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For decades, children passed through the doors of Catholic orphanages. Some never walked out. On this week’s episode, Christine Kenneally takes us behind her work investigating hidden abuses in orphanages around the world. Her BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered that dozens of children had died violently, their deaths covered up and lost to time.
You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play. 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 and resources we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you.
Tessalit (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Uncertain Ground (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Mercurial Vision (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Sensitive (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Time Waste (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Darklit Carpet (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Blue (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Airliner (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Simple Melody (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Kelly Kenoyer reported this episode. Abby Ivory-Ganja is our host. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
Applications are now open for small and midsize newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada to receive free data training from IRE in partnership with the Google News Initiative.
Newsrooms selected to participate in the Data in Local Newsrooms Training Program will receive two days of in-house IRE data training, plus follow-up data consultation and services as part of an ongoing partnership with IRE.
Newsroom managers: Apply here, and see our frequently asked questions for more information.
The deadline to apply is June 17. Selected newsrooms will be announced in July.
Francisco Vara-Orta
Francisco Vara-Orta worked in newsrooms around the country for 17 years before bringing his experience to IRE as a trainer. We talked with Francisco about his time as an investigative/data journalist and his previous work at IRE.
Q: How did you get started in journalism?
A: I got my start in journalism pretty young at my middle school. I was elected to student council and started a newspaper there and learned very early how much it meant for people to see themselves represented in publications.
From there I just did various student publications. I started one in my high school, and I restarted one at my college because ours had been defunct. Working with students, I found my connection with the industry.
My first professional experience was being published in my hometown newspaper during the Dow Jones News Fund Urban Journalism Workshop my senior year of high school. Not only did I get my first story published in the local paper, but I also met my best friend. That same friend went with me recently on my first solo trip as an IRE trainer. So, it's weird how things come full circle in this industry.
You’ve worked as a reporter at several types of outlets, from the San Antonio Express-News to Chalkbeat and Education Week. What has it been like to work for such a variety of organizations?
Working for different publications was a byproduct, honestly, of changes in the industry and the recession. In order to survive, I had to keep moving where the jobs were. Thankfully, those were all on my shortlist of dream jobs. But in the process of that pursuit, I got to try out so many different beats that it really helped me grow as a journalist and as a person. Getting to see different parts of the country and getting out of my comfort zone, I think, is really important. Journalists have to continue to do that until the day they lay down the keyboard or the pen.
Seeing different economic models was really, really valuable for my job as an IRE trainer. I have a better sense now of what pressures editors and reporters are under and how convergence is now the lay of the land for most of us. The evolution in the last 13 years — since I've been in the field full-time after graduation — has been astounding. And those newsrooms each taught me a different lesson that I think built toward me getting this position. I lived what they're living.
What are the most useful ways you think journalists can utilize data and investigative skills in their day-to-day reporting?
It's definitely a mindset, and there's no limit on how often to use it. I think that's the misconception about data investigative and journalism. You can do it on any beat, from news to features to sports to business. I think that's really important to keep in mind. Do not overwhelm yourself or to let imposter syndrome get ahold of you. It's important to embrace wherever you're at with math and with understanding your level of comfort with confrontation because you need to master those skills, gracefully, to know how to utilize data and investigative journalism skills in your reporting.
The majority of us do not have the luxury of working on projects all the time. It's important to remember that. For people who do get to work on those projects, I think it's important for them to mentor those coming up behind them. I think that's a way you can use your skills, too, when you feel like maybe you’ve hit a wall and you can't grow anymore. There's always room to grow in our field.
What’s the most memorable story you’ve worked on?
One that sticks out to me was in 2007, when I was at the Los Angeles Times, and I wrote a story about how Latinos are very cautious about taking out loans. This was a story I had seen play out at my college, St. Mary’s University, which serves predominantly Latino students. It was an experience I had in my own family. I didn't realize how many people didn't understand the story, the origins of it, or the skepticism of banks in our home countries.
I wrote that story, and it ran on the front page. I was 22 years old. And that alone felt great on a personal level. But afterward, a reader in Palm Springs said, "I would like to be a benefactor for the student you wrote about" who paid for his education in cash working at a CVS. The student had refused to take out a loan.
So, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I connected them. Later on, I got a message from the student I interviewed saying, "He is not only paying for the rest of my undergrad degree, he's offered to pay for my master’s and that of my girlfriend, and that of one of my other relatives."
Now (the student) teaches at the university he studied at. And I really had no idea how much that story mattered. You never know who's reading or watching.
You worked part-time at IRE when you were a graduate student at the University of Missouri. Tell me a little bit about that experience.
I was suffering from imposter syndrome, trying to figure out how to get to do more in-depth work, and there were just so few avenues. IRE really restored my faith in myself. I didn't see that coming. I really wanted to be taken seriously by the industry and felt like, for various reasons, that just didn't happen. So the fact that IRE wanted to hire and empower me really healed my soul. I had gone through a layoff at the LA Times and had to move around several times to stay afloat. And (IRE) reminded me that I had it. And I’d always had it. So, seeing us do that for other reporters and editors and students on a daily basis really motivated me.
The IRE staff are among the kindest people I've ever had the privilege to work with. They're very honest about what we need to do and where we need to improve. I think that lack of arrogance is so important in our field.
While in grad school, I got to go to New Orleans for the 2016 IRE Conference and work as staff. I remember, at one point we were on the elevator in New Orleans, and I looked around and I was the only person of color in the room. It was an open discussion that I was able to have with all the white people in office about why is this the case? Like, it's okay to talk about it, and my voice matters.
I also really felt — and this is something I think is under-explored — that I don't think gay men are always taken seriously as investigative reporters. I don't really see a lot of visibility of us in the data journalism world. So, for me, that was also alienating. I knew more investigative journalists of color than I did men who identified as queer or LGBTQ, and that intersectionality was really important. IRE wasn't scared to talk about that. In some newsroom, I felt like I could never bring it up.
IRE really gets the bigger picture about how we should operate culturally as an industry. It's really exciting to come back and be a part of that, where there's so much momentum. The silver lining of the Trump administration is that I think accountability journalism and training in how to do it is more in demand because people are recognizing the need for what our members do. It's really rewarding to be part of that process.
IRE Training Director Francisco Vara-Orta with students at Alabama State University.
Why did you decide to become a full-time IRE trainer?
In a way, to pay back the journalism field and IRE for the good they’ve brought into my life. You ask anyone on staff, and we've all weathered some of the storms out there in the industry, and you don't want to let go. We have this love for the cause. Being around that energy is really important.
I've only done a couple trainings so far, but instantly I see the impact. You don't always feel like that with your stories. I had heard that was the case. Like most journalists, I wanted to see it with my own eyes and feel it in my soul the way you do when you're out in the field. And it's true. There's a lot more work for us to do, and there's a lot that IRE wants to improve on and and be better at. But the organization’s heart and mind are in the right place.
You joined the full-time staff in February. What have you enjoyed so far about the job, and what’s been the biggest surprise?
I learn just as much from the people we're teaching as they do, hopefully, from me. I do have a different experience than my other colleagues, and I get reminded of this every so often. In a recent training I had two queer black journalists come up to me and tell me how much it meant for them to see me exist in the room in that position. And that's just something I take for granted; I'm just trying to get the projector to work and not bomb during the middle of my presentation. Sometimes our mere existence is an act of resistance in times like this, when you're just trying to represent yourself and where you come from. So that was really surprising to me because I was looking forward to the skill-building side of this, where I'll get teaching skills and I'll get to interface with people all over the country. I didn't realize the job would be so emotional at times, but in a good way.
Signups are now open for the mentorship networking program at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
We're making some changes this year to response to high demand: Rather than matching each participant with a single mentor, mentees will instead have the opportunity to talk with several prospective mentors at tables arranged by topic. This setup will allow more people to participate and encourage more networking among the group.
For mentors, this means you'll pick one area of expertise (FOI, data, management/career, etc.) to discuss with multiple participants. Mentees who are looking for help and advice on certain topics will be able to meet with different mentors. Connections made during the mentoring breakfast can grow and develop organically long after the conference.
The mentorship networking breakfast — co-sponsored by George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs and the Scripps Howard Foundation — will be held from 7:45 - 8:45 a.m. on Friday, June 14, in the Texas E room of the conference hotel.
Click here to sign up. Space is limited in this popular program. IRE will accept applications until Friday, May 24. You must register for the conference in order to participate.
Small and mid-sized newsrooms in the United States and Canada will receive immersive IRE data training to bolster local news coverage through a new partnership with the Google News Initiative (GNI).
As part of the Data in Local Newsrooms Training program, IRE will select 10 newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada through a competitive application process to receive the free training. Each newsroom selected will receive two days of in-house IRE data training, plus 15 hours of follow-up data consultation and services as part of an ongoing partnership with IRE.
“The ability to find reliable data, analyze it and visualize the findings through creative storytelling adds firepower to investigative stories,” IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. “We’re thrilled to team up with Google News Initiative to help more newsrooms ramp up their data skills. Readers and viewers across North America will benefit from stronger investigative stories with impact.”
“Part of the ongoing work of the Google News Initiative is to bring together the best practices from leaders in the field, and journalists interested in exploring new methods to help solve real challenges in newsrooms," said Nicholas Whitaker, Strategic Partner Lead on the Google News Initiative. “This program will draw from IRE’s expertise in delivering the very latest data skills and education to journalists across the U.S. and Canada, and support those journalists with the ongoing guidance they need to sustainably enhance their workflows and reporting.”
The program is designed to help small to medium-sized newsrooms improve their use of data for bolstering local news coverage. Here are the criteria to apply:
If you’re interested in receiving more information once the program fully launches later this spring, please complete this short online form.
For 30 years, IRE has operated its data services and training program known as NICAR, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, a joint program with the University of Missouri. Through hands-on training, IRE and NICAR have equipped thousands of journalists across the United States and around the world with data skills to enhance investigative stories across all platforms.
IRE awards the Philip Meyer Awards each year to recognize the highest-caliber work involving data and social science methods. This year’s winners included investigations that uncovered hundreds of uncounted deaths in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, environmental hazards in Philadelphia schools that create serious health problems for children, tax loopholes involving stocks and private foundations, and systematic exclusion of African-Americans on juries in Mississippi.
IRE also provides a selection of national databases for sale that have been standardized and cleaned for easier analysis. Datasets popular with journalists include the National Bridge Inventory, Boat Accidents, National Inventory of Dams, a simplified College Scorecard, FBI Uniform Crime Reports and fatal vehicle accidents.
“Data often helps uncover stories that otherwise would be hidden from the public,” Haddix said. “Equipping journalists with data skills empowers them to find and produce hard-hitting stories that make a positive difference in their local communities. With data, journalists can fact-check claims of politicians, business leaders and other officials to help hold them accountable to the people.”
Think about the last time you got a call, email or direct message from someone who wanted to share a crazy story. You might have thought there was no way what they were telling you could be true. That’s what happened to Brett Kelman, a reporter at the Tennessean. A tip about military health care fraud back in 2015 seemed too wild to be true — until it wasn’t. On this episode, Brett breaks down how he reported the story years after getting the tip and how there’s still more fraud to be uncovered.
You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play. 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 and resources we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you.
Noe Noe (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Cloud Line (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Illa Villardo (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Heather (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Inamorata (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Town Market (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Abby Ivory-Ganja reported this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
COLUMBIA, Missouri – Journalists who exposed the plight of medically fragile children, unsafe schools and dangers in remote Alaskan villages are among the winners of the 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.
Some of the winners and finalists in this year’s contest faced personal peril for pursuing their stories. As examples, a Catholic diocese tried to tarnish the reputation of a reporter’s brother, who was a seminarian, and the Myanmar government jailed two Reuters journalists in an attempt to prevent publication.
“The consensus among the judges was that this year’s winners and finalists were among the best works they’ve ever seen,” said Jill Riepenhoff, chair of the IRE Awards contest committee. “The investigations exposed maddening, shocking, shameful and tragic behavior by government agencies and private entities. They also showed the resilience and determination of journalists to hold the powerful accountable.”
This year’s winners were selected from more than 500 entries. One project, “Myanmar Burning,” was singled out for an IRE Medal, the highest honor the organization bestows. The awards, given since 1979, recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The contest covers 18 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes.
The IRE Awards will be presented at a luncheon on June 15 at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston, Texas.
IRE Medal: “Myanmar Burning,” Reuters, Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their Reuters colleagues
View this story online
Tom Renner Award (for covering organized crime or other criminal acts): “War Crimes and Corruption in Yemen,” The Associated Press in partnership with The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Maggie Michael
View this story online
FOI Award: “The Force Report,” NJ Advance Media, Craig McCarthy, Carla Astudillo, Stephen Stirling, S.P. Sullivan, Erin Petenko, Disha Raychaudhuri, Blake Nelson, Yan Wu, Joe Atmonavage, Christopher Baxter, Ashleigh Graf
View this story online
Print/Online Division I: “Myanmar Burning,” Reuters, Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their Reuters colleagues (medal winner)
View this story online
Print/Online Division II (tie):
Print/Online Division III: “Perversion of Justice: How a Future Trump Cabinet Member Gave a Serial Sex Abuser the Deal of a Lifetime,” Miami Herald, Julie K. Brown and Emily Michot
View this story online
Print/Online Division IV: “From Criminal to Cop in Alaska’s Most Vulnerable Villages,” Anchorage Daily News, Kyle Hopkins
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division I: "Deceptive Diplomacy -- Cover-up by the UN," SVT Mission Investigate, Swedish Television, Le Monde, Radio France International, Foreign Policy Magazine, Süddeutsche Zeitung
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division II: “Lien On Me,” KUSA-TV, Denver, Chris Vanderveen, Chris Hansen, Anna Hewson, Katie Wilcox, Nicole Vap
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division III: “The Two-Hour Diploma,” Fox45 News, Baltimore, Jeff Keene, Chris Papst, Carolyn Sachse, Dwayne Myers, Kevin Drennan
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division IV: “Fall From Grace: How Buffalo's Bishop Hid Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo,” WKBW I-Team, Charlie Specht, Jeff Wick
View this story online
Radio/Audio - Large: “Insult to Injury,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, PRX, KQED, Will Evans, Alyssa Jeong Perry, Katharine Mieszkowski, Taki Telonidis, Ziva Branstetter
View this story online
Radio/Audio - Small: No winner
Student - Large: “Food Plight: Cafeteria Inspections Reveal Critical Health Violations at New York City Schools,” CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Pauliina Siniauer, Mallory Moench, Rahima Nasa, Jeremy Ibarra, Lizeth Beltran, Nicole Rothwell
View this story online
Student - Small: "Student Threatened Professor More Than a Year Before Killing Him," USC Annenberg Media, Cole Sullivan and Sam Bergum
View this story online
Investigations Triggered by Breaking News: "Zero Tolerance," ProPublica, Ginger Thompson, Nadia Sussman, Adriana Gallardo, Derek Kravitz, Decca Muldowney, Alex Mierjeski, Claire Perlman, Lilia Chang, Ken Schwencke, Jess Ramirez, Kavitha Surana, Robert Faturechi
View this story online
IRE Award for Sports Investigations: “Spartan Secrets,” ESPN Outside the Lines/E:60, John Barr, Paula Lavigne, Dan Murphy, David Lubbers and Nicole Noren
View this story online
Book: “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyrou
Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism: “Toxic City: Sick Schools”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker, Dylan Purcell, Jessica Griffin, Garland Potts, James Neff
View this story online
Click here for a complete list of winners, finalists, judges and judges’ comments.
Starting today, IRE will begin accepting applications for candidates for the IRE Board of Directors. This year six of the board’s 13 seats are up for election. Three incumbents have decided not to run for new terms.
The initial filing period for candidates is April 8 – May 12. All candidates filing by this time will appear on the initial ballot when voting begins in late May.
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, and we encourage all those attending the conference to wait to vote until after hearing the candidates speak. Information about each candidate will also be posted online.
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. To be considered, a late-filing candidate must be nominated by 5 pm (CT) on Friday, June 14.
You’ll also be voting for two members of IRE’s Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. 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.
For more details, including how to declare candidacy, please review our 2019 Board Election webpage and Election Q&A.
Starting April 8, IRE will begin 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 8 – May 12. All candidates filing by this time will appear on the initial ballot when voting begins in late May.
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, and we encourage all those attending the conference to wait to vote until after hearing the candidates speak. Information about each candidate will also be posted online.
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. To be considered, a late-filing candidate must be nominated by 5 pm (CT) on Friday, June 14.
You’ll also be voting for two members of IRE’s Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. 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.
The detailed 2019 election timeline is listed below:
For more details, visit our 2019 Board Election page.
Patti DiVincenzo
Patti DiVincenzo was an investigative producer and data specialist at WSB-TV in Atlanta for 16 years. Now, she’s bringing her experience to IRE as a trainer. We talked with Patti about her broadcast career and her time as an IRE member.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
My brother went to the University of Missouri, and he decided that he wanted to major in newspaper. And I tried a bunch of stuff at KU; I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I thought, well, I’ll take a journalism class and see what I think, and I loved it. And then I took a television class and just fell in love with the whole idea of wrapping a story around the video. There was something about dealing with the video — not the on-camera stuff, but just the whole idea of writing things a different way.
What was it like being an investigative reporter in Atlanta, a city that’s not exactly known for being the most cooperative with journalists?
It’s difficult to work with people who don’t want to help. I think the thing they do all the time is they just hope you forget. And when you don’t, they fight back on everything, and call your bosses, and your boss’ boss’ boss, and that type of thing, so it’s a challenge.
In Atlanta, we’ve been dealing with an ongoing city hall corruption case. In the beginning, most of the media outlets had filed a lot of open records requests. One day, then-Mayor Kasim Reed and city officials held a news conference — they had a big wall of papers and said, “This is all here, have at it” — and it was the biggest joke. They were trying to look like they were transparent, and they were anything but transparent. Some of the pages had spreadsheets on them that were like 1 inch by 1 inch, maybe smaller. You couldn’t read it. It was funny because we actually all started working together — the newspapers and TV stations — and so when one of us went through a box, we would mark “nothing here” or put a mark on it and the name of the person who looked at it. We all had to work together to figure out how to get through it because there were just so many documents.
For one year, I worked with a team of reporters from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB to identify all the police shootings in Georgia. We found some amazing stories. I mean, I can’t tell you the number of times I sat at my desk, and you would just hear someone say, “Oh my gosh,” as they were reading some document. It was a very sad and emotional story, but it was amazing that no one had really looked at it as a whole. I’d never worked on a project that took that much time before.
It was probably the most important story because we changed a law. In Georgia, when there was a grand jury for a shooting, the police officer was allowed to sit in the grand jury room the entire time. Then, he or she was allowed to give a closing talk to the jury — but the officer didn’t have to go under oath or testify, he just got to get up and explain what happened. It was crazy. Now the law prohibits officers from sitting in the grand jury room the entire time, and if they talk to the jurors, prosecutors can cross-examine them.
I think the biggest challenge is probably the same thing as it is at newspapers: feeding the beast. It's so much more than it was before, because now you have to tweet so many times a day and you have different versions of a story. You have to think about, how is it going to look for broadcast and the web? There's just a lot to do in a little bit of time.
The first time I remember getting to go to a conference was in Philadelphia in the ‘80s. It was so amazing to go to a conference and feel like, these people understand me. You can never stop learning. And if someone’s like, “Well, you’ve been to all these, why do you go?” it’s because I’m always learning something. And beyond that, it gets you so excited, because it’s so much fun to be around people who like to do the same thing you do. It gets you all refreshed and ready to go back and tackle the world.
I went to a panel on machine learning once, and I must’ve, like, leaned on my phone or something. There was a quiet moment, and my phone said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.” And I thought, well, that’s appropriate. Everyone started laughing, and I thought, “Well, I don’t understand either, but OK.”
I think it’ll be really fun to be around people who like watchdog reporting. I think my favorite part is going to be planning and setting up workshops, because I love learning. I just love it when you’ve got people who want to know more, and you can always learn something from them, too.
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