IRE Journal
American clunker: U.S. FOIA falling behind other countries
**This article appeared in the Fall 2014 IRE Journal** By David Cuillier, University of Arizona School of Journalism When it comes to freedom of information, the United States can learn a lot from other countries. Now, 103 countries have freedom of information laws, most of those passed in the last 15 years. Many were modeled after the…
Read MoreForeign FOI: How to request records in another country
**This article appeared in the 2015 1st Quarter IRE Journal** By Emilia Díaz-Struck, Central University of Venezuela The lack of information in one country does not mean that the information does not exist. Many times, stories connect with different parts of the world, and searching in other countries could improve the findings. Persons and companies…
Read MoreBeyond narco tunnels and border security: Tips and techniques for investigating stories along the U.S.–Mexico border
**This article appeared in the 2015 1st Quarter IRE Journal** By Celeste González de Bustamante, Border Journalism Network Geopolitical borders and the communities that thrive among them are unique places where cultures can be both connected and contested at the same time. Borderlanders, those who live on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border region, share…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Biking While Black
When Tampa Bay Times reporters Alexandra Zayas and Kameel Stanley got their hands on state and local data about bike tickets, they found some sobering statistics. Tampa police were stopping bicyclists at an alarming rate. And eight out of 10 of the bicyclists ticketed were black. It’s a great story, and even if your coverage…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | A Conversation with Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh is an investigative reporter with a storied career dating back to his reporting on the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Recently, his reporting on the killing of Osama bin Laden, a narrative that runs counter to the one widely circulated, has garnered a wide range of reactions. Hersh addressed all of…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Story That Freed Hundreds of Slaves
If you’re having seafood for dinner, there’s a chance it was caught by a slave. That’s what the Associated Press uncovered when reporters traveled to the remote island of Benjina, Indonesia. They found workers trapped in cages, forced to work 22-hour days for almost no pay. And when they followed the fish, they learned some…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Problem with Witness Protection
When the Washington, DC police chief bristled over a question about witness executions, Washington Post reporter Cheryl W. Thompson knew she was on to something. On this episode we’ll be talking to Thompson about her investigation into witness killings and intimidation. And for the second half of the show we dug into our audio archives…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Reporter Who Brought Down the Governor
Meet Nigel Jaquiss, the Pulitzer-winning journalist whose reporting brought about the resignation of Oregon’s longest-serving governor. Today we’re exploring Jaquiss’ path from Wall Street oil trader to muckraking journalist. He’s sharing his process for working through an investigation and explaining how he broke stories about some of the state’s most powerful politicians. We’ll also take…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Navy’s Most Crash-Prone Helicopter
When a Navy helicopter crashed off the coast of Virginia in January 2014, Jason Paladino lost one of his childhood friends – Petty Officer Third Class Brian Collins. But instead of grieving the loss and moving on, Paladino, a journalism grad student at UC-Berkeley, decided to investigate. Working with The Virginian-Pilot and NBC News he…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Product of Mexico
We’re changing up the podcast this week and spending our entire episode on one story. IRE’s Shawn Shinneman talked with Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Marosi about his 18-month investigation into the working conditions of Mexican agribusinesses supplying produce to major U.S. supermarkets and restaurants. Tune in to hear Marosi discuss the reporting challenges he…
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