Posts by adam@ire.org
Declare IRE Board candidacy by May 5
(April 6, 2026) — 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! Seven of 13 board seats are up for election in 2026, along with…
Read MoreWhat 700 Deaths Couldn’t Prove: Investigating Institutional Failure Without Intent
By NaBeela Washington On July 15, 2025, a lightbulb went off at an evening “unveiling.” I sat in a room full of residents and community organizers while Northwestern University researchers presented Chicago’s heat vulnerability index. Graphs flashed on the screen. Neighborhood-level data. Risk factors mapped to census tracts. The kind of granular information that could…
Read MoreIRE Board Appoints Interim Leadership, Announces Plans to Honor Diana Fuentes
Following the unexpected passing of Executive Director Diana R. Fuentes last week, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is mourning the loss of a deeply respected leader whose impact on the organization and the field of investigative journalism will be felt for years to come. The IRE Board of Directors convened on Sunday to solidify next…
Read MoreUnmasking the tourism industry: A Puerto Rico case study
by Luis Joel Méndez González, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo You are drinking a piña colada under an umbrella. You can hear the waves, feel the heat of the sun and notice the texture of the sand beneath your feet. That is the idyllic scene many of us imagine when we think about the tourism industry.…
Read MoreIRE urges the release of Nashville reporter by federal immigration authorities
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) urges the release of Estefany Rodríguez, a reporter with Nashville Noticias and Univision 42 Nashville, whose coverage has included immigration enforcement. She was taken into custody while in a marked news vehicle, according to Nashville Noticias. Rodríguez, who faced death threats in her home country of Colombia, applied for political…
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2026 Lightning Talks lineup!
by Adam Rhodes In about a week, hundreds of my favorite nerds are going to descend on Indianapolis to dive deep into panels and roundtables, spreadsheets classes and all the other things that make NICAR so unique. Disguised as a delightfully dorky meetup of data journalists, NICAR is an unmatched chance to expand your reporting…
Read MoreDon’t know what to attend at NICAR26? The IRE staff is here to help!
So you’ve landed in Indianapolis. You’re at the JW Marriott. You’re checking the schedule and….. whoa. It’s pretty overwhelming, right? With more than 200 hours of programming spanning nearly a week, it’s hard to plan what to see, who to talk to and when to go where. But the IRE staff is here to help…
Read MoreThe Alabama Solution: Journalists Hope to Inspire More Ethical Prison Reporting
By Victoria Valenzuela, independent journalist When Charlotte Kaufman and Andrew Jarecki visited Easterling prison in Alabama as media seven years ago, they didn’t know what to expect — but they knew that it is rare to get an opportunity to report from a prison, so they took the chance. What started as a filmed visit…
Read MoreBuilding The SLAPP Back Initiative – Tracking and Mapping Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
By Pete Madden & Susanna Granieri Illustration by Derek Abella In August 2021, Wausau Pilot & Review, a small newspaper in central Wisconsin, acted on a tip from a reader and reported that a local businessman uttered a homophobic slur during a recent county board meeting. He denied it and demanded a retraction. When he…
Read MoreIRE condemns the arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) strongly condemns the arrests of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who covered a Jan. 18 protest against immigration enforcement at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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