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When the Washington, DC police chief bristled over a question about witness executions, Washington Post reporter Cheryl W. Thompson knew she was on to something. On this episode we’ll be talking to Thompson about her investigation into witness killings and intimidation. And for the second half of the show we dug into our audio archives for some interview tips from Tisha Thompson, an investigative reporter at NBC4 Washington.
As always, you can find us on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you.
Looking for links to the stories, resources and events we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you.
Music in this episode comes from Podington Bear. George Varney wrote and produced this episode. IRE Web Editor Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast.
Mark your calendar for our May mixer hosted by the IRE Los Angeles Meetup group. We’ll be gathering Tuesday, May 12 from 7-9 p.m. at the River Rock Lounge. The River Rock offers an extensive menu of fine wines, specialty cocktails, craft beers and bar staples such as hot wings and calamari as well as more exotic offerings like roasted pears in a balsamic reduction.
We'll be hanging out on the patio, so come buy a drink and meet colleagues from Online News Association (ONA) Los Angeles. As always, this event is open to members and non-members.
Please join the Los Angeles IRE Meetup group if you haven’t already. No need to RSVP beyond the meetup website.
IRE has member-organized Meetup groups in six cities. Learn more about them on our IRE Meetups page.
We're continuing to add new speakers, sessions and training opportunities to the 2015 IRE Conference schedule. Here are a few recent additions:
Early bird registration ends Friday! Register today to save $30.
A second showcase panel, "Sexual assault investigations: Empathy, accuracy, transparency." Panelists will include an author of the report analyzing Rolling Stone's University of Virginia article, a reporter who covered campus sexual assault and a survivor she profiled, and an expert on the impact of assault.
Pop-up panels (formerly IRE by Design) are back for a second year. Starting June 1 you'll be able to pitch ideas for these 60-minute sessions. Attendees will vote on the ideas, and the top four will earn spots on the schedule.
A new hands-on series called "Finding the story." These classes will guide participants through the process of obtaining and digging through specific data sets for story ideas they can take back to their newsrooms.
And don't forget about our keynote by James Risen, conversation track, audio training by Reveal, and much more!
Kansas’ attorney general said Tuesday that emails sent by state employees through private accounts aren’t public record, even when they deal with public business.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt was responding to a question from state Sen. Anthony Hensley about whether such an email would constitute public record. Schmidt, who interpreted "private email" to be an email sent not only through a private account but also on a private device, replied: "In short, we think the answer is 'no.'"
Schmidt had already established in a different opinion that emails in the possession of public agencies are open records, his opinion said. But Schmidt wrote that individual state employees don’t constitute a "public agency" as defined by the Kansas Open Records Act.
Hensley’s inquiry was in response to reporting that showed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director had sent a draft of the state budget via private email weeks before it was publicly revealed.
In response to Schmidt’s decision, Kansas Press Association Executive Director Doug Anstaett released a statement: "This decision essentially says government business can legally take place in the shadows, which I firmly believe most Kansans would reject out of hand," it read in part.
To read more from the Wichita Eagle, click here.
What: GeoJourNews
When: May 15-16
Where: Parson's: The New School, New York
Offer code: maplove
CartoDB loves journalists who make maps, and next month, they'll be celebrating these coder-cartographers with a two-day conference in New York, called GeoJourNews. Day one of the event will feature short anecdotal and technical talks from reporters near and far, and day two will be a collaborative hackday to build projects and debug geo-code. Co-sponsored by Knight-Mozilla Open News and Parson's the New School, GeoJourNews promises to be a stellar chance to learn, code, applaud, and create news maps; join us!
As an extension to the upgraded account offer posted in March, IRE members benefit from a 90% event discount for GeoJourNews, including access to the conference, afterparty and fringe events at Parsons and surrounding venues.
RSVP here with the code maplove to profit from this offer, email aurelia@cartodb.com with any questions or concerns!
Throughout the year, IRE offers specific programming and outreach to students so we can continue to develop the next generation of journalists.
For the 2015 IRE Conference, we are asking college and university administrators for their help: Please have your school financially support several students to attend the 2015 IRE Conference in Philadelphia.
Students will learn from some of the best journalists in the country and have the opportunity to network for internships, jobs, and lifelong mentors.
We've started a list of participating schools and how many students they have agreed to send to the conference. To have your school added to this list, email web@ire.org. In selecting students, we ask schools to remember that IRE is committed to building a more ethnically and racially diverse organization, so we would appreciate efforts to support this mission.
Faculty, adjuncts and alumni: Please encourage your schools to take part. Spread the news with #CollegeIRE.
The landscape for investigative journalism continues to evolve. In the last year or so, we've seen the expansion of international for-profit startups and the birth of narrowly tailored, but deep, nonprofit organizations. At our showcase panel, we'll discuss what they're learning as they go, what's working and not working, and what we can expect from them in the future.
Panelists will include:
To see more of the sessions and classes we’ll be offering at the 2015 IRE Conference, visit our event page and read our conference blog.
Details
When: Saturday, June 6 from 8:30 a.m. – noon
Cost: Free
How to register: Sign up online*
*You must be registered for the conference
Wondering how to turn your stories into driveway moments and compelling audio narrative? Then come to an intensive three hour workshop with award winning radio journalists from Reveal, the new investigative program from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX.
We will explore the power of audio narrative, how to plan for your radio field gathering to get the most from your interaction with your sources, how to interview for good narrative, and how to build scenes and emotion into your writing. We will discuss different formats used in radio and audio work.
The field is exploding with the runaway success of podcasts like Serial and 99% Invisible. So whether you're interested in becoming a collaborator of Reveal for your investigative stories, a television journalist experimenting with other platforms or a multimedia storyteller-this workshop will be hands -on training and development. It will be followed by a panel discussion of best practices.
Seats are limited, so register now!
Meet Nigel Jaquiss, the Pulitzer-winning journalist whose reporting brought about the resignation of Oregon’s longest-serving governor. Today we’re exploring Jaquiss’ path from Wall Street oil trader to muckraking journalist. He’s sharing his process for working through an investigation and explaining how he broke stories about some of the state’s most powerful politicians. We’ll also take a look at his most recent investigation, "First Lady Inc.," which recently won IRE’s highest honor for investigative reporting.
As always, you can find us on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you.
Looking for links to the stories, resources and events we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you.
Music in this episode (and most of our episodes) comes from Podington Bear. IRE contributor Shelby Mann interviewed Jaquiss and wrote the script for this episode. Sarah Hutchins edited the podcast with help from Shawn Shinneman. Podcast host George Varney produced the episode.
2015 Board Election Schedule
April 13 – Period to declare candidacy for the IRE Board begins
May 11 – Deadline for candidates to file to appear on the initial ballot
May 18 – Voting period begins, candidate statements posted online
June 4 – Deadline to get on the ballot (5 p.m. EDT)
June 5 – Candidate forum at 6 p.m EDT
June 6 – Voting closes at 6:30 p.m. EDT
We are now accepting applications for candidates for the IRE Board of Directors. This year six of the board’s 13 seats are up for election.
The initial filing period for candidates is April 13 - May 11. All candidates filing by this time will appear on the initial ballot when voting begins on May 18.
Electronic online voting will be open both before and during the IRE Conference this summer. Those coming to the conference will have a chance to hear from the candidates. We'll have a formal spot in Philadelphia where conference attendees can get to know the candidates. Look for more information on that in the coming weeks. Information about each candidate will also be posted online for those who can’t attend.
As in the past, candidates may join the election after the initial filing period. However, voting will have already begun, which could diminish a late-filing candidate's chances of being elected.
One new aspect to this year's election is that, for the first time, you'll also be voting for two members of IRE's Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. In the past, these positions have been filled by an on-site vote held after the results of the IRE Board elections are announced. Instead, those interested in judging will apply using the same procedure as IRE Board candidates, and will be selected on the same ballot. Contest Committee candidates' information will also be available on the IRE website, but they will not make speeches at the conference.
Learn more about candidacy and IRE’s electronic voting system.
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