Susan Carroll Fellowship
Image by Justin Grimes. Used under Creative Commons License. In September, New York Times reporter Susanne Craig checked her mailbox. Checking for snail mail wasn’t abnormal for her, but what she found was: a copy of Donald Trump’s 1995 tax returns. The document led to a notable scoop for the Times and plenty of lessons for reporters. Craig…
Read MoreBy Philip Eil, CJR Editor’s Note: This article first ran on September 28, 2016 on the Columbia Journalism Review’s website. I filed my first Freedom of Information Act request on February 1, 2012. I was 26 years old, and chasing a story about my father’s med-school classmate, Dr. Paul Volkman, who had been convicted of a…
Read MoreBrandon Stahl has spent years reporting on foster care for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But at a meeting with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he stumbled across a fact he’d never heard before: Minnesota places a higher share of American Indian kids into foster care than any other state. A year-long investigation with data journalist…
Read MoreInvestigative Reporters and Editors is looking for someone with data analysis skills who enjoys tackling a variety of projects, leading workshops, working with smart and motivated students, and helping shape the future of data journalism. We’re seeking a new director of data services for IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting(NICAR), a worldwide leader in computer-assisted…
Read MoreIf you’re in the Cleveland area, we hope you’ll join us for a Meetup on Sunday, Oct. 9. We’ll be gathering at Jukebox starting at 3 pm. This event is open to any member of our industry who has a passion for investigate reporting. Seasoned veteran? Rookie on your first beat? Student journalist trying to break into…
Read More“Out of Balance” from the Indianapolis Star In many ways, the summer of 2016 was an exciting time for USA Gymnastics, the national governing body that oversees the sport and its thousands of athletes. American gymnasts were Olympic darlings. They brought home more medals in their sport than any other country in the world. However,…
Read MoreBy Carlett Spike, CJR Editor’s Note: This article first ran on September 6, 2016 on the Columbia Journalism Review’s website. When Gannett announced in July that investigative-reporting legend Chris Davis would be joining its team, it was a shock to the industry. In recent years, Gannett had claimed an interest in investing in ambitious reporting…
Read MoreStudent debt is quickly becoming a national crisis. But reporting on student loans and college finances has always been thorny, especially when dealing with complicated bureaucracies and patchwork data. Earlier this year, for the first time ever, the Obama Administration released a comprehensive intersection of student population, college performance and “outcome” data, measuring with precise…
Read MoreWhat happens when a state cuts $100 million from its mental health budget? Reporters from the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune spent 18 months finding out. Their Pulitzer-winning investigation exposed deadly violence in Florida’s mental hospitals, where staff shortages, regulatory fumbling and years of neglect were, for years, hidden from the public eye. In…
Read MoreBy Jackie Spinner, CJR Editor’s Note: This article first ran on August 16, 2016 on the Columbia Journalism Review’s website. This summer, the Illinois Legislature stiffened the penalties that can be imposed on public bodies that refuse to comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Act. HB 4715, part of a two-bill package known as “Molly’s…
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