Resource Center

Stories

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 "hiding" ...

  • Congressional Campaign Marred by Scandal

    When federal authorities charged the finance director for Connecticut House Speaker Chris Donovan's congressional campaign with trying to hide campaign contributions, the Courant sought to uncover details of the probe and provide its readers stories that explained the significance of the arrest, peeling back the layers of a conspiracy that reached the highest levels of state government.

    Tags: Federal authorities; campaign finance; state government

    By Reporters: Jon Lender; Edmund H. Mahony; Dave Altimari; Daniela Altimari; Editor: John Ferraro

    The Hartford Courant

    2012

  • Louisiana Horror Movie

    “Louisiana’s Horror Movie” grew out of our 2011 IRE award winning investigation “Hiding Behind the Badge”. That series ended with the guilty pleas of former Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle and businessman Aaron Bennett. Through investigative determination, “Louisana’s Horror Movie” uncovered possible public corruption by a former FBI agent and looked at his questionable relationship with the Hingle. What led us to this discovery was a piece of “Hiding Behind the Badge” we felt had not been fully explored: the money Hingle made from the B.P. oil spill. Even after the initial stories were reported, we felt there was more there. So we kept digging. It wasn’t February of 2012 that we uncovered Hingle's ties to former FBI agent, Robert Isakson. We requested emails, looking for more information to connect the dots. We had to fight the current sheriff’s office for the emails and eventually got them. The emails helped us show an improper relationship between the Hingle and Isakson – now a businessman getting contracts from Plaquemines Parish. This series eventually launched another FBI investigation, this time with Isakson in the crosshairs.

    Tags: FBI; FBI agents; corruption; broadcast

    By Lee Zurik, Chief Investigative Reporter; Donny Pearce, Photographer/Editor; Mikel Schaefer, News Director; Greg Phillips, Assistant News Director/Special Projects Producer

    WVUE-TV (New Orleans)

    2012

  • Seattle Police:Vanishing Videos

    This story began as a relatively simple venture; how to get copies of police dashboard camera videos to provide watchdog oversight of a police department facing growing criticism. It grew into a major expose of questionable police tactics and a battle for public access to critical public records that is currently before the state Supreme Court. Over the course of a year and a half, KOMO TV’s fight for videos and the video database became a game of strategy and attrition as the Seattle Police Department denied us access to public records at every opportunity. We tried every means at our disposal to get these records including direct appeals to elected officials. Finally, with no other recourse, KOMO TV sued the SPD and the city of Seattle. Only then did we make our fight for these records public. What followed in 2012 was a cascade of stories; people coming forward alleging police misconduct and an attempt to hide the videos that would tell the truth. In addition to KOMO TV’s public records lawsuit, our investigation has prompted state legislators and other open records advocates to pursue changes in state law to ensure these records can no longer stay hidden.

    Tags: police; camera videos; SPD; Seattle Police Department; public records

    By Tracy Vedder, Reporter/Writer; Sarah Garza, Executive Producer; Kiyomi Taguchi, Photojournalist; Holly Gauntt, News Director

    KOMO-TV (Seattle)

    2012

  • Project Simoom

    Our investigation "Project Simoom" revealed how the Swedish government in secret helped Saudi Arabia with the planning of an advanced weapons factory. In order to hide the plans from the public a state agency set up an illegal dummy corporation formed with cash from the military intelligence service to handle the project with the saudis. Our disclosure forced the Defence minister Sten Tolgfors and his staff to resign, and stopped the construction of the weapons factory, the investigation has won several awards including the number one broadcast award in Europe "Prix Europa"

    Tags: Swedish government; Saudi Arabia; weapons factory

    By Bo-Goran Bodin; Daniel Ohman

    Sverige Radio

    2012

  • Japan: Hiding America's Children

    The story of 15 American fathers whose children were spirited away by their Japanese mothers. ABC News uncovered how these women have used the Japanese government's protection to keep their children hidden. FBI warrants, Interpol notices, U.S. custody decisions - none are recognized or enforced by the Japanese courts or law enforcement, leaving the fathers essentially helpless when it came to exercising their parental rights once the children were kidnapped to Japan.

    Tags: abduction; Japan; United States; children

    By Abbie Boudreau; Sarah Netter; Thomas Gubar; Jonathan Banner

    ABC News

    2011

  • Hiding Behind the Badge

    "WVUE's investigation revealed that a sheriff was falsifying campaign documents and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his donors. They also connected the sheriff to a businessman and showed how the businessman's company over-billed the sheriff for hundreds of thousands of dollars of work, but was still paid."

    Tags: campaign fraud; law enforcemnt officials

    By Lee Zurik; Donny Pearce; Mike Schaefer; Greg Phillips; Marcy Planer

    WVUE-TV (New Orleans)

    2011

  • "Brian Ross Investigates: CIA Shoot-Down - 10 years later

    Ten years after the CIA "mistakenly ordered the shoot down" of a plane full of U.S. missionaries, Brian Ross and his team exposed a "major" cover-up by the CIA. The order to shoot down the plane resulted in the death of a mother and her young child and injured three other people. In an attempt to hide their mistakes, the CIA "misled the federal government and the public."

    Tags: CIA; missionary; Peru; War on Drugs

    By Brian Ross; Matthew Cole; Avni Patel; Asa Eslocker; Karen Brenner; Rhonda Schwartz; James Goldston; Mark Schone

    ABC News

    2010

  • "Annie's Ghosts"

    Steve Luxenberg had always believed his mother was an only child. Shortly before her death, however, it was revealed that she had a "disabled sister." Once Luxenberg started digging, a multitude of secrets were revealed, including his mother's attempts at hiding her sister's existence. His investigation acknowledges how his aunt and so many others came to live anonymously in mental hospitals for so long.

    Tags: imperial Russia; Ukrainian Holocaust; psychiatric hospitals; Detroit; Philippine war

    By Steve Luxenberg

    Hyperion Books (New York)

    2009

  • Secrecy 101

    "Universities hide information about their athletics departments behind a student-privacy law designed to keep grades private." Further, it hides athletes, who have done a number of unethical and some illegal activities. Also, coaches are using the law to hide their own bad behavior. All this information stunned the senator who created the law and he believes the "institutions are putting their own meaning into the law."

    Tags: education; college; Senator James L. Buckley; NCAA; Ohio State; FOIA; Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); federal; sports; public records; censor; academics

    By Jill Riepenhoff; Todd Jones

    Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)

    2009

  • Fugitive in the Philippines

    The story investigates an “unsolved disappearance and murder of a little boy and two mothers”. It is believed the serial killer is hiding in Southeast Asia, which is where the investigation led and even brought them to the suspect. He was the last known person to see the victims alive and detectives believe the” interview has helped them gather additional information”.

    Tags: murderer; cold case; homicide; mystery; evidence; hiding; criminal; suspicion; vanish; depart

    By Chris Halsne; David Weed; Bill Benson

    KIRO-TV (Seattle)

    2009