The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Tune in Wednesday at 12 p.m. CDT to discuss coverage of the death penalty and the secrecy surrounding lethal injection procedures. We’ll be joined by four journalists who have been investigating executions: Ziva Branstetter, enterprise editor at the Tulsa World and one of the witnesses to the botched Oklahoma execution of Clayton Lockett. You can follow…
Read MoreBy Chhaya Nene Minorities will account for more than a third of U.S. households by 2025, according to a recent study. Molly Hennessy-Fiske, of the Los Angeles Times; Momo Chang, independent journalist; and Ravi Kapur of WRJK-Chicago shared their best strategies for covering emerging communities on a deadline. After the session, Hennessy, Chang, and Kapur…
Read MoreBy Laura Rena Murray Sally Lehrman of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Venise Wagner of San Francisco State University discussed reporting tools and strategies to better cover institutional inequity. Wagner and Lehrman began the session with personal tales. Lehrman’s great-grandfather moved to Colorado to be cured of tuberculosis in a sanitarium – prevailing…
Read MoreBy Chhaya Nene These days the phrase “on a budget” applies to everyone, especially journalists. At the 2014 IRE Conference, veteran journalists Anna Hewson of KUSA/9News Denver, Joe Ellis of KXAN-Austin, Bryan Staples of WTVF-Nashville, and Steve Eckert of KARE 11 Minneapolis/St. Paul shared their best-kept secrets for going undercover without blowing the newsroom budget.…
Read MoreBy Trisity Miller Where there’s a college, there’s a story. That was the theme of “Campus coverage: College sports,” a panel featuring Paula Lavigne, Jodi Upton, Jill Riepenhoff, and Brad Wolverton. In recent years there have been several major stories involving college campuses, from the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State to the recent Jameis…
Read MoreBy Danielle Kirsh There are many Google tricks and methods that can make research much easier. Daniel Russell studies the way people search using Google. He offered a few tips for people who want to get the most out of their Google searches. Search by image Search by image is a tool that allows…
Read MoreBy Emily Burns Friday’s panel on mental health care reporting began with a video clip of the 60 Minutes episode, “Nowhere To Go.” The episode focused on mental health care for young people and featured an interview with Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who was stabbed by his mentally ill son, Austin, who also took…
Read More[View the story “Friendly Fire” on Storify]
Read MoreBy Laura Rena Murray Ellen Gabler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tony Kovaleski of NBC Bay Area, Ellen Weiss of Scripps Washington Bureau and documentary producer Andrés Cediel discussed cautionary steps to consider when identifying sources and offered advice on getting reluctant sources to speak at the IRE Conference in San Francisco. Key recommendations for…
Read MoreInvestigative Reporters and Editors has named the U.S. Navy and the governors of Oklahoma and Missouri as winners of its second-annual Golden Padlock Award recognizing the most secretive U.S. agency or individual. The U.S. Navy FOIA office was named a winner for blocking access to records about a deadly shooting rampage in Washington, D.C. that…
Read More