This is a sampling of some of the thousands of documents that newsrooms have published with DocumentCloud. Find many more by searching our public catalog for published documents.
What to say, and not to say, to 'our overseers' The Washington Post, August 15, 2013
The Washington Post annotates documents revealing that the National Security Agency broke privacy rules thousands of times per year.
The Bin Ladens' life on the run Al Jazeera , July 8, 2013
"On the night of May 1, 2011, United States Special Forces launched a raid to kill or capture al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, deep inside Pakistani territory, in a compound within the garrison town of Abbottabad. Following the event, the Pakistani government set up a Commission to establish how US forces could have violated Pakistani sovereignty without repercussions, and how Bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, came to reside secretly in Pakistan for so long.
The report you are reading, looking at the second of these aspects, is drawn from witness testimony and the Commission's own investigations, obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera."
Verizon forced to hand over telephone data – full court ruling The Guardian, June 6, 2013
When The Guardian obtained and made public a top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order, the first of the Edward Snowden leaks about the National Security Agency covering government collection of the phone records of millions of US Verizon customers, it made the document available on DocumentCloud.
Norway kindergartens in violation of law Verdens Gang, March 14, 2013
VG of Norway reports that more than half of kindergartens in Norway have broken the law. Using DocumentCloud, VG journalists analyzed more than 31,000 pages of audit reports and quantified the results. They found a total of 6,400 violations during a three-year span, including careless hygiene, poor security and failure to meet staffing requirements Using DocumentCloud, VG also created a database of the reports.
The assets of officials La Nacion, January 17, 2013
La Nacion Data used DocumentCloud to present a comparison of assets declared by officials in the Argentine government. La Nacion received the asset statements in paper, scanned them and created a data model for comparisons with future statements.
Attawapiskat chief slams audit leak as 'distraction' CBC, January 8, 2013
CBC, the Canadian public radio and TV broadcaster, used DocumentCloud to support a high-profile story on an audit report showing that $104 million dollars of First Nation funds were unaccounted for. The money from the Canadian government was intended for housing, infrastructure, and education but it is unclear what the money was actually used for, CBC reports.
Restaurant Failure Inspections CU-CitizenAccess, July 2, 2012
Restaurant inspections are public record, but most people would never look at them before biting into their burrito. Those in Champaign County, Illinois, are luckier. CU-CitizenAccess compiled ratings and reports for every failed restaurant into one interactive map. Users can view the reports for each restaurant, embedded via DocumentCloud. CitizenAccess explained how the reports work by annotating a sample one in a separate tab.
TPD working through flawed mobile system Tulsa World, June 3, 2012
The local Tulsa Police Department poured “untold thousands of dollars” into a computer system even as the computers malfunctioned and officers complained by the dozen. For their story on the failed system, the Tulsa World utilized just about every means DocumentCloud has for sharing documents with readers: embedded notes, document viewers, and viewers zoomed in on notes, plus an entire searchable set of 125 documents at the bottom.
Ghost Factories USA Today, April 19, 2012
USA Today invites readers to explore a vast multimedia project that documents former lead factory sites across the country. The project shares government documents for many of the factory sites, which showcase a failure to correct contamination or even warn people of it. The articles also include pop-up windows that zoom in on the most important lines in the documents.
Unfit for Duty The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, December 4, 2011
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune found one Florida police officer who was patrolling the streets despite 40 Internal Affairs investigations in his file. The investigations included incidents of abuse, theft and unwarranted strip searches. And that was just one personnel file among 12,000 pages that the paper obtained. The investigative team used DocumentCloud to annotate and search the profusion of documents to prepare their nine-part series on prolonged misconduct by Florida police.
Jack Layton's Last Letter to Canadians CBC, August 20, 2011
DocumentCloud’s usage is usually investigative, but as of the beginning of 2012 the single most viewed document hosted on DocumentCloud is a personal letter. The CBC used DocumentCloud to publish a letter to Canadians from former New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, who died of cancer last year. Almost a million people have viewed Layton’s letter in the five months since the CBC posted it.
Unmasking the John Does The New York World, October 27, 2011
After the New York World published a story on bribery in the city housing department, they took their investigation a step farther. They determined the identities of the FBI’s two confidential informants who were involved in the scandal. Identifying these witnesses helped the World examine the impact of the corruption on a series of construction projects for low income New Yorkers. And a series of embedded annotations and direct links to source documents showed readers exactly how they did it.
Why Can't Linda Carswell Get Her Husband's Heart Back? ProPublica, December 15, 2011
ProPublica wanted to share their source documents for the article, “Why Can’t Linda Carswell Get Her Husband’s Heart Back?” But sharing 500 annotations among 64 documents is no simple measure. So ProPublica allowed readers to switch on an “Explore Sources” tool, which highlights portions of the article that can be traced directly back to the source documents. As they read the article, viewers can click any of these highlighted passages to open a window into the original document. The tool makes for highly transparent reporting that stops short of overburdening readers.
Did ICE Intentionally Mislead? Mother Jones, May 19, 2011
When allegations surfaced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement intentionally misled local authorities about whether or not they would be able to opt out of a controversial enforcement program, Mother Jones shared 17 pages of correspondence between the legislator who raised the concern and immigration officials. In their reporting, used DocumentCloud's embedded note feature to highlight the particular passage that raised red flags for legislators. Readers had the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not the particular passage was vague, damning, or being blown way out of proportion.
Dollars for Docs ProPublica, May 5, 2011
DocumentCloud allows users to embed whole collections of documents, and we've seen newsrooms do some great work with embedded sets. Alongside their in depth reporting on the flow of money from pharmaceutical companies to individual doctors and to medical organizations, ProPublica collected and embedded documents filed by 33 different medical groups documenting monies the groups recieved from related industry organizations and presented those to readers.
Series
Judge Uses Unlicensed Psychologist For Mentally Ill News Channel 5 (Nashville, TN), March 1, 2011
When investigative reporter Phil Williams looked into the case of a judge putting mentally ill defendants in the care of an unlicensed psychiatrist, he accompanied his report an extensively cross referenced set of documents. News Channel 5 used DocumentCloud to point readers from a letter sent to the station's legal counsel insisting that the subject of their investigation had never actually collected on checks made out to "Casey Psychological Services" to cashed checks suggesting otherwise and from those checks to the Tennessee law that appears to have been violated by the unlicensed counselor. Through out their report News Channel 5 points readers to the laws they believe may have been broken and the records and correspondence that lead them to their conclusions. See our documentation for help linking straight to a key annotation in your story.
The Ruben Salazar Files Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2011
In 1970 Ruben Salazar was killed by police while covering an anti-war protest in East Los Angeles. A case rife with controversy, questions, and suspicions, his death became a rallying point in the Mexican American civil rights movement. 40 years later, after refusing a public records request for documents that might shed some light on the circumstances of his death, Los Angeles County's Sheriff's Department agreed to turn the files over to the Office of Independent Review. While Los Angeles Times reporters waited for the report, they assembled their own folio of early clippings on Ruben Salazar. Readers can review FBI files obtained by the Times in 1999 and LAPD records on the department's repeated clashes with the journalist as well as a draft of the report prepared by the Office of Independent Review.
Flying Cheaper Frontline and Investigative Reporting Workshop, January 18, 2011
Following a February 2010 report on flight outsourcing at major airlines, Frontline viewers encouraged the show to take a look at the outsourcing of airline maintenance work. The resulting piece found an unregulated and tight margined maintenance industry. Reporters from Investigative Reporting Workshop and Frontline also found it quite difficult to access information about the airline maintenance industry and federal regulation of it, but what documents they were able to acquire were published right alongside their reporting. Producers at Investigative Reporting Workshop used DocumentCloud's API to pull thumbnail images, document titles and short descriptions of each document and automatically assemble an inviting overview of the source material behind their report.
Documents
Willamette's Web of Deals Statesman Journal, December 19, 2010
Reporter Tracy Loew used DocumentCloud to organize and annotate hundreds of documents that she accumulated in the course of her 16-month investigation of questionable spending in Willamette, Oregon's regional school district. Her reporting turned up a decade's worth of red flags that had been raised -- and ignored -- in the agency's financial management, adding up to millions of misspent dollars. Statesman Journal used DocumentCloud to publish the contracts, court filings, and correspondance underpinning Loew's findings. The board charged with overseeing the department claimed to be ignorant of the shenanigans, but the paper's documents suggest that the board was part of the problem.
Special Report
Child welfare agency wastes $514,000 on cellphones Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2010
A routine audit of Los Angeles County's troubled Department of Children and Family Services found over a thousand phones activated and incurring service charges but not in use by agency personnel, while individual staffers racked up thousands of dollars in personal long distance charges. In addition to reporting on on the audit, LA Times shared the audit itself with readers.
Pervasive Fraud in Probation Department Hiring Boston Globe, November 18, 2010
In May of 2010, Boston Globe reporters took an extensive look at accusations of patronage in Massachusetts' Probation Department, prompting the state's high court to [appoint an independant counsel][42] to investigate the agency's hiring practices and other allegations. The Globe thoroughly annotated that [337 page report][43] for readers.
Counsel Appointment | Counsel Report
FOI Request 2009 Somerville Campaign Finance Reports Post Somerville* and MuckRock, November 9, 2010
Post Somerville covers local politics in Somerville, MA. It is a labor of love, run by volunteers. They wanted to post municipal campaign finance records for their readers to examine. MuckRock, an innovative little shop will file freedom of information requests on behalf of interested individuals (or organizations). MuckRock helped Post Somerville acquire the records from the City Clerk, but faced with copying charges estimated at $100, the bloggers were not thrilled about paying out of their own pockets for the files. Instead they turned to Spot.us to raise the copying fees from their readership. Close to two dozen readers contributed to the copying expenses.
Request
The Wellstone Files Minnesota Public Radio, October 25, 2010
MPR News published 219 pages of FBI records on Paul and Sheila Wellstone, in a story that travelled from the agency's early surveillance of Wellstone, the civil rights and anti-war activist, to their investigation into threats against Wellstone after he joined the US Senate in 1991. Throughout reporter Madeleine Baran's feature story examining the collected documents, MPR News used thumbnail images as pullquotes and directed readers to relevant passages that they'd highlighted in each document.
Two Worlds: Government Contractors, Alaska Natives Washington Post, October 1, 2010
Since 2001, billions of dollars in government contracts have been awarded to Alaska native corporations, or ANCs, through a program designed to support indiginous run corporations by giving them a leg up in the bidding process. A Washington Post investigation found that the vast majority of the money in those contracts never makes it north to Alaska. The documents they published to help make their case include consulting agreements, letters, a senate report highlighting weak oversight of the ANC program, and an SEC filing.
Ernest Withers: Exposed Commercial Appeal, September 12, 2010
A year long investigation by Memphis' Commercial Appeal revealed that the photographer responsible for some of the most iconic photographs of the civil rights movement, Ernest Withers, was also serving as an informant for the FBI, spying on the same civil rights leaders he befriended. The Commercial Appeal published dozens of FBI reports alongside their reporting, inviting readers to follow the papertrail alongside reporter Marc Perrusquia.
NYC Ballot Design Could Cause Confusion WNYC, October 21, 2010
Ballot Tells Voters to Fill Wrong Oval(http://www.wnyc.org/articles/its-free-country/2010/oct/21/ballot-tells-voters-fill-wrong-oval/)
New York City introduced paper ballots in the 2010 primary election, to comply with a 2002 federal law that mandated significant updates to voting systems in each state. Local NPR affiliate, WNYC invited a group of ballot design experts to review the city's new ballots. They identified a number of problems likely to trip up voters, and used DocumentCloud to flag each one for their readers.
When officials released sample ballots for November's general election, the Brennan Center discovered instructions erroneously advising voters to mark the oval above a candidate's name. In fact, the relevant ovals appear below candidate's names. As it turns out, the faulty language was mandated by state law.
Unlocking More of Mark Twain's Unpublished Material PBS NewsHour, July 7, 2010
Mark Twain ensured that many of his personal papers and essays would remain unpublished for 100 years after his death. When the Mark Twain Project released an 1889 essay, "Concerning the Interview," NewsHour featured the original manuscript.
Article | Manuscript
2010 Voter Guide Commercial Appeal, July 1, 2010
Memphis's Commercial Appeal rounded out their guide to August's primary elections with a sample ballot. Their Digital Content Editor told us that many readers, who'd missed the sample ballot in the print edition turned to the version online as primary day approached. They're planning on using DocumentCloud to post a sample ballot again in November.
General Election Ballot | Primary Ballot | Voter Guide
Internal e-mails show top Interior Department officials involved in 'brainstorming' for new national monuments Great Falls Tribune, July 6, 2010
Rumors that the Department of the Interior was considering monument designation for millions of acres of federal lands caused an uproar in Montana. In Big Sky Country, land use and conservation are big issues. The statehouse reporter for Montana's Great Falls Tribune caused quite a stir when he unearthed nearly four hundred pages of email records and other memos detailing conversations that the Department of the Interior was busy insisting never happened.
Emails | Memos
Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas Las Vegas Sun, June 27, 2010
When Las Vegas Sun released and extensive package of reporting on hospital care in Las Vegas, they included a round up of documents, from CDC reprots and legislation to patient records and internal memos.
Package | Documents
Rod Blagojevich On Trial Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2011
The Chicago Tribune aggregated their documents related to former Governor Rod Blagojevich's corruption trial in a single collection, including transcripts of wiretaps.
Trial Coverage | Documents
Coast Guard Logs Reveal Early Spill Estimate of 8,000 Barrels a Day Center for Public Integrity, June 3, 2010
Center for Public Integrity learned that Coast Guard officials grasped the potential threat of a catastrophic spill within hours of the explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, estimating that 8,000 barrels a day of crude oil could possibly gush out of the well in the event of a complete blowout. They published those logs, which were [subsequently referenced][73] by the New York Times as well.
Article | Logs
Deciphering the Full Text of SB 1070 Arizona Republic, May 23, 2010
Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, the famed new immigration law signed by Gov. Brewer in April, might be one of the most discussed laws of the decade. The Arizona Republic tells us that the annotated version of the bill, hosted by DocumentCloud, was among the most widely read pieces on their website that week.
Senate Bill 1070
The Tory-Lib Dem Agreement: Reading Between the Lines PBS NewsHour, May 12, 2010
NewsHour wrote a whole story between the lines of the coalition agreement hammered out between Britain's Conservatives and Liberal Democrats as they formed their new coalition government.
Coalition Agreement
Training Exercises Showed Gaps in Government Preparedness Before BP Oil Spill Center for Public Integrity, May 11, 2010
The Center for Public Integrity invited fuller scrutiny of drills meant to prepare relevant government agencies for a massive oil spill. The results of these drills foreshadowed the stumbles in the federal response to the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Elena Kagan, Candidate for the Court Washington Post, May 10, 2010
The Washington Post put together a roundup of coverage and background material on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. They included testimony related to Kagan's 2009 confirmation hearings for solicitor general as well as her personal financial disclosures. Documents
Blagojevich defense wants Obama subpoenaed Chicago Tribune, April 22, 2010
The Chicago Tribune used the annotations in the document viewer to put a heavily redacted subpoena back together.
Subpoena
Financial 'Reform' Dodges Some Big Lessons Huffington Post Investigative Fund, April 28, 2010
Huffington Post Investigative Fund annotated a handful of emails and ran them in a "more to this story" box alongside their reporting on the lack of followup at the Office of Thrift Supervision.
DCFS foster parents letters lack court oversight Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2010
The Chicago Tribune added letters and court orders that surfaced during their investigation into lax oversight at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Article | Letters
Looking Back on Stevens' 34 Years on the Supreme Court PBS NewsHour, April 9, 2010
NewsHour added the full transcript of Supreme Court Justice Stevens' confirmation hearing to their report on his retirement.
The Magnetar Trade ProPublica, April 9, 2010
ProPublica, NPR's Planet Money and This American Life collaborated on an extensive report on one hedge fund's unorthodox and legally questionable practices. The subject of their reporting declined to respond to most questions put to them by reporters, who in turn used DocumentCloud annotations to highlight Magnetar's responses. They also provided readers with email messages discussed in the reporting.
