Tags : collaboration

ICIJ discusses offshore project for broad-ranging audience

IRE hosted a Google Hangout on Tuesday with members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, who discussed their ongoing investigation into offshore banking secrets. The reporting began with a leaked cache of 2.5 million records, and has since involved -- at last count -- 86 journalist in 47 countries.

Viewers from all over the world tuned in to learn more about ICIJ's project. Cities with live viewers included Chicago, London, Madrid, Narpes in Finland, New York and San Diego.

In a discussion moderated by Wendell Cochran, former IRE board member and Senior Editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop, the ...

Read more ...

Behind the Story: How Gannett Wisconsin Media gathered salary data from cities, counties and state agencies

In the wake of the budget reforms proposed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in 2011, known as Wisconsin Act 10, Eric Litke of the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team felt the public debate over salary was all rhetoric with little factual backing.  In February, Litke tried to change the public dialog by publishing the salary data for Wisconsin public sector employees making more than $25,000 a year.  The five-week report entitled

“What We Pay:  Your Tax Dollars and the Salaries They Support” took six months of research and cost almost $9000 in reimbursements for data.  By the end of ...

Read more ...

Behind the Story: The San Diego port, altered public records and interactive presentation

San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal is home to a rare deep water port that’s valuable to the maritime industry, but for the last ten years, developers have argued that the area should be transformed into an entertainment district.  When two businessmen responsible for running the U-T San Diego began promoting the stadium, Brooke Williams of iNewSource.org along with reporters from KPBS San Diego decided to investigate.  Their series “Port Authority:  What’s a Port Worth, Anyway?” compiles reporting, documents, interactive pieces, and video to show the plans and potential effects the changes would have on San ...

Read more ...

Data to fact check economic claims

Economic issues have taken center stage during this year's elections. Candidates for office are trying to tap into voters' discontent about unemployment, government spending and housing.

It's easy for journalists and the public to get lost when politicians toss out economic statistics to score points. So IRE and the Sunlight Foundation have teamed up to bring you EconoCheck, which provides details about these key economic stats and links to the source data.

Bill Allison, Sunlight's editorial director, offers examples of recent candidate claims that EconoCheck can help you evaluate in your reporting.

EconoCheck is funded by a ...

Read more ...

University of New Orleans WWNO newsroom, The Lens announce revised collaboration

The University of New Orleans announced Thursday revised plans for a multimedia news collaboration between NPR affiliate WWNO-FM and the independent nonprofit news site, The Lens.

The partnership moves WWNO away from the creation of its new platform, neworleansreporter.org. The university-operated WWNO will instead produce content under the existing brand of The Lens

“In this way, we will be able to achieve the original scope, staffing and reporting goals of NewOrleansReporter.org while reducing duplication and building on established infrastructure,” WWNO General Manager Paul Maassen said in the announcement.

The Lens announced that it plans to "build out a ...

Read more ...

Haiti's Aftershocks

Collaborative watchdog group follows the funds for rebuilding

When a massive earthquake killed some 200,000 people and devastated Haiti, billions of aid dollars poured in from aroundthe globe. Groups such as “God’s Pit Crew” and “Drops of Hope”descended on the island, ostensibly to help people rebuild their lives.

Although many of us in Haiti had lost friends, family, homes and offices, a group of Haitian journalists banded together soon after thedisaster to follow the money to make sure it really was offering hope.

A student journalist questions a man about his son’s case of cholera at ...
Read more ...

When Your Data's Not Where You Are

I have two problems. (Well, OK, I've got a lot more than that, but we'll discuss only two here.) The first is that I'm terribly absent-minded, and when I'm at one computer the file I need is usually at another. The second is that the university where I teach is so tight with money that I half expect they'll start charging me per credit. They're certainly never going to pay for remote desktop software and, besides, the firewalls wouldn't let it through. Or so they think. But a couple of free and secure ... Read more ...