The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Cuomo administration policy allows state to delete emails of government employees
According to WNYC, “New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration — which the governor pledged would be the most transparent in state history — has quietly adopted policies that allow it to purge the emails of tens of thousands of state employees, cutting off a key avenue for understanding and investigating state government.” “Last year,…
Read MoreCuomo administration maintains secrecy, uses private email for official business
Some New York state officials are using private email accounts to conduct official business. One reporter at ProPublica received an email from Howard Glaser, director of state operations and a top adviser to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, regarding an open records request. This email was sent from Glaser’s personal email account. But later, when the…
Read MoreInvestigating money in politics on foot and online
By George Varney Fredreka Schouten presented a campaign finance panel at the 2014 CAR Conference in Baltimore with fellow USA TODAY reporter Chris Schnaars and AP reporter Jack Gillum. The panel focused on different techniques for investigating political conventions and using online databases. Schouten gets to conventions two days early, before security shows up, to…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How the Chicago Sun-Times helped bring a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley to justice in a 10-year-old homicide
By Paul Saltzman, Chicago Sun-Times On Jan. 31, 2014, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a death a decade earlier. Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko admitted doing exactly what an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times had revealed in early 2011 he did — and what police and…
Read MoreAmid drug scandal, Toronto officials keep secret hundreds of emails
The Toronto Sun is appealing a decision by the City of Toronto to withhold hundreds of emails sent by staff members of beleaguered Mayor Rob Ford. The paper requested copies of emails sent and received by Ford’s former senior staffers around the time the mayor’s crack video scandal broke last year. From the Sun: The…
Read MoreSign up now for “Investigating Washington” Watchdog Workshop in D.C. in January
IRE is joining forces with The National Press Club to bring you a special Watchdog Workshop: Investigating Washington. A stellar lineup of speakers will tackle a series of topics that will help you prepare for many of the key issues of 2014. Highlights include a national security session with James Bamford, Michael Isikoff and Josh…
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 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 MoreBehind the Story: Tax forms and FEC filings reveal nonprofit’s political activity
Learning about sources of political spending can be “like unpacking a Russian nesting doll,” says Michael Beckel, a politics reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. Using tax filings as his primary source, Beckel investigated the third most politically-active nonprofit in 2012 as part of the Center for Public Integrity’s Consider the Source project. “In…
Read MoreRemembering journalist Richard Ben Cramer
Richard Ben Cramer, a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 as a foreign correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer, died this week from complications of lung cancer. Cramer’s writing career spanned politics and sports, and in addition to the Inquirer his work appeared in magazines such as Esquire and Rolling Stone. Cramer authored several books, including What It…
Read More