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IRE is proud to announce the winners and finalists of the 2017 IRE Awards. COLUMBIA, Missouri – Journalists who uncovered wrongdoing that bolstered the #MeToo movement, investigated the murder of a colleague, faced a lawsuit for trying to get public records and brought down a corrupt 100-year-old agency are among the winners of the 2017…
Read MoreSign-ups are now open for IRE’s mentorship program, one of the best ways to take advantage of networking at the 2018 IRE Conference in Orlando. Before the conference, IRE will pair up mentors and mentees based on interests and make sure they connect in Orlando. These private, one-on-one sessions allow conference attendees to seek advice…
Read MoreDon Bolles By Phil Williams, WTVF-TV From the earliest days of my journalism career, I found inspiration in the nobility of IRE’s mission and its history – and, in some of the darkest days of my career, I found strength in that legacy. My first IRE Conference, in June 1987, was the 10-year anniversary of…
Read MoreBy Kelsie Schrader Every beat comes with challenges and constraints, but health care presents a particularly complex set of issues. Between cutting through the industry’s jargon, finding individual sources and more, it takes time and knowledge to be a successful health care reporter. Three journalists with experience reporting on health care shared tips and strategies…
Read MoreIRE is making it easier than ever to continue learning after the CAR Conference in Chicago. In addition to our tipsheets & links page, we’re providing all the data from hands-on classes as well as install guides to help you set up your computer with the software used in the hands-on labs. Here’s a list of…
Read MoreBy David Rodriguez Data journalism is still new to me. Despite that, I decided to dive in head first and attend the recent NICAR conference in Chicago. It was one of my best experiences as a journalist so far. I was reluctant to attend after feeling ignored for being “just an intern” at another event…
Read MoreBy Alexis Allison If you Google the ingredients in sausage, you’ll quickly notice that little standardization exists between recipes. The same is true for the care and keeping of government data — whether at the city, county, or federal level. Partway through the panel dubbed, “Inside the sausage factory: An inside look at government data…
Read MoreBy John Sadler Hate crimes are on the rise. According to the FBI’s annual report, near the end of the succeeding year, 2016 was the second year in a row in which reported hate crimes rose. There is reason to believe this data is not comprehensive, though. It relies on local police reports, many of…
Read MoreBy Jing Ren Nick Penzenstadler from USA TODAY, Matt Drange from Forbes and Kim Smith at the University of Chicago Crime Lab discussed statistics and documents reporters covering guns should routinely gather at their CAR Conference panel. Because of the nature of her work, Smith’s team has access to many administrative statistics on firearms. She…
Read MoreBy Yue Yu What data sets can reporters get ahead of natural disasters? How can reporters cover disasters as they happen? What kind of follow-up leads should they chase? Matt Dempsey from the Houston Chronicle, Omaya Sosa from Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism and Lee Zurik from WVUE-TV in New Orleans broke down the…
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