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By Brant Houston Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on the website of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, www.gijn.org. The ongoing and spectacular investigation “Panama Papers” represents the culmination of a significant shift in the way journalism is now practiced. The project, by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and nearly 400 colleagues from 107 outlets, also represents…
Read MoreFBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is one of the best tools for tracking crime trends in communities nationwide; FBI UCR data for 2014 is now available from the NICAR data library. Law enforcement agencies around the country voluntarily submit reports to the FBI on what are known as “index” crimes: Murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated…
Read MoreBy Anna Clark, CJR Editor’s Note: This article first ran on April 5, 2016 on the Columbia Journalism Review’s website. In Michigan, transparency comes at a cost—and a seemingly arbitrary one at that. The Society of Professional Journalists chapter at Central Michigan University recently conducted a FOIA audit of the state’s 15 public universities. It asked for…
Read MoreBy David Uberti, CJR Editor’s Note: This article first ran on April 5, 2016 on the Columbia Journalism Review’s website. In early 2015, an anonymous source began forwarding German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung encrypted files from a Panamanian law firm specializing in offshore companies. The trove of documents kept growing, and eventually numbered in the millions. Seeking help to break…
Read MoreBy Brian Collister “You were right, and we were wrong.” It was a stunning reversal by Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, who couldn’t deny what KXAN spent months documenting: His troopers wereinaccurately reporting the race of minority motorists, mostly Hispanic, as “white” and skewing crucial racial profiling data. For months,…
Read MoreBy Bernice Yeung There are many lessons about journalism to be learned from “Spotlight,” the film that chronicles The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Boston Archdiocese’s systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests. As the story behind the story, “Spotlight” highlights themes that are especially instructive to investigative reporters: That there’s the unspoken…
Read MoreWant to know how those IRE Award-winning investigations came together? Throughout the year, journalists have taken us behind the story in podcasts and articles. We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite pieces. Winners “Seafood from Slaves” by the Associated Press Listen to “The Story That Freed Hundreds of Slaves” on the IRE Radio…
Read MoreIRE-Chicago: Please join us at the Billy Goat Tavern on Wednesday, April 13, as we socialize and hear Darryl Holliday, Yana Kunichoff and Sam Steckler of City Bureau talk about their recent cover story for The Chicago Reader! The piece, which gained recognition from the Sidney Hillman Foundation, revealed that Chicago’s police union has long served as…
Read MoreIRE is proud to announce the winners and finalists of the 2015 IRE Awards contest. Journalists who helped free enslaved laborers, improved the safety net for injured workers and brought about reforms for failing schools serving mostly black youth, are being honored as winners of the 2015 Investigative Reporters & Editors awards. This year’s winners…
Read MoreBy Steve Weinberg With so many superb investigative/ explanatory books published by U.S. journalists during 2015, singling out just a few to this year’s IRE investigative book list feels daunting. That is true every year, but for reasons I cannot decipher precisely, the year 2015 felt more that way. Certainly, the impressive quality and quantity…
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