This story aimed to give voice to an often-unseen reality and I did my best to cover it with sensitivity and precision. I hope it continues to drive dialogue and progress.

And you could also ask them to send the data in a spreadsheet or “digital, machine-readable format.”

For news nerds (this is pure speculation) I imagine the wording of the FOI would be something like:

"Daily accommodation charge revenue and number of patients charged, broken down by fiscal year, from 2019 to the most recent data available."

Some simple but effective advice for journalists looking to act now:

- Contact journalists doing the work you aspire to do. Ask them to chat

- Consume and analyze the sort of journalism you aspire to do

- Spend some time with the tools you want to use and take small steps to learn them.

4/4

If we can teach local reporters how to file records requests, use open data, implement OSINT, code, and navigate the courts, it would boost the quality of local journalism — and I think the audience would see it right away.

A lot of that comes down to the priorities of newsroom managers though. 3/4

Steven D’Souza said: “Every single reporter should have these tools so that they can do the same kind of work … so that it's not a mystery, that it's not this, you know, magical elixir that only The Fifth Estate can do.”

I completely agree, especially for local reporters. 2/4

The announcement came on the week after CBC's Marketplace shared its investigation into tip theft across the country. www.cbc.ca/news/marketp...