Traditionally, investigative reporters have relied on shoe leather and patience to ferret out the proverbial smoking gun. However, in the computer age, newsmen are enlisting the machine with dramatic results:
In Providence, the Journal-Bulletin used an IBM 4381 to analyze 30,000 low- interest mortgages issued by the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. By matching mortgage issue dates with the bond issue that financed them, the machine helped expose a "secret fund" that apparently was used to give out RIHMFC loans to politically connected people like the daughter of former Governor J. Joseph Garrahy (who has since returned the loan)....