you should do is check our library to see what, if anything, we have written about this person before.
The process:
NOTE: all of the information that is found in common resources such as the Internet MUST be verified before using in the newspaper. Internet research is meant to be a tool to guide reporting, not as a definitive source.
1. GENERIC BACKGROUND CHECK (This should be done first and with Nos. 1-6)
Verify address, property ownership - if any — age, family, marital status, employment record, criminal history - if any - and whether the individual was involved in any criminal or civil lawsuits. Run the person’s name through our electronic archives.
Web sites you can use include (you don’t need to use all of them, just whatever ones are the most helpful in collecting information):
-Google.com (just run their name and see what comes up)
-Nexis.com (will give you address, age, family, criminal background, lawsuits)
-PACER (federal courts for bankruptcy, civil or criminal suits)
-Pretrieve.com (generic records search)
-Searchsystems.net (generic records search)
-Argali (phone numbers, generic records search)
-Reversephonedirectory.com (phone numbers, addresses)
-ZoomInfo.com (generic records search)
-ZabaSearch.com (people search)
-NJ Inmate finder (NJDOC inmate locator)
-FBI sex offenders registries (FBI link to states’ sex offender registry)
-Federal inmate locator (federal inmate locator)
-NJACTB.org (NJ Association of County Tax Boards - will have property ownership and tax data)
2. POLITICANS, ELECTED OFFICIALS (Nos. 1-4)
-ELEC (NJELEC for what the subject gave or received in campaign donations)
-Nexis.com (state voter registration information - does the candidate vote regularly?)
-OpenSecrets.org (search for donations to federal politicians - must have name of donor)
-FEC.gov (FEC campaign and data reports)
-obtain local annual financial disclosure statement (on file with municipal clerk; most local officials, elected or otherwise, must file annually)
-contact the subject’s municipal tax collector to make sure they’ve paid their property taxes.
3. BUSINESS, NONPROFITS INQUIRIES
-Guidestar.org (IRS 990s - annual federal income report charities must file)
-Directory of NJ registered charities
-EDGAR (all financial documents related to publicly-traded companies are filed here. This will only be helpful for execs of the handful of big public companies in our readership area)
-NJ Business Gateway (NJ’s business gateway site. Run the subject’s name to see what, if any, business interests he or she owns.)
-Nexis.com(UCC debt shows up here. UCC debt refers to loans a business owner might have made to secure equipment to run the business. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll also get an Experian credit profile of the owner’s company.)
-Consumer Affairs (NJ Div. of Consumer Affairs - check here if the subject claims to be licensed in some area other than as a teacher)
-Educators licensing (NJDOE department of licensure and credentials - call these folks to see if your teacher is really a teacher)
4. MILITARY (did they really serve? Did they really get that medal?)
-NARA.gov (National Archives and Records Administration: military records for those deceased or discharged. Note: You’ll have to fill out a form and wait.)
- City Editor Jaci Smith, Herald News, April 2006
