News enterprise vs. investigative

I always have trouble telling whether a story (or short series) involving a lot of legwork and records requests belongs in the investigative category or the enterprise category. Is there any clear cut way to tell the difference?

Remember the Supreme Court justice that famously said of pornography that he knew it when he saw it? Unfortunately the answer to your question may be closer to that than any clear cut definition.

While reasonable people may disagree on this topic, we'll give the question a shot. Both News Enterprise Reporting and Investigative Reporting involve beyond the normal level of journalism you'd do for a daily story.

We'd regard Investigative Reporting as being about uncovering a problem, illegal activity, pattern of abuse or something in that realm.

News Enterprise Reporting might involve the same level of work, but more in the way of trying to break down or explain some issue or trend. You're not trying to right a wrong, you're attempting to thoroughly illuminate an issue for your readers.

One big difference between the two involves the submission of a letter for  Investigative Reporting showing what impact the stories had on the community or how the reporting lead to a resolution of the problem. The description for Investigative Reporting states, "evidence of probable impact will weigh heavily in the judging."

Such a letter is not required or even encouraged for News Enterprise. Impact is not judged in News Enterprise. That's an important distinction.