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(May 15, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors’ premier investigative and data journalism training is just a few clicks away this fall, with a major gift to celebrate IRE’s 50th birthday!
The 2025 AccessFest Conference will take place online Thursday, Oct. 9, through Saturday, Oct. 11. IRE is thrilled to announce registration will be $50 for all journalists and educators for a limited time.
After Sept. 8, registration will go up to $199. Students can register anytime for a flat rate of $50. IRE membership is required to attend the conference.
The super-duper discount rate was approved by the IRE Board of Directors last month, as another way to recognize IRE’s rich legacy of educating and empowering journalists since 1975.
“We’ve listened to our members over the years: traveling to a conference or taking an extended period of time off isn’t always feasible, especially as newsrooms face financial constraints, budget cuts, and backlash against inclusivity,” said Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion. “We hope this special rate will help us provide training during a politically turbulent time when high-quality journalism is of the utmost importance.”
Each year, AccessFest seeks to foster important conversations around belonging, equity and inclusion in the journalism space – both within the newsroom and in news coverage. This IRE conference is virtual by design, created with the goal of expanding IRE training to journalists around the world in a more accessible and affordable format.
The conference will include sessions on reporting and writing skills, investigative techniques, public records, newsroom leadership, career advice, and more. Check out last year’s schedule for a glimpse of programming.
The keynote conversation is always a highlight at AccessFest, featuring intimate, in-depth conversations with journalists who set the gold standard for what belonging, equity and inclusion look like in journalism. This year, IRE is honored to announce that Sara Luterman of The 19th and Wendy Lu of The New York Times will join in conversation for the AccessFest keynote.
Luterman is the Disability and Aging Reporter at The 19th. She previously worked at WNYC’s Radiolab and has written for The Nation, The American Prospect and The Washington Post. In 2023, she was a Long Term Care Crisis Fellow at the National Press Foundation. Her reporting at The Nation has been previously shortlisted for the Deadline Club Mosaic Award, which recognizes excellence in “coverage of disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, social justice, equity and inclusion.”
Lu is a deputy editor on the Flexible Editing desk at The New York Times and a global speaker on disability representation in the media. She is also a board member for the National Center on Disability and Journalism. Her debut middle-grade novel, “Casting April,” about a talented disabled girl who will do anything for a chance at the spotlight, will be released next summer.
“As the umbrella expands in our minds on what DEI means to each of us, these conversations are pivotal to better serving our communities with all its vibrant intersectionality,” Vara-Orta said. “We look forward to our members hearing this powerful conversation built off of years of work by journalists with disabilities that came before us, remain among us and will make it better for generations of all of us to come.”
AccessFest is one of IRE’s three major conferences each year. The 2025 NICAR Conference took place in Minneapolis earlier this year. The 2025 IRE Conference will take place June 19-22 in New Orleans.
As IRE plans ahead for AccessFest, the team is seeking ideas and feedback for the conference. Please fill out this form by July 27 – no suggestion is too small.
Registration for AccessFest is open now. IRE membership is open to journalists, educators and students. Learn more about member benefits and join today.
(May 13, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors is helping journalists and students around the country attend the 2025 IRE Conference in New Orleans.
Thanks to the help of our generous sponsors and donors, IRE was able to offer more than 60 fellowships for this year’s conference. This cohort of fellows represents newsrooms and colleges across the country. IRE is eager to host and offer them the best of our training.
Congratulations, IRE25 fellows!
Established in honor of the late David Dietz, award-winning journalist and past president of IRE, this fellowship supports early-career journalists who have a demonstrated interest in financial investigative reporting.
Established to honor late IRE member Eric B. Sager, who worked mainly in trade publications, this fellowship supports U.S. and independent journalists.
Established by longtime IRE member David Jackson to honor trusted Chicago Tribune colleague Gary Marx, this fellowship supports U.S.-based college journalism students and early-career journalists.
Established by former IRE board member Nancy Stancill and her family in memory of her father, Godfrey Wells Stancill (who was an editor and publisher of the Suffolk News-Herald), this fellowship supports journalists working for newspapers with a Sunday circulation of under 50,000.
Established by several individual IRE members and new organization sponsors, this fellowship is intended to support journalist of colors and prepare them for a solid career in investigative reporting. In 2023, the fellowship was renamed in honor of murdered journalist Chauncey Bailey.
Named in honor of Dr. James Richard Bennett, professor emeritus of English at the University of Arkansas, this scholarship supports journalism students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Funded by the Jeff German Fund for Investigative Journalism, this fellowship is meant to help continue the kind of game-changing reporting late Las Vegas-Review Journal reporter Jeff German devoted his life to producing.
Established by former IRE president David Cay Johnston to honor his wife, Jennifer Leonard, this fellowship supports women who are college journalism students or early-career professional journalists.
Established to honor and memorialize Mike Levine, a columnist and executive editor of the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, NY, this fund supports journalists working in daily or weekly print news organizations or digital-only news outlets.
Established by the Napoli Management Group, this scholarship supports early-career TV journalists interested in investigative reporting.
Established by ProPublica, this fellowship supports U.S.-based journalists, educators and students of color; those in the LGBTQ+ community; and those with disabilities.
Established by family and friends of late IRE member Sandra Thomas, this fellowship supports journalists working to shine a light on the environment and find better ways to preserve it.
(May 9, 2025) — Investigative Reporters and Editors will mark its 50th anniversary with a gala in September, an elegant evening of camaraderie and entertainment paying tribute to the outrage that has driven investigative journalism since 1975.
The fundraiser, the first of its kind in IRE’s history, is set for Sept. 15 at Gotham Hall in the heart of New York City. Guests will enjoy elevated dining, lively conversation and a spirited auction, woven into an unforgettable experience honoring some of the top names in news.
“IRE is responsible in many ways for the development of modern investigative journalism,” said Brian M. Rosenthal, the IRE Board President and investigative reporter for The New York Times. “It has trained tens of thousands of reporters and editors and maintained high standards in the industry. And at a time when fact-based journalism is under threat, IRE has never been more important.”
Co-chairs of the event are Paul Sagan, chair of ProPublica; AG Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times; and Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent at PBS NewsHour. Funds raised go toward the nonprofit organization’s vital training programs.
The honorees who will be recognized at the gala represent milestones from each decade since the organization’s founding in 1975:
“These stars of journalism, who all received training at IRE, exemplify the power and future of journalism, the very foundation of democracy,” said IRE Executive Director Diana Fuentes. “We are proud to celebrate their contributions to our industry and look forward to a memorable evening reflecting the heart and soul and never-quit passion for truth we all share.”
The 50th Anniversary Gala is a fundraiser, with tables starting at $10,000. Find more information here.
The gala is just one of the many ways that IRE is marking its 50th anniversary.
The biggest event is IRE25, our annual conference set for June 19-22 in New Orleans, with a special programming track dedicated to the past, present and future of investigative journalism; a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Jim Steele; a reunion for longtime members; and a celebratory riverboat cruise.
The organization recently hosted a virtual “Titans Talk” featuring IRE founders Len Downie Jr., legendary Washington Post editor who oversaw the Watergate coverage, and Indiana State Rep. Ed DeLaney, the organization’s first attorney. Another virtual event, planned for May 28, will feature a conversation with several of IRE’s executive directors through the years.
More 50th anniversary events will be announced in the coming months.
Learn more about IRE’s history and upcoming anniversary celebrations here. To support our mission and help us continue this work, visit our online donation page.
April 30, 2025 — IRE is going back to school! With the pressing need for high-quality investigative journalism today, Investigative Reporters and Editors is expanding efforts to nurture a new generation of watchdog reporters.
A pilot program of IRE student chapters is in place across the country. The goal is to introduce more students to the organization and bring investigative training to college campuses.
Within just a few months of launching, there are now IRE student chapters at Boston University, Arizona State University, Northwestern University and the City University of New York’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism — with more in the works.
Chapter meetings serve as a chance for students to gather, network and learn about investigative journalism topics, from how to FOIA records to finding your place in the industry. Guest speakers have included some of the best journalists in the field — Jason Leopold from Bloomberg; Walter Robinson, Matt Carroll, Stephen Kurkjian, Patricia Wen from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team; and veteran New York journalist Tom Robbins.
“What stood out in all these conversations is how investigative reporting demands creativity and persistence. When the trail goes cold, how do you keep digging? That's the kind of thinking we hope to inspire,” said Cherry Salazar, president of CUNY’s IRE student chapter.
This initiative, led by longtime IRE members on our Academic Task Force, reflects a significant interest in investigative journalism on college campuses. Students and educators make up about 25% of IRE’s membership. IRE’s last major event, the NICAR Conference in Minneapolis, hosted about 1,000 attendees, with nearly one-third being students.
“Students and professors play a crucial part in the organization,” said IRE Board Member and CUNY chapter advisor Andrew Lehren. “They are on IRE conference panels. They are part of our meetups in cities across the country. Their outstanding work is recognized each year in the IRE Awards.”
This year’s winners in the Student (Large) category were reporters at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland and Boston University. Their months-long investigation shows how — despite reforms — lobbyists fund travel for U.S. House of Representatives and their staffs.
CUNY’s NYCity News Service was recognized as a finalist for their reporting exposing deaths and injuries in poorly regulated daycares, as well as wage theft in daycare centers in New York and nationally.
“Student” journalism has been a vital voice on college campuses for years. Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative recently wrote about how college students are filling coverage gaps in communities where newspapers are struggling. The University of Vermont's Center for Community News has undertaken great efforts to support college journalists in this effort.
From The Independent Florida Alligator's investigation into the university president's finances to the Daily Northwestern's exposé on hazing in the football program (just to name a few examples), students across the country are producing great work and proving you don’t need to wait for graduation to start your investigative career.
Another key aspect of IRE’s student chapters is offering mentorship from experienced investigative journalists, Lehren said.
“These efforts are all part of the ways that IRE works to teach student journalists real-world skills from top investigative reporters so they will be better prepared for their careers when they graduate.”
Students can join IRE for $25/year. In addition to our conferences, student members have access to thousands of tipsheets and free webinars throughout the year, opportunities to attend regional workshops and bootcamps, and a community of nearly 5,000 journalists to lean on for support.
IRE also has a mentorship program with Journalism Mentors, so you can connect with IRE members to get advice on investigative journalism or navigating the media industry.
The IRE Academic Task Force includes: Jodie Fleischer (chair), Andy Lehren, Mark Greenblatt and Maggie Mulvihill (subcommittee co-chair).
About IRE: Investigative Reporters and Editors is a grassroots nonprofit organization providing training, resources and a community of support to thousands of journalists around the world. Membership is open to journalists, educators and students. Learn more about membership requirements here.
Interested in sponsoring a student member? Follow this link.
As part of IRE's 50th anniversary and spring member drive, we’re sharing some of the biggest moments in investigative journalism since 1975.
(April 15, 2025) — When most people think of investigative journalism, they think of “Spotlight.”
The biopic follows The Boston Globe’s investigative unit as it uncovers decades of sex abuse by priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and how church leaders covered it up. The original newspaper series was published more than 20 years ago, by reporters Matt Carroll, Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes and editor Walter V. Robinson.
How did a team of journalists expose an institution as renowned and secretive as the Catholic Church?
“The Catholic Church was an unconventional target for the Spotlight Team,” Sacha Pfeiffer wrote for The IRE Journal in 2003. “For much of its (history), Spotlight had carried out its mission of exposing corruption by taking on municipal and government institutions, like bad cops, crooked politicians and corrupt public agencies.
At the same time, newspapers across the country had been writing stories for years about clergy sex abuse … but most of those stories focused on isolated cases of abuse, and on the actions of individual priests rather than church officials.”
But in 2001, when newly-named editor Martin Baron arrived at the Globe, he carried with him a story by Globe columnist Eileen McNamara that said records in a child sex abuse lawsuit against Cardinal law and other church officials had been sealed by a judge. If the case were settled out of court, common practice at the time, the records would “never see the light of day.”
Baron asked the Spotlight Team to investigate, and asked the Globe’s attorney to assess the chances of overturning the judge’s order. The Catholic Church would never be the same.
The Spotlight team spent months researching the Boston archdiocese, interviewing victims, and digging through church records and directories. The newspaper’s legal arm fought to get those court documents unsealed. Their first story, “Church allowed abuse by priest for years” (2002) made an unprecedented impact in Boston and beyond.
Rezendes reflected on the series for Spotlight’s 50 year anniversary, telling The Globe in 2021 that they were expecting protests when the story was published. They were surprised when, instead, they were met with an outpouring of calls from readers and other victims.
“It was like a dam bursting,” Rezendes said. “Suddenly, all these victims realized, ‘Hey, I’m not the only one.’ What happened in Boston that week reverberated around the world, with literally tens of thousands of victims coming forward.”
Pfeiffer explained the team’s reporting process and her shared her reflections in The IRE Journal, writing in 2003:
“The story has been a refreshing reminder that newspapers should not shy away from questioning even society’s most revered institutions. It also has renewed our belief that there are always ways to extract information from seemingly impenetrable institutions.
Throughout this project, our extensive contact with victims has demonstrated the immense value of reaching out to readers, who are often rich repositories of information. And our investigation has taught us that there is no substitute for documents to prove a case of this magnitude. In the end, the church’s own files were its downfall, and the Globe’s decision to go to court to unseal them was worth the resources it took to do so. Other newspapers would be well-served to do the same.”
Read Sacha Pfeiffer’s IRE Journal column here.
The article has been made publicly available from the IRE Resource Center, which is home to thousands of journalism tipsheets, stories, audio recordings and other resources to help enhance your reporting. The Resource Center is available for free to IRE members, and it's just one of our many member benefits!
Learn more about member benefits and join IRE today.
(April 11, 2025) — Investigative Reporters and Editors has a longstanding history of teaching journalists and students across the country. Along with planning our own events, our training team and longtime members also teach at conferences hosted by our partner organizations.
“This outreach helps reinforce our belief in collaboration and that all journalists can use watchdog techniques in their work,” said Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion. “We’re grateful to our partners for opening their doors to us and always welcome them at our events in the spirit of collaboration, especially as we all collectively strive to help journalists do better work.”
So far this year, IRE staff and members serving as guest speaking ambassadors have attended the World Journalists Conference in Seoul, the Religion News Association and SABEW Conferences in Washington, D.C., and the SPJ Region 8 Conference in Texas.
Here’s where else IRE will be throughout 2025:
Jeff German Investigative Workshop | April 11-12
IRE is partnering with Weber State University to host the Jeff German Investigative Workshop April 11-12. We’re bringing in speakers from Salt Lake Tribune, FOX 13 Utah, and other local newsrooms to teach watchdog techniques and digital security tips. The workshop honors Jeff German, a longtime IRE member and Las Vegas-Review Journal investigative reporter killed in 2022.
SEJ Conference | April 22-26
Society of Environmental Journalists is hosting their annual conference at Arizona State University. This year’s theme is “Heat, Water and Growth: Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future.” Registration is open to SEJ members, nonmembers and students. IRE will be teaching classes on mapping and data journalism with Google Sheets.
AHCJ Conference | May 29-June 1
The Association of Health Care Journalists is hosting their annual conference for journalists, health care professionals, policymakers and other experts. IRE will teach classes on accessing health data and barriers trans people experience with accessing health care. Registration is open to AHCJ members, nonmembers and students.
Last year, IRE partnered with AHCJ to host a series of webinars on investigating the business of health care.
EWA National Seminar | May 30-31
The Education Writers Association is hosting their National Seminar to help attendees cover education on the federal, state and local level. IRE will be presenting sessions on data journalism and how to cover DEI issues.
IRE Conference | June 19-22
This is IRE’s biggest conference of the year, with timely training sessions on investigative techniques and data skills, as well as celebrations for IRE’s 50th anniversary.
Registration is open to IRE members (journalists, educators and students). The early-bird rate is available through April 28, with a special discount for members who are early-career journalists, full-time freelancers or currently unemployed. Not an IRE member yet? Learn more about member benefits and join today.
MVJ25 | July 8
Military Veterans in Journalism is hosting a day of workshops and panels for veterans and military spouses in the news field. IRE will teach a session.
NAHJ Conference | July 9-12
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is hosting their annual conference, with leading Hispanic journalists and media professionals. IRE will teach a session.
ACP College Media Mega Workshop | July 10-12
Associated Collegiate Press’ annual workshop is at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus this year. It’s geared toward collegiate journalists and advisers to prepare them for their challenges going into the academic year. IRE will teach a session.
Advanced Data Journalism Bootcamp in R | Aug. 4-8
IRE’s third in-person bootcamp of the year will focus on R. This weeklong program will teach you how to use R, a powerful, open-source programming language for cleaning, analyzing and visualizing data. We'll also discuss finding and negotiating for data, solidifying your analysis, and using numbers in your stories.
Fellowships are available to help radio and TV journalists; journalists, students and educators of color; those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community; and those with disabilities. Apply using IRE’s Common App by May 6. Fellowships are also available for journalists serving rural communities. Apply by May 6.
NABJ Convention | Aug. 6-10
The National Association of Black Journalists is hosting their annual convention and also celebrating their 50th anniversary. IRE will be teaching classes on public records, verifying information online and how to incorporate watchdog techniques into everyday reporting.
IJA Conference | Aug. 13-15
The Indigenous Journalists Association is hosting their annual conference to support and enhance the knowledge and skills of journalists covering Indigenous communities. IRE will be teaching classes on backgrounding and verifying information online.
In addition to these events, IRE staff will be representing at the NLGJA Convention in Atlanta (Sept. 4-7), MediaFest25 in Washington, D.C. (Oct. 15-18), and the GIJN Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Nov. 20-24).
We're also hosting our all-virtual conference, AccessFest, in October, with dates to be announced soon. This conference offers the best programming from our in-person IRE and NICAR Conferences, as well as sessions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in the newsroom and in news coverage.
We hope to see you soon!
If you can’t make it to one of these events, IRE offers custom training options where our trainers visit your newsroom (in-person or virtually) to teach you the skills you need. We offer classes on more than 50 topics, as well as select sessions in Spanish. Explore options and book a training today.
Want to partner with IRE? Reach out to the training team at training@ire.org.
As part of IRE's 50th anniversary and spring member drive, we’re sharing some of the biggest moments in investigative journalism since 1975.
(April 8, 2025) — By the time Donald Barlett and James B. Steele published their landmark series on wealth inequality in 1991, they had already worked on a groundbreaking data project with Phil Meyer and won two Pulitzer Prizes for their investigative reporting.
But their nine-part Philadelphia Inquirer series “America: What went wrong?” was unique in that it captured — and questioned — the drastic transformation of an entire nation in real time. Barlett and Steele dug into how corporate greed and political deal-making over decades were contributing to the decline of America’s middle class.
They spoke about the series at the 1992 National Press Club luncheon.
During their remarks, Barlett noted that their colossal work started with a simple question: “What happened to the American worker?”
So, in 1989 and 1990, they traveled across the country and captured stories from a swath of middle-class Americans. A saw mill worker in Martell, California. A department store clerk in Charleston, West Virginia. A meat processing plant worker in Delia, Missouri. A middle-level manufacturing plant manager in Niles, Michigan. And on and on and on — until they noticed a pattern.
“We saw something we had never seen before in all the years in this business,” Barlett said. “The interviews were identical.”
Across the country, regardless of race, economic status, or college education, people were being increasingly forced to work lower-paying jobs, or losing their jobs altogether. They were losing health care benefits and pensions, or paying more for healthcare.
Digging into statistics helped them prove a story Americans are all too familiar with today: the country’s growing wealth gap and the shrinking middle class.
In those 1992 remarks, Steele goes on to note why the series struck a chord with readers across the country:
“It did so by using techniques and processes of journalism that supposedly nobody wants to read anymore,” Steele said. “This thing was long. 73,000 words in the original form. … It was filled with numbers. It dealt with the economy. Taxation. Fiscal policy. The federal deficit. All of these things that supposedly we hear over and over again that readers don't want to read about.”
“We believe people are capable of absorbing numbers, information of that sort,” Steele said. “But you can't just spew it out. You have to put it in some kind of a context.”
Monika Bauerlein, Chief Executive Officer of Mother Jones, reflected on the duo’s impact after the death of Barlett last year.
“When I started in journalism, smack in the middle of that early-’90s recession … Reporters exposed illegal acts, not ones that were merely unfair or inequitable,” Bauerlein wrote. “That’s what made Barlett and Steele’s reporting so unique, and so powerful. What happened to incomes in America was wrong, it was right there in the book title.
Not because it broke any laws (the point was that it was all perfectly legal!) but because it was unfair. Seeing that journalism could do that — could expose not just lawbreaking, but systemic injustice — was an aha moment for cub reporter me.”
Since the project, the duo went on to work together for more than 40 years. They also expanded on their original reporting, publishing another series with the Investigative Reporting Workshop in 2012 and an updated book, “America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens” in 2020.
After the 2012 series, they shared the following advice to journalists in an IRE contest entry:
“Try to take a long view of economic currents — not just what the latest quarterly data may show. Politicians, bureaucrats, corporate officials and special interests constantly misstate or gloss over complex issues, such as trade and taxes, by highlighting numbers that appear to support their position, when the data over the long term may give an entirely different picture. So go to the specific public documents to chart these trends for yourself. And always listen closely to people — what they see, hear or believe about the state of the economy. Quite often they have a better view of what’s going on than economists.”
The duo shared more tips for putting together an investigation at the 2009 IRE Conference in Baltimore. Listen to a recording of the session: Building the story: From getting started to knowing when to stop.
This recording has been made publicly available from the IRE Resource Center, which is home to thousands of journalism tipsheets, stories, audio recordings and other resources to help enhance your reporting. The Resource Center is available for free to IRE members, and it's just one of our many member benefits!
Learn more and join IRE today.
(April 7, 2025) — 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! Six of 13 board seats are up for election in 2025, along with two seats on the Contest Committee.
The period to declare candidacy opened on April 1, and the deadline for candidates to file and submit election materials is May 6, 11:59 p.m. Central.
IRE member voting will begin June 3, and voting will close June 21. Election results will be announced the membership meeting at IRE25.
Click here to learn more about the board election process and how to run. Current membership in IRE is a requirement for all candidates.
As part of IRE's 50th anniversary and spring member drive, we’re sharing some of the biggest moments in investigative journalism since 1975.
(April 1, 2025) – Investigative journalism did not begin with Watergate, but it was a watershed moment for the field when a story about a D.C. burglary led to the resignation of a sitting president.
Len Downie Jr., an IRE founder and Watergate editor, saw the first story about the 1972 DNC headquarters break-in while he was in London for a fellowship. It didn’t scream “scandal” right away, but there was something strange unfolding. He recalled the series of events during the 2012 IRE Conference in Boston:
“I saw this odd story,” Downie said. “And I found the bylines on it odd.”
“Carl Bernstein, who had been at the paper for about as long as I had been, I was amazed he was still working there. ... And I had never heard of Bob Woodward because he had been hired while I was away on leave.”
When he returned to the newsroom, Downie played a major role in editing the Washington Post’s years-long coverage of Watergate.
Even though there was some questioning of authority during this time – especially after the Vietnam War and Pentagon Papers – Downie said political journalists were still shocked by Watergate. A conspiracy of this level seemed unfathomable.
“Within our own newsroom, there was skepticism,” Downie said. “… about what the paper was doing to itself by pursuing what looked like a silly, stupid story.”
For the next two years, they chased leads and reported on the burglary’s links to the White House and the Nixon reelection campaign, leaks from Deep Throat, the Senate Watergate hearings, the involvement of hush money and secret tapes, and the eventual resignation of President Nixon. See the timeline of events by The Washington Post.
Because of Watergate, investigative reporting became a key part of American journalism and culture.
The film depiction of Woodward and Bernstein’s book, “All the President’s Men,” emphasized the central tenets of investigative journalism: Knocking on doors. Finding documents. Following the money. Read more in Downie’s column for The Washington Post.
“The book itself is like a primer on basic reporting,” Bernstein told ABC News last year. “You see what's the most important decision we make as reporters? To go out at night and to visit people who work for Richard Nixon and his reelection in their homes, knock on their doors, have the doors you know, slammed in our faces, except for the few that didn't.”
It’s important to remember that raw perseverance of shoe-leather reporting. Woodward and Bernstein didn’t set out to oust a president; they were writing a story about a break-in that turned into so much more.
“It’s about fitting little pieces together,” Woodward told Roy J. Harris for the book Pulitzer’s Gold: A Century of Public Service Journalism. “You don’t know what you have when you publish a little piece, but you publish it anyway.”
Another impact of Watergate? More journalists and news organizations wanted to pursue investigations, but they didn't necessarily have the experience. That’s where IRE comes in.
In 1975, a group came together to form a national organization embodying the mission of investigative reporting, hoping to set standards and best practices in this growing field. They included Downie, Myrta Pulliam, Paul Williams, Les Whitten, among several others.
“It dawned on people that they don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Pulliam told The IRE Journal in 2015. “They could help themselves and each other by sharing information and techniques."
In the interview with ABC News, Woodward and Bernstein also touched on the importance of working together.
“What it demonstrates is the power of collaboration,” Woodward said. “We learn in our personal lives you never do anything alone effectively. And it's the same with journalism.”
Read the very first Watergate story here.
Listen to a recording of the conference session referenced in this story: The legacy of Watergate: A conversation with Leonard Downie Jr. (2012).
This recording has been made publicly available from the IRE Resource Center, which is home to thousands of journalism tipsheets, stories, audio recordings and other resources to help enhance your reporting. The Resource Center is available for free to IRE members, and it's just one of our many member benefits!
Learn more and join IRE today.
(March 31, 2025) – Investigative Reporters and Editors is offering a new membership perk this spring. Join or renew your membership by April 28 to receive a 50% discounted subscription to DeleteMe services – a savings of $65!
DeleteMe works to remove personal data online, which can protect journalists against digital security threats such as doxing, targeted personal harassment, phishing and fraud. More than 70 media brands, including ProPublica, Yahoo! and Pinterest, use the service for their employees, but we know all journalists don’t have access to digital safety services – even as they face doxing threats for their essential work.
“In today’s environment, digital safety is a priority for journalists,” said IRE Executive Director Diana R. Fuentes. “IRE is pleased to partner with DeleteMe to offer their vital services to our members at a special rate.”
The consumer-level service is usually $130 a year, but IRE members can sign up now for $65. This discount is valid only through IRE’s spring membership drive, March 31 - April 28, 2025.
Click here to join IRE. Click here to renew your membership. To request the discount code, members who join or renew should email membership@ire.org.
DeleteMe is the latest addition to IRE’s long list of member benefits. Other free and discounted tools for members include Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder, SmartProcure/GovSpend, PacerMonitor, FOIAEngine, NICAR-Learn, and The IRE Journal.
Members also receive free access to the world’s most extensive library of tipsheets on investigative and data journalism, as well as training webinars and virtual events throughout the year.
About IRE: Investigative Reporters and Editors is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE provides training, resources and a community of support to thousands of journalists around the world. Learn more about the organization and the benefits of membership.
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