Jill Abramson, who took over as executive editor of The New York Times in September, will deliver the keynote address at the 2012 IRE Conference in Boston. She is the first woman to hold that position in the newspaper's more than 160-year history. 

More than 800 journalists and journalism educators are expected to attend the four-day conference that focuses on accountability reporting techniques and trends. Abramson will deliver the keynote speech during annual IRE Awards luncheon on Saturday, June 16, 2012. She follows CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, who was the keynote speaker at the 2011 IRE Conference. 

"Jill ...

Avoiding landmines when dealing with confidential sources was the focus of one of the panels highlighting a joint workshop held last week by IRE and the Canadian Association of Journalists.

More than 90 journalists gathered at the Ryerson University School of Journalism to learn more about key issues facing journalists on both sides of the border, from the environment and terrorism to using open records laws and finding relevant data online.

The confidential sources panel, featuring three journalists and a media lawyer, provided practical advice in how to deal fairly with sources who request confidentiality while not getting into legal ...