Three-Tranche Research Approach
Share
Nick Bilton's investigative reporting methodology involves an exhaustive, multi-layered approach to research that creates immersive, novel-like narratives while maintaining factual accuracy.
The Three-Tranche Research Approach
- Aims to know "literally everything" about the subject
- Employs researchers (including a former Democratic party opposition researcher)
- Recently enhanced research capabilities using LLMs to query millions of words of data
- Organizes research into three main categories:
-
Personal records and private documents
- Obtains access to subject's personal digital footprint
- Analyzes chat logs, often from hidden folders subjects may not know exist
- Reviews diary entries and personal writings
- Examines all available primary source materials
-
Social media and digital timeline
- Collects all photos, posts, and digital content
- Organizes everything chronologically with timestamps
- Creates comprehensive timeline of subject's activities
- Uses digital breadcrumbs to reconstruct events
-
Comprehensive interviews
- Identifies everyone connected to the subject
- Obtains yearbooks to find elementary/middle/high school connections
- Interviews neighbors, classmates, and casual acquaintances
- Visits locations frequented by the subject (coffee shops, etc.)
Immersive research techniques
- Goes beyond basic fact-gathering to create sensory-rich narratives
- Physically visits locations where subject has been
- Sits in the exact spots where photos were taken
- Experiences the sensory details (smells, sights) to accurately describe them
- Uses detective-like methods to locate specific places
- Analyzes timestamps between photos to calculate distances
- Studies street signs and angles in photos to identify locations
- Creates radius maps to narrow down possible locations
- Walks the same streets and visits the same establishments as subjects
Research completion indicator
- Knows research is complete when he can tell subjects things about themselves they don't know
- Creates physical boards with color-coded scene cards to organize narrative
- Only begins writing after exhaustive research is complete