Photo credit: USC Annenberg School
for Communication & Journalism

Congratulations to Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times, for receiving the 2012 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, for their series “Methadone and the Politics of Pain.” Berens will be speaking at IRE's Watchdog Workshop this weekend in Spokane, Wash. Berens and Armstong, both IRE members, will be presented the journalism award during the Selden Ring Award Luncheon, part of IRE's Watchdog Workshop April 13-14 in Los Angeles.

From USC's website:

The $35,000 annual award, which has been presented for the past 23 years ...

Surviving rickshaw "bumper cars" and helping local journalists gain data analysis tools were all in a week’s work for IRE Executive Director Mark Horvit and Training Director Jaimi Dowdell, who recently returned from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"What was nice about the training was how quickly a lot of the journalists seemed to see the value of using the tools," Horvit said. "Several of them were already talking about potential story ideas or ways they could use this to go back and do stories."

The training was similar to IRE's computer-assisted reporting seminars conducted in the the U.S. Horvit ...

Memorizing test questions and passing them on to future test takers is considered cheating by most people. However, for many radiologists, attempting to become board certified, it is simply a technique used to study. CNN's "Exclusive: Doctors cheated on exams" takes a close look:

"From my understanding, I would say nationwide from my friends across the country who are all in the same stages of training throughout the years, everyone gets a group. People decided beforehand what sections I will focus on, in terms of trying to recall those questions and answers," said Dr. John Yoo, a practicing radiologist ...

In "Problems plague cleanup at Hanford nuclear waste site," USA Today’s Peter Eisler takes on 56 million gallons of radioactive waste and finds he isn’t the only one who has a few things to learn. After 10 years of developing the “first-of-its-kind” nuclear waste treatment plant, the Department of Energy and its contractors still don’t know how to build it.

Project costs tripled to $12.3 billion and the start-up date was moved to 2019 from 2011, Eisler reported.

By using in-depth interviews and federal employees' documented concerns over "technical problems," Eisler was able to relay to ...