IRE, in partnership with Education Writers Association and the Student Press Law Center, is launching a program to share investigative reporting skills with college and university students that they can apply to covering campus issues. Seventy-five students from around the country will be selected to receive full scholarships to participate in the Campus Coverage Project.…
Read MoreWFOR-TV (Doral, Fla.) conducted a six-month investigation into school violence in Florida and discovered “wide discrepancies” between the numbers of violent incidents reported on the state’s Department of Education website and actual police reports filed about violent incidents at schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The state claims that the discrepancies can be linked to…
Read MorePaul Barrett, Brian Grow and Jack Ewing of BusinessWeek investigated several rumors and allegations surrounding Glock, one of the leading arms manufacturers in the U.S. The accusations include a complicated network of shell companies, illegal campaign contributions and a close look at the attempted murder of the company’s founder, Gaston Glock.
Read MoreThe movie “The Informant!,” which opens at theaters tonight, is based upon the IRE-honored book by Kurt Eichenwald. The book was a finalist in the book category in the 2000 IRE Awards.
Read MoreBy Andy Curliss, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Our running investigation has focused on former Gov. Mike Easley of North Carolina. We have revealed numerous instances of unreported gifts, favors or other perks provided to the governor while he was in office and shown how many of those people who made the gifts benefited…
Read MoreReporters Jay Price, J. Andrew Curliss and Joseph Neff of The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) broke the story of how former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife Mary accepted a $137,000 discount on a coastal lot from a developer who had gotten key permits from the Easley administration. The story continued a string of…
Read MoreAn investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University (NECIR-BU) shows that regulators in Massachusetts have been slow to discipline problem mortgage brokers and lenders compared to other New England states. “Between January 1, 2007 and June 1, 2009, The Massachusetts Division of Banks took its most stringent actions against less…
Read MoreCharles Duhigg of The New York Times reports on states’ negligence in enforcing clean water laws. In West Virginia, tests found tap water containing “arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.” When companies disclosed that they were pumping illegal…
Read MoreBy Doug Haddix IRE training director There’s nothing wrong – and everything right – with rehearsing interviews, especially those that must be done by phone, according to Manny Garcia, executive editor of El Nuevo Herald in Miami, Fla. Sometimes, a reporter has only a minute or two to make a pitch by phone, given obstacles…
Read MoreRandy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch revealed “a loophole in an Ohio policy allowed thousands of undocumented immigrants to register cars and get license plates even though many did not have valid Social Security numbers or car insurance.” He reported that Ohio officials delayed a crackdown on illegal immigrants registering their vehicles with fraudulent power-of-attorney…
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