The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Wal-Mart" ...
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Dateline NBC: Clothes Line
The authors investigated the true cost of the global trade in clothing, focusing on the price international communities pay so that U.S. consumers can continue to pay bargain prices for their clothes. The investigation traced the life of a pair of pants from Wal-mart to the company in Bangladesh that makes them. The authors followed the life of a worker in that factory and explored the violations of domestic law and international corporate codes of conduct by the company owners.
Tags: Garment; textiles; international trade; Wal-mart; Bangladesh; labor laws; corporate codes of conduct; retailers
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Dateline NBC: Clothes Line
Dateline NBC investigates labor abuses in factories in Bangladesh. The report found that working conditions were much worse than factory owners claimed. In part, the poor conditions exist because factory owners are under pressure to meet low prices while still upholding decent labor standards.
Tags: Bangladesh; fashion; Wal-Mart; factories; cheap labor; foreign business; factories; hidden cameras
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Wal-Mart Heiress; Term Papers
ABC News 20/20 investigates academic cheating and plagiarism in colleges across the campus. The story also focuses on one of the most famous cases in which, Paige Laurie, the great-granddaughter of a Wal-Mart co-founder, paid her former roommate to do all of her papers and assignments while attending the University of Southern California. Reporters also look at why and how students cheat, from text messaging test answers to one another, to Internet "paper mills" which provide students with papers for a fee.
Tags: academic cheating; Internet; "paper mills; " plagiarism; Edith Martinez; Paige Laurie; turnitin.com
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Shameful Harvest
This investigation exposed how U.S. and California-based supermarket chains, including the Wal-Mart, indirectly contribute to illegal child labor by buying produce from countries where child labor is common, if not legal. Reporters made three trips to Mexico to talk to laborers; their strong commitment to the story helped them to understand and report on the complex distribution system that starts in foreign fields and end in the supermarket.
Tags: migrant labor; child workers; harvest; immigration; INS; vegetables; produce
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An Empire Built on Bargains Remakes the Working World
This investigation shows how Wal-Mart as a corporation has both positive and negative effects on the world. The corporation is huge, it is the world's largest corporation and does more than eight times the sales as Microsoft. The article shows how the company prospers by cutting costs in any way possible, but also how its low costs affect the global economy. Factory workers overseas have wages cut down to pennies so Wal-Mart will buy their products, local grocery chains are forced out of business by Wal-Mart superstores and employees who are prohibited from unionizing don't make enough to support a family, even when working forty hours a week. Wal-Mart managers use illegal tactics to keep employees from joining unions and sometimes coerce employers to work overtime without being paid for it.
Tags: corporations; labor unions; wages; retailers; business; workers
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Convenience at a Cost; Save-a-lot takes a chance in the city; Maps help show stores; Convenience -store prices tax customers; Riding the bus with a grocery list
In this series of stories, The York Daily Record used mapping software and census databases available to look at the various supermarkets accessible in the City of York and across the county. The reporters found out that the rate of grocery stores per 10,000 people was only 0.24 where the selection was not only limited but priced really high. The reporters used Arc View and the 2000 census database to create a layout of the area they were looking at.
Tags: supermarkets; shopping; grocery stores; City of York; grocery; Wal-Mart; FOI; census data; mapping software; Arc View
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Frequent Faller
A woman widely reported as being trampled at a Florida Wal-Mart during a mad rush for cheap DVD players on the morning after Thanksgiving had made at least 15 prior claims of injuries from slip-and-falls, falling objects, heavy lifting or other accidents. This investigation--like the original story it was based on--received worldwide attention and cast a new light on what had been criticized as an example of capitalism.
Tags: TAPE; Wal Mart; Wal-Mart; slip-and-fall claim; claim; injury; unconscious; fake; fraud; trampling; trampled; worker's compensation; car accident; injured; hurt; medical record; pain.
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Workers: We Were Cheated Out of Pay. Restaurant Cleaning Company Says Pay Deductions Legal. Labor Experts Not So Sure.
This investigation found that "CanAmera, a Canadian-based company that cleans restaurants in four states and Ontario, violated a host of state and federal labor laws, including laws governing minimum wage, overtime, a day of rest and federal and tax withholdings. The company also illegally withheld money from workers' paychecks. The company hired worked with limited English skills with promises of a good job. But, in fact, the mostly Spanish speaking workers found themselves fighting for money they said was owed to them."
Tags: taxes; pay withholdings; wages; Wal-Mart
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The Big Gun: Fifty-caliber sniper rifles can shoot through bullet-proof glass and cinderblock walls and hit targets a mile away -- and they're perfectly legal.
This article talks about the dangers of fifty-caliber sniper rifles. According to the author, "The rifles...are the biggest firearms you can buy without a special dispensation from the government. Fifty-caliber rifles shoot ammunition designed to chew up armored vehicles, and they're accurate, in the right hands, at a mile or more. They can shoot through bulletproof glass, armored limousines, cinder-block walls...from as far away as the Washington Monument through the forehead of someone standing on the steps of the Capitol. And any eighteen-year-old can buy one with no more paperwork than it takes to buy a .22 at Wal-Mart."
Tags: guns; violence; fifty-caliber rifles; .50 rifles; rifles; ammunition; long-range guns; bulletproof
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Up Against Wal-Mart: At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back.
Article explains how some people allege Wal-Mart treats its employees unfairly. According to the article, "The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Wal-Mart repeatedly broke the law by interrogating workers, confiscating union literature, and firing union supporters."
Tags: labor; unions; wal-mart; national labor relations board; rules; anti-union; workers; employee