IRE News
New webinar: Spycraft for journalists
Watch now: Spycraft for Journalists Keep your sources and your secrets safe from prying eyes. In IRE’s latest webinar, Steve Doig, Knight Chair in Journalism at Arizona State University, explains spycraft for journalists. This webinar covers the use of cryptography, spoofing caller ID, anonymous email, throwaway phones, steganography and other covert techniques for communicating with…
Read MoreHow journalists can learn safer communication and improve online security
The New York Times Magazine this week profiles documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and her role in helping National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leak thousands of classified documents regarding government surveillance programs. From the magazine: Poitras possesses a new skill set that is particularly vital — and far from the journalistic norm — in an…
Read MoreHow reporter Steven Hsieh stumbled across his first investigation
Reporter Steven Hsieh was never informed about a dangerous landfill in his hometown of West County in St. Louis until one day while watching cable news. Hsieh, one-year out of school at the Missouri School of Journalism, stumbled upon a broadcast of a roundtable discussion in which Diane Schanzenbach, associate professor in the School of…
Read MoreDespite publicity for transparency, fear and self-censorship in Tanzania
Anti-press attacks are generating fear and self-censorship among journalists in Tanzania, according to a report published Wednesday by The Committee to Protect Journalists. Despite good international publicity for moving toward an open government, public discontent remains largely unseen and unheard. CPJ’s findings include 10 serious anti-press attacks since September, which is “a notable jump over historical trends…
Read MoreTableau Public expands to 1 million rows
Tableau Software is announcing that Tableau Public now has expanded capabilities, including handling spreadsheets that that contain up to 1million rows of data. Tableau Public’s storage space has also increased from 50 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. Tableau stated the changes were made after noticing many public datasets number more than the previous limit of 100,00…
Read MoreLearn how to investigate local government on a shoestring budget
IRE and Poynter announced a low-cost investigative workshop: Investigating Local Government on a Shoestring Budget. With growing Medicare and pension costs, 2013 will be a rough year for local governments that face significant budget deficits in a slowly recovering economy. These governments face critical decisions, IRE and Poynter are offering training to ensure journalists are…
Read MoreNext week: Tune in the results of a national research study into investigative journalism
Next week the results of a national survey research project conducted by AR&D and IRE will be revealed. Join us for a webinar on Tuesday, July 30 at 11 a.m. Central Time. What types of investigative stories are the most compelling? Why might investigative reporting save your newsroom? Is the crowd ready to help you…
Read MoreHow to use boating accident data in an investigation
FCIR created this map of boating accidents. Click the map for the interactive version. Last January, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and NBC 6 in Miami announced a partnership to produce more local in-depth investigations. Even before our partnership was announced, we had already decided during a brainstorm session that boating fatalities would be one…
Read MoreBoating accident data for 2012 now available
Labor Day is just around the corner, and we all know that boating enthusiasts (and wannabes) are getting as much boating in as possible before it gets too cold. Hence, the NICAR database library is releasing the latest year (2012) of the Coast Guard’s U.S. Recreational Boat Accident Database. WHAT’S IN IT?This database includes accident reports from 1969 through 2012.…
Read MoreFOIA Machine sees early success on Kickstarter
On July 16, a team of journalists and developers launched a Kickstarter campaign for a project called FOIA Machine. They asked for $17,500 to build a tool to help journalists and citizens request public information — a “TurboTax for government records,” the team called it. Two days later, they passed that goal. A week later,…
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