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 "information technology" ...
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Green Inc., Environmentalism for Profit
With the groundbreaking series Green Inc., USA Today for the first time uncovers the truth behind the soaring movement toward constructing buildings that are certified as environmentally friendly. The series shows how "green" buildings often are barely different from their supposedly conventional counterparts -- except that green-building designers and owners often win huge tax breaks, zoning waivers and other valuable perks from government agencies. The series involves an unprecedented analysis of records for 7,100 green-certified buildings to show how the designers follow the easiest and cheapest steps to get certified. Numerous freedom-of-information requests revealed the enormous tax breaks awards to the building designers and owners, and also show how some buildings are falling far short of their environmental promise.
Tags: Environmental friendly; taxes; green buildings; certificated
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Personal Space
The "What They Know" series investigates the ways in which technology is making it easier for companies and governments to gather personal information about us.
Tags: technology; privacy; government; companies; wall street journal
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The New War
The information age has created new vulnerabilities to US national security. This investigation reveals the holes in the nation’s defense against cyber spies and pushing policymakers to do something about it. Some examples are the “breaching of the US electric grid, an expensive fighter-jet project and the US drones in the war in Iraq.” Further, this investigation also reveals innovative technologies to stop these cyber spies.
Tags: information age; US national security; spies; cyberspies; cyber espionage; technology; cyberspace; US electric grid; Iraq
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Computer Security Faults Put Boeing at Risk
This package reveals Boeing's struggles with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in its information technology department. For the past three years, Boeing has failed, in both internal and external audits, to prove it can properly protect its computer systems against manipulation, theft and fraud. These concerns were not shared with shareholders.
Tags: corporations; businesses; information technology; hacking; business ethics
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Jail Problems; Day Care; VITA; Dog Laws
In a story about the jail locks, reporters found a major issue at the jail that had been known by the sheriff for years. In the story on day care, the reporter found that though parents could learn whether their children's centers had code violations but couldn't find out if anything had been done about them. In the story about information technology bids, the reporter revealed the scope of the proposed handover of the state's contracts, what it would cost and how many employees might be affected-- all despite official secrecy. And a little-known loophole in state law may be closed as a result of the story about dog attacks.
Tags: jail; day care; code violation; information technology; dog code violations
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Potpourri
Not really a series, this is an assortment of stories by reporters at the Times-Dispatch. One is on locks in the city jail that don't work; one is on a web site that tells parents about code violations at day care centers but not about what actions were taken in response; one reveals secret details about bids for state information technology contracts; and one is about efforts to make the owners of vicious dogs criminally liable for the dogs' behavior.
Tags: animal control; state government contracts; city jails; day care centers
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No Place to Hide
American Radio Works producer Biewen and Washington Post reporter O'Harrow Jr. investigate in this one-hour program and the extent to which private companies are working with the U.S. government to create a growing and largely secret domestic intelligence system in the post-9/11 era. They particularly look at how the government utilized information technology to help it achieve its surveillance goals.
Tags: domestic spying; intelligence; Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; CAPPS II; Total Information Awareness; oversight; surveillance; U.S. government
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No Place to Hide
Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow, Jr. investigates how the U.S. government has used information technology to watch over Americans in the post-9/11 era. He reveals the extent to which private companies are working with the government to create a growing and largely secret domestic intelligence system.
Tags: domestic spying; intelligence; security-industrial complex; Matrix; Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; ChoicePoint; CAPPS II; Total Information Awareness; oversight; surveillance; U.S. government
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Stonewall
This story addresses clause in Ohio's Bioterrorism Bill, which allows it to hide information gathered during public health investigations. The reporter discovered that hiding this information was more of a pattern than an exception. She found examples of the Department's efforts to bury information, stonewall citizens, and downplay health risks. For example...in one community, data was skewed to show no link between toxins in the soil and local leukemia cases. Not only does the Health Department hide this information, they make it nearly impossible to retrieve, by ignoring information requests...even the State Attorney General couldn't get answers to its health-related inquiry.
Tags: Ohio Department of Health; Bioterrorism Bill; Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Ohio Attorney General; EPA; health assessment; public health; stonewall; health risks; public health information; Ohio Attorney General; Centers for Disease Control; Waste Technologies Industries; hazardous waste; cancer rates; air pollution; pollution testing; leukemia; autism; neurological disorders; multiple sclerosis; well water; health hazard; toxic chemicals; Trichlorethylene (TCE); anthrax; e.coli; Greenpeace
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Access Maryland 2003: The Access Project
This year-long project tested state agencies' compliance with Maryland's freedom of information act. The result was an extensive series of articles that looked at different aspects of the state's open records laws and reported what agencies were complying and to what extent they were complying. The project showed that people only had about "a 60 percent chance of getting what they are legally entitled to, and often they will face improper questioning about who they are, why they want the record and who they work for." Electronic records proved even harder to get; for example, in one series of requests, the project revealed that "none of the state agencies tested...would provide public records in electronic format, and none would give out public information included in a database." The series took a hard look at such problems and what the public can do about it. As a result of the audit, the Maryland attorney general promised "a new training initiative for state employees."
Tags: open records; public records; access; public; documents; electronic records; database; technology; fees; government; agencies