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 "democracy" ...
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Grandma can’t accept your call: Inmates disconnected by phone costs
This series of stories started with a simple question. Why does it cost so much for inmates to make calls from the Cook County Jail? In the course of my reporting on criminal and legal affairs for WBEZ, the public radio station in Chicago, I had heard numerous people complain about the high cost of phone calls. Some digging confirmed that the price could be as high as $15.00 for 15 minute calls. Three or four calls a week at that price gets expensive even for financially stable middle class folks, but the people paying these fees were mostly the poorest residents in Chicago. That’s because most of the people in the Cook County Jail are there because they and their families couldn’t afford to post bond of a couple thousand, or sometimes even just hundreds of dollars to secure their freedom while awaiting trial. They are the people who are least able to afford such expensive phone calls. A few FOIA requests revealed the scheme (and scheme is the right word… I just looked it up: a crafty or secret plan of action). Cook County gave an exclusive phone contract to a company called Securus Technologies. Securus charged inflated phone rates and their exclusive deal in the jail meant inmates wanting to talk to their families or arrange their defense had no choice but to pay the rates. Securus then paid back to the county 57½ percent of the revenue from the calls. It netted the county about $4 million a year. Securus wouldn’t tell us their take but I imagine they did alright too. All of the money was coming out of the pockets of the poorest residents in Cook County, people who couldn’t even afford to post bond for their freedom. (As an aside, this isn’t just an issue in Cook County. According to its website Securus provides the phone systems for 850,000 inmates in 2,200 jails and prisons across the country.) Our reporting shed public light on a hugely profitable contract that no one was paying attention to. We documented the lives of the impoverished people getting hammered by the policy and then turned the hammer on the local elected officials to ask them to explain how this was a good policy. The public officials responded in a way that once again proved the genius of democracy. Our efforts and the results are detailed in subsequent answers below.
Tags: prison inmates; phone calls; fees
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Big Money 2012
Big Money 2012 is an unprecedented multi-platform project to investigate campaign finance in the post-Citizens United era. Spanning television documentary, radio and online news outlets, this initiative draws on the award-winning talents of some of the best in the industry to dig deep into a story that goes to the foundations of our democracy. FRONTLINE’s pre-election TV broadcast of Big Sky, Big Money in partnership with American Public Media’s Marketplace formed the center of this multiplatform investigation, Big Money 2012, which continued on the radio and on the web. Further coverage of this timely story also continued online as part of ProPublica’s Dark Money series featuring reporting by ProPublica investigative reporter Kim Barker with Rick Young and Emma Schwartz reporting for FRONTLINE. Big Money 2012 tells a tale of money, politics, and intrigue in the remote epicenter of campaign finance, Montana. The investigation led the teams from big sky country—to a meth house in Colorado and to a UPS store in D.C. as they followed a trail of documents. What they find exposes the inner-workings of a dark money group. In all, it’s a unique collaboration a year in the making, which has led to robust journalism with real impact. And, the story is still unfolding.
Tags: campaign finance; politics; politicians
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"Family of Secrets"
Russ Baker provides an intense investigative report on the secrets of the Bush dynasty and "its rise to power." The author also reveals hidden connections of power between the Bushes and their cohorts and "major historical events," including the "assassination of John F. Kennedy" and "Watergate."
Tags: George W. Bush; Bush dynasty; John F. Kennedy; Watergate; Nixon; democracy; Karl Rove; Poppy Bush; Hurricane Katrina; Iraq
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The DAS Espionage
SEMANA Magazine explores illegal tracking of opposition party leaders, journalists and Supreme Court magistrates conducted by members of the Colombian president, Cosa de Narino's, team.
Tags: Cosa de Narino; Colombia; Presidency; espionage; recording; tracking; opposition party; journalists; supreme court; democracy
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The Tyranny of Oil
"The hardest-hitting expose of the oil industry in decades answers today's most pressing energy questions: How much oil is left? How far will Big Oil go to get it? And at what cost to the economy, environment, human rights, worker safety, public health, democracy, and America's place in the world?"
Tags: oil; america; human rights; environment; health; gas; petroleum; Standard Oil; SEC tax filings; oil futures
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Takeover: The Return of the Imerial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy
Since the 1970s and 80s a faction of the Republican party has been working to create a system that allows "the White House to wield enormous power, operating behind a veil of secrecy and unchecked by Congress or the courts. Today's administration is bringing this project to fruition."
Tags: politics; government; Watergate; checks and balance; George W. Bush; Dick Cheney; executive power; Republican
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Campaign Consultants: The Price of Democracy
A look at the 2003-04 presidential and congressional races reveals the major campaign consultants, "the hired guns who determine how negative, loud and expensive they will be." The investigation found that $1.85 billion went through 600 professional consultants, "more than half of the total spending by presidential candidates, national party committees, general election candidates for Congress and so-called "527" independent political groups."
Tags: Campaigns; consultants; professional campaign consultants
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Gun Show Nation
This investigation explores how and why guns have entered national politics. The author traveled to gun shows, gun stores and gun rights meetings in order to chart America's attachment to guns. She shows how that attachment "affected our democracy by undermining our belief in collective solutions for human security."
Tags: guns; second amendment; gun shows; concealed weapons; gun permits; hunting
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Buying Democracy
This article documents how physician-turned-businessman James Leininger ratcheted up his efforts to get the State Legislature to pay private school tuition by spending millions to defeat anti-voucher Republicans, "bankrolling what were often misleading campaigns against incumbents" outside his home legislative district.
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The Rise and Decline of Dan Weeks: Did the New Haven political machine steal democracy from the citizens of Ward 1?
The author explores a particularly contentious election for the New Haven Board of Aldermen. Krieger explains how the New Haven mayor's office tried to manipulate the election, and how the student population was affected.
Tags: city politics; elections; voting; political campaigns; corruption; politicians