By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

A public records request for e-mails sometimes can produce quick-turn watchdog stories with powerful results. Take the experience of John Russell, a business reporter for The Indianapolis Star. Russell sharpened his investigative skills during a two-day IRE watchdog boot camp in Nashville for Gannett employees. The training was one of three IRE boot camps for employees of the newspaper chain.

Russell put his training to use covering an ethics scandal over the revolving door between Duke Energy Indiana and state regulators. After the governor fired the chairman of the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission, Russell ...

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By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

Attorney Herschel Fink brandished a copy of a $400,000 check from the city of Detroit – payable to the Detroit Free Press for legal fees in a public records battle involving former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. While large, the payment didn’t cover the newspaper’s full costs in its aggressive investigation, which led to the mayor’s resignation and 99 days in a county jail for obstructing justice and assaulting a deputy.

Still, the room of more than 60 Gannett reporters and editors burst into sustained applause. They had gathered earlier this week for ...

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By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

Every trainer will tell you that one of the joys of the job is learning from people you’re training. During recent custom training for The Associated Press in San Francisco, the group was talking about ways to avoid high copying fees for paper documents. After I suggested using a portable scanner, camera or cell-phone camera, AP staffer Marcus Wohlsen shared a tip.

Turns out a relatively new app for the iPhone can help. It’s called JotNot ($4.99 from the iTunes store). A similar product, DocScanner ($5.99 from the iTunes ...

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In a short video, Minnesota journalists describe what they learned during three days of custom IRE training in December. Topics include Twitter, searching the "Deep Web" and using IRS 990 forms to probe nonprofit organizations. Check out the video on the IRE On the Road blog. Nearly 60 reporters, editors and publishers from small newspapers in southern Minnesota participated. The specialized IRE training was sponsored by Huckle and Mainstream newspapers.

By Doug Haddix

IRE training director

 

Nearly 60 reporters, editors and publishers from small newspapers in southern Minnesota took part in three days of IRE custom training in December. The specialized IRE training was sponsored by Huckle and Mainstream newspapers. Several reporters and editors shared what they learned in a short video. It touches on topics such as Internal Revenue Service filings for nonprofits, the "deep Web" and Twitter.

Building on IRE custom training, reporter Craig Smith of the Santa Fe New Mexican produced a two-part look at the financial challenges of arts organizations. The first installment gave an overview of the financial picture, while the second story examined salaries and funding for arts organizations. The second piece included a full listing of more than 100 top salaries at organizations such as the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Santa Fe Opera.

Smith relied heavily on IRS 990 tax returns, available for free at Guidestar.org.

“The February IRE training was useful to me in preparing this in that ...

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A tsunami map file came in handy recently during custom training at the Student Media Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The mapping file shows the value of looking into local geographic data, even if you don’t know how to use mapping software.

More and more local, regional and state governments are posting mapping files on their Web sites – including Santa Barbara county government. Every smart map has an underlying data table. So, even if you don’t use mapping software, exploring a government or university mapping site can lead you to data sets that you ...

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When asked why, during a slowing economy and troubled time for newspapers, Rob Dean decided to provide customized IRE training for his staff and other journalists from across New Mexico and Colorado, the managing editor of The Santa Fe New Mexican said he wanted to inspire young journalists to embrace and pursue their craft. See our slideshow above for more from Dean, along with some photos from the customized training, which occurred Feb. 5-7.

Only a local news organization can hold institutions and individuals in a community accountable, so journalists need to be equipped for the job, says Rob Dean, managing editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican. That’s why the newspaper sponsored custom IRE training for its staff in early February. "In the last three days, I think we’ve gotten a set of skills that allows us not to be intimidated by the enormity of the project or the pressure of time," Dean said. "Using the tools of the information age, data that’s available, we can get deeply into a ... Read more ...

If your newsroom has cut back on sending journalists away for training, maybe you can persuade your bosses to bring IRE to you. IRE's custom training is surprisingly affordable, with a proven track record of producing results. Working with our training directors, your news organization can put together the most effective schedule for your staff — one day, several days or even a week. IRE can parachute into your newsroom and provide a variety of services, whether you need hands-on computer training or workshops on investigative reporting. Here's a sampling of what we offer:

• Hands-on training in using spreadsheets ...

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