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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Len Bruzzese, 573-882-2042

Oct. 11, 2004

IRE's latest reporting guide focuses on local pollution

Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. has published the latest title in its IRE Beat Book Series - " Covering Pollution: An Investigative Reporter's Guide."

The handbook, produced in cooperation with the Society of Environmental Journalists, shows reporters how to tap resources for local investigations into environmental pollution. The book was written by Lori Luechtefeld as a special research project for IRE, but with considerable input from a dozen leading environmental journalists coordinated by SEJ.

Much of the information in the guide ($15 for IRE members, $25 for nonmembers) focuses on how to use Web-based, federal database searches to get data needed to both find and drive environmental investigations. The book also offers numerous tips from veteran reporters on handling other aspects of investigative environmental journalism, including interviews and writing.

"Thanks to the contributions of SEJ, we were able to make this book immediately useful to journalists investigating their local environments," said IRE Deputy Director Len Bruzzese, the book's editor.

Although it offers extensive resources for in-depth and time-intensive investigations, its main focus is to show how to get to the heart of an investigation quickly and without waiting months for Freedom of Information Act requests to be fulfilled.

Some of the book's highlights:

• Find out where to start when reporting on pollution in your community.
• Understand the data used to monitor local water and air quality.
• Learn how to use the Toxics Release Inventory and track other hazardous wastes.
• Read how top journalists deal with environmental advocacy groups and take special care in their reporting and writing.
• Get up to speed quickly on using mapping to depict your community's environment.
• Special appendices on navigating the EPA, following the money and tapping into state and federal environmental resources.

This latest book joins five other beat book titles in print. They include:

• Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter's Guide To Campaign Finance
• Covering Aviation Safety: An Investigator's Guide
• Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities
• Understanding Crime Statistics: A Reporter's Guide
• Numbers in the Newsroom: Using Math and Statistics in News.

Any of these books can be ordered online at www.ire.org/store/books or by calling the IRE Resource Center at 573-882-3364.