Computer-Assisted Investigative Reporting - Instructors

Computer-Assisted Investigative Reporting

Meet the CARR Instructors

Mark Tapscott

Mr. Tapscott is editorial page editor of the Washington Examiner and tracks the Internet revolution in media and government. He is a member of the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame and a member of the Media Bloggers Association board of directors. He is also a founding member and host of NewsTrust.net, as well as a visiting journalism fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

Bill Beach

Mr. Beach is Heritage's chief "number cruncher." As director of the Heritage's Center for Data Analysis, he oversees original statistical research on taxes, Social Security, crime, education, trade and a host of other issues, ensuring it's both rigorous in its technical scholarship and produced in time to help inform the public debate over the issue. Under Beach's leadership, Heritage has acquired one of the largest privately held public-policy databases in the United States, as well as a variety of peer-reviewed analytical models. Together, these acquisitions allow the Center to produce some of the most sophisticated calculations done anywhere in the world.

Dave Levinthal

Dave directs the Center for Responsive Politics's original journalism and blogging, and serves as its spokesman. Prior to joining the Center in June 2009, Dave worked at The Dallas Morning News from 2003 to 2009, reporting on Dallas City Hall and national politics. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Dave received bachelor's degrees in newspaper journalism and political philosophy from Syracuse University, where he worked as editor in chief of The Daily Orange.

John Fleming

John Fleming is the senior data graphics editor at The Heritage Foundation and oversees production of the foundation's information graphic content. Mr. Fleming is a former journalism graphic artist, editor, and director who has worked at four newspapers around the U.S., most recently the Detroit Free Press in Detroit, Michigan.

Bill Allison

Bill Allison is the Editorial Director at the Sunlight Foundation. A veteran investigative journalist and editor for nonprofit media, Bill worked for the Center for Public Integrity for nine years, where he co-authored The Cheating of America with Charles Lewis, was senior editor of The Buying of the President 2000 and co-editor of the New York Times bestseller The Buying of the President 2004. He edited projects on topics ranging from the role of international arms smugglers and private military companies in failing states around the world to the rise of section 527 organizations in American politics. Prior to joining the Center, Bill worked for eight years for The Philadelphia Inquirer—the last two as researcher for Pulitzer Prize winning reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele.