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Posts by Alena Rehberger
Connect with IRE members in Chicago
If you’re a journalist in the Chicago area, we hope you’ll join us for a Meetup on Thursday, Nov. 19. We’ll be gathering at Blue Frog 22 starting at 6 pm. Come share tips with future investigative reporters. Our guest this month is Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, a freelance reporter and member of the Social Justice News Nexus team…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | BONUS: Interviewing Liars
How do you get the truth out of a liar? On this bonus episode, experts weigh in on just that. You’ll hear from investigative reporter Matt Apuzzo, former CIA polygraph examiner Barry McManus, and former FBI counterterrorism agent Don Borelli. In this audio pulled from the 2015 IRE Conference, the three discuss how to develop…
Read MoreCrammed Quarters: Exposing inequities of female student housing in Yemen
By Shada Hottam, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism The idea of investigating “Nightmare Dorm at Sana’a University” started after I enrolled at Sana’a University to study TV and radio journalism in 2010. Over the years, I came to hear from my female colleagues about the horrible conditions they lived in at the dormitory, the only…
Read MoreAdd context to stories on car crashes, seatbelt safety and drunken driving using FARS data
How many people die in car accidents? Sometimes you’ll see the answer to that question flashing on a billboard on the highway. It’s also in the DOT’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database, a census of fatality accidents on public roads in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. You can use the data…
Read MoreInvestigate lending practices in your community
The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database has just been updated in the NICAR Data Library. Loan application records for 2014 are now available. HMDA requires all banks, savings and loans, savings banks and credit unions with assets of more than $33 million and offices in metropolitan areas to report mortgage applications. WHAT CAN I DO…
Read MoreAUDIO: Tips for interviewing liars (and everyone else)
The CIA’s former chief polygrapher, an ex-FBI counterterrorism expert and a Pulitzer-winning reporter walk into a bar. Ok, that’s not true. But the three did come together for a panel at IRE’s 2015 conference in Philadelphia called “Interviewing Liars.” Matt Apuzzo, a New York Times reporter who was on the Associated Press team that revealed…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Ghost Schools
For years, the U.S. has pushed education as one of its major triumphs in Afghanistan. The government helped build schools, train teachers, issue textbooks and educate scores of girls. And for years, that legacy went relatively unchecked. But when Azmat Khan of BuzzFeed News began questioning the numbers and visiting schools in the region this…
Read MoreHow to build a better weather story: Tips for reporting before, during and after the storm
A graphic from the Seattle Times’ coverage of the Oso, Washington landslide Does your newsroom have the data and resources it needs to cover the next big storm? With a little preparation, you can have detailed information on critical infrastructure – like dams and levees – ready to go the next time a hurricane or…
Read MoreNICAR makes data on South Carolina dams available for free
Dams are critical pieces of infrastructure not often in the forefront of public attention or discussion, perhaps because so few of us interact with them on a regular basis, if at all. But when powerful storms – like those fueled by Hurricane Joaquin – occur, it’s easy to see the vital role dams play in…
Read MoreIRE y NICAR lanza una lista de correo exclusivamente en español para periodismo de datos
(Editor’s note: English translation available below) No importa si es la media noche o en un fin de semana, los más de 2,300 miembros que subscriben a NICAR-L están dispuestos a contestar preguntas sobre temas entre los básicos de usar Microsoft Excel a cartografía avanzada o como hacer codificación. Desde 1994, miembros han publicado más…
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