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 "worldwide" ...
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Led by an innocent into a web of evil
The investigation chronicles the tireless efforts of Boston federal agents who followed the trail of a single photo of a distraught toddler erroneously sent to them by a Boston-area man obsessed with child pornography. It ended with the arrests of more than 42 men from California to Mexico and the discovery of more than 140 exploited children, one of them only days old. In the telling, staff writer Jenifer B. McKim deftly details the exploding worldwide problem of child pornography, the new and innovative efforts made by investigators to rescue children and track down criminals, and the devastating toll that child porn takes on victims and families.
Tags: child porn; pornography; sex abuse; children
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Hidden Wealth of Azerbaijan President
The President of oil-rich Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has been compared to a Mafia crime boss in US diplomatic cables, and man analysts refer to him as a dictator. OCCRP looked deeper than those labels and found that the Aliyev family has systematically grabbed shares of the most profitable businesses in the country. Investigative reports by OCCRP and Radio Free Europe have revealed and more importantly proven for the first time that the ruling family has secret ownership stakes through offshore companies in the country’s largest businesses, including banks, construction companies, gold mines and phone companies. The government Aliyev runs gave these shares. The family also has secretly amassed high-end property in places like the Czech Republic. The Azeri government responded to the revelations first with silence and now claims that OCCRP is an agent of the rival Armenian government. Aliyev’s administration also failed to investigate the harassment and blackmail of OCCRP and RFE journalist Khadija Ismayilova earlier this year. While Azerbaijan has worked at improving its image worldwide, OCCRP’s reporting makes clear that a petty dictatorship remains in control.
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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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Wounded Warriors
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review began following up on tips worldwide from military personnel inside the Warrior Transition Units, the special military-medical wards constructed in the aftermath of the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. After months of gathering leaked documents and compiling numerous interviews at bases nationwide, especially with soldiers, the Tribune leaked reams of secret reports detailing the Pentagon's own inspection of medical wards.
Tags: Military Personnel; Walter Reed Army Medical Center; Washington D.C. Documents
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Documenting Russian Federation Corruption
With documentation from several secret bank accounts and offshore corporate records, Barron's Dow Jones traced how Russia's most powerful officials have looted their nation in cahoots with cops, gangsters, and oligarchs. They show how a worldwide network of money laundering professionals that facilitates that plunder, while also abetting other global mischief like drug smuggling and arms trafficking.
Tags: corruption; drug smuggling; arms trafficking; Russia
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Gauging FOI Worldwide
"On a year-long stint in Mexico, Mendoza learned to use the country's new freedom of information laws. This inspired her to find out what other countries had similar laws and to encourage other reporters to use them." What came out of this were 140 AP reporters from around the world filing FOI reqeusts.
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Who Killed Doc?
KSTP found that "commanders ignored warnings, botched investigations, and failed to protect service members on their own base - where they should have been the safest. As a result, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner says it has changed the way the remains of service members killed worldwide are tracked, to ensure that families of the fallen are notified of changes to their love one's autopsy or cause of death."
Tags: military; military deaths; service members; death examination; military bases
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It's Just Lunch - Or Is It
The San Diego-based dating service "It's Just Lunch" and its 80 franchises worldwide sell themselves as a "specialized dating service for busy professionals." But the company does not fulfill its promise of a love connection. Clients pay $1,500 for up to 14 dates - "usually for lunch or cocktails after work" - that are supposed to be chosen by the company based on specific criteria provided by the clients. The reporters spoke with more than 30 consumers and former employees who painted a picture of a company that inflates the number and quality of its clients, and also refuses to give refunds when clients are unsatisfied.
Tags: Dating services; fraud; It's Just Lunch
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The New Business of Terror
The investigation reveals a transformation underway among terrorist groups worldwide - their growing reliance on organized crime for funding.
Tags: terrorism; organized crime; funding; black market; drug trade; counterterrorism; 9/11
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Mormons in Utah: the Shrinking Majority
This series of seven stories showed that the Mormon Church is not the fastest growing religion worldwide, as it claims. In fact, active church membership is about a third of what the official numbers are. Traditionally Mormon majority counties in Utah are losing their majority status. And stricter criteria for missionaries have reduced their numbers and converts worldwide.
Tags: Mormon religion; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; LDS; Pentecostals; demographics; state planning