Perspective on journalism: Caitlin Schmidt
Caitlin Schmidt is the government watchdog and sports investigative reporter at the Arizona Daily Star. Schmidt has uncovered corruption within the Tucson Police Department and Pima County Sheriff’s Department, and wrote dozens of stories about law enforcement officers accused of serious misconduct. She has received numerous awards for her work including a 2018 STAR Award from the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona and one from the Arizona Press Club for her tenacious reporting on allegations of sexual and domestic abuse involving University of Arizona athletes and coaches.
April interviewed Schmidt in 2018 about a variety of topics including:
How she got started & entrepreneurial journalism
The value of public records
Distilling documents for an audience
Investigating sexual misconduct after #MeToo
Lessons she’s learned (public information officers)
The value of copy editors
Changes in the business
““I was bartending and waitressing for a number of years and I knew I didn’t want to do that forever.”
”But really what I enjoyed most about that job was meeting and interacting with new people, hearing their stories.””
Here, Schmidt describes how she got her start in journalism and her introduction to entrepreneurial journalism.
““We’re getting more information from these court cases, from discovery hearings, than we are from the school . . . .””
Caitlin Schmidt is the government watchdog and sports investigative reporter at the Arizona Daily Star. She refers to the following stories in her interview.*
"Wildcats assistant Book Richardson facing up to 60 years if convicted in basketball bribery scandal" • Arizona Daily Star, September 27, 2017
"Lawsuit: UA failed to protect woman assaulted by former running back Orlando Bradford" • Arizona Daily Star, October 14, 2017
"UA withholding access to student-athletes' training about domestic violence, sexual assault" • Arizona Daily Star, November 8, 2017
"UA's self-reported statistics paint incomplete, complicated picture of sexual misconduct" • Arizona Daily Star, November 11, 2018
"5 Tucson police employees fired over prostitution probe" • Arizona Daily Star, July 21, 2015
*This interview includes details about sexual misconduct and assault allegations.
““Our asset forfeiture documents, which are civil cases. . . That’s actually how we found [and] finally broke the story about the prostitution probe.” ”
In the next clip, Schmidt discusses how to distill information from many documents into a story an audience can understand. The following article has an example of when she uses a succinct paragraph to describe public records described in her writing.*
"UA withholding access to student-athletes' training about domestic violence, sexual assault" • Arizona Daily Star, November 8, 2017
* This interview includes details about sexual misconduct and assault allegations.
“ “One of the reports was involving a gang rape that we knew about. It had been mentioned by the plaintiff’s attorney and one of the trials and the [University of Arizona’s] lawyers had acknowledged it, but the school itself still has not formally acknowledged it.” ”
In this clip, Schmidt talks about using public documents to report on allegations of rape against high-profile student athletes, which she found the University of Arizona reluctant to discuss. The following article is a result of that investigation and occurred as the #MeToo movement came to prominence.*
Police reports detail complaints of violence against women by UA football players • Arizona Daily Star, January 23, 2019
*This interview includes details about sexual misconduct and assault allegations.
““I think I had a tendency, at first too, to maybe over-explain my stories when I was reaching out to a source.””
In the following clip she discusses learning how to deal with public information officers, especially when she started working on investigations.
““Copy editors have saved my butt so many times it’s not even funny.” ”
Next, Schmidt talks about the value of copy editors, who help ensure a story is clear and accurate.
““Unfortunately, I think a lot of times the most important stories that you’re going to find on a newspaper’s website aren’t fancy clickbait-type stories.”
”Most of what I write about is scandalous and scandals will always draw attention, which helps. But we have great reporters that are writing about evictions, which is definitely not flashy, but so incredibly important.” ”
Caitlin Schmidt is the government watchdog and sports investigative reporter at the Arizona Daily Star. In the following interview she refers to a #MeToo grant from the Solutions Journalism Network to continue her Title IX reporting.