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Welcome to our new website, which has been redesigned to better serve our members and the journalism industry. Please refer to our FAQs and screen shots below for full details. Here are tips for key features:
LOGGING IN: At the top right of the home page, click Log In. Use the same email and password that you’ve been using to log into the IRE website. If you don’t remember your password, please click the Forgot Password link and follow instructions. If you still have questions or need assistance, please email info@ire.org.
EXPIRED MEMBERSHIP: If you can’t log in, one reason may be that your membership has expired. In that case, please go through the process to rejoin IRE on the Join page.
MEMBER DASHBOARD: To the left of the Log In / Log Out button is the Member Dashboard. After you click it, you will look below and see three buttons:
NAVIGATION: The website is designed to be intuitive, so we encourage you to explore the drop-down menus at the top. Simply hover your mouse over About, Training, Resources, News, Hire Us and Awards to see all of your options. Please note our new Diversity & Inclusion page. Also take a look at the quick links at the bottom of the home page. Throughout the site, you’ll see plus signs with some labels; simply click those buttons for more details. You can toggle those accordion boxes on and off by clicking them.
RESOURCES: For the first time, IRE members will be able to search across various types of materials: tipsheets, data sets, audio files, contest entries and more. The new Resource Search can look through all resources, or you can limit it for a targeted search (e.g. only tipsheets or only data sets). Once you find what you need, add those items one by one to your shopping cart (even if they’re free). Then click the Shopping Cart button at the top right of the page and follow instructions. For example, you will be able to gather free tipsheets, register for a conference, buy a T-shirt and purchase a book in one transaction.
DATA SETS: If you’re looking for data provided by IRE, navigate to the Resource Search. IRE maintains these databases: SBA Disaster Loans, SBA 7a Business Loans, National Inventory of Dams, National Bridge Inventory, FOT Fatality Analysis Reporting System, College Scorecard-Simplified and Boating Accidents. Use the Resource Search to find them by clicking on Data and adding a key word (uncheck the View All button). We also provide archived data that is no longer updated but useful for reporting. Click here to see a full list and a link to request archived data.
First, make sure you’re logged into the IRE website. Use the same email and password that you’ve been using to log into the IRE website. If you don’t remember your password, please click the Forgot Password link and follow instructions. If you can’t log in, one reason may be that your membership has expired. In that case, please go through the process to rejoin IRE on the Join page. If you still have questions or need assistance, please email info@ire.org.
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(May 19, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors has named its finalists for the 2025 Golden Padlock Award, recognizing the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.
This year's competition highlights a competitive field of government agencies and public officials who have distinguished themselves in the art of secrecy.
"From surreptitiously shredding public records to masking the impacts of serious government failures to undermining the principles of open courts, these finalists have distinguished themselves in the field of bureaucratic opacity," said Robert Cribb, chair of IRE’s Golden Padlock Committee. "We honor them for the lengths they have gone to ensure the public interest does not threaten personal expediency.”
The finalists for the 2025 Golden Padlock Award are:
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice under President Trump, for their remarkable and ongoing lack of transparency around using the Alien Enemies Act to ship more than 238 Venezuelans accused of Tren de Aragua affiliation to a notorious El Salvador prison. The lack of transparency extends to the locations, criminal history, alleged gang ties and even the current well-being of the people sent to a prison linked with human rights violations. The administration refused judicial orders, citing vague and unverified national security concerns and fired at least one lawyer who acknowledged government mistakes in court. The government has still not released a public list of those sent to the prison. The men’s families and their legal counsel have mostly relied on a list published by CBS News to learn the fates of the 238.
The City of Columbus and Mayor Andrew Ginther: Hours after news broke that hackers had stolen a massive cache of data from the City of Columbus in 2024, Mayor Andrew Ginther told reporters the information was encrypted and posed no risk to citizens. But the hackers dumped much of the data on the dark web and, with the help of a whistleblower, NBC4 was able to show that this stolen data included social security numbers and driver's license information for hundreds of thousands of people, crime victim information and undercover officer identities. After the news broke, the city sued the whistleblower source, issuing a temporary restraining order to silence him, only dropping it after he agreed to stop sharing the data with the media and help the city with their investigation. City officials have since refused interviews and delayed public records requests. To date, they have still not acknowledged why the mayor told the public their personal data was not at risk. The city is now facing two class actions over the handling of the data.
The administration of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, for fighting to change transparency laws to avoid releasing data about the state’s criminal justice system. Most notably, after the state’s FOIA commission ordered the administration to release the case-level data requested by CT Insider and others, the administration instead hid a new exemption in a 351-page budget bill — avoiding debate. The exemption imperils the public’s access to even more state records, allowing any agency to reject an open record request for records created by other agencies.
The Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk: The mass firings of federal employees and dramatic reshaping of government by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has unfolded with little of the transparency expected of federal agencies. The Trump administration contends DOGE is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The staff has used outside computer servers to conduct its work and an app that features disappearing messages to communicate. A federal judge who ordered DOGE to release public records in March described the agency as operating in "unusual secrecy." The DOGE-led dismantling of USAID included staff being ordered to "shred" documents and place the remains in burn bags labelled "SECRET." And DOGE efforts to downsize government also triggered 10,000 layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services including the entire FOIA office at the Centers for Disease Control. This is happening under the auspices of the Trump Administration, which has scrubbed 150,000 pages of public information and data from government websites, a volume The Internet Archive's director has called "unprecedented" in scope and scale.
Minnesota's Ramsey County Judge Joy Bartscher, for ordering the destruction of public court records and barring journalists from reporting on treatment failures that contributed to a double murder. The record — a sentencing memo — detailed how an outpatient treatment facility repeatedly ignored clear warning signs that a man with a history of violence had relapsed before killing two men. After the memo was briefly posted to the court’s website, Bartscher not only ordered its removal but also blocked KARE 11 reporters from publishing its contents. Under threat of contempt, reporters were forced to withhold information learned from the memo. KARE 11 successfully challenged the gag order before the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which ruled the judge’s actions unconstitutional. Yet to this day, the public still cannot access the memo through the court’s website but can read it only through media coverage.
The winner of the 2025 Golden Padlock Award will be announced during the awards luncheon at the IRE Conference on Saturday, June 21, in New Orleans.
(May 15, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors’ premier investigative and data journalism training is just a few clicks away this fall, with a major gift to celebrate IRE’s 50th birthday!
The 2025 AccessFest Conference will take place online Thursday, Oct. 9, through Saturday, Oct. 11. IRE is thrilled to announce registration will be $50 for all journalists and educators for a limited time.
After Sept. 8, registration will go up to $199. Students can register anytime for a flat rate of $50. IRE membership is required to attend the conference.
The super-duper discount rate was approved by the IRE Board of Directors last month, as another way to recognize IRE’s rich legacy of educating and empowering journalists since 1975.
“We’ve listened to our members over the years: traveling to a conference or taking an extended period of time off isn’t always feasible, especially as newsrooms face financial constraints, budget cuts, and backlash against inclusivity,” said Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion. “We hope this special rate will help us provide training during a politically turbulent time when high-quality journalism is of the utmost importance.”
Each year, AccessFest seeks to foster important conversations around belonging, equity and inclusion in the journalism space – both within the newsroom and in news coverage. This IRE conference is virtual by design, created with the goal of expanding IRE training to journalists around the world in a more accessible and affordable format.
The conference will include sessions on reporting and writing skills, investigative techniques, public records, newsroom leadership, career advice, and more. Check out last year’s schedule for a glimpse of programming.
The keynote conversation is always a highlight at AccessFest, featuring intimate, in-depth conversations with journalists who set the gold standard for what belonging, equity and inclusion look like in journalism. This year, IRE is honored to announce that Sara Luterman of The 19th and Wendy Lu of The New York Times will join in conversation for the AccessFest keynote.
Luterman is the Disability and Aging Reporter at The 19th. She previously worked at WNYC’s Radiolab and has written for The Nation, The American Prospect and The Washington Post. In 2023, she was a Long Term Care Crisis Fellow at the National Press Foundation. Her reporting at The Nation has been previously shortlisted for the Deadline Club Mosaic Award, which recognizes excellence in “coverage of disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, social justice, equity and inclusion.”
Lu is a deputy editor on the Flexible Editing desk at The New York Times and a global speaker on disability representation in the media. She is also a board member for the National Center on Disability and Journalism. Her debut middle-grade novel, “Casting April,” about a talented disabled girl who will do anything for a chance at the spotlight, will be released next summer.
“As the umbrella expands in our minds on what DEI means to each of us, these conversations are pivotal to better serving our communities with all its vibrant intersectionality,” Vara-Orta said. “We look forward to our members hearing this powerful conversation built off of years of work by journalists with disabilities that came before us, remain among us and will make it better for generations of all of us to come.”
AccessFest is one of IRE’s three major conferences each year. The 2025 NICAR Conference took place in Minneapolis earlier this year. The 2025 IRE Conference will take place June 19-22 in New Orleans.
As IRE plans ahead for AccessFest, the team is seeking ideas and feedback for the conference. Please fill out this form by July 27 – no suggestion is too small.
Registration for AccessFest is open now. IRE membership is open to journalists, educators and students. Learn more about member benefits and join today.
(May 13, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors is helping journalists and students around the country attend the 2025 IRE Conference in New Orleans.
Thanks to the help of our generous sponsors and donors, IRE was able to offer more than 60 fellowships for this year’s conference. This cohort of fellows represents newsrooms and colleges across the country. IRE is eager to host and offer them the best of our training.
Congratulations, IRE25 fellows!
Established in honor of the late David Dietz, award-winning journalist and past president of IRE, this fellowship supports early-career journalists who have a demonstrated interest in financial investigative reporting.
Established to honor late IRE member Eric B. Sager, who worked mainly in trade publications, this fellowship supports U.S. and independent journalists.
Established by longtime IRE member David Jackson to honor trusted Chicago Tribune colleague Gary Marx, this fellowship supports U.S.-based college journalism students and early-career journalists.
Established by former IRE board member Nancy Stancill and her family in memory of her father, Godfrey Wells Stancill (who was an editor and publisher of the Suffolk News-Herald), this fellowship supports journalists working for newspapers with a Sunday circulation of under 50,000.
Established by several individual IRE members and new organization sponsors, this fellowship is intended to support journalist of colors and prepare them for a solid career in investigative reporting. In 2023, the fellowship was renamed in honor of murdered journalist Chauncey Bailey.
Named in honor of Dr. James Richard Bennett, professor emeritus of English at the University of Arkansas, this scholarship supports journalism students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Funded by the Jeff German Fund for Investigative Journalism, this fellowship is meant to help continue the kind of game-changing reporting late Las Vegas-Review Journal reporter Jeff German devoted his life to producing.
Established by former IRE president David Cay Johnston to honor his wife, Jennifer Leonard, this fellowship supports women who are college journalism students or early-career professional journalists.
Established to honor and memorialize Mike Levine, a columnist and executive editor of the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, NY, this fund supports journalists working in daily or weekly print news organizations or digital-only news outlets.
Established by the Napoli Management Group, this scholarship supports early-career TV journalists interested in investigative reporting.
Established by ProPublica, this fellowship supports U.S.-based journalists, educators and students of color; those in the LGBTQ+ community; and those with disabilities.
Established by family and friends of late IRE member Sandra Thomas, this fellowship supports journalists working to shine a light on the environment and find better ways to preserve it.
(May 9, 2025) — Investigative Reporters and Editors will mark its 50th anniversary with a gala in September, an elegant evening of camaraderie and entertainment paying tribute to the outrage that has driven investigative journalism since 1975.
The fundraiser, the first of its kind in IRE’s history, is set for Sept. 15 at Gotham Hall in the heart of New York City. Guests will enjoy elevated dining, lively conversation and a spirited auction, woven into an unforgettable experience honoring some of the top names in news.
“IRE is responsible in many ways for the development of modern investigative journalism,” said Brian M. Rosenthal, the IRE Board President and investigative reporter for The New York Times. “It has trained tens of thousands of reporters and editors and maintained high standards in the industry. And at a time when fact-based journalism is under threat, IRE has never been more important.”
Co-chairs of the event are Paul Sagan, chair of ProPublica; AG Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times; and Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent at PBS NewsHour. Funds raised go toward the nonprofit organization’s vital training programs.
The honorees who will be recognized at the gala represent milestones from each decade since the organization’s founding in 1975:
“These stars of journalism, who all received training at IRE, exemplify the power and future of journalism, the very foundation of democracy,” said IRE Executive Director Diana Fuentes. “We are proud to celebrate their contributions to our industry and look forward to a memorable evening reflecting the heart and soul and never-quit passion for truth we all share.”
The 50th Anniversary Gala is a fundraiser, with tables starting at $10,000. Find more information here.
The gala is just one of the many ways that IRE is marking its 50th anniversary.
The biggest event is IRE25, our annual conference set for June 19-22 in New Orleans, with a special programming track dedicated to the past, present and future of investigative journalism; a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Jim Steele; a reunion for longtime members; and a celebratory riverboat cruise.
The organization recently hosted a virtual “Titans Talk” featuring IRE founders Len Downie Jr., legendary Washington Post editor who oversaw the Watergate coverage, and Indiana State Rep. Ed DeLaney, the organization’s first attorney. Another virtual event, planned for May 28, will feature a conversation with several of IRE’s executive directors through the years.
More 50th anniversary events will be announced in the coming months.
Learn more about IRE’s history and upcoming anniversary celebrations here. To support our mission and help us continue this work, visit our online donation page.
April 30, 2025 — IRE is going back to school! With the pressing need for high-quality investigative journalism today, Investigative Reporters and Editors is expanding efforts to nurture a new generation of watchdog reporters.
A pilot program of IRE student chapters is in place across the country. The goal is to introduce more students to the organization and bring investigative training to college campuses.
Within just a few months of launching, there are now IRE student chapters at Boston University, Arizona State University, Northwestern University and the City University of New York’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism — with more in the works.
Chapter meetings serve as a chance for students to gather, network and learn about investigative journalism topics, from how to FOIA records to finding your place in the industry. Guest speakers have included some of the best journalists in the field — Jason Leopold from Bloomberg; Walter Robinson, Matt Carroll, Stephen Kurkjian, Patricia Wen from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team; and veteran New York journalist Tom Robbins.
“What stood out in all these conversations is how investigative reporting demands creativity and persistence. When the trail goes cold, how do you keep digging? That's the kind of thinking we hope to inspire,” said Cherry Salazar, president of CUNY’s IRE student chapter.
This initiative, led by longtime IRE members on our Academic Task Force, reflects a significant interest in investigative journalism on college campuses. Students and educators make up about 25% of IRE’s membership. IRE’s last major event, the NICAR Conference in Minneapolis, hosted about 1,000 attendees, with nearly one-third being students.
“Students and professors play a crucial part in the organization,” said IRE Board Member and CUNY chapter advisor Andrew Lehren. “They are on IRE conference panels. They are part of our meetups in cities across the country. Their outstanding work is recognized each year in the IRE Awards.”
This year’s winners in the Student (Large) category were reporters at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland and Boston University. Their months-long investigation shows how — despite reforms — lobbyists fund travel for U.S. House of Representatives and their staffs.
CUNY’s NYCity News Service was recognized as a finalist for their reporting exposing deaths and injuries in poorly regulated daycares, as well as wage theft in daycare centers in New York and nationally.
“Student” journalism has been a vital voice on college campuses for years. Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative recently wrote about how college students are filling coverage gaps in communities where newspapers are struggling. The University of Vermont's Center for Community News has undertaken great efforts to support college journalists in this effort.
From The Independent Florida Alligator's investigation into the university president's finances to the Daily Northwestern's exposé on hazing in the football program (just to name a few examples), students across the country are producing great work and proving you don’t need to wait for graduation to start your investigative career.
Another key aspect of IRE’s student chapters is offering mentorship from experienced investigative journalists, Lehren said.
“These efforts are all part of the ways that IRE works to teach student journalists real-world skills from top investigative reporters so they will be better prepared for their careers when they graduate.”
Students can join IRE for $25/year. In addition to our conferences, student members have access to thousands of tipsheets and free webinars throughout the year, opportunities to attend regional workshops and bootcamps, and a community of nearly 5,000 journalists to lean on for support.
IRE also has a mentorship program with Journalism Mentors, so you can connect with IRE members to get advice on investigative journalism or navigating the media industry.
The IRE Academic Task Force includes: Jodie Fleischer (chair), Andy Lehren, Mark Greenblatt and Maggie Mulvihill (subcommittee co-chair).
About IRE: Investigative Reporters and Editors is a grassroots nonprofit organization providing training, resources and a community of support to thousands of journalists around the world. Membership is open to journalists, educators and students. Learn more about membership requirements here.
Interested in sponsoring a student member? Follow this link.
(April 16, 2025) — Congratulations to winners and finalists in the 2024 IRE Awards. The annual contest showcases exemplary work by members of Investigative Reporters and Editors from the past year. Awards will be presented at the 2025 IRE Conference in New Orleans on Saturday, June 21.
Since 1979, the IRE Awards have recognized outstanding watchdog journalism. The IRE Contest Committee selected this year’s winners from more than 540 entries across 19 categories.
“It's an honor and pleasure to serve as a judge on the IRE Contest Committee,” said Walter Smith Randolph, IRE Contest Committee chair and executive producer of investigations at CBS New York. “Watching, reading and listening to the entries always blows me away as it shows just how hard our members work and how talented our members are. The contest also helps IRE further its mission of promoting the highest professional standards. This year, we saw entries from around the globe from dozens of outlets.
“The judging of the contest also took a different meaning for me this year. We are currently witnessing a crackdown on press freedom, but the contest entries show investigative journalism is alive and well and our members will continue to hold the powerful accountable while fostering excellence in investigative journalism.”
Judges’ comments: This riveting and penetrating multimedia investigation takes an issue we’ve heard about in headlines — cargo trucks that smuggle migrants across Mexico to the U.S. border, often with deadly consequences — and brings breathtaking new insight to an opaque underworld. The team built a shareable database of more than 170 cases of trucks that were involved in traffic accidents, detained or abandoned between 2018 and 2023, to better understand how and why smugglers are able to operate. Interviews — with migrants who have risked their lives on these cargo trucks, family members who’d lost loved ones in truck-related deaths, and even a truck driver who had smuggled migrants himself — all revealed important aspects of how these dangerous operations work and the geopolitical forces driving them. The stories humanize and illuminate the issue, and hold governments on both sides of the border accountable for creating a “circle of impunity” that allows this deadly human smuggling trade to exist. Powerful work.
Judges’ comments: Over a decades-long career, Julie K. Brown’s body of work has persistently shined a light into places where few others are looking, to uncover injustices and hold truth to power. She broke one of the biggest stories of the last decade — uncovering New York financier Jeffrey Epstein’s pattern of sexual abuse against underage girls, which ultimately lead to the arrest and conviction of Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. While that story continues to spark reporting, Brown has continued to pursue stories revealing abuses of power against vulnerable people — from the suspicious death of a young sex trafficking victim, to the racial profiling of a store clerk arrested 258 times. She uses her talents as a probing reporter and vivid writer to tell unforgettable stories of injustice hidden in plain sight and the systemic issues behind them.
Judges’ comments: A compelling investigation that uncovered how marijuana legalization in Oklahoma has opened up opportunities for organized crime. Great use of public records and law enforcement sourcing that would have made Tom Renner proud. The series explored the issue through a variety of angles, from crime boss rivalries to exploited workers to community members who feel the law enforcement response has lead to racial profiling.
Judges’ comments: Bloomberg successfully sued the Department of Homeland Security to force its release of 1.8 million records on the controversial H-1B visa program. Those records helped fuel its investigative stories revealing how staffing companies gamed the system by filing multiple visa lottery entries for the same workers, resulting in bad outcomes for other immigrants and for American workers. In addition, Bloomberg has made the data publicly available to academics and other journalists to report on the United States’ antiquated visa program.
Judges’ comments: For this project on a black market system for importing dogs into California from puppy mills in other states, the Times filed public records requests to all 50 states for dog export records, as well as 58 California counties and other agencies. Investigators learned that the state of California was deleting import records. As a result of its stories, the state resumed keeping the required import records.
Judges’ comments: Journalists at CBS News and The Trace filed more than 200 public records requests nationwide to investigate how thousands of guns once owned by police departments have been resold and used in crimes.
Judges’ comments: The Palm Beach Post litigated release of the Jeffrey Epstein 2006 grand jury transcript. Publicity from the newspaper's reporting led to a change in state law, which in turn resulted in the release of the documents in 2024.
Judges’ comments: Groundbreaking new data, well documented. Not the most exciting topic, but they made it compelling. A clear winner.
Judges’ comments: A very important story that investigates an emerging problem. Thorough work, great job.
Judges’ comments: A compelling investigation into a worldwide issue. Incredible.
Judges’ comments: This was an exhaustive investigation of a secret system of negotiated “clean record agreements” that hide misconduct of police officers from future employers — and often allow the accused to collect questionable disability pensions. The reporters fought for three years to get the documents, making FOI requests to 501 agencies. In the end, they reviewed approximately 10,000 pages of court records and conducted more than 250 interviews with parties involved in the agreements, regulatory officials and subject matter experts.
Judges’ comments: This nationwide investigation analyzed fatal high-speed police chases that resulted in 3,000+ deaths and 52,000 injuries. Most casualties were pedestrians or passengers; only 15 deaths were officers. The newspaper also found that 660 deaths and incidents were not reported by the police agencies. Most fatal chases originated after low-level offenses. The report was comprehensive, well-presented and documented.
Judges’ comments: LAists' investigation revealed an Orange County supervisor’s secretive grants to his daughter's nonprofit organization and sparked a federal investigation. The supervisor pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme that diverted nearly $8 million from a program to feed needy seniors during the pandemic — and resigned from office.
Judges’ comments: This reporting on Alabama’s parole system wowed the judges. The story found the state parole board wasn’t following their own guidelines, and incarcerated people due a second chance were overwhelmingly not being granted one. Prisoners were being denied parole while participating in a program where they worked unsupervised in the community. The coverage led to bipartisan pressure and advocacy. A conservative former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice even attended a parole hearing to defend a man in prison for stealing a nail gun from Lowe’s. After AL.com’s coverage, data showed a surge in the number of people granted parole.
Judges’ comments: Miami Herald reporters detailed a series of missteps by investigators and the state attorney’s office during an investigation into a deadly boating crash. Reporters meticulously reviewed public records and interviewed witnesses who were never contacted by police and whose version of events differed from what investigators concluded. Through superb storytelling and attention to detail, reporters pushed for answers in the investigation and influenced a Florida senator to introduce legislation to toughen boating laws.
Judges’ comments: In an exhaustive, winding investigation reported over months, The Arizona Republic tied the deadly beating of a 16-year-old to a string of assaults by a gang of elite teenagers. The reporting showed significant cover-up attempts, community outrage and inaction by local police who appeared to look the other way as teen assaults mounted up, months before one turned deadly.
Judges’ comments: Injustice Watch’s monthslong reporting revealed how many tenants in Chicago are stuck in hazardous living conditions, dealing with higher rents while their rights are often trampled by landlords, judges and city leaders. A compelling read with lots of strong anecdotes and heavy data analysis, the reporters’ work led to reform in Cook County.
Judges’ comments: An important and empathetic investigation into the issues that strain Wisconsin’s rapidly growing assisted living industry, revealing how the state allows staff with little to no training to care for residents. The story significantly serves the public interest, and the reporters took their time to approach this story with care in service of their readers. It prompted lawmakers to promise change and led to more investigative projects.
Judges’ comments: A gripping and graphic reconstruction of the moments leading up to a fire that broke out inside the locked cell of a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, killing 40 men and injuring dozens of others. The reporting team created a stunning visual and audio investigation of events, using 3D models, an examination of 16 hours of CCTV footage from inside the detention center which was leaked by a source, and thousands of pages of official documents with interviews and forensics reports. Firsthand accounts from survivors convey the human toll of the tragedy, and innovative techniques uncover new facts that were referenced by the Mexican Senate in its own investigation of the incident.
Judges’ comments: An extremely creative visual investigation in which a team of journalists managed to identify the likely perpetrators of executions, mass arsons and other suspected war crimes carried out by a Sudanese paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces. The journalists drew heavily on a resource made available by the Rapid Support Forces itself: propaganda videos uploaded to the Internet via Elon Musk’s Starlink system. The team worked with translators to overcome language barriers and identified key leaders who appear in the videos. They used visual analysis techniques to show commanders were near the scenes of mass killings of unarmed people and other potential war crimes. They mapped out the paramilitary’s command structure, interviewed several victims and even landed an interview with a field commander of the paramilitary. Amazing work that changed the world’s perception of the war in Sudan, which has received much less attention than other big conflicts going on today.
Judges’ comments: This groundbreaking investigation expanded on the original story with impressive follow-ups and a major change in national policy as a result of the revelations. Judges admired the innovative investigative techniques and the overall production. A passenger who saw the original story and was stopped for inspection shot the encounter on his phone, showing in real time how law enforcement agents were carrying out these “cold consent encounters” at departure gates. And the Department of Justice ordered the Drug Enforcement Administration to suspend these encounters, a major result of the investigation.
Judges’ comments: The investigation into questionable water contracts is a classic tale of government waste and corruption. The story title, “Drained,” stemmed from customers who were drained for years from disputing unusually high, unexplained water bills. The people who paid the bills were financially drained as well as taxpayers supporting the water infrastructure. As a result of the story, seven Houston water department employees and contractors were charged and the director of the water department resigned. And if that weren’t enough, questions were raised about a former city official at the center of the investigation and a so-called charity. Accountability journalism at its best.
Judges’ comments: The story revealed a growing problem with squatters and prompted major change that benefits homeowners. The reporting revealed a loophole in the law and led to criminal charges against the accused squatter highlighted in the story. The station captured in real time how a homeowner was arrested after evicting a squatter.
Judges’ comments: This four-year investigation wowed the judges. WSMV was relentless in investigating a predator, seeing him brought to justice and holding the systems accountable that failed to stop him sooner. Jeremy Finley meticulously documented 26 reports of sexual assault against a massage therapist and the mishandling of the investigations by police and the state health department. The storytelling was riveting complete with stunning twists and reveals. Dogged reporting led to the arrest and prosecution of the predator and an overhaul of the processes within Nashville’s sex crimes unit.
Judges’ comments: This is brave and important investigative reporting. Williams had a lot of moral clarity and did not mince words in exposing white supremacist groups showing up — and in some cases growing in numbers — in Nashville and elsewhere in Tennessee. He showed great courage in staying on the hate beat while facing threats and significant pushback from certain officials and popular personalities from fringe groups.
Judges’ comments: This reporting challenged authorities and uncovered lessons about how a St. Louis school shooter could have been stopped and lives could have been saved. The judges were impressed by the pursuit of answers in what went wrong during the shooting and emergency response. The investigative team at First Alert 4 obtained records that were never publicly released. Combined with compelling accounts from the families of the victims, this was an excellent investigative special.
Judges’ comments: This was a well-executed rolling investigation complete with solid storytelling, a number of emotional interviews and stunning body camera video. The story uncovered a legal loophole in Wisconsin law allowing unlicensed drivers to avoid criminal charges for driving without a license, despite some having as many as 36 offenses. 12 News Investigates used public records and accounts from crash victims, witnesses and families to expose the loophole and deadly crashes tied to these drivers and then push lawmakers to fix it.
Judges’ comments: Great investigative work, heads above the rest. They managed to make something from the past relevant today. The database is amazing.
Judges’ comments: Fantastic storytelling and very easy listening. Good undercover work.
Judges’ comments: A great sit down with a Russian spy. Good reporting.
Judges’ comments: The tragic death of a special ed instructional assistant in Texas sparked this thoughtful investigation into a widespread pattern of injuries caused by violent outbursts from students. Using state and federal data and interviews with special ed teachers, academic researchers and school administrators, the reporter found that much of the problem lies in low pay and staffing shortages in special education classrooms, where there are not enough adults to safely manage students. The stories are told with sensitivity, clarity and an eye to systemic failures.
Judges’ comments: The risks of living in a rental unit with peeling lead paint are known, and governments have policies and funding meant to tackle the issue. So why are so many children — especially in Black and Hispanic families — still registering dangerous levels of lead in their blood? That’s what Nina Sparling asks in this thorough and approachable investigation of Rhode Island’s spotty efforts to protect tenants from lead paint with patchwork enforcement. Her investigation makes a hefty topic digestible. Her reporting following a pregnant woman with children as she tries to hold her landlord accountable for hazardous lead paint violations, who ends up losing her home in the process, was particularly affecting. She identifies the problems plaguing lead paint remediation and profiles some cities that are working towards solutions.
Judges’ comments: Students brought this novel investigation to life with a ton of detail and analysis, as well as strong explanatory reporting on the use of nonprofits to get around lobbying rules. The judges were impressed by the amount of data analyzed and the professional final product that included an interactive database for readers to look up their members of Congress.
Judges’ comments: An original and well-documented series on the perils of daycare centers in New York and nationally. The students’ work provided invaluable advice for parents and gave good context into the plight of daycare workers. It featured a powerful interview with parents of a child who died in a negligent daycare center, as well as a strong story on wage theft.
Judges’ comments: A clear winner. This was a colossal effort for 24 hours, with journalists waking up in the middle of the night and working well together. First published at 3:45 a.m. and updated several times in the following hours, the strong narrative combined with excellent audio, video and graphics. Follow-up investigations added crucial context to what happened.
Judges’ comments: Great effort in these stories. Wonderfully written. The work takes us there and creates a vivid picture. Great accountability reporting showing how systemic failures only made matters worse.
Judges’ comments: One of the best entrants among an extremely competitive set of finalists, this comprehensive — and moving — series of stories describes how the NFL set up a fund in 2015 to compensate former football players who are suffering from concussion-related dementia. But in the years since, the fund has blocked many ex-players with valid claims from receiving compensation, the investigation found. Readers meet people like Irv Cross, a former player and high-profile broadcaster who was diagnosed with dementia so severe that he couldn’t drive and erupted in outbursts of anger. But under the strict rules established by the concussion fund, Cross didn’t qualify for payments. After he died, an autopsy confirmed he had CTE, a brain disease tied to concussions. Numerous human stories like this help guide readers through the complex legal and financial history of the concussion fund - and help drive home a call for change. The Post put a monumental effort into this project, and it showed.
Judges’ comments: Among the extremely competitive group of finalists in the sports investigations category, ESPN’s blockbuster investigation was one of the standouts.
Superstar baseball player Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, originally from Japan, trusted his Japanese-language interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, to function in the U.S. environment. He even let the interpreter set up his bank account. Investigative reporter Tisha Thompson received a tip that the feds were investigating a man running an illegal gambling service, and that huge sums of money had been transferred to this service from Ohtani’s bank account. The ESPN team gathered facts, then landed a crucial interview with the interpreter, who made contradictory statements about the money transfers and admitted he’d run up big gambling losses. ESPN’s first story based on those interviews led to more stories and more revelations. It became clear that the interpreter had stolen from Ohtani’s bank account to cover gambling debts. A federal investigation resulted in the interpreter’s indictment, guilty plea to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani and a sentence of 57 months in federal prison. Contest judges were impressed with ESPN’s aggressive beat reporting and resourcefulness on one of the biggest, most competitive stories in the sports world in 2024. This one’s a home run.
Judges’ comments: A very strong entry in the extremely competitive sports investigation category, this investigation highlights a little-known phenomenon: a growing network of predatory football programs that offer high school graduates a chance to play an extra season in the hopes of impressing college recruiters and winning an athletic scholarship. In many cases the players are paying thousands of dollars for services that are often never delivered, and in this largely unregulated system, their health and safety is at risk. This well-written project included excellent human interest interviews with young football players, good use of public records, along with strong visuals, including photos of the players’ cramped quarters and bad food. A disturbing interview with the organizer of a key postgrad league and an investigation of his nonprofit’s questionable activity helped confirm this project’s place as an IRE finalist.
Judges’ comments: A very strong entry in an extremely competitive category, this project takes a deep-dive look at how new NCAA rules that allow student-athletes to earn money for their name, image and likeness — NIL for short — are now being manipulated in ways that can harm the students. As one story in the project puts it, “The coaches are free to make and break promises with few repercussions.” With a focus on college football, including many famous teams and names, it’s an exploration of unintended consequences.
Judges’ comments: “Fat Leonard” possesses important elements you expect in a hard-hitting investigative book with storytelling skills tempting a reader to turn the page. Author Craig Whitlock details scenes like gourmet dinner menus, allowing us to visualize how Fat Leonard won over high-ranking military officers and stole tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. The reporting and writing were superb.
Judges’ comments: Author Jim Morris takes four decades of heavy scientific reporting, making it an easy, intriguing read. The narrative flow helps readers understand the human price and repeated under-regulation of factories through the stories of Goodyear workers.
Judges’ comments: In the wake of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting, Scripps News revealed that local law enforcement knew about the shooter’s mental decline and access to guns before the October 2023 incident in Lewiston, but they failed to use state yellow and red flag laws designed specifically to prevent this type of violence. This intrepid reporting team sought to find out why. Relying on court records, public documents and hard-hitting interviews, they exhibited the best in investigative journalism and engaging video storytelling.
Judges’ comments: This short film from Mother Jones epitomizes the power of character-driven, documentary storytelling. Through intimate access and tenacious filming, the reporting team unspooled the tragic story of a mother’s quest for answers in the death of her teenage son after a police chase in the Crow Nation in Montana. Blossom Old Bull’s struggle is just one example of what so many Native families face after the deaths and disappearances of their loved ones — which is silence from government officials. But the film also shows Blossom finding agency and resolution herself. The filmmakers clearly earned the trust of their characters, which only added to the emotional strength of the film.
Judges’ comments: This concise but powerful documentary casts a sensitive light on a topic of international importance — how the ruling party in Rwanda has used the NBA to launder its image despite allegations of human rights violations, and how the NBA has turned a blind eye to those violations in its zeal for global expansion. The reporting team at ESPN forces one of America’s most beloved sports leagues to confront its role in abetting autocratic regimes abroad, even as that league puts forward a domestic image that embraces Black Lives Matter and other civil rights causes.
Judges’ comments: The "On Our Watch" team at KQED provide both riveting storytelling and an extensive investigation that is a model for how fact-based, document-based, data-based, audio-based and human-centered investigative journalism should be executed and reported. The reporting team went deeper in their investigation of corruption, abusive guards and indifferent corrections officials than local, state or federal investigators. They documented instances of state officials either lying or being ignorant of key facts; obtained a blizzard of documents and audio recordings using records requests and lawsuits; developed confidential sources who provided documents and recordings; demonstrated extremely careful and transparent storytelling; navigated sensitive and difficult interviews; and persisted despite state agency efforts to stall the release of critical records and issue misleading statements about facts. This investigation is a textbook example of how to tirelessly pursue truth and accountability, and then how to provide the complicated details, the findings, and the human costs in intensely compelling and compassionate audio storytelling.
Judges’ comments: NPR's "Looking the Other Way" does an excellent job of illuminating how a local story about a scandal in the Democratic mayor's office in Los Angeles became one with national — and international — implications. The focus on accountability was especially strong. Never satisfied with statements from officials that appeared to contradict others, the NPR team went to great lengths to interview sources who had not spoken on the record before, and also obtained tape and documents that had not yet been made public. What appeared to be a yearslong investigation was edited down to a tightly edited, masterfully produced and compelling two-part series, displaying a deft storytelling prowess that felt almost effortless.
Winners and finalists were not awarded for the “Video - Division IV” and “Student - Small” categories in the 2024 IRE Awards.
Contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working journalists. IRE upholds the highest ethical standards in its contests to ensure that all judging is free from undue influence. The IRE Contest Committee is independent from the IRE Board of Directors. Committee members are either elected by IRE membership or appointed by the executive director. Serving on the committee represents a significant sacrifice on the part of the individual contest judge — and often an entire newsroom — that may have done outstanding investigative work. Visit the contest FAQ page for more information. For questions or concerns about the IRE Awards please contact Doug Meigs, dougm@ire.org.
To ensure fairness and transparency, some judges were not present during deliberations in specific categories due to potential conflicts of interest. They were:
Florencia Rodríguez Altube, Ana E. Azpúrua, Howard Berkes, Stephanie Bertini, Sanjana Bhambhani, Suhail Bhat, Denise Blostein, Jody Brannon, Daarel Burnette II, Dakin Campbell, Jimmy Cloutier, Judith Conte, Russell Contreras, Shirsho Dasgupta, Jessica De Leon, Jayme Fraser, Beimeng Fu, Emma Gallegos, Lori Gliha, Luis Joel Méndez González, Andrea Gutierrez, Lauren Hakimi, Louis Hansen, Josh Hinkle, Sally Ho, Sasha Hupka, Kristin Hussey, Alex Ip, Ross Jones, Ezra Kaplan, Jared Kofsky, Marisa Kwiatkowski, A.J. Lagoe, Katie LaGrone, Jonathan Larsen, Hyuntaek (Tag) Lee, Coleman LeMaster, Katie Licari, Pei-Yu Lin, Megan Luther, Dennis Lyons, Sayyara Mammadova, Eileen Markey, Kathleen McGrory, Caora McKenna, Lauren Mucciolo, Steve Myers, Nicole Noren, Peter Ongera, Jennifer Palmer, Christopher Peak, Cheryl Phillips, Rhonda Prast, Karyn Pugliese, Cierra Putman, Mike Reicher, Damaso Reyes, Paul Saltzman, Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria, Hilke Schellmann, Vera Shang, Samantha Smink, Dylan Smith, Mallory Sofastaii, Kameel Stanley, Joce Sterman, Ryan Thedwall, Tejal Wakchoure
Thank you, judges and screeners!
Investigative Reporters and Editors is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE provides training, resources and a community of support to thousands of journalists around the world.
As part of IRE's 50th anniversary and spring member drive, we’re sharing some of the biggest moments in investigative journalism since 1975.
(April 15, 2025) — When most people think of investigative journalism, they think of “Spotlight.”
The biopic follows The Boston Globe’s investigative unit as it uncovers decades of sex abuse by priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and how church leaders covered it up. The original newspaper series was published more than 20 years ago, by reporters Matt Carroll, Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes and editor Walter V. Robinson.
How did a team of journalists expose an institution as renowned and secretive as the Catholic Church?
“The Catholic Church was an unconventional target for the Spotlight Team,” Sacha Pfeiffer wrote for The IRE Journal in 2003. “For much of its (history), Spotlight had carried out its mission of exposing corruption by taking on municipal and government institutions, like bad cops, crooked politicians and corrupt public agencies.
At the same time, newspapers across the country had been writing stories for years about clergy sex abuse … but most of those stories focused on isolated cases of abuse, and on the actions of individual priests rather than church officials.”
But in 2001, when newly-named editor Martin Baron arrived at the Globe, he carried with him a story by Globe columnist Eileen McNamara that said records in a child sex abuse lawsuit against Cardinal law and other church officials had been sealed by a judge. If the case were settled out of court, common practice at the time, the records would “never see the light of day.”
Baron asked the Spotlight Team to investigate, and asked the Globe’s attorney to assess the chances of overturning the judge’s order. The Catholic Church would never be the same.
The Spotlight team spent months researching the Boston archdiocese, interviewing victims, and digging through church records and directories. The newspaper’s legal arm fought to get those court documents unsealed. Their first story, “Church allowed abuse by priest for years” (2002) made an unprecedented impact in Boston and beyond.
Rezendes reflected on the series for Spotlight’s 50 year anniversary, telling The Globe in 2021 that they were expecting protests when the story was published. They were surprised when, instead, they were met with an outpouring of calls from readers and other victims.
“It was like a dam bursting,” Rezendes said. “Suddenly, all these victims realized, ‘Hey, I’m not the only one.’ What happened in Boston that week reverberated around the world, with literally tens of thousands of victims coming forward.”
Pfeiffer explained the team’s reporting process and her shared her reflections in The IRE Journal, writing in 2003:
“The story has been a refreshing reminder that newspapers should not shy away from questioning even society’s most revered institutions. It also has renewed our belief that there are always ways to extract information from seemingly impenetrable institutions.
Throughout this project, our extensive contact with victims has demonstrated the immense value of reaching out to readers, who are often rich repositories of information. And our investigation has taught us that there is no substitute for documents to prove a case of this magnitude. In the end, the church’s own files were its downfall, and the Globe’s decision to go to court to unseal them was worth the resources it took to do so. Other newspapers would be well-served to do the same.”
Read Sacha Pfeiffer’s IRE Journal column here.
The article has been made publicly available from the IRE Resource Center, which is home to thousands of journalism tipsheets, stories, audio recordings and other resources to help enhance your reporting. The Resource Center is available for free to IRE members, and it's just one of our many member benefits!
Learn more about member benefits and join IRE today.
(April 11, 2025) — Investigative Reporters and Editors has a longstanding history of teaching journalists and students across the country. Along with planning our own events, our training team and longtime members also teach at conferences hosted by our partner organizations.
“This outreach helps reinforce our belief in collaboration and that all journalists can use watchdog techniques in their work,” said Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion. “We’re grateful to our partners for opening their doors to us and always welcome them at our events in the spirit of collaboration, especially as we all collectively strive to help journalists do better work.”
So far this year, IRE staff and members serving as guest speaking ambassadors have attended the World Journalists Conference in Seoul, the Religion News Association and SABEW Conferences in Washington, D.C., and the SPJ Region 8 Conference in Texas.
Here’s where else IRE will be throughout 2025:
Jeff German Investigative Workshop | April 11-12
IRE is partnering with Weber State University to host the Jeff German Investigative Workshop April 11-12. We’re bringing in speakers from Salt Lake Tribune, FOX 13 Utah, and other local newsrooms to teach watchdog techniques and digital security tips. The workshop honors Jeff German, a longtime IRE member and Las Vegas-Review Journal investigative reporter killed in 2022.
SEJ Conference | April 22-26
Society of Environmental Journalists is hosting their annual conference at Arizona State University. This year’s theme is “Heat, Water and Growth: Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future.” Registration is open to SEJ members, nonmembers and students. IRE will be teaching classes on mapping and data journalism with Google Sheets.
AHCJ Conference | May 29-June 1
The Association of Health Care Journalists is hosting their annual conference for journalists, health care professionals, policymakers and other experts. IRE will teach classes on accessing health data and barriers trans people experience with accessing health care. Registration is open to AHCJ members, nonmembers and students.
Last year, IRE partnered with AHCJ to host a series of webinars on investigating the business of health care.
EWA National Seminar | May 30-31
The Education Writers Association is hosting their National Seminar to help attendees cover education on the federal, state and local level. IRE will be presenting sessions on data journalism and how to cover DEI issues.
IRE Conference | June 19-22
This is IRE’s biggest conference of the year, with timely training sessions on investigative techniques and data skills, as well as celebrations for IRE’s 50th anniversary.
Registration is open to IRE members (journalists, educators and students). The early-bird rate is available through April 28, with a special discount for members who are early-career journalists, full-time freelancers or currently unemployed. Not an IRE member yet? Learn more about member benefits and join today.
MVJ25 | July 8
Military Veterans in Journalism is hosting a day of workshops and panels for veterans and military spouses in the news field. IRE will teach a session.
NAHJ Conference | July 9-12
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is hosting their annual conference, with leading Hispanic journalists and media professionals. IRE will teach a session.
ACP College Media Mega Workshop | July 10-12
Associated Collegiate Press’ annual workshop is at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus this year. It’s geared toward collegiate journalists and advisers to prepare them for their challenges going into the academic year. IRE will teach a session.
Advanced Data Journalism Bootcamp in R | Aug. 4-8
IRE’s third in-person bootcamp of the year will focus on R. This weeklong program will teach you how to use R, a powerful, open-source programming language for cleaning, analyzing and visualizing data. We'll also discuss finding and negotiating for data, solidifying your analysis, and using numbers in your stories.
Fellowships are available to help radio and TV journalists; journalists, students and educators of color; those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community; and those with disabilities. Apply using IRE’s Common App by May 6. Fellowships are also available for journalists serving rural communities. Apply by May 6.
NABJ Convention | Aug. 6-10
The National Association of Black Journalists is hosting their annual convention and also celebrating their 50th anniversary. IRE will be teaching classes on public records, verifying information online and how to incorporate watchdog techniques into everyday reporting.
IJA Conference | Aug. 13-15
The Indigenous Journalists Association is hosting their annual conference to support and enhance the knowledge and skills of journalists covering Indigenous communities. IRE will be teaching classes on backgrounding and verifying information online.
In addition to these events, IRE staff will be representing at the NLGJA Convention in Atlanta (Sept. 4-7), MediaFest25 in Washington, D.C. (Oct. 15-18), and the GIJN Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Nov. 20-24).
We're also hosting our all-virtual conference, AccessFest, in October, with dates to be announced soon. This conference offers the best programming from our in-person IRE and NICAR Conferences, as well as sessions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in the newsroom and in news coverage.
We hope to see you soon!
If you can’t make it to one of these events, IRE offers custom training options where our trainers visit your newsroom (in-person or virtually) to teach you the skills you need. We offer classes on more than 50 topics, as well as select sessions in Spanish. Explore options and book a training today.
Want to partner with IRE? Reach out to the training team at training@ire.org.
As part of IRE's 50th anniversary and spring member drive, we’re sharing some of the biggest moments in investigative journalism since 1975.
(April 8, 2025) — By the time Donald Barlett and James B. Steele published their landmark series on wealth inequality in 1991, they had already worked on a groundbreaking data project with Phil Meyer and won two Pulitzer Prizes for their investigative reporting.
But their nine-part Philadelphia Inquirer series “America: What went wrong?” was unique in that it captured — and questioned — the drastic transformation of an entire nation in real time. Barlett and Steele dug into how corporate greed and political deal-making over decades were contributing to the decline of America’s middle class.
They spoke about the series at the 1992 National Press Club luncheon.
During their remarks, Barlett noted that their colossal work started with a simple question: “What happened to the American worker?”
So, in 1989 and 1990, they traveled across the country and captured stories from a swath of middle-class Americans. A saw mill worker in Martell, California. A department store clerk in Charleston, West Virginia. A meat processing plant worker in Delia, Missouri. A middle-level manufacturing plant manager in Niles, Michigan. And on and on and on — until they noticed a pattern.
“We saw something we had never seen before in all the years in this business,” Barlett said. “The interviews were identical.”
Across the country, regardless of race, economic status, or college education, people were being increasingly forced to work lower-paying jobs, or losing their jobs altogether. They were losing health care benefits and pensions, or paying more for healthcare.
Digging into statistics helped them prove a story Americans are all too familiar with today: the country’s growing wealth gap and the shrinking middle class.
In those 1992 remarks, Steele goes on to note why the series struck a chord with readers across the country:
“It did so by using techniques and processes of journalism that supposedly nobody wants to read anymore,” Steele said. “This thing was long. 73,000 words in the original form. … It was filled with numbers. It dealt with the economy. Taxation. Fiscal policy. The federal deficit. All of these things that supposedly we hear over and over again that readers don't want to read about.”
“We believe people are capable of absorbing numbers, information of that sort,” Steele said. “But you can't just spew it out. You have to put it in some kind of a context.”
Monika Bauerlein, Chief Executive Officer of Mother Jones, reflected on the duo’s impact after the death of Barlett last year.
“When I started in journalism, smack in the middle of that early-’90s recession … Reporters exposed illegal acts, not ones that were merely unfair or inequitable,” Bauerlein wrote. “That’s what made Barlett and Steele’s reporting so unique, and so powerful. What happened to incomes in America was wrong, it was right there in the book title.
Not because it broke any laws (the point was that it was all perfectly legal!) but because it was unfair. Seeing that journalism could do that — could expose not just lawbreaking, but systemic injustice — was an aha moment for cub reporter me.”
Since the project, the duo went on to work together for more than 40 years. They also expanded on their original reporting, publishing another series with the Investigative Reporting Workshop in 2012 and an updated book, “America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens” in 2020.
After the 2012 series, they shared the following advice to journalists in an IRE contest entry:
“Try to take a long view of economic currents — not just what the latest quarterly data may show. Politicians, bureaucrats, corporate officials and special interests constantly misstate or gloss over complex issues, such as trade and taxes, by highlighting numbers that appear to support their position, when the data over the long term may give an entirely different picture. So go to the specific public documents to chart these trends for yourself. And always listen closely to people — what they see, hear or believe about the state of the economy. Quite often they have a better view of what’s going on than economists.”
The duo shared more tips for putting together an investigation at the 2009 IRE Conference in Baltimore. Listen to a recording of the session: Building the story: From getting started to knowing when to stop.
This recording has been made publicly available from the IRE Resource Center, which is home to thousands of journalism tipsheets, stories, audio recordings and other resources to help enhance your reporting. The Resource Center is available for free to IRE members, and it's just one of our many member benefits!
Learn more and join IRE today.
(April 7, 2025) — Would you like to help lead Investigative Reporters and Editors as a new member of the Board of Directors? Or help judge the IRE Awards as an elected member of the IRE Contest Committee?
Now is your chance! Six of 13 board seats are up for election in 2025, along with two seats on the Contest Committee.
The period to declare candidacy opened on April 1, and the deadline for candidates to file and submit election materials is May 6, 11:59 p.m. Central.
IRE member voting will begin June 3, and voting will close June 21. Election results will be announced the membership meeting at IRE25.
Click here to learn more about the board election process and how to run. Current membership in IRE is a requirement for all candidates.
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