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Posts by Alena Rehberger
AUDIO: How to find specific forgotten victims
At the 2014 IRE Conference, a panel of three journalists, moderated by New England Center for Investigative Reporting senior investigative reporter Jenifer McKim, talked about finding how they found forgotten victims and tackled overlooked issues. Senior citizens in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, Detroit citizens unfairly affected by the city’s recent bankruptcy, black lung-afflicted…
Read MoreFerguson no-fly zone aimed at media
The no-fly zone in place during August’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri, was enacted to keep the media from shooting overhead footage from helicopters, according to a report by the Associated Press. The AP got its hands on audio recordings of conversations between the Federal Aviation Administration and local police officials. In the recordings, local authorities…
Read MoreMark your calendar for the LA IRE Meetup this month
Join us for the first-ever LA IRE Meetup! We’ll be gathering at Sadie (1638 N. Las Palmas Ave in Hollywood) on Thursday, Nov. 13 starting at 6:30 PM. We’re co-hosting this event with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Los Angeles chapter, and you don’t have to be an IRE member to attend. So bring…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Housing Horror Stories
It’s a special Halloween episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, and this week we’re telling some housing horror stories. Here’s the lineup: Marisa Kwiatkowski of The Indianapolis Star talks about her story “The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” which became the most-read story in the Star’s history. Kate Berry of American Banker explains “zombie foreclosures” and…
Read MoreAUDIO: How to track and report on gun violence
There is no perfect or universal way to classify a mass shooting. As such, reliable, nuanced data on the topic is sparse. And further complicating the reporter’s job is the way even the most human stories can become fuel for the right-versus-left fire. It’s with these challenges in mind that three reporters and researchers came…
Read MoreVote now for the 2015 NICAR T-shirt
NICAR received 21 submissions for its annual T-shirt contest, and voting is now open! Voting will stay open for about two weeks, ending Sunday, Nov. 2 at midnight. The proposal with the most votes will be sold as a T-shirt at the upcoming CAR Conference, March 5-8, 2015 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Runners-up will be…
Read MoreNECIR director freed after detainment in Russia
The executive director of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting was detained in Russia Thursday “for allegedly illegally conducting a journalism workshop in St. Petersburg,” according to the center’s website. Joe Bergantino was kept for several hours along with University of South Carolina professor Randy Covington. The two men were teaching a journalism workshop to…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Hazardous Health Care
It’s not easy prying information out of hospitals and health departments. On our podcast this week we’ll hear from journalists who successfully negotiated for the data or documents they needed to fuel an investigation. Here’s the lineup: Gary Dotson of the Belleville News-Democrat shares the paper’s 2012 story about the state’s failure to investigate after…
Read MoreBehind the Story: New Jersey reporter finds inconsistencies in 2008 death investigation
Chris Baxter Chris Baxter and NJ Advance Media wrestled out a compelling and untold story, let the digital presentation take the lead and came away with a “smashing” investigative success. Using a system he developed to keep tabs on lawsuits involving state police, Baxter came upon the stifled story of Kenwin Garcia, a Newark man…
Read MoreNew York newspaper asks judge to force release of license plate data
The Democrat & Chronicle is fighting a county’s denial to provide license plate information about seven newspaper employees and a couple government-owned vehicles, the paper reports. The Rochester, New York-based paper has reported that Monroe County is indiscriminately amassing license-plate information from high-speed cameras. During the summer, a reporter filed a Freedom of Information Law…
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