IRE is launching a new program and is looking for news organizations dedicated to doing watchdog work. This is your newsroom’s opportunity to have intense, in-house investigative training -- for free. If your organization is hungry for customized investigative training and can't afford it, apply today. Spots are limited.

Total Newsroom Training from IRE is designed to increase the ability of news organizations to provide watchdog and enterprise coverage for their communities and to produce work that can lead to change and improvements in those communities.

The program is meant to help small to medium-size news organizations, and IRE ...

By Christopher Dolan, University of Scranton

From the art of the interview to “Facebook creeping,” we learned many invaluable investigative tools at IRE’s Scranton Watchdog Workshop.

During the day-long event, various expert investigative journalists taught the tricks and techniques needed when hunting down a good story.

Tisha Thompson from WRC-Washington had many tips for crafting a strong interview during her one-hour presentation. Ms. Thompson drew from her experience in the field to outline how journalists should handle their various interviewees—detailing how a journalist should interact with victims, criminals and everyone in between. Ms. Thompson said when interviewing both ...

Photo credit: USC Annenberg School
for Communication & Journalism

Congratulations to Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times, for receiving the 2012 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, for their series “Methadone and the Politics of Pain.” Berens will be speaking at IRE's Watchdog Workshop this weekend in Spokane, Wash. Berens and Armstong, both IRE members, will be presented the journalism award during the Selden Ring Award Luncheon, part of IRE's Watchdog Workshop April 13-14 in Los Angeles.

From USC's website:

The $35,000 annual award, which has been presented for the past 23 years ...

When Tisha Thompson of WTTG in Washington, D.C., gets a call from a tipster who’s afraid to leave a name or phone number, she has a surefire way of staying in touch. [caption id="attachment_103" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tisha Thompson of WTTG-Washington, D.C."][/caption] Thompson suggests that the source set up an e-mail account with an alias on AOL, Google or another national provider. To help protect potential whistleblowers, she reminds them not to communicate with her from a work computer or telephone.  Once the source e-mails her from the new account, she has a ...