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 "freedom of the press" ...
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Access Denied
The Associated Press tested public right-to-information laws in the more than 100 countries that have them.
Tags: Freedom of Information; information; FOIA
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Mayor Lives Large While Detroit Struggles
While the city of Detroit struggled through a massive job loss in 2005, its mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, lived a life of luxury on the public's tax dollars. According to The Detroit Free Press, investigating this story became difficult as the mayor refused to turnover public documents and flat out lied to his constituents. However, a lawsuit from the paper finally forced the mayor to hand over documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
Tags: FOIA; tax corruption; fraud
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Justice on the Grass
Temple-Raston investigates the events leading to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and how Rwanda has fared in the aftermath. She details the United Nations' trial of three Rwandan journalists charged with inciting the murder of Tutsis. She follows their convictions for helping to start the RTLM hate radio station in Rwanda. She conveys how ordinary Rwandans felt during the three month-long genocide. She refers to her study as "the most notorious media trial since Nuremberg."
Tags: genocide; Rwanda; United Nations; Tutsi; RTLM; Hutu; prejudice; UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; journalist; freedom of the press
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The Mafia bombings
This series re-examines a wave of mob bombings that occurred in the late 1960s in Tucson. It reveals, for the first time, how the FBI cut short its investigation of a suspect with close ties to the bureau and used threats to discourage state and local police from investigating, citing national security concerns. The series includes the first press interview with the accused agent, breaking his silence of 35 years, and makes extensive use of FBI records previously undisclosed and police records that initially were said to have been destroyed.
Tags: Mob; Mafia; Arizona bombings; Freedom of Information; FOIA; FBI; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Tucson bombings
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Responsible Journalism: a practical guide for working and aspiring journalists
This book is a primer for journalists to help them be more responsible and "stay out of trouble." Being a responsible journalist means, in part, taking the audience and those affected by the story into consideration as you report. This practical guide is filled with questions and answers to many tough ethical questions.
Tags: BOOK; responsible journalism; libel; press freedom; interviewing
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Secret Justice
ABA Journal investigates how undisclosed settlements to lawsuits and closed-door proceedings shut out public scrutiny. The article finds that this practice reduces accountability and eliminates precedents. The author points to several examples of sealed court files, some of which involving giant corporations and movie stars. The major example is about a reporter, Kristen Mitchell with the Wilmington, N.C., Morning Star, who was fined for obtaining a sealed file inadvertently handed her by a court clerk. The file contained information on a secret settlement of an environmental lawsuit between Conoco Inc. and residents of a mobile home park. The newspaper, also, was ordered to pay Conoco $500,000, the journal reports.
Tags: media rights; legislation; Merrill Lynch; First Amendment; freedom of the press; judges; lawyers; settlement agreements; Sondra Locke; Clint Eastwood; 3M; jurors; business
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Mistaken Identity, et. al
The Associated Press reports on the use of DNA testing to get wrongfully convicted prisoners freed. In this eight-part series, the AP probes the willingness of judges and prosecutors to turn to DNA evidence, the storage of crucial evidence, research that throws doubt over the reliability of eyewitness testimony and tells the story of innocent men struggling for justice and freedom.
Tags: DNA testing; wrongful conviction
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Seeking the Shade
The Chronicle of Higher Education investigates violations of the Alabama sunshine law by public university boards in the state. The story details circumstances surrounding multiple closed meetings of officials at Auburn University, the University of Alabama and the University of West Alabama. The report also details lawsuits alleging violations of state freedom of information acts that are pending against public colleges or public college foundations in Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. In Arizona, Florida and New Jersey public college lobbyists have managed to curtail or limit the expansion of open-records or open-meeting laws.
Tags: FOIA; lobbyists; lobbying; media; universities; colleges; higher education; press; journalists; SPJ; disclosure; First Amendment; legislature; newspapers
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Digital Dilemma
National Journal questions the increase in copyright protections as opposed to "fundamental rights as freedom of speech and of the press." The report looks at copyright practices in other countries, and finds that some of them are even more stringent than in the U.S.A. The story also examines how companies - mostly in the software business - use technology to prevent illegal activity, and to protect their products from copying. The article voices the concerns of library associations, which find that there is a gap between the price of the information and most users' ability to pay.
Tags: digital pirates; Hollywood; Disney; information technology; economy; business; Recording Industry Association of America; Business Software Alliance; Congress
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No Gun Ri
The Associated Press discovered American troops had killed hundreds of refugees during the Korean War. This story drew national acclaim and influenced American foreign policy after Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered an internal army investigation and National Security Advisor Sam Berger "called the AP report disturbing". The AP used the Freedom of Information Act and "reviewed hundreds of boxes of official war journals, communications logs, action reports, radio messages, and other declassified military documents" to do the investigation.
Tags: South Korea; No Gun Ri; military; massacre; refugee; Air Force; Army; military intelligence