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 "consumer protection" ...
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Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs
The passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included provisions, requiring five government financial agencies to log meetings with financial companies, employees, or lobbyists on their individual websites.
Tags: Consumer Protection Act; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
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A Matter of Risk: Radiation, Drinking Water and Deception
You probably use it every day. And you probably think it's relatively safe. But imagine if your home's tap water was actually: making the plumbing so radioactive it could set off a Geiger counter, releasing a dangerous gas whenever you took a shower or ran a dishwasher, exposing you to a 1 in 400 chance of cancer just by regularly drinking it. And imagine if the people who were supposed to protect you from this situation not only knew about it and failed to do much of anything, but instead spent decades covering it up. That's exactly what the KHOU I-team discovered to be the case for half a million and more Texas consumers during its 12-month investigation into the quality of the state's drinking water.
Tags: tap water; radioactive; cancer; drinking water
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Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs
The passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included provisions requiring five government financial agencies to log meetings with financial companies, employees or lobbyists on their individual websites.
Tags: Dodd-Frank; consumer; Congess; financial industry
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Who's Protecting You
The investigation examines whether Wisconsin's Bureau of Consumer Protection is actually committing its own consumer fraud.
Tags: Bureau of Consumer Protection; fraud; consumer; consumer fraud; advertising
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The Card Game
This story investigates the “future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy”. This story looks into the inner workings of the credit card business and how a number of people are trying to reform the way the industry has done business for years. But some major steps need to be taken before a change can be made.
Tags: Consumer Financial Protection Agency; Congress; banks; finances; government; Providian Financial; interest rates; fees; payments
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Chamber of Commerce series
Reporter Josh Harkinson details how the US Chamber of Commerce represents far fewer business interests than it claims, possesses an undemocratic leadership structure and sets policies beneficial to the most powerful members of the organization.
Tags: chamber of commerce; lobby; josh harkinson; mother jones; main street; businesses; lobbying; employee free choice act; Consumer Financial Protection Agency; corporate; Donohue;
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Taking Care of Business
"In 'Taking Care of Business,' staff writer Neil Parmar reveals a BBB that consumers are far less familiar with: a group whose funding and governance comes almost solely from the business world, one that has collected information from consumers and sold it without their knowledge. It's a portrait that calls into serious question the BBB's image as the little guy's knight in shining armor."
Tags: BBB; Better Business Bureau; consumer protection;
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Energy Star Has Lost Some Luster
The Energy Star program was started by the federal government to help consumers save energy but it has become outdated and manufacturers are using loopholes to bump up their energy efficiency scores.
Tags: electricity; LG; kilowatt; Environmental Protection Agency; EPA; emission;
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Chemical Fallout
"The reporters exposed inept government programs that favor chemical makers over the needs of the public. They detailed conflicts of interest among regulators and uncovered new hidden threats for consumers. The newspaper tested common household plastics billed as "microwave safe" and found toxic levels of chemicals leaching from every item tested."
Tags: chemicals; toxins; public safety; government protection; bisphenol A; Environmental Protection Agency; Food and Drug Administration;
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The Wasteland
CBS News found that when well-meaning American consumers give their electronics to so-called recyclers, the waste is often smuggled to China and other parts of the Third World, where it is broken down or melted for the precious metals inside. They investigated a major electronic waste recycler in the Denver area, Executive Recycling, and tracked a container that had been filled with cathode ray tubes at the company's loading docks. They followed this container from Denver, to the port of Tacoma, to Hong Kong, which is the main entryway to the part of southern China where electronic waste is broken down in the worst conditions. There, seven out of ten kids have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. Pregnancies are six times more likely to end in miscarriage. The reporters also went to China and found that wasteland, where workers were cooking circuit boards over open flames and separating the gold from other metals in acid baths on the edge of a river. While filming, the crew was attacked by a gang that protects this gray market enterprise. Back in Denver, CBS News confronted the CEO of Executive Recycling. He denied that his company had sent the CRTs overseas, but the evidence was all but irrefutable.
Tags: recycling; gray market; electronics; China; worker safety; pollution;