IRE Journal
IRE Radio Podcast on education, Uvalde and Philip Meyer
The IRE Radio Podcast is back after a four-year hiatus. Check out these three new episodes on education-related topics: “Finding stories on the education beat,” “A look inside Uvalde: 365,” and “The legacy of Philip Meyer.” Find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and other streaming platforms.
Read MoreSources and Sexual Harassment: Advice for Reporters and Editors
By Bethany Barnes Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the IRE Journal Quarter 3 issue. Members can download and read the full issue here. Non-members can purchase for $20. A few months into my first journalism job, I met a source at a bar. I’d met sources at bars before, including this particular source,…
Read MoreThe Newsroom Guide: A living document shapes inclusive language, coverage
By Lynn Jacobson, The Seattle Times Between December 2015 and June 2017, The Seattle Times had several opportunities to practice the art of the apology. In that period, the newspaper made a number of high-profile missteps. Among them: a headline that portrayed the black victim of a police shooting in a negative light, and a…
Read MorePublication without representation
By Ron Nixon, The Associated Press In 1895, journalist Ida B. Wells dropped a bombshell investigation into the lynching of African Americans across the nation. Using data she gathered from accounts in white newspapers — she said no one would believe her otherwise — “The Red Record” showed lynchings were not in response to rape…
Read MoreHow to be an ally in the newsroom
Five journalists share tips and ideas for creating a culture of inclusivity, regardless of job title, in their newsrooms. Ashley Graham, WLNS (Lansing, Michigan): “It’s important for everyone in the newsroom to be open to ‘diverse’ story pitches. Many journalists of color find that pitches related to their respective communities get turned down for being…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Broken Breath Tests
Police rely on alcohol breath tests to convict drunken drivers. But what happens when the machines they use aren’t reliable? Stacy Cowley of The New York Times looked into the problem of faulty breath test machines and found thousands of cases where the tests were thrown out. On this episode, Stacy breaks down how she…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Fighting Fentanyl
Opioid addiction is a decades-long crisis that killed roughly 47,000 people in 2017 alone, largely due to the potency of fentanyl. But despite all the warning signs, Congress didn’t pass any legislation on opioids until 2016. On this week’s episode, we’ll hear how Katie Zezima of the Washington Post tracked inaction in Congress and visited…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | SPECIAL: Rediscovering Don Bolles
Investigative Reporters and Editors was formed in 1975, the year before Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb. He died days before he was scheduled to speak at IRE’s first annual conference. Now, decades after his death, the team at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com found tapes Bolles recorded before he…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | BONUS: Telling an Unbelievable Story
On this bonus episode, we’re sharing audio from the 2016 IRE Conference. In a session on narrative storytelling, reporters T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong explain how they wrote their Pulitzer-winning investigation, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape”. Their reporting is the basis of a new Netflix limited series called “Unbelievable”. You can find the podcast…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | Hooked on Fines
When protests rocked Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, few realized the tensions could be traced to a policy-based problem — local police were fining residents at abnormally high rates to fund the city’s operating budget. Mike Maciag of Governing Magazine spent a year looking into other communities reliant on fines. He found a trend that’s destabilizing…
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