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 "fabrications" ...
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iLied: Exposing Mike Daisey’s Fabrications of Apple’s Supply Chain in China
This two-part investigation exposed fabrications in American monologuist Mike Daisey’s narrative about the Chinese factory workers who make Apple products, and also gave a voice to the Chinese men and women who were at the center of the international debate about factory conditions. Daisey had gained a worldwide platform as Apple’s most prominent critic; Reporter Rob Schmitz’s investigation proved that the details on which Daisey had built his compelling story were fabricated. Schmitz’s investigation aired on Marketplace and This American Life on March 16, 2012 and made international headlines, sparking a debate about journalistic truth. Schmitz’s April 2012 follow-up stories broadcast the points-of-view of actual Chinese factory workers and their employers, and helped re-shape the narrative about working conditions at Apple suppliers. Schmitz’s investigation became the most downloaded story in each program’s history. Hundreds of media organizations covered the work, sparking thousands of news articles and commentaries about the findings and the issues it raised. Online components of the work – which included podcasts, photo, and video – demonstrated the reach and longevity of multimedia storytelling; a video Schmitz shot of an iPad assembly line went viral with more than 2 million views on Youtube. The work continues to be discussed in case study format at journalism schools around the U.S., including an ethics class at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Tags: journalism; journalism education; multimedia storytelling
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Fabricated and Flawed Integrity Tests Threaten Public Safety and an Iconic $6.3 Billion Bridge
The investigation found that a technician who tested the structural integrity of the other new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge fudnation had fabricated results on othe structures and committed numberous testing errors, callling to question the stability of California's costliest and most important public works project ever, among other freeway structures statewide.
Tags: bridges; San-Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge; freeway structures
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Army slow to act as crime-lab worker falsified, botched tests
The reporters undertook a year-long inquiry into every facet of the often-opaque military justice system. Through more than two dozen stories, the series closely examined military criminal investigations, lab testing, trials, sentences and appeals.
Tags: military justice system; fabricated results; investigation; falsified tests;
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Judge Me
The story summarizes the attempt by Elroy Phillips to prove he's in prison for a crime several legal experts say he did not commit. Phillips was arrested by the West Palm Beach police in 2001 for allegedly selling $50 worth of crack to an undercover cop, Phillips has spent the years since his arrest collecting evidence. Phillip's legal work appears to show that cops fabricated the evidence against him.
Tags: Elroy Phillips; West Palm Beach Police; Judge; Court
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Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields
The story chronicles a city in collapse. The author shows how the violence in Juarez, Mexico is not simply perpetrated by drug organizations or law enforcement, but is now part of the fabric of the city and its citizens.
Tags: drug war; Juarez; Mexico; drug cartel
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"Furnasman"
The heating and air conditioning company, Furnasman, routinely fabricated problems in their client's homes in an attempt to sell them unneeded equipment. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. set up hidden cameras in different homes and asked the company to clean and evaluate the furnaces. They found most technicians were not doing their job and were making bogus claims on the state of the furnaces to make a sale.
Tags: Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning; HVAC; air conditioning; furnace; Red River College; Brian Baker; Dave Warriner
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Tainted Justice
The police department is believed to have tainted police jobs, which are caused by lies and motivated by power, greed, and money. Furthermore, the squads are suspected of looting mom-and-pop stores, terrorizing hard-working immigrant merchants, preying on women, and fabricating evidence. These submissions could reopen and potentially overturn hundreds of cases.
Tags: police; justice system; justice department; protection; cops; squad; officers; narcotics; drugs; police department
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Fighting New Jersey's Tax Crunch
The series provided a detailed analysis of New Jersey's dysfunctional property tax system, which has the highest costs in the nation. Using U.S. census data, IRS data, 10 years of local tax information, and more than 40 databases of local and state employee payrolls, we found that the system had evolved into a juggernaut that was destroying the fiscal and social fabric economy of the state.
Tags: property tax; racial disparity; assessments; tax breaks; economic segregation;
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Raid in Svaneti
"A phone call at 3 a.m. to a celebrity woman becomes grounds for a high-ranking policeman (who has a personal relationship with the woman) to use his power and staff to fabricate a criminal case and arrest innocent men who, he suspects, could be the caller." The policeman fabricated a gang and planted evidence to create a case against the three men. This report was banned by all Georgian TV companies because it exposed a high-ranking policeman in fabricating a criminal case against innocents.
Tags: Georgia; EurAsia; fraud; fabrication; criminal gang; evidence; drugs; arms; weapons;
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Navahoax
Fleischer's investigation into the memoirs of Nasdijj, a writer who claims to be Native American. In his award winning memoirs, Nasdijj claims to be of Navajo descent and to have lived a life of tremendous poverty and suffering. In reality Nasdijj is Tim Barrus, a middle class white man with a history as a pornographer. His falsified story borrows heavily from authentic Native American writers.
Tags: Native Americans; identity fraud; memoirs; Navajo; fabrications; internet investigation;