Search results for:
The great divide: Investigating income inequality
By Gwen Girsdansky IRE Board President David Cay Johnston and Paul Overberg from USA Today spoke about how to investigate income inequality on Friday at the IRE Conference. When researching trends, the speakers recommended looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bank deposits (which are available for every bank branch in the United States), the…
Read MoreGetting access to information inside prisons
By Perla Arellano There are many stories behind prison bars. Prison gangs, medical care, autopsy records, and flawed prison programs are just a few of the ideas offered at a panel sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists. But getting access to the information inside prisons to build the story at some times may seem impossible. …
Read MoreDay one of the IRE Conference, in pictures
Day one of the IRE Conference featured the best apps for mobile reporting, the year overview in computer-assited reporting, updates on multiple Knight Foundation funded projects including CensusReporter, everyday databases, a series of training sessions by the Investigative News Network and much more. The Board of Directors held a meeting and attendees gathered at an…
Read MoreThe power of social media: Geolocation for news
By Perla Arellano Look for a key word. Look for a date. Click search. You might just have found a source. Thursday’s “The power of social media: Geolocation for news” session, with Glenn Anderson from BBC, Mark Luckie from Twitter, Jennifer Peck from Banjo, and Doug Haddix of Ohio State Univesity as moderator, focused on…
Read MoreTracking guns and the criminal justice system
By Jordan Gass-Poore’ Investigative journalists shared their under-the-gun experiences with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Thursday during the panel “Criminal justice: Guns” at this year’s IRE Conference in San Antonio. Ted Crest with the nonprofit organization Criminal Justice Journalists moderated the panel and provided national-level story ideas that reporters might…
Read MoreInvestigating political shenanigans
By Kolten Parker Manny Garcia, of El Nuevo Herald, speaks during a panel entitled Investigating political shenanigans. Photo: Travis Hartman Journalists eager to scoop political scandals should get out of the office and state house and into the bar. A panel of three reporters with experience exposing political shenanigans shared advice and downplayed the notion…
Read MoreIn the name of charity: Investigating nonprofits
By Gwen Girsdansky Investigating a nonprofit often boils down to checking whether it is keeping its promises. What was the original mission statement when the nonprofit submitted its required tax form (known as the 990) to the Internal Revenue Service? Kendall Taggart from The Center for Investigative Reporting and Kris Hundley from the Tampa Bay…
Read MoreMobile apps reporters can use
Stephen Stock of NBC Bay Area gave a popular presentation Wednesday morning focused on mobile apps that journalists can use, including some lesser-known but highly useful ones such as Wickr, which facilitates secure communication, or RecordMyCall, which can record outgoing and incoming phone calls on an android phone . He compiled a list of helpful apps…
Read MoreHow the IRE Conference comes together, in pictures
After months of planning, the final pieces of the IRE Conference all come together on a very busy Wednesday. It starts with boxes. Shipped from the IRE offices in Columbia, Mo., and elswhere, those boxes reside with one of the host organizations — this year the San Antonio Express-News — until they’re hauled over to…
Read MoreDealing with inaccessible data and finding a needle in a million haystacks
By Jordan Gass-Poore’ Amanda Zamora of ProPublica answers questions during a panel on how to build a thorough data-based investigation with inaccessible, incomprehensible, and indeterminate data. Photo: Travis Hartman. Leading journalism professionals spoke about the search for finding meaning in messy data during Thursday morning’s session “Finding the needles in a million haystacks: How to build…
Read More