Follow the money - Tracking companies' influence on politics (Sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)

Speakers: TBA

These days, the business of businesses is often politics, and by understanding the legislative and regulatory priorities of the companies you cover, you can provide your readers with critical information about them. Ron Nixon of The New York Times and Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation show you how to follow the political money and influence that’s so crucial to the bottom lines of businesses. 

Pre-day at IRE Conference

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The optional sessions will cover computer-assisted reporting, Criminal Justice, and more. An additional registration fee applies.

NOTE: Registration is required for this session. Click here to sign up.

Tableau for Beginners

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Learn how to create beautiful, interactive data visualizations on short deadlines. No programming required. You’ll learn everything you need to build data visualizations and publish them to your website just like
a video. We’ll teach you how to: Connect to Excel files and other data, create maps and charts, format them beautifully and make them interactive.

Uncovering danger with data

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Data can help reporters ferret out perilous situations from schools to the environment. Some data can uncover danger to life and limb while other data can create danger of the editorial kind. We’ll speak on ways to tell the difference and discuss case studies along the way.

The ask: Requesting and negotiating for data

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News, sports and feature journalists will want to attend this session to review old tricks and the latest techniques for access to data and records. We will discuss data requests from beginning to end: how to figure out which records and databases exist; how to deal with difficult public officials; how to get data in the format you want; how to appeal
and successfully challenge denials. The discussion will also include strategies to keep a steady flow of information and ideas coming into your newsroom by using FOI. Time reserved for your questions, suggestions and problems.

Covering justice in Europe and the U.S.

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In this panel, speakers will examine how journalists find sources and information in these different environments, using such well known cases as the CIA’s rendition of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Omar in Italy and the charges of rape against Dominique Strauss Kahn.

Overview of the year in CAR

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Be inspired and see what your colleagues have been up to with new data and creative analysis.

Collaboration: Best practices, successes and pitfalls (Sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Investigative News Network and IRE)

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As collaborations between newsrooms flourish, how do you handle serious journalistic disagreements, such as how a story’s findings are described in the nutgraph? We'll have a brief panel discussion on a case where that’s exactly what happened, hear how the newsrooms handled it, and hear your questions and opinions on the subject.

Welcome to the world of data: Now what do you do?

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If you’re new to data journalism, the idea of working with spreadsheets, databases and web tools can be daunting. We’ll cover strategies you can use to succeed and show examples of high-impact stories you can tackle back home.

Beef up your spreadsheet with NodeXL and PowerPivot

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Handle millions of calculations in a flash; join tables from different sources and do some cool network analyses with Excel. Yes, Excel. A demo of free but extremely powerful analytic tools.

Privacy: Where does access end?

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In today’s technology-saturated world, it is increasingly difficult to protect communications between journalists and sources. This panel explores some of the technology and tactics that journalists can employ to protect their privacy as well as an examination of privacy laws that affect journalists.

Analyzing unstructured data for stories

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Often data doesn’t come in nice neat columns and rows. This session will give you a practical understanding of how to approach information that comes in inconvenient, unstructured forms: tweets, e-mails, reports, videos and other records. We will walk through several examples of reports that have analyzed unstructured data and talk about conceptual and concrete techniques to work with your data. We will provide an online tip sheet with pointers to further tools.

CAR for managers

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Managing the CAR story means not only analyzing data and crunching numbers – the gut work that goes into so many solid investigative stories – but employing creativity in figuring out how to balance the numbers with the shoe-leather to produce the most powerful prose. Panelists look at a host of cases, including CAR work that exposed lazy regulators, crooked businesses and reckless polluters.

Collaboration: Story brainstorming sessions (Sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Investigative News Network and IRE)

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We will break into groups to brainstorm collaborative story possibilities around four datasets, with the goal of returning to your newsroom and launching into a project. The break-out groups will be:

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution's test score data: Disseminated by the AJC team that released the "Cheating our Children" series earlier this year, these data contain the average reading and math test scores for grades 3 through 8 in roughly 69,000 public schools around the country, from approximately 2007 to 2011. The data compare a class's scores between years to help identify unlikely swings in results that could indicate tampering or cheating. The data include statistical test results that measure improbability, generated by the AJC team, for you to use as a guide.
• Census Data on Minorities’ Socioeconomic Slide: When it comes to income, poverty, education and homeownership, the gaps between whites and minorities -- particularly, African-Americans and Latinos -- are worse now than they were before the Civil Rights movement. For example, when compared to the college graduation rates of whites, the gap has doubled for African Americans and more than tripled for Latinos in the past five decades. I-News Network in Denver has analyzed data from the U.S. Census back to 1960 for every state in the nation. Each INN member will be able to look at state and regional trends in education (high school and college graduation), income (median household/family), poverty and homeownership.
• SBA 7a business loans: The SBA 7a business loans database, obtained by NICAR, contains information about loans guaranteed (but not funded) by the U.S. Small Business Administration going back to 1953. You can investigate business in your community and answer questions such as: Who are getting loans and in what income areas? How many loans have been forgiven? How many businesses have failed despite backing by the SBA?
• Federal Contracting Data: Investigative Newsource has merged different federal datasets on minority contractors to determine how often the minority-owned rule is skirted – and where this happens the most. Data experts joined and cleaned up the data and pulled out contracts where half or more was subcontracted to non-minority businesses.

Embedding interactive data and live charts using free Office Web apps

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Learn how to take your Excel workbooks and quickly turn them into part of your published story by using the free Excel Web App. If you have a data-driven story, chances are you already have an Excel workbook with the data. By adding a few extra minutes of work, you can have interactive and gorgeous datasets available to your readers online and as an integral part of your story.

Visualizing the story

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The latest techniques for turning non-visual data into must-see TV and more.

Taming monstrous datasets

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This panel offers guidance on handling stories involving very big datasets, often with millions of records. It’s geared to both data specialists and dataminded reporters. Learn strategies for compressing data into manageable chunks, approaching wide data tables, and handling multiple look-up tables. Grease the collaboration between reporters and data gurus.

Investigating social networks

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What is network analysis (aka social network analysis)? How can I use it in my reporting? We’ll cover the basic concepts involved in analyzing the connections between people and organizations. We’ll look at a project that analyzed the social connections of 1,000 high-ranking officials in South Korea.

The new money trail: Tracking spending in an earmark-free world

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In 2010 Congress banned earmarks, a legislative gimmick, which lets lawmakers attach pet projects to spending bills. But that hasn’t stopped lawmakers from trying to bring home the dollars. This panel will examine the many ways lawmakers are still able to get projects funded for highways, sewer systems, even projects to beneficial to campaign donors, in their districts or states despite the ban.

Tableau for Pros

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Take your data visualization skills to the next level. In this class we’ll push Tableau’s capabilities further to create more complex visualizations. You’ll learn how to: clean and format dirty data, use multiple data sources in the same visualization, build more advanced visualizations and employ advanced interactive elements.

Protect Yourself: Legal and risk-management (Sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Investigative News Network and IRE)

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The Digital Media Law Project will lead a session examining the legal parameters of tax-exempt journalism, including: designing organizations that qualify for federal tax relief and tax-deductible donations; keeping a nonprofit organization afloat while waiting for an IRS determination on tax-exempt status; operating a journalism organization within the boundaries of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; and legal assistance and risk management techniques. The Digital Media Law Project is based at Harvard University and has provided valuable assistance to several INN members over the past year.

Excel mini boot camp

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If you want to really dig deep, you need to know your way around data and electronic records.  This hands-on session introduces data analysis with spreadsheets.  In one afternoon you'll learn to sort, select, summarize and graphically display data.  With Excel's powerful formulas, filtering and pivot tables, you'll turn data into a tipsheet to help guide your reporting and mine data for stories.  Unleash the power of spreadsheets to help you ask smarter questions, work more effciently and produce more watchdog reporting.  Attendees must bring your own laptops loaded with Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010.  Pre-registration is required, you must be registered for the pre-day and pay an additional $20.  

 

Crime trends and statistics (Sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists)

Speakers: TBA

How to get the real story out of confusing crime data. Journalists, a policecommissioner and a criminologist discuss hot topics, including which crime trends are real and which aren’t and how some police departments may be downgrading crimes and skewing statistics.

New ways to package for online, mobile and tablet

Speakers: TBA

Emerging mobile mediums -- tablets, smartphones and e-books -- provide new opportunities for storytelling (and revenue) for news organizations. At the same time, the Web at 20 years old continues to expand its capabilities
through social media and ever-improving technologies. We will look ahead to the contours of the new digital landscape and the opportunities it provides to tell stories (and maybe make money). You will learn what reporters and editors need to do to ensure the right materials are gathered along the way.

Catching the wind: Visualizing and repurposing public data

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The leaders of Google’s “Big Picture” visualization research group will go through a case study, taking public data and making something new from it.

There be dragons: Pitfalls of statistical analysis

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Statistical analysis can be a powerful investigative tool. But for the unwary, it can be dangerous territory. In this panel, Jennifer LaFleur of ProPublica and John Perry of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will talk about how to avoid embarrassing mistakes, how to find the expert help you need and how to explain your analysis so both readers and experts can understand it.

Best practices speed presentations (Sponsored by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Investigative News Network and IRE)

Speakers: TBA

Lightning presentations from INN members
Schedule of presentations subject to change.

• Training as a Revenue Stream Joe Bergantino, NECIRBU
  How to develop and market training programs that can add to your bottom line.
• Tracking your Impact Lauren Hasler, Wisconsin Watch
  Lauren Hasler, WisconsinWatch.org public engagement director, will share tools for tracking your impact, and give other tips for recording, mapping and sharing metrics with your audience, and present and potential funders.
• Diversity: Not Why But How Linda Jue, G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism
  A quick survey of some of the best practices in media diversity being employed by outlets to not only reach a wider audience and meet funders' expectations but - more importantly - help build a more viable strategy for sustainability.
• Diversifying Revenue Sources Laura Frank, I-News Network
  When INN members and funders talk about diversifying revenue, we usually think about donated revenue vs. earned revenue. But what INN members really need are predictable sources of revenue to balance the unpredictable. We'll look at a diverse set of revenue streams, then break them down into predictable and not-predictable, and talk about how to get our revenue pie on the 60%-70% predictable side.
• Partnering with Public Media Brant Houston, INN
  Investigative journalism centers and regional PBS and NPR stations have already had many successes and the future holds great promise. Brant Houston will share findings from his recent report on these collaborations. The presentation will include strategies and lessons gleaned from INN members.
• Free Data Tools Kate Golden, Wisconsin Watch
  You don't have to spend big bucks to analyze big data. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism's Kate Golden will discuss Tableau Public, Google Refine and other free tools that she has used recently for both analysis and presentation.
• Leveraging the NICAR datasets Elizabeth Lucas, IRE/NICAR
  As we did in the previous year, INN has subscribed to NICAR's complete data library for use by our member organizations in their reporting. Liz Lucas will provide INN members with an overview of the data library and share best-practices in using it.
• Reaching new audiences through YouTube Steve Talbot, CIR
  CIR and INN recently announced the formation of the official investigative news channel on YouTube. Senior Producer Steve Talbot will share best practices in producing compelling online video to reach new audiences with greater impact.
• New options in CMS Nicole Hollway, St. Louis Beacon and Jessica Plautz, INN
  INN members have many options when it comes to publishing their content on the web. We will look at two different approaches to digital publishing for and by members.

Free tools

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On a budget? Who isn’t these days? But you don’t have to spend a penny to own a bunch of powerful and easy-to-use tools for gathering, analyzing and presenting data. We’ll tell you about some of the most popular free stuff available, from tools for wrangling, analyzing and mapping data to basics such as free spreadsheets, text editors and photo editing software.

Illegal immigration and the police (Sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists)

Speakers: TBA

The federal government is stepping up identification and deportation of people in the U.S. illegally via a program called Secure Communities. A federal official, advocates on different sides of the issue, and a reporter discuss what
journalists should know about a problem that has caused controversy in law enforcement and elsewhere.

Campaign 2012: Following the money (Sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

Speakers: TBA

From the White House to statehouses, here’s how to get the information you need to find out who’s pouring money into the process, how it’s being spent, and what do with the data once you’ve gotten it.

Finding stories within maps

Speakers: TBA

Your data tells a story – but you might miss it if you can’t put it on a map. We’ll talk about services available to visualize the geographic pieces of your story, creative ways to join freely available data sets to your information, and how to read – or misread – the results. Add some simple geographic operations, and you’re ready to go.

IRE Board of Directors Meeting

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The IRE Board of Directors will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in Boston as part of the annual conference.  The meeting is open to all IRE members. 

Demystifying Web scraping

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Some of the most useful datasets are on the Web, and while they don’t require FOIAs, you might need to do some work to get them into your spreadsheets. We’ll explain what it means to Web scrape and we’ll show you some tools to get you started with fetching your own data.

CAR under pressure

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This session will teach you the value of developing and using your computer-assisted reporting (CAR) skills while under the pressure of doing daily, general news or during a breaking news situation where all hands are on deck in the
newsroom. How can you still stand out? Among your competition? And among your colleagues?

Going international: Digging up information from other countries

Speakers: TBA

As cost-cutting has forced more news organizations to close foreign bureaus and cut back staff, how are international reporters leveraging investigative tools to dig up information in and about foreign countries? Panelists will share insights into some of the unique challenges they have encountered while reporting in Haiti, Pakistan, Egypt and Mexico, and tips and best practices for journalists looking to leverage new technologies in international reporting.

Gag orders and Whitey Bulger: What to do when your sources are silenced (Sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists)

Speakers: TBA

Reporting on sensitive criminal investigations can be a challenge when your best sources have been ordered not to talk. Hear from reporters who covered the long disappearance of mob figure Whitey Bulger on how they broke the story and how to get hard-to-get information on crime stories you are pursuing.

Party with your data! (Hosted by Tableau Public)

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Join us for free drinks and T-shirts at the Party with Your Data Happy Hour! First come, first serve - while supplies last!

Bring your conference badge.  Limited to pre-day attendees.

Blues Bash

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Dynamic blues sensation Gina Sicilia will headline the 14^th annual IRE Blues Bash on Thursday, June 14^th – the opening night of the 2012 conference in Boston.

“Gina Sicilia may be the best blues singer on the scene today,” raves JazzReview.com.  Her latest CD, “Can’t Control Myself,” is ranked as one of the "Best Blues Albums of 2011” by About.com, which adds: “Sicilia delivers a vocal and lyrical performance that rates alongside the titans of early-1960s soul.”  More info is available at www.ginasicilia.com. 

 

Middle East Downstairs – one of the coolest clubs in Cambridge – will be home to this year’s Blues Bash.  The party starts at 7 p.m.; IRE will have exclusive use of the venue until midnight.  Reasonably-priced Mediterranean cuisine and a quieter environ for conversation will be available at Middle East Corner, also located at 472 Massachusetts Ave.  For more info and menu, go to www.mideastclub.com.

 

 

NOTE: Registration is required for this session. Click here to sign up.

Blues Bash (Additional ticket)

Speakers: TBA

Please select if you would like to purchase an additional Blues Bash ticket.

NOTE: Registration is required for this session. Click here to sign up.

Gathering Internet intelligence

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Organizations today leave a digital exhaust that can be seen across the Internet. While more true for larger, publicly traded organizations, smaller- or medium-sized businesses also leave a large smoke trail that can be followed to its source. Sean Campbell and Scott Swigart in this session will show you how to spot an organization’s digital exhaust at a distance, how to mine it for insights, and how to relate the information you find to other relevant
data sources.

Broadcast: The investigative newsroom

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Investigative journalism is more important than ever. For newsroom leaders the challenge is to move from supporting units that are silos to applying an investigative edge to content across all platforms. What does it mean to be an investigative newsroom? We’ll share our experiences building that culture from the ground-up – from starting
with nothing, to a team that has been together for 10 years, to the creation of a mega-unit. Learn how to encourage the investigative attitude in every journalist in your organization.

Incentives and subsidies: Investigating economic development claims (Sponsored by Bloomberg)

Speakers: TBA

State and local governments give billions of dollars each year to private companies in the hopes of creating jobs, but these deals often deliver fewer jobs than expected at a large cost to the public treasury. In this session, you’ll learn how companies play cities and states against one another to get bigger subsidies, how to analyze the costs of subsidy deals and the studies used to justify them, and the resources available to investigate projects.

Investigating slavery in the supply chain

Speakers: TBA

Slavery is not a relic of the past; and to the shock and horror of many consumers, slaves may be making, harvesting, and processing our precious material goods. Tracing the every step of the supply chain is tough work. Four experienced reporters will share how they did it in the fishing, cotton, and iron, and U.S. military support services
industries.

Video: What you need to know to get quality vIdeo for your project

Speakers: TBA

If you’ve suddenly found yourself behind the camera, this panel is for you. We’ll cover the basics, from framing to lighting, what equipment to use, techniques to get those great shots, and even how to take it to the next level with hidden cameras. Join us for “Shooting 101.”

Navigating the federal FOIA maze

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Obtaining records through the federal Freedom of Information Act can be like navigating a maze and, at times, contentious. It doesn’t have to be that way. Hear the director of an agency FOIA office, a veteran FOIA requester and a facilitator with the federal FOIA ombudsman’s office offer practical advice for making the FOIA process work and
preventing disputes between requesters and agencies.

Uncovering violence and abuse in sports (Sponsored by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and The Dart Society)

Speakers: TBA

Whether violence is part of the game or a hidden dimension off the field, reporters can use a variety of techniques to expose cultures that tolerate crimes by coaches or players or foster conditions that traumatize players. Veteran newspaper and TV reporters share some of their secrets.

Excel 1

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Performing simple calculations and sorting.

What managers really want

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Deadlines are shrinking, platforms expanding and the pressure to compete is growing! So, what DO we want from you? With the need for stand-out investigative content at an all-time high, news managers are on the hunt for
journalists and stories that can have life on-air and on-line. We’re willing to strain our resources and budgets to get the best... but YOU have to deliver the goods. This panel will give you insights from the decision makers on how
to shape your story pitches and how to maximize your story’s value to your organization. This panel may just help you get that “Yes” from your boss.

IRE one day rate professional, academic, associate, retiree

Speakers: TBA

Sue me: Dealing with the threat of legal action

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What do you do when facing the threat of a lawsuit, or after one’s been filed? And what are some things you should you do to minimize the chances of that suit in the first place. Legal experts from ABC, NBC and CBS offer guidance, with help from moderator Brian Ross, who knows what it’s like
to get sued.

The game plan: Deciding when to do what during an investigation

Speakers: TBA

Connecting the dots is the building block to any investigative piece whether print or broadcast. But navigating obstacles requires a blueprint. Discover proven techniques to unearth unique stories. Drill deeper with interview strategies – who to call first, how much information to disclose? Bulletproof your work. We examine the anatomy of great stories and the steps to maximize impact.

Ignored and abused: Investigating caregivers

Speakers: TBA

A look at how to explore physical abuse, wrongful deaths and financial fraud at state agencies and private organizations that serve vulnerable people,
including children in foster care, elders, and people with developmental disabilities or mental illness. Topics will include finding data and records on abuse allegations and deaths; tracking Medicaid money; developing sources to deal with unique confidentiality obstacles; and examining how law enforcement handles crimes against the disabled.

Covering immigration

Speakers: TBA

Whether you work in a rural area, big city or a border town like El Paso, immigration is a hot-button issue that requires shoe-leather reporting and document digging from journalists. In this panel, we’ll show you where to look for big-picture problems with policies and procedures and give you tips on how to ethically and accurately cover the human side of this controversial topic.

Broadcast: How to get the impossible: People, paper passion

Speakers: TBA

Your boss wants the impossible. People who refuse to go on camera. Documents the government won’t hand over. Passion, emotion and honesty caught on-camera. Get tips on how to get what you really need when you think you’ve run out of options.

Excel 2

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Calculating ratios and rates.

Investigating public pensions (Sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)

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Barlett & Steele Award winner Craig Harris will show you how to uncover abuses in public pension systems and how to win battles over pension public records. Harris' 2010 series in The Arizona Republic also won the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting. Sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. More info: http://bit.ly/Gzw7cU

 

LinkedIn

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The LinkedIn for Journalists tutorial takes journalists through the various features of LinkedIn and offers valuable tips on finding story ideas, sources, tracking down executives for interviews, promoting stories and doing quick and efficient research. The tutorial and a free one year upgrade to a premium membership on LinkedIn is available to all professional journalists (including journalism students and professors) and it’s an offer we extend across the board to all members of the media.

Non-profit/For-profit collaborations: Navigating the terrain

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When non-profit and for-profit news organizations partner to produce investigative projects, the results can be extraordinary. But getting from idea to execution can be tricky. From process to politics to publication, our panelists will provide first-hand experience on what works and what
doesn’t – and help you avoid those pesky landmines.

What are they looking for? Inside tips on getting a book or movie deal

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Literary agents are always looking for the story that the reader simply can’t put down. This session will describe how to package your story into a proposal that will give editors and producers the incentive to turn your proposal into a book, and your book into a film.

Managers: Building a watchdog culture in your newsroom

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In a time of tight budgets and increased competition, establishing a watchdog presence in our newsrooms is more important – and challenging – than ever before. Hear from three editors on what it takes to build a watchdog culture, including tips on how to help reporters identify watchdog
stories, setting priorities, developing a strategy and getting results.

Anatomy of an investigation: The Jack Abramoff scandal

Speakers: TBA

For the first time, James Grimaldi and Jeff Leen reveal inside secrets of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and show documents used to uncover the first scheme published in the The Washington Post’s investigation.
Leen also walks through step-by-step how he managed three reporters and internal concerns in the sensitive and complex investigation. Attendees will leave with specific tips they can apply to their sensitive political investigations today.

Google Fusion Tables

Speakers: TBA

Google Fusion Tables allows you to easily publish relatively large data sets. Learn how this free tool can help journalists create maps, graphs and timelines, mash-up different data sets and collaborate on data.

Broadcast: Consumer investigations

Speakers: TBA

You don’t have to be a consumer reporter to turn out compelling reports of high viewer value and interest on pocketbook issues. This panel will take you through best practices to organize, wade through and distill consumer investigations. We’ll talk inspection records and laws, where to find experts, and how to background and approach businesses. You’ll walk away with links to follow and story ideas to pursue.

Talking your way to the truth: The art of the interview

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What does it take to get the key information in an interview that will make your investigation successful? This panel will bring together veteran reporters to give you tips on how to prepare, how to listen for essential facts and statements in the interview, and how to ask the questions that will illicit the information you need. And there will be discussion of how timing of questions in a TV interview will bring the audience to a clear understanding of the main points of the story.

Fighting for records and access (Sponsored by Sunlight Foundation)

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The panel explores public records practices across the U.S., with special attention to emerging trends in privatization, electronic documents, privacy claims of corporations and commonly requested records.

Paying for investigative journalism

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Serving as society’s watchdog can be an expensive proposition. Journalists at nonprofit investigative centers are on the cutting edge of the exploration of methods, techniques and tools to bring in revenue and support for their work. Learn what they’ve tried and hear about their successes, failures and what’s next.

Getting data into Excel

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In the real world, your key dataset probably isn’t going to come in an easy-to-use package. This hands-on session will cover how to import data into Excel from a variety of formats.

Broadcast: Doing it for free

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You’re constantly asked to do more with less. What used to be a solid daily story is being pimped as an “investigation.” You feel frustrated and frankly pissed off. Do NOT despair. You are not alone. Our trio has tangible, real-world strategies, tactics and technologies to produce substantive
investigations in a quick-hit world. This will NOT degenerate into a bitch session. We will not allow that to happen. Instead we will focus on engineering the work-around and not whine about the status quo. Postpone lunch till 1pm. Join us. You’ll be glad you did.

Pitch Your Book

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IRE has lined up leading New York and Boston-based literary agents who have agreed to see journalists for a limited number of 10-minute appointments.  Bring your resume and your best pitch.  Sign-up sheets for available time slots will be available near the registration desk. 

Showcase Panel: Investigating power

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In the spirit of the recently released multimedia presentation Investigating Power, which celebrates the great “moments of truth” in contemporary U.S. history and the journalists behind them, these award-winning journalists will discuss the ways in which they have exposed abuses of power in government, in the nonprofit sector and in corporations – and explore how things have changed in recent decades.

Getting out of the bubble: Beyond traditional search engines

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Google’s not the only search game in town. Learn about search sites that provide different pools of information and unique search features. Hear about resources to help with both targeted and serendipitous searching in the surface and the deep Web. Veteran researchers Margot Williams and Nora Paul will share tips about finding and evaluating new search tools.

Investigating disability issues

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Navigating disability regulations can be a challenge, but once you do, you’ll likely discover fodder for investigative stories in your community. Get tips on reporting about disability issues from reporters who have done it and from the head of Boston’s ADA commission.

Media Lawyers Brown Bag (Sponsored by Smallman Law PLLC and IRE)

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Here’s a chance for informal Q&A about legal issues. Bring your hypotheticals and your own lunch.

Getting things done with DocumentCloud

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Hundreds of newsrooms around the world use DocumentCloud to “analyze, annotate, and publish primary source documents” as DocumentCloud’s tag line goes. Join us to find out how others have built DocumentCloud into
their reporting workflows and used it to research stories and collaborate with others.

Managers: Bulletproofing the story

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Detailed tips and strong anecdotes on how to avoid mistakes in the editing process, including pushing reporters to challenge key assertions and acknowledging what you don’t know or what might mitigate the central premise of a story. We’ll talk about meticulous fact-checking, footnoting and sharing key findings and assertions with targets and sources, and common warning flags. We’ll discuss identifying errors of nuance and tone, and all the traps associated with failing to use precise language.

Shadow banking (Sponsored by Bloomberg)

Speakers: TBA

Shadow banking was the epicenter of the financial crisis. It hasn’t been fixed. Great stories lie ahead. Yet few reporters understand it. While it probably provides half the credit in this country, we’ve seen how dangerous it can be. Experienced reporters will tell you what it is, where to find good stories, and how to tell them in plain English.

Google Fusion Tables (hands-on)

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Google Fusion Tables allows you to easily publish relatively large data sets. In this class, you’ll learn how to create maps and more.

International roundtable: Working across borders and networking

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In a globalized world, local stories can quickly lead around the world – the food we eat, the medicine we take, the money, immigrants, and crimes in our communities. Join us for this informal networking and brainstorming session with journalists from a dozen countries. We’ll go around the room with introductions, exchange contact info, and talk
about collaborations and story ideas. With more than 100 investigative journalism groups worldwide and 90 countries with freedom of information laws, it’s never been easier to work internationally.

Advanced Google search methods for investigative reporting

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Google is a remarkable tool with incredible capabilty, but it’s a system with a great deal of depth that’s not widely understood. This session will demonstrate many different methods and techniques for finding things you didn’t think could be found, as well as discussing some of the strategies
you can use for online investigations in the years ahead.

Are you ready? Digging into breaking news

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Tips and strategies for bringing an investigative edge to breaking-news stories, including how to develop a story in real time while using documents, databases, readers, and innovative tools to own the story in print and online.

Building the digital newsroom

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News organizations that succeed online understand that they must remake the newsroom to create something new. This involves everything from organization to incorporating the right digital tools. Our panelists talk about successes, failures and ways to keep up with the latest technological developments.

Broadcast: Going undercover

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Three seasoned investigative producers from ABC, CBS, and NBC share their best tips for a successful undercover story: how to use hidden cameras in innovative ways to expand and strengthen a piece; the pros & cons of different types of equipment, and which situations work best for each; and the legal/ethical issues: when not to use hidden cams, and how to turn the “tourist camera” into a great alternative.

Investigating sacred cows

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Investigative reporting is on especially sensitive ground when it takes on beloved local heroes and the most revered institutions. Courageous journalism can provoke fierce public reaction and even internal friction. News organizations’ commercial interests might be at stake. Panelists, who have had sports icons and even the Boy Scouts in their investigative sights, will discuss precautionary measures they took before the first word was printed or broadcast, how they faced a gathering storm of criticism, and how they managed delicate issues within their own organizations.

Paying for political favor

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Following the money shows who may be influencing political figures, from city hall to the White House. In an election year, it’s especially important to track what candidates are getting – and may give in return. Our panelists will discuss their work on how political contributions and lobbying have
gained access and influence for political supporters, from Solyndra to the food industry to for-profit colleges. Learn the best websites and resources to track candidates, donors and lobbyists.

Google Refine

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Learn to take filthy, horrible, no-good, stinking, messy data from an unaccommodating government agency and transform it into something useful with the help of Google Refine.

In-Depth Data Analysis at Your Fingertips: Esri Community and Business Analyst

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Paul Overberg of USA Today and Esri Analyst Brenda Wolfe will demonstrate how Esri’s Community and Business Analyst offerings can provide quick and easy access to demographic, spending, business and health data for any location. Editors and reporters will gain insight into how both Community and Business Analyst can make them more effective and efficient in gathering data for a story or verifying facts. Real news examples will be explored using the product.

On the beat: Businesses and corporations (Sponsored by Bloomberg)

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Corporations raise and spend trillions of dollars, build and tear down property, file for patents and copyrights, set up complex partnerships, sue and get sued, and otherwise file reams of documents every year. With all that activity, they leave plenty of marks for investigative journalists to follow. Take your stories beyond the usual sources and learn how to dig through bankruptcy documents, regulatory filings, lawsuits, and other helpful records.

Campaign 2012: Backgrounding candidates and truth-testing claims (Sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

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Learn how to use records to dig into the background of political candidates, from financial contributions to criminal histories and questionable business interests. Tips on the potential and pitfalls of fact-checking efforts, including how to identify good information from neutral sources.

Guilty until proven innocent

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An exploration of the challenges and rewards of covering wrongful conviction cases and issues. This panel discussion will cover the important role journalists can and should play in investigating likely wrongful convictions, (academic experts say there are thousands of innocent people in U.S. prisons), the many obstacles reporters face and strategies for overcoming them, the challenges of cases with and without DNA evidence and advice about handling common ethical issues. The panel also will explore the major issues that contribute to wrongful convictions: unreliability of eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, snitch evidence, false confessions, and
frequently used forensic evidence that a National Academy of Sciences Foundation panel of experts says has not been scientifically proven (even though it is presented and accepted in court as if it has been).

Managers: Making the investigative commitment and building the team

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It starts with a firm vision at the top and unwavering courage to pursue watchdog stories in the face of declining profits, heavy criticism, and competing news priorities. How do you keep the watchdog commitment firm and strong (and actually build something) when financial pressures are forcing newsroom cutbacks in most places. Newsroom leaders share their experiences, success stories and survival tips.

The year in investigative reporting

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Pick up some story ideas and be inspired with the highlights of some of the year’s best investigations.

Investigating poverty

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More Americans live in poverty than ever before. But stories about poverty can be hard to sell, both in news meetings and on newsstands. Learn practical tools for understanding today’s poverty and antipoverty programs,
dos and don’ts for covering low-income issues and new ways to cover poverty that will impress editors and intrigue readers.

Analyzing the past, present and future with U.S. Census data

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From poverty to wealth, high school dropouts to graduate degrees, census data offers the best measure of your community. It also gives you basic tools of social justice reporting – ways to measure discrimination, inequality, segregation, overcrowding, diversity, walkability, assimilation and more. We’ll walk you through these measures, showing how you can use them to add depth to your stories.

Showcase panel: After News Corp.: How far is too far in investigative reporting

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As investigations of tabloid newspapers’ phone hacking, paying police for information and covering it all up continue to produce shocking revelations in Britain, a crusading British editor, a leading American news media critic,
and an award-winning network television investigative journalist examine the fallout. Is this behavior typical of British investigative journalism? When and how do American investigative journalists cross the line?

On the beat: Environment

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Veteran journalists will offer tips on investigating pollution and its health impacts in the U.S. and abroad. Topics will include: covering tough environmental issues even when you have no background in that area, deciphering chemical jargon, researching public records on toxic sites and piecing together narratives from documents and interviews.

Mexodus: Student-Professional collaborations in two languages

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Learn to produce a student reported and professionally edited multimedia investigative project on immigration topics in two languages, and get it published by media outlets to boot.

American FactFinder2

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American FactFinder: Satan’s spawn or psychotic nightmare? Take a friendly guided tour through the census website that journalists love to hate.

Access 1

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The purifying experience of filtering your data. Learn to select and sort data items you choose.

Juvenile justice: Is the system working?

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Finding stories in the juvenile justice system: What to look for when kids are arrested, locked up and sentenced. The panel explores ways of exposing dangerous lapses in information sharing when children are arrested, quantifying the harm that can befall kids in juvenile jails and assessing the fairness of harsh sentences for underage offenders.

Pieces of the past: Building your stories from archives and historical documents

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Old documents – those wonderful, often musty paper records not usually found on the Internet – can be critical building blocks for both quick-hit and long-term investigations. This session covers key types of archival
records and how to quickly locate and obtain them, using everything from printed indexes and the telephone to the latest online tools. The panel focuses on finding federal records, including presidential documents, as well as on often-overlooked resources for environmental investigations
such as historical maps, land-use surveys and archival photographs. Tip sheets provided.

Identifying the next big investigation

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Most IRE sessions are about stories that already have been done, and it is a great model. This interactive roundtable discussion is designed as work without the help of those attending. We need you to bring your ideas to this
roundtable discussion about investigations that need to be done and that probably are too big for one news organization to take on by itself. If we’re successful, this session will lay the groundwork for a new demonstration
of the power of collaboration, an idea that was at the heart of IRE at its founding.

Turning your investigation into a book

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Book writing is one of the last bastions left of good investigative reporting, especially for those not still working for the large mainstream media outlets, and it’s a great way to make use of all that research you did for your
project. And even though bookstores are closing, there are tons of exciting opportunities on publishing’s digital frontier. These published author/journalists share their best advice, lessons learned and cautionary tales.

Broadcast: Top investigations of 2012

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NEW! Watch and listen as more than a dozen photographers, editors & producers behind this year’s winning entries describe how they did it and what they were really thinking when things got hard. They give a no holds barred perspective on graphics, surveillance techniques, “unscheduled interviews,” editing programs, “lack of video,” time crunches and what investigative teams really need to think about during huge breaking news
events.

Campaign 2012: How healthcare and the other key issues are shaping the race (Sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

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A key component of understanding how campaigns are won or lost is understanding the role of special interests PACS and lobbies. This year healthcare and a few other key topics are playing a crucial role in who gets financial support and who gets opposition.

Access 2

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Summarizing databases with counting and summing.

Uncovering the private parts of public officials

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Tools to identify usernames and e-mail addresses used by politicians and others; how to use that data to track the subject’s digital footprint. Explore dating sites, social networks and even the documents that reveal the “private
parts” of public officials. Minimal references to former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

From community colleges to universities: Investigating higher ed (Sponsored by Lumina Foundation)

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Gale Holland will tell how the Los Angeles Times used public records, confidential sources and computer-assisted reporting to expose shoddy construction, reckless spending and pay-to-play contracting in a $5.7 billion community college construction program. Erica Perez will talk about
documents and databases you can use to help hold colleges and universities accountable. Suzanne McBride will discuss how students working for ChicagoTalks uncovered irregularities in a century-old, state-funded legislative scholarship program and problems with the way Illinois schools have implemented a campus security law.

The art of source development

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From beat reporting to hard-core investigations, human sourcing is essential. Learn how to find and cultivate insiders in the know over the long-term, but also on the fly. How do you get people to talk? What do you do when someone walks out of an interview? This session will cover
everything from that initial trust-building to crossing the Rubicon.

On the beat: Government

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Panelists will discuss how to incorporate coverage of a local or state pension system into a government beat, such as statehouse or city hall. Participants will receive background information about how to understand a pension system, including key terms that will make reporters conversant
in pension-speak and what documents to use to find various stories. Panelists will also discuss investigating quasi-governmental entities such as ambulance trusts and various documents to request when following the
money. Finally, panelists will discuss how to measure the effectiveness of boards that oversee government agencies, including how to spot boards that rubber stamp actions by key officials.

Investigating racial disparities

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From traffic stops to jury composition, examining racial disparities can be tricky. Learn what you need to know to analyze race in your community. Panelists include a social psychologist who is an expert on race and social perceptions and journalists who have reported on racial disparities.

Policing the police

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Police officers are supposed to uphold the law, but sometimes they break it – and get away with it. Learn how to uncover criminal conduct among law enforcement using data analysis, open records laws and shoe-leather reporting.

Managers: Managing the multimedia project

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Strategies and ideas for how to tell stories and deliver high-impact investigations on air and online, using multi-media tools including video interviews, data and interactive maps and graphics. Session will also share tips for how to orchestrate and deliver a multi- platform project and how to manage the collaborative relationships between partners.

Promoting your investigation

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In a world of information abundance, how do you call attention to your investigation? Is community engagement only “promotion” or “marketing,” or can journalists effectively use new channels and new collaboratives to inspire debate about or action on stories? In this panel, we look at journalistic ways to involve the audience and build community around news organizations.

Truthiness and investigative reporting

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What happens to investigative reporting in an era in which careful reporting and factual accuracy are under relentless pressure from the competition and from the very culture? Is true enough (or truthy) trumping true? If the power of investigative reporting is to change minds, what if the facts
can be dismissed as just sort-of-accurate?

Social media for journalists

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You know the basics of Tweeting and posting Facebook status updates. Now it’s time to take it to the next level as a social media sleuth – harnessing the power of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, plus geolocation and analytic tools. Learn new ways to find sources, background people and companies, and break stories before the competition.

Access 3

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How to join tables, matching information from one file to another.

Investigative reporting in China

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As stories around the world increasingly lead to China, that nation’s investigative press is growing and breaking news on corruption, crime, the environment, business, and more. Join some of China’s top investigative journalists as they talk about how they practice their craft in the world’s most populous country.

Broadcast: The confrontation

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This panel of broadcast journalists will explore the justifications, techniques, and possible consequences of confrontational interviews, both scheduled and non-scheduled. Is it “confrotainment” or real accountability?

Digging into housing scandals

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In communities large and small, there is plenty to investigate involving low-income housing. But it’s a topic that many news organizations ignore. Learn about the kinds of stories you can uncover, and the impact you can
have, when you dig into housing issues. Reporters from two small news organizations – the Advertiser Democrat in Norway, Maine (a Pulitzer finalist this year) and the Chicago Reporter – have had big impact with their work.

Resources for journalists to leverage academic research

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We will discuss our own database project, Journalist’s Resource, which curates academic studies and government reports, and we’ll examine trends in academic research that are useful for journalists to know about. We’ll also review other information tools that can help journalists dig into
scholarship and pull in new ideas to inform stories and open up fresh angles.

Follow the money: The boom in toll roads

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For a century, building and operating U.S. roads has mostly been a government monopoly. Taxes have mostly paid the bill. No longer. Now roads are often built, run and even owned outright by investors. That means tolls. It also means that governments have to sift through a maze of ways to finance, build and operate a highway while still protecting the public interest. Find out how to follow the money in the booming world of toll roads.

IRE Awards Luncheon featuring keynote speaker Jill Abramson, The New York Times

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Anatomy of an investigation: Behind the story with two IRE Medal winners

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Get a detailed look at how this year’s IRE Medal winners got their stories. We’ll go behind the scenes with California Watch’s multi-media “On Shaky Ground” project, which looked at the lack of earthquake preparedness in the state’s schools, and KTRK-Houston’s expose on corruption in a local law enforcement agency. Get tips and how-to advice on doing similar work in your community.

Intro to Excel for elections

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Learn basic but powerful functions using spreadsheets to help you navigate election and campaign data. Come away with new data skills and story ideas for election coverage.

Muse: A tool to mine and visualize large email archives

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Journalists have often looked to emails and email archives to help research stories, but sifting through them can be tedious. Memories USing Email (MUSE) is a system that combines data analysis techniques such as automatic grouping, sentiment analysis and summarization with an
interface to rapidly browse large text collections.

Managers: Picking projects that will have impact

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What kind of story is worth working on for a year? Three veteran editors talk about how to find compelling and revelatory investigative project ideas, how to refine them and make sure they demand readers’ attention and, ultimately, how to get them published in print or online with engaging visuals and other storytelling tools. And making lemonade out of lemons, or what to do when a story goes bust.

Broadcast: The paper chase

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From uncovering key documents to tracking down elusive interviews, we combine successful broadcast investigations with useful tips from both traditional and non- traditional methods including the role social media can play in enhancing your reporting.

Campaign 2012: What's so super about PACS? (Sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

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Representatives of three of the most experienced money-in-politics organizations in Washington – the Center for Responsive Politics, the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Public Integrity – will explain the new campaign finance landscape in the wake of the landmark Citizens United
decision. They’ll cover what to look for when examining super PACs as well as more mysterious 501(c) groups that don’t disclose their donors (Colbert calls these “spooky PACs”). They’ll demonstrate valuable tools and data sources and suggest reporting techniques and story ideas for the general election.

Investigating prison abuse (Sponsored by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and The Dart Society)

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The American prison system is under unprecedented pressures, with the legacies of overcrowding and tough-on-crime policies of past decades colliding with state budget crises. Panelists will discuss hidden and undercovered stories in the state and federal prison system, from solitary confinement to the impact of budget cuts to children of incarcerated parents.

Getting what you want

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Learn strategies for getting stubborn government officials to hand over public records and data you need to enlighten the public. The panelists will discuss how to find records, craft effective request letters, overcome illegal denials and exorbitant copy fees, and apply psychological strategies,
such as principled negotiation, scarcity, authority, and ratcheting, to convince officials to say “Yes!”

America: What went wrong 2012

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Twenty years ago, Philadelphia Inquirer reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele wrote the iconic series and book, “America: What Went Wrong?” Now, in online, multimedia collaboration with the Investigative Reporting Workshop, the Inquirer and many others, they have continued their investigation into how public acts and private greed in Washington and Wall Street have devastated millions of Americans.

Tracking corruption internationally

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This session will cover the methods, documents and human sources needed to uncover corruption, whether in business or government or both. Although international in focus, the session will also offer tips on how to approach these investigations from the local angle.

Excel for elections (cont'd)

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Continuation of 2:30-3:30 p.m. Intro to Excel for elections hands-on class.

Campaign 2012: Online tools for digging into campaign cash (Sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

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Plenty of tools are readily available to help you obtain and make sense of campaign finance data. This session will help you understand how to put those tools to use.

Investigations with class: Doing projects with students

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A steadily increasing amount of investigative reporting is being done by university journalism students with professional leadership in collaboration with news media print, broadcast and online partners. Four news professionals who became journalism professors lead a roundtable discussion about the various ways it can be done.

Investigating shadowy organizations

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Every reporter knows that one organization that just won’t open up. Maybe it’s an industry group, a nonprofit or a just an informal network of political power brokers who seem to call all the shots. This panel of reporters, who’ve unearthed secrets from the CIA, the Vatican and the NCAA, will give you the tricks you need to shine light on the shadowy organizations on your beat.

Writing the investigative story

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If circumstances allow, write a story, not an exposé. Create suspense. Use dialogue. Shift perspective. Circle and loop. Experiment with Chekhov’s gun. Heed Elmore Leonard’s “10 Rules of Writing,” particularly No. 10: “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” Beware of formula and lose the bullets. (They’re more like tranquilizer darts, likely to put readers to sleep.)

Broadcast: Going national

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Hear from some of the best in the business in this session. Find out how to make your local story go national. What should you think about from the very beginning to get the networks to take notice? Three network journalists share how they got noticed on a national stage and how they make the work they do even now resonate with a wide audience.

Investigating the legal and justice systems

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An understanding of federal, state and local laws can advance your investigations on almost any topic. This panel offers a primer on searching statute books and online resources, explores a remarkable project on drunk driving prosecutions, and delves into ways to use film and reporting to highlight cases and issues that, quite simply, do not go away.

Using public records to shine a light on the dark side of the healthcare crisis

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Deadly drugs, fraud and systemic safety problems at major hospitals are just some of the issues reporters investigated and uncovered in the past year using public records. Learn about the public records (including databases) that can be used to find wrongdoing and the strategies to use them effectively to find and tell important stories.

Collaboration: Leveraging the power of public broadcasters

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With little support or fanfare, regional investigative journalism centers and public broadcasting stations have been teaming up to do multimedia in-depth stories throughout the country. This panel will cover how to carry out these collaborations successfully and with impact.

The legacy of Watergate 40 years later: A conversation with Leonard Downie Jr.

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One of the editors who worked on The Washington Post’s Watergate investigation talks and answers questions about what happened and its importance and impact on American journalism during the past four decades.

Let's get critical

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Critical (not cynical) thinking is the hardest part of journalism and the mother’s milk of investigative work. We will take a high energy interactive romp through tons of real examples of lies, fabrications, photo alterations and video trickery that are out there waiting for you. You will
learn how to find the metadata hidden in photos and documents. You will see how even live video feeds can lie and how tiny production tools can totally alter the truthfulness of a story. You will learn a lot of great new skills at IRE but this hour of learning may just save your reputation.

Covering veterans issues

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Three seasoned journalists will share their work and experiences regarding the hidden costs of war and issues facing a growing number of veterans as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. From suicides to a frightening
string of homicides, from homelessness to healing the wounds of war, the panel will provide behind-the-scenes accounts of how groundbreaking stories evolve and share their advice to journalists looking to investigate these
difficult, but important themes. Attendees will receive tips on interviewing traumatized soldiers and grieving families, learn about the social issues surrounding veterans, get a primer on the importance of key documents and a compelling Q&A period.

Using Weave to provide interactive data visualizations to the public

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Version 1.0 of the open source Weave (Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment) has been released. It is not just a visual analytic tool but an extremely powerful tool for the dissemination of interactive visualizations. In this presentation we’ll describe Weave and run though a number of example websites.

Not-your-sob sisters: Three women who broke barriers

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IRE launches an oral history project on women investigative reporters. The first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting and the first two to win IRE awards will share the best of what they’ve learned about breaking barriers while breaking big stories.

Lifting the veil: Digging into national security investigations

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President Obama has expanded the number of covert CIA operations abroad and FBI terrorism investigation at home. But significant questions exist about the propriety of the CIA’s activity and the accuracy of the FBI’s intelligence on terrorism. For these reasons, it has never been more important for journalists to cover the U.S. intelligence and
homeland security agencies in an aggressive manner.

Advanced functions in Excel

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Dirty, disorganized databases getting you down? Electronic records rarely come the way you want them – especially when dealing with government agencies. But Excel has some very powerful, easy-to-use tools to give you back control over how you want your spreadsheet to look. Never spend hours cutting and pasting again, or haggling with a PIO. We’ll show you some great tricks that will forever change the way you deal with data.

Spanish-language investigations

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Hispanics are the largest growing demographic in the country. This poses a great opportunity for reporters working in Spanish-language media and communities to combine shoe-leather reporting with document digging and produce investigations about topics that impact their
audiences. This session will give you the tools and practical advice on how to conceive and carry out investigative work to produce hard- hitting stories while weaving data analysis for projects and daily pieces.

Membership meeting and IRE Board of Directors elections

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Closing reception (Sponsored by Boston University College of Communication and IRE)

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Cool web tools

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The Web is full of useful tricks and applications to help you do your job faster and better. Learn how data and free online tools can boost your journalism and set you apart from the pack. We’ll show you some simple tools that will allow you to tell stories visually and more.

Building your career: A roundtable discussion

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Looking for advice on how to take the next step in your career? Get practical tips from panelists who will talk about their own experiences and discuss what employers are looking for.

Storyboarding

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Don’t leave the IRE conference without a battle plan for putting your new knowledge and skills to work back home. In this free-wheeling group session, we’ll discuss your story ideas, flesh them out, and develop strategies for doing them amid the daily demands of every newsroom. We’ll talk about navigating office politics and help you develop a personal action plan.

Data and documents

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Advice on developing a documents state of mind, navigating public records, and how to create your data arsenal for high-impact local stories.