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Opening Letter: Disability news and community

By Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE & NICAR Visibility in the news comes and goes for historically marginalized communities. This is especially true for people living with a disability. Major events and milestones — such as the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Disability Pride Month, the Paralympics or the COVID-19 pandemic — have centered these…

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Investigator’s Toolbox: Four starters

By Nakylah Carter, IRE & NICAR Disability is often excluded from conversations about diversity, but there are many resources available to help journalists address this problem. Although not an exhaustive list, IRE has gathered the following four guides as a helpful starting point for improving your newsroom’s disability coverage.  As social norms rapidly change regarding…

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Data reveals school voucher shortcomings

By Neelam Bohra, The Texas Tribune Are government programs to support disabled residents adequately serving the community? Two newsrooms in Texas explored this question in the context of public school privatization and dangerous residential care facilities. Project: “Inaccessible Private Schools or Underfunded Public Schools: Texas’ Disabled Students Have Few Options With No Change in Sight”…

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Accessible data visualizations

By Douglas Schepers, Fizz Studio; Frank Elavsky, Carnegie Mellon University People with vision or cognitive disabilities often struggle with charts, graphs and diagrams as a source of information. People with disabilities also have a fundamental ethical and legal right to an equivalent experience of information access.  For basic images, adding accessibility is as simple as…

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Newsroom inclusion from a disability lens

By Denise-Marie Ordway, The Journalist’s Resource Until recently, I rarely told anyone I have a disability. I didn’t share that information with editors or even fellow journalists at the news outlets where I’ve worked during my 20-plus-year career. For one thing, I was ashamed. I’m keenly aware of the stigma and stereotypes associated with having…

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The story behind the investigation

By Doug Meigs, IRE & NICAR; Mike Reicher and Lulu Ramadan, The Seattle Times; Amy Silverman, Arizona Daily Star; Beth Hundsdorfer and Molly Parker, Capitol News Illinois ProPublica supports local and regional investigative projects through its Local Reporting Network. These newsroom collaborations have exposed myriad failures by systems meant to support the most vulnerable members…

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IRE announces winners of the 2024 Philip Meyer Journalism Award

Text "Philip Meyer Award 2024 Winners" appear in white font over black background and a photo of a trophy plaque.

The annual Philip Meyer Journalism Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors recognizes the best use of social science research methods in journalism. This year, IRE honors five investigative projects from a pool of exceptionally strong applicants.

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Submit your NICAR25 Lightning Talk ideas!

NICAR25 text in purple colors, with spoon and cherry. Additional text says "Lightning Talks"

Submissions are now open for Lightning Talks to be featured at #NICAR25 in Minneapolis!

Lightning Talks, which take place on the Friday afternoon of the conference, are five-minute talks about a particular tool, skill or piece of advice learned from working on stories. The goal is to teach some practical tips in a fun and entertaining way.

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Tips to make the news more accessible

By Patrick Garvin, independent journalist and accessibility consultant I’ve spent more than four years speaking at journalism conferences and talking to newsrooms about making news sites more accessible to people with disabilities. When I speak with journalists about this, I rely on two sets of credentials: the accessibility certifications I’ve earned in the last four…

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