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The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Leann Frola interviewed six award-winning investigative journalists for Poynter Online to find out how they continue to produce high-quality investigative journalism despite industry cut-backs. The interviewees include IRE Executive Director Brant Houston, former board president Deborah Nelson and former board member Stuart Watson.
Read MoreAn article by Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger uncover new scandals at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). After a long legal battle with the University, the Star-Ledger obtained documents which “paint a picture of a state institution in which high-paid administrators chased state grants they…
Read MoreMichael Biesecker of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., reports that the city of Durham failed to inform state regulators that there was tainted drinking water in the area. A report submitted in October claimed that the city’s drinking water met federal standards despite the fact that several tests detected lead in the tap…
Read MoreJoseph Neff of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., that the U.S. government is responsible for paying insurance premiums and benefits for all private contractors working in Iraq. “These insurance policies differ from conventional workers’ comp in one major way: Domestic workers’ comp is heavily regulated and analyzed, but the contractors’ insurance is not.…
Read MoreThe Center for Public Integrity investigated campaign spending for the 2003-2004 federal elections and found that the majority of the money being spent on campaigns is going to campaign consultants. In the 2003-2004 election cycle, approximately 600 consultants were paid $1.85 billion, with 65% of that money going to media consultants.
Read MoreAn ongoing series by Jeff Roberts, David Olinger, Greg Griffin and Aldo Svaldi of The Denver Post “examines why the state’s foreclosure rate leads the nation and how it is affecting Coloradans, their communities and the economy.” A computer-assisted analysis revealed a problems in neighborhoods where builders acted as lenders.
Read MoreOn the anniversary of the Sago Mine explosion, The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette continues to probe safety issues behind the blast that killed 12 miners. Ken Ward Jr. reports that “the Sago disaster might not have happened if regulators and the coal industry had heeded the warnings… from a series of other lightning-induced explosions in the…
Read MoreIn a 3-part series, Ruth Teichroeb and Kristen Bolt of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer report on how the Port of Seattle officials have brokered “generous no-bid deals with a company hired to run publicly owned facilities on the central waterfront, have failed to closely monitor those contracts, and have shouldered all of the financial risk for…
Read MoreJonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News reports on the shift in corporate campaign contributions following Democratic wins in the November elections. “During the campaign, the world’s second-largest maker of commercial airplanes [Boeing] backed Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri with a maximum $10,000 campaign contribution from its political-action committee. Just 17 days after his defeat,…
Read MoreIn a computer-assisted analysis of campaign contributions, Matt Stiles and Chase Davis of The Houston Chronicle found that elected officials might have accepted contributions in violation of a city ordinance. The ordinance prohibits “donations from contractors with business before the City Council.” Their analysis shows that more than $30,000 was contributed by prohibited donors. ,After…
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