The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets 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. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "government regulation" ...
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Finding the holes in economic impact studies
Use this tipsheet when looking into studies that claim projects have an economic impact -- often used when someone wants to build a stadium, change a government regulation, promote tourism or bring a factory to town.
Tags: economic inpact study
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Investigating Business: From profit to non-profit
This tipsheet is a good guide to backgrounding businesses. The authors list local sources, government sources, data sources, online sources, regulators and trade groups that will be helpful for any business reporter. Each source has a short explanation of why it is helpful.
Tags: business; backgrounding; SEC; Wall Street; bankruptcy; Secretary of State; Pacer
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Getting the most mileage out of your broadcast investigation
McKie advises journalists to "choose a topic that has important public policy implications," and then, quoting Carl Sessions Stepp 'show the impact of your story." On methodology, he suggests locating the "greatest number of records" and identifying the players: regulators, advocates, winners, losers, etc. McKie also has advice on story lines, getting the most out of the Web and building a team, and including the online people from the beginning.
Tags: public policy; government action; government inaction; regulators; E-journalism; workplace safety; story ideas; convergence; broadcast track
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Breaking and Entering: How to dissect an organization
Nalder's tipsheet explains how to conduct thorough, quick investigations of organizations of all types, including government agencies, businesses, associations and nonprofits. The sheet sets out key questions and explains how to find answers to them. Nalder's panels are some of the most popular ones at IRE conferences.
Tags: investigative reporting; open records; public records; government; business; nonprofits; regulation; investigations; quick hits; quick investigations
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Using CAR on Consumer Investigations: making the best use of databases to build stories
The authors discuss how to investigate consumer issues. They include tips about how to recognize and report on consumer issues. They also include a long list of resources to find information on the topic.
Tags: consumers; business; beat reporting; story ideas; government regulation; FCC; FDA
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Being the government watchdog: legislative corruption
Williams shares lessons he learned and techniques he used while investigating the Tennessee state legislature. He lists sources and on-line resources to examine, expenditures to scrutinize and tricks lawmakers use to collect and distribute money.
Tags: state government; legislature; legislators; corruption; campaign finance; open records; public records; state funds; consulting; regulation; lawmakers; influence; graft
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Breaking and entering: How to dissect an organization
Nalder's tipsheet explains how to conduct thorough, quick investigations of organizations of all types, including government agencies, businesses, associations and nonprofits. The sheet sets out key questions and explains how to find answers to them. Nalder's panels are some of the most popular ones at IRE conferences.
Tags: investigative reporting; open records; public records; government; business; nonprofits; regulation; investigations
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FOIA/Public Records Law/ Third Party Discovery Tools
This 22 page tipsheet gives a detailed overview of the Public Disclosure Act in Washington. It discusses what records are available to the public and how to request records. It also includes a brief overview of regulations with certain types of records such as taxpayer information and personal information of government employees.
Tags: FOIA; Legal laws; public records law; media law; public records cases; First Amendment cases
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Tips for covering a condemnation fight
Using legal condemnation as an example, Baniak describes how public records can help reporters investigate key money issues and city government.
Tags: condemnation; city government; city council; campaign finance; disclosure reports; public utility regulators; Kentucky; Lexington; open records; nonprofit; utilities; city employees
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The lost stories: How a steady stream of laws, regulations and judicial decisions have eroded reporting on important issues
This tipsheet, a "white paper" published by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, reviews a host of stories journalists are now hampered from doing because of restrictions on government records. Acts of Congress, new rules by federal agencies, decisions by courts, and overreactions by administrators and bureaucrats have led to a host of "lost stories" that are no longer informing the public about how its government works. The tipsheet also discusses future risks that journalists should watch for and advises journalists on how to compensate for the shortfalls in access.
Tags: FOIA; open records; public records; public access; driver records; medical privacy; homeland security; courts; privacy; electronic records