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 "long distance" ...
-
FCC is set to adopt tough new measures to curtail 'slamming'
According to this brief article, "The government is expected to adopt tougher rules to reduce illegal 'slamming,' in which telephone companies switch customers' long-distance service without their consent. The biggest change expected from the FCC today is a plan to exempt victims of slamming from paying any long-distance phone charges to the offending company for period of time, probably 30 days."
Tags: FCC; slamming; phone companies; telecommunications; phone service; long distance; Federal Communications Commission
-
Will Your ER Be There For You?
The Plain Dealer reports on how hospitals in Greater Cleveland are shutting out ambulances, and justifying the so-called "diversion" with nursing shortages and the closings of two big hospitals in the area. A database created from handwritten logs kept by emergency dispatchers reveals that in fact, "logjams ... coincided with hospitals' lucrative surgery schedules." The diversion problem has hit inner-city and low-income residents the worst. Some are forced to travel long distance to suburban emergency rooms.
Tags: Ohio Public Records Act; doctors; hospitals; CAR; surgery; ambulances; health care; rescue squads
-
The Big Telecom Disconnect
The Wall Street Journal investigates the reasons for the rising prices of telephone and cable services. The story packet finds that five years after the Telecommunications Reform Act was passed in 1996, "business customers have been the only beneficiaries." Among the main findings is that "the Baby bells and the cable-TV operators have the country pretty much to themselves, enjoying lucrative monopolies in most areas."
Tags: technology; Federal Communication Commission; SBC Communications; AT&T Corp.; AOL Time Warner; Verizon communications; Winstar Communications; competition; wireless; long-distance; Internet access
-
Don't Call Me Baby
"Descended from GTE and a couple of Baby Bells, Verizon now strives to go national." Reporter Stephanie Mehta reports on the local telephone company that has made its mark across the United States. "With wireless networks in 96 of the top 100 markets, a stake in a nationwide Internet backbone, and 63 million phone lines in 31 states." The article discusses Verizon's growth over the last couple years and reports on where the company sees room for increase.
Tags: telephone companies; communications; wireless networks; long-distance plans; Telecom Act
-
Living Life on Speed Dial
The Cleveland Plain Dealer tells the story of Michael Stevens, a flashy, smoothing-talking entrepreneur with connections to the mob. Stevens is the focus of a number of "multistate federal probes into guns, organized crime and a potential multimillion-dollar scam of long-distance telephone companies."
Tags: Cleveland; Ohio; Michael Stevens; guns; organized crime; fraud; business; long-distance telephone companies; FBI
-
Phone Fee Furor
Using CAR, Wallack analyzed more than 125,000 complaints against long-distance phone companies filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. In this analysis, he found that problems with long-distance carriers has nearly doubled in a two-year period. Wallack's in-depth look at these companies also includes a list of reasons for the increase in problems with the long-distance carriers.
Tags: CAR; long-distance; business; phone companies
-
Telemarketing Scam
With hidden cameras and false identities, a team of reporters goes undercover to investigate a telemarketing firm's illegal practice of "slamming" - using deceptive means to convince consumers to change their long-distance phone company. As a result of the report, the firm went out of business.
-
Disconnected
This article investigates a long distance telephone company that donated two percent of its gross revenues to charity. This "rollicking, cautionary tale of excess tells the story of how good intentions can go bad when greed intercedes."
Tags: BCI Corp. Brittan Communications International Jim Edwards bankruptcy money; greed; long distance; telephone company; charity sweepstakes; slamming
-
Liars on the line
The telephone company US West, a regulated monopoly, delayed service for months while stockpiling millions of dollars. A lawsuit by customers denied service alleges the company lied to customers and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Tags: Long Distance; Telephone Companies
-
Deciding desegregation: a continuing series
This report uses computer assisted reporting (CAR) to show what a desegregated school system would look like -- how neighborhood schools assignments would affect classroom diversity, poverty rates, crowding, and the distances students travel every day.
Tags: Discrimination