Editor’s note: In his recent Uplink article, Michael J. Berens of The Seattle Times showed how hospital admission data helped him uncover the scope of drug-resistant infections. But getting medical data is often difficult for journalists because of privacy rules.

Erica Nochlin is a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism and a reporter/anchor for KMIZ-Columbia.

I knew the headline from the fatal luxury motor home crash would be short-lived, something like: RV loses brakes on mountain. One dead.

I stuck a note inside my “when-I-have-time” file as a reminder to pursue the story later. Within two days, the accident fell off the local news media’s radar.

Chris Halsne is an investigative reporter with KIRO-Seattle. He can be reached at CHalsne@kirotv.com.

Police departments across America send newsrooms a constant stream of news releases and mug shots of people busted on child pornography charges.

In North Carolina, law enforcement and prosecutors are stepping up efforts to arrest and charge sex offenders. The WTVD investigative team wanted to find out what happens to people charged with child pornography offenses. We faced several reporting hurdles, but ultimately discovered very few people face punishment for their crime.

STEVE DANIELS is the investigative reporter and evening news anchor at WTVD in Raleigh- Durham. Previously he was a correspondent at Dateline NBC and an investigative reporter and anchor at WTVJ- Miami. Daniels has won seven Emmys and many other national and regional awards for investigative reporting. Contact him at Steve.Daniels@abc.com

ROSS WEIDNER is the investigative producer at WTVD in Raleigh-Durham. He previously worked with the ABC News investigative unit in New York. Weidner has been honored for his work by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Broadcast Education Association and the Hearst Foundation. Contact him at Ross.E.Weidner@abc.com.