Join IRE and NICAR in Phoenix for the 2010 Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference. The annual event, which offers hands-on training, panels on the latest trends and insight into cutting-edge developments, will be hosted by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from March 11-14. The 2010 CAR Conference will give you the tools you need to dig deeper into stories and give readers, viewers and your online audience the information they're demanding. It will offer something for everyone, from beginners to those with years of experience. The training provided at the conference helps journalists ... Read more ...

In this free-read article from Uplink, Gavin Off of the Tulsa World shows how he used local school crime report data to uncover a rise in incidents at local elementary schools. The article provides useful tips for journalists who'd like to cover school crime in their own areas.

Ron Koziol, a co-founder of Investigative Reporters and Editors and a member of the Arizona Project team, died Saturday, June 13, of congestive heart failure. He was 74. Koziol was a longtime police reporter at the Chicago Tribune. In 1975 he helped found IRE, and he was a member of the group of reporters who went to Phoenix following the murder of reporter, and fellow IRE founder, Don Bolles. The team’s mission was to complete the investigation Bolles was conducting into organized crime and land fraud. “Ron was IRE's first president and helped make it a national organization ... Read more ...

If you missed the 2009 IRE Conference — or if you were there but just miss the conference — here are some online recaps and blog posts on the IRE site and elsewhere. [caption id="attachment_609" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Sy Hersch and James Bamford (Photo by Lindsay Beyerstein )"][/caption] Visit IRE's On the Road blog for posts by Alexandra Berzon of the Las Vegas Sun, Margo Smit of VVOJ, and Dawn Fallik of the University of Delaware. Authors Steve Weinberg and Roy Harris covered our Showcase Panels. (Thanks to all for volunteering.) On other sites, Deborah Potter blogged ... Read more ...

By Roy Harris With his first words, Bob Woodward signaled the blunt, no-nonsense tone of "Accountability Reporting and Digging Deep," the 2009 IRE Conference showcase panel with Woodward and Leonard Downie Jr. [caption id="attachment_534" align="alignright" width="120" caption="Bob Woodward"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_533" align="alignright" width="120" caption="Leonard Downie Jr."][/caption] Downie-- the longtime executive editor at The Washington Post, now headed for Arizona State University--had begun the discussion by describing the 37-year reporter-editor relationship started during the Post's 1972 Watergate coverage, and by welcoming the rare chance to appear with his most famous reporter ... Read more ...

By Steve Weinberg With all the gloom about the future of newspapers and other mainstream media, the speakers at the showcase panel "Doing great work in tough times" at the 2009 IRE Conference provided a mostly upbeat alternate conventional wisdom. Jill Abramson, New York Times managing editor, moderated the panel. She is bullish on the future of The New York Times, both hard copy and online. Even with a layoff reducing the news staff by 100, the newspaper still employs about 1200 journalists producing copy for the hard copy and Web versions. At ABC-TV news and ABCnews.com, Brian Ross ... Read more ...

(This is the news release from the Knight Foundation's announcement at the IRE Awards Luncheon, June 13, at the 2009 IRE Conference in Baltimore.) The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced a $15 million initiative to help develop new economic models for investigating reporting on digital platforms. The grants, some on-going, some new and some yet-to-be announced, will promote both local and national investigative reporting in order to help provide the vital stories that citizens need to run their communities and their lives. “Communities are harmed by what they do not know. A community can’t ... Read more ...

Hundreds of dedicated investigative reporters and editors will gather for the IRE Conference in Baltimore this week to hear from the industry's biggest names, to honor the nation's best investigative journalism and to brainstorm about ways to breathe new life into the profession. Already, more than 700 reporters, editors, journalism educators and students have pre-registered for the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference that begins Thursday, and continues through Sunday, at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront. On-site registration will be available at the conference hotel, located at 700 Aliceanna Street. "With the challenges facing the news media today, the expected ... Read more ...