IRE News
Longtime member pledges debut book royalties to IRE endowment
Nancy Stancill, an IRE member for 25 years and a former board member, has pledged royalties from her debut suspense novel Saving Texas, to the IRE endowment. Stancill, of Charlotte, N.C., has pledged the royalties from the first thousand books she sells to support the Godfrey Wells Stancill Small Newspaper Fellowship. The fellowship, established in 2006 in…
Read MoreWatch now: Google Hangout with Charles Lewis
Tune in to IRE’s Google Hangout with Charles Lewis, an accomplished investigative reporter, producer and bestselling author who founded the non-profit investigative journalism group the Center for Public Integrity. Charles Lewis answered questions about campaign finance investigations, the future of nonprofit journalism and authoring investigative books. If you have questions about Google Hangouts, please visit Google’s information…
Read MoreTen irrefutable and nonnegotiable rules of responsible data journalism
Few things in life (and journalism) are literally irrefutable and nonnegotiable. But we think this list comes pretty close. Journalists who use data come from a variety of backgrounds and have a wide spectrum of resources, skills, and time to do the work. Regardless of these differences, we’ve put together some simple rules that apply…
Read MoreHome Mortgage Disclosure Act — 2012 data now available
The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database has just been updated in the NICAR Database Library. WHAT’S IN IT? This Act requires all banks, savings and loans, savings banks and credit unions with assets of more than $33 million and offices in metropolitan areas to report mortgage applications. Each loan record contains demographic information about loan applicants,…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Maine pharmacists get licenses despite history of drug abuse
Would you feel safe if your pharmacist had lost his license because of drug abuse or theft, yet had regained it and was dispensing your prescriptions? What about if he had lost his license twice? Naomi Schalit and John Christie of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting found that since 2003, thirteen pharmacists with…
Read MoreWhere to begin if you’re learning to code
Last weekend IRE hosted a new bootcamp for journalists to learn web scraping and programming in Python. IRE offers workshops like this often — check our events and training page for opportunities to learn new data skills. But if you were unable to make a bootcamp or just can’t wait until NICAR14 to start learning, here are some resources to help…
Read MoreNew digital book on future of journalism doubles as classroom tool
The Knight Foundation has published a new book titled “Searchlights and Sunglasses: Field Notes from the Digital Age of Journalism,” which looks at the challenges facing journalism and includes essays on investigative reporting. Written by Eric Newton of the Knight Foundation, the text is intended to double as a tool for journalism educators, with more…
Read MoreGoogle Hangout: Investigating on the sports beat
On Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, IRE hosted a Google Hangout on sports investigations. Drawing on the issues presented in the latest IRE Journal, the discussion will focus on the need for investigative reporting in local sports, techniques for finding stories and balancing investigative work with beat reporting. Particpants included: Moderator: Kevin Blackistone, University…
Read MoreGoogle Hangout tomorrow: Investigating on the sports beat
Join IRE on a Google+ Hangout for a discussion on investigating local sports, Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Kevin Blackistone, University of Maryland professor and frequent ESPN panelist, will moderate a discussion including: Eric Prisbell, National College Basketball Writer at USA Today Amy Shipley, Reporter at the South Florida Sun Sentinel Scott Reid, Reporter…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Two Cleveland reporters raise the issue of rape kits that sat untested for 20 years
Rachel Dissell and Leila Atassi wanted an answer to a seemingly simple question: how many untested rape kits did the Cleveland Police Department have in storage? The answer: “We don’t know.” The reporters’ question prompted Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2011 to ask all Ohio law enforcement agencies to send their rape kits to…
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