Longtime IRE member David Dietz, president of our organization in 2001-02, passed away Wednesday, June 1,  after a battle with cancer. Dave was a beloved colleague and friend to many of us, and was honored last year with IRE's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his many contributions. Over the past decade, Dave worked as a San Francisco-based investigative reporter for Bloomberg Markets magazine. He had a 40-year career in journalism, including positions at TheStreet.com, The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner. He won more than 30 national and regional reporting awards for investigating corporate fraud ... Read more ...

The filing period has begun for those planning to run for the IRE Board of Directors. Six seats on the 13-member board are up for election. The election will be held June 11 at the IRE annual conference in Orlando, Fla. The IRE Board serves as the governing body of IRE and generally meets in person twice a year to discuss and vote on IRE business. One of the meetings is at the annual IRE conference in June. The board periodically has conference calls. Directors serve on committees and task forces made up of board members and appointed non-board IRE ... Read more ...

The Board of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) strongly encourages the U.S. government to exercise great restraint when considering matters surrounding the documents released through Wikileaks or taking any actions that could undermine American traditions of a free press and open government. While controversy exists about the nature of Wikileaks’ activities and the disclosure of information leaked from government sources, the Board is deeply troubled about the impact that improper or imprudent government response could have upon First Amendment freedoms that are essential to a healthy democracy. Profound injustices and wrongdoing have been exposed throughout the history of ... Read more ...

[caption id="attachment_1239" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Hollman Morris Courtesy of Nieman Journalism Lab"][/caption] The board of Investigative Reporters and Editors joins other journalism organizations in the United States to protest the U.S. State Department’s recent decision to deny a visa for Colombian investigative journalist Hollman Morris, who was selected as a Nieman fellow for the 2010-2011 year at Harvard University. Morris is among the most prominent investigative TV reporters in Colombia and often courageously goes behind the lines of guerilla wars there to collect information for his stories primarily focusing on human rights. He’s ... Read more ...

The filing period has begun for those planning to run for the IRE Board of Directors. Seven seats on the 13-member board are up for election. The election will be held at our annual conference in Las Vegas, on June 12. To see candidate statements click here. The IRE Board serves as the governing body of IRE and generally meets in person two times a year to discuss and vote on IRE business. One of the meetings is at the annual IRE Conference in June. The board periodically has conference calls. Directors serve on committees and task forces made up ... Read more ...

A group of journalists representing investigative reporting organizations throughout the nation gathered this week to take the first steps toward forming a non-profit investigative news network. Representatives from the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting, IRE, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, several newly formed regional investigative centers and other groups met at the Pocantico Conference Center in New York. The goals of the network, as stated in a declaration issued by the group, are to "aid and abet, in every conceivable way, individually and collectively, the work and public reach of its member news organizations, including, to the ... Read more ...

At the 2009 IRE Conference in Baltimore, IRE members will be electing six board members. (See the candidate list.) They also will vote on a proposed amendment to the organization's Articles of Incorporation to lift the restriction on the number of academic members who can serve on the board. Currently only one member of the 13-member board may fall into this category. If this amendment passes, there would be no limit. (There are no academic members on the current board.) Candidate filing remains open until noon on June 12. IRE members who are unable to attend the 2009 IRE ... Read more ...

These are tough times in broadcasting, but the upcoming IRE Conference promises to be a good investment – arming journalists with the information they need to deliver strong, timely investigative reports for their news organizations when they return home. The event will be held June 11-14 at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront. May 15 is the last day for hotel reservations at the conference discount rate (if rooms are still available). Investigative journalism’s biggest names – Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh, James Bamford, Brian Ross, Armen Keteyian, Byron Pitts and many others – headline the conference. Jon Klein, president of CNN-U.S., will deliver ... Read more ...

By Phil Williams, IRE Board Member If you read the industry news about the challenges facing journalism today, it's easy to get discouraged. Positions on investigative teams -- in some cases, whole teams -- are being cut.  Entire news organizations are closing their doors.  The list of talented journalists looking for work grows every week. But these troubled times may also bring some glimmer of hope for the future.  That's because, instead of eliminating investigative reporting, some news organizations are refocusing on investigative journalism as a way to survive.  And that's where IRE hopes to play an important role ... Read more ...

President Barack Obama has wasted no time in taking a strong stand in favor of openness and transparency in the federal government. “All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA and to usher in a new era of open government,” President Obama wrote in an official memorandum issued Wednesday. The memo, and another calling for greater transparency in government, represents a significant shift away from the previous administration’s emphasis upon secrecy and a return to viewing access to government information as a presumptive legal right ... Read more ...