The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "advertising business" ...
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Fishy Business
Boston Globe reporters Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley captured the attention of consumers across the nation with their 2011 “Fishy Business” series, which revealed widespread mislabeling of seafood at restaurants. DNA testing commissioned by the Globe showed diners frequently – and unwittingly -- overpaid for less desirable species. In 2012, the Globe produced two more “Fishy Business” installments to expand and follow up on the initial investigation. First, Abelson spent several months examining how fish processors add water to seafood to increase profits. The Globe hired an independent lab to conduct an analysis of 43 fish samples collected from supermarkets across Massachusetts. The results, presented in a multimedia package in September 2012, showed consumers often pay for excess water when they buy scallops and frozen fish. About 1 in 5 of the samples weighed less than what was stated on packages. The testing also showed 66 percent of the fish from one supplier had too much ice. The Globe also wanted to verify restaurants and wholesalers had changed their ways following the newspaper’s 2011 investigation and resulting calls for reform. Daley and Abelson returned to 58 restaurants that served the wrong fish in 2011 to collect new samples. DNA tests showed 76 percent did not match what restaurants advertised on their menus. The resulting third installment of “Fishy Business,” published in December 2012, detailed these findings. In addition, Abelson and Daley explained how accountability is lost in the fish supply chain by investigating a major wholesaler that provided mislabeled fish to some of the region’s best-known restaurants.
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Fishy Business
The reporters combined old-fashioned reporting with innovative DNA technlogy to investigate the process of fish mislabeling in Massachusetts. The results were astonishing - 48 percent of the samples were not what they were advertised to be. The Globe reported that consumers are routinely and unwittingly overpaying for less desirable -- sometimes undesirable -- species.
Tags: fish; DNA; mislabeling; unsafe
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Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0
Many local business owners began to believe something bizarre was happening when sales reps from Yelp.com offered to remove negative reviews off of the website. The only way the negative reviews could be removed was if the local businesses would advertise with Yelp. If the business owners refused the offer, they began noticing positive reviews disappearing.
Tags: local business owners; sales representatives; reviews; San Francisco; website; advertising; online; Internet; companies; businesses; Jeremy Stoppelman; Russel Simmons
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The Dark Side of the Internet
Sparked by a report that U.S. companies were "supplying cops (in China) with databases, software and hardware needed to track criminals and dissidents", Business Week looks into the many "dark corners of Internet commerce." Click fraud, spyware, online advertising, identity thieves using "virtual currency" are all covered in this series of stories.
Tags: Yahoo.com; Direct Revenue; identity theft; online advertising; click fraud; spyware
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Bucks Unlimited
This investigation uncovers unfair funding for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Decades ago, the Department fought for a tax to care for the state's wildlife areas; now, the agency's goals have been met but the tax keeps bringing in millions of dollars. In a time where other state agencies are dealing severe cutbacks, the Conservation Department spends frivolously on hotel rooms, conferences, concerts and even motivational training for the employees. The situation is worsened by the fact that the Conservation Department does not report directly to the state legislature. Furthermore, the department auditor, who should be keeping spending in line, went into business with several department employees.
Tags: conservation; environment; natural resources; hunting; forestry; advertising; tax
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Billboard Scandal
From the questionnaire, "The stories focus was a scandal involving people close to the New Jersey governor. They made a series of business deals to set up billboards in places where they were normally prohibited by law."
Tags: billboards; signs; advertising; corruption
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Serial Tiller
A con man with 27 felony convictions decided to shift his act over to fleecing prisoners and their families. John Gary Tiller previously took advantage of banks and small businesses but when he formed the Civil Rights Legal Defense Team he found a con that would get little criticism. The CRLDT was a law firm that advertised help for inmates and their families in fighting for their release. Once the families or prisoners paid money upfront Tiller's law firm would disappear or perform very little work. As a law firm it was a sham anyway since Tiller did not hold a law degree. Only one member of the CRLDT actually was a lawyer and he was disbarred. Tiller got away with all of it. Fleecing businessmen was illegal but taking advantage of inmates was not as big a deal.
Tags: criminal justice; corrections; cons; law; lawyers; civil defense; inmates; prisoners; prisons; jail
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World Business Review Investigation
Bob Garfield reports that the "World Business Review" television program hosted by former Secretary of State Alexander Haig was not the business-news magazine it was posing as to colleges and universities in order to keep tapes of the programs on their library shelves. This was rather a weekly infomercial, charging "interviewees" for their appearance and collaborating with those paying clients in fashioning "interview" questions. Garfield also found that the show was using a slush fund, with a fictitious corporate title, to circumvent federal regulations about paying time and advertising on public TV.
Tags: Alexander Haig; universities; libraries; infomercial; public television; corruption; TAPE; RADIO; transcript
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The Rascal
Inside Edition uses hidden camera to reveal deceit and high pressure employed in the sales of the nationally advertised "Rascal" scooter. The report shows how elderly, disabled consumers and their families have been victimized by Electric Mobility, a New Jersey company that produces the electric wheelchairs. The deceptive sale tactics have been taught by the company executives, one of whom was a twice convicted felon, the investigation reports.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; ethics; sales; business; direct marketing; medical devices; patients; salesmen; commercials; advertising; consumer affairs
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It' No Accident: How Corporations Sell Dangerous Baby Products
Felcher reveals case after case of babies and toddlers being injured or killed by cribs, cradles, carriers, car seats, strollers and other products supposedly designed to be safe. The author, a former marketing lecturer, examines the hideous tricks that big businesses use to hide from the public the risks that their products pose to children. The book depicts how the lack of enough regulatory power over baby products has given faulty companies the leeway to settle wrongful death lawsuits outside courts and to push grieving parents to accept gag orders.
Tags: BOOK; FOIA; safety; children; Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association; lawyers; litigation; Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC); Consumer Product Safety Act; recalls; advertising; Graco; Hasbro; Century Products