IRE Journal
Female investigative journalists still face sexual harassment and bias, new study finds
By Katrina Michalak, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, Arizona State University Erin Orr was at the inception of her journalism career in the 1990s, working the business and real estate beat. As she was interviewing a source at an evening business event, the man repeatedly called her “honey,” commented on her dress, and drew her…
Read MoreWork smarter, dig deeper: 10 AI tools for investigative journalists
Work smarter, dig deeper: 10 AI tools for investigative journalists By Benét J. Wilson, IRE & NICAR My first introduction to AI was a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism fellowship presentation by Caitlin Dewey, a writer and occasional essayist based in Buffalo, N.Y. In it, she demonstrated 11 ways journalists could use AI in practical and…
Read MoreInvestigating religious groups? These records might help
By Liam Adams, The Tennessean I went out of my way to attend NICAR 2026 for the first time, hoping to unlock a bunch oftrade secrets for accessing records on my beat. As a religion reporter who often encounters legal hurdles for public access to internal info, I ventured up to Indianapolis from Nashville with…
Read MoreFifty years after Don Bolles’ murder, we owe it to him to continue his courage
By Jeremy Duda, Axios On June 2, 1976, Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was backing out of a parking space at Phoenix’s Clarendon Hotel, where he’d been lured for a fake meeting, when a dynamite bomb exploded under his car. He used his last words to tell paramedics and bystanders who he thought was responsible,…
Read MoreThe Digital Fortress: Engineering a Secure, Independent Newsroom for Yemen’s ‘Republic Generation’
By Helal Al-Anwah, Aljumhuriya Media Network In the fragmented landscape of Yemen, a journalist’s most dangerous enemy is often not a bullet, but a hyperlink. A single phishing click can expose an entire network of sources, leading to detention centers rather than headlines. Since 2014, the war has shattered not only our geography but also…
Read More‘The fox can’t guard the henhouse’ — how journalists shined a light on offices tasked with investigating wrongful convictions
By Willow Higgins and Ryan Kost, Columbia Journalism Investigations When we first learned about conviction integrity units, special programs in district attorneys’ offices meant to investigate claims of wrongful conviction, we found their very premise paradoxical. Could the same office that may have wrongfully convicted a person lead an unbiased reinvestigation of their own work?…
Read MoreFOI Files: How student journalists helped shine a light on a university withholding important records
By Lauren Lifke My journey with public records started in 2023, when I was a student at the University of New Mexico just starting out as a reporter for our student newspaper, the Daily Lobo. I, like much of the student body, wondered why we frequently weren’t getting campus safety alerts until hours after the…
Read MoreWhat I learned from Diana R. Fuentes
What I learned from Diana R. Fuentes by Francisco Vara-Orta I never felt like I had enough time in DeeDee’s presence because I genuinely enjoyed being with her. Even though we lived in the same city, we didn’t see each other often since she was always on the go. And when we did, she was…
Read MoreUnmasking the tourism industry: A Puerto Rico case study
by Luis Joel Méndez González, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo You are drinking a piña colada under an umbrella. You can hear the waves, feel the heat of the sun and notice the texture of the sand beneath your feet. That is the idyllic scene many of us imagine when we think about the tourism industry.…
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2026 Lightning Talks lineup!
by Adam Rhodes In about a week, hundreds of my favorite nerds are going to descend on Indianapolis to dive deep into panels and roundtables, spreadsheets classes and all the other things that make NICAR so unique. Disguised as a delightfully dorky meetup of data journalists, NICAR is an unmatched chance to expand your reporting…
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