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 "political correctness" ...
-
Until Proven Innocent
The book reviews how the case and charges against the three Duke Lacrosse players was handled. The authors focus on how "political correctness, personal agendas, sensationalist journalism, and academic extremism," all shaped the public opinion about the players before they went on trial.
Tags: Duke; rape; gang rape; Duke Lacrosse; court; trial; justice; NAACP; media; DNA; Nifong; sports; college; law enforcement;
-
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
Brigitte Gabriel is a former news anchor in the Middle East who is now based in Washington, D.C. The founder of American Congress For Truth, Gabriel writes this book as a cautionary tale, using her own experiences to make the point that radical Islam groups will continue to be a threat to the United States and its people.
Tags: Terrorism; Islam; radical Islam; religious extremists; Sept. 11, 2001; political correctness; Middle East
-
Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island
An investigation that took a year and a half revealed that New York City Correction Department employees were forced to work on Republican political campaigns. In the 1990's, correction officials supporting Republicans were awarded with promotions and better assignments. On the other hand, any employee working for Democrats got 'whacked', or sent to dangerous jobs or forces to retire. As a result to this investigation, the main perpetrator was indicted on 146 counts of grand larceny and violating conflicts of interest laws.
Tags: New York City Correction Department; jail; warden; political campaign; republicans; democrats; threats
-
Greene County Prison Land Deal
Using a multitude of public records, the News & Observer uncovered how a "politically connected state transportation official and two state correctional officials" influenced the sale of land for a new prison for their own personal benefit. The resulting series of stories shows the political influence exerted by the transportation official not only on the matter of the prison sale, but on other matters as well such as hirings and promotions within the Department of Corrections. Among other things, at the same time the department wanted to "eliminate the positions that oversee construction, purchasing and personnel," even the state's own legislators had no idea their budget proposal included paying off three top officials ready to retire with nearly $200,000. The paper was also able to track -- and subsequently expose -- the intricate web of transactions designed to hide the massive profit the three were making from the prison land deal.
Tags: corruption; state government; politics; corrections; transportation; payoff; retirement; land; land use; sale; budget; prison
-
Cook County Jail Beatings, Sheriff's Campaign Contributions
"On a winter night in 1999, an elite squad of guards at the Cook County Jail in Chicago invaded a cellblock and, for hours, terrorized hundreds of inmates. With the unit's commander standing atop a table and barking orders, guards forced inmates to strip and proceeded to beat them. Later, the guards falsified records to cover up the assault and for years succeeded in derailing internal investigations into inmate complaints. The cover-up lasted for four years until Chicago Tribune staff reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley received a tip about the mass beating." The resulting story blew the lid off the beating scandal, and led to a number of public officials running for cover. Sheriff Michael Sheahan had come to his job promising solutions to the overcrowded jail and to end policies of brutality. Wondering why the Sheriff had allowed such a mass beating to take place and be covered up, the Tribune took a closer look at his campaign contributions -- and discovered the story went a lot deeper than they realized.
Tags: prison; beating; cover-up; cover up; inmates; terrorize; correctional; facility; guard; blood; officer; sheriff; campaign; politics; money; contributions; contributor; campaign finance
-
Hurdles high for offender commitment
The Star Tribune analyzed data and found that the majority of sex offenders with a high chance of committing another crime were released instead of being admitted to a psychiatric institution. One of the offenders, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., was charged with the disappearance of Dru Sjodin, a college student in North Dakota. However, some offenders with a smaller chance of committing a crime again were placed in the psychiatric facility. The article also describes the high cost of the sex-offender treatment program compared to the cost of prison, and exlains that politics might have something to do with the inconsistency in committing repeat offenders.
Tags: Dru Sjodin; Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.; Department of Corrections; sex offenders; Ryan Swenson; social institutions
-
Feed 5: Best of Show and Tell
1) Jennifer Kraus (WTVF-Nashville) This story exposes problems at the Nashville office of international charity "Feed the Children." In a four-month investigation, WTVF-TV's undercover cameras caught the charity's staff loading up their personal cars with donated items and taking the items home. 2) Deborah Sherman (WFXT - Boston) Costa Rican trips for child sex. Actually spoke with girls who used to get paid by American tourists for sex. Focuses on one area man charged with this crime. 3) Anna Werner, David Raziq (KHOU-Houston) KHOU-TV reports that "You're in physical pain. You need help. So you go to your doctor expecting needed relief and comfort. But what if in the process of treating you, you realize this healer's touch has become 'sexual?' That's what dozens of Houston women claimed happened to them when they were referred to a local health professional, a professional they claimed used their trust to molest and even rape them. His name is Shin Higashiura and he claimed to be a Master of Shiatsu, also known as acupressure, a Japanese massage therapy that promises health benefits...." 4) Jilda Unruh (WCCO-Minneapolis) An investigation reveals that automatic door sensors can't detect certain colors. The doors often close on elderly people, causing them harm. 5) Tom Merriman/Jeff Harris (WEWS-Cleveland) The story investigates how state-trained lifeguards perform on state beaches as compared to privately trained lifeguards on private beaches. Follows both teams though a simulation. The state team fails horribly and never recovers the dummy planted for them to rescue. 6) Jim Schaefer; Shellee Smith (WXYZ-Detroit) WXYZ-TV discovered that the leaders of Highland Park, a poor city surrounded by Detroit, had virtually ignored a major problem in the 911 emergency response system while continuing to enjoy the relatively expensive perks of their jobs. While claiming there was no money in the budget to fix the problem, the mayor leased a brand-new Lincoln with city cash. Undercover video found citizens at risk, fire fighters in danger and no one helping. 7) Drew Griffin (KCBS-Los Angeles) "The Real ConAir" Investigation reveals department of corrections transporting convicts on commercial flights. Passengers are not told who's sitting beside them. Planes are forced to land because of disturbances during the flight. A girl is sexually assaulted by one of these convicts. 8) Robb Leer; Maria Tomasch (KSTP-Minneapolis) Inmates can change their names on the taxpayer's dime. 9) Jeremy Rogalski; Bill Dutton; Gerry Lanosga; Kathleen Johnston (WTHR-Indianapolis) WTHR-TV reports that "a source mentioned to us that numerous DUI cases were being dismissed because police witnesses fail to appear in court... After we crunched a slice of our county's criminal justice data ... We found thousands of DUI cases - nearly one in ten - thrown out because cops didn't show..." 10) Wes Williams; C.J. Ward (KPNX-Phoenix) Security guards with criminal records have a "License to Steal." 11) Tony Kovaleski; Matt Goldberg (KPRC-Houston) Ninety-eight guns were discovered in schools in 10 of Houston's largest school districts -- that works out to 5,864 students per gun. 12) Phil Williams; Chris Clark (WTVF-Nashville) WTVF-TV's investigation into the backgrounds of school teachers found more than three dozen convicted felons working in Metro Nashville-Davidson County schools. 13) Chris Halsne; Kim Albro; Dave Weed (KWTV-Oklahoma City) Voters handed Oklahoma City Schools a 93 million dollar bond in 1993 to improve schools. The money is now gone, but many projects remain unfinished. KWTV-TV's investigation found millions of dollars in waste, fraud and mismanagement. 14) Laure Quinlivan; Jeff Keene; Ken Fulk; Mark Shafer; Scott Diener; Stuart Zanger (WCPO-Cincinnati) WCPO-TV's investigation "... to monitor County officials as they began spending nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money... earmarked to build two, new sports stadiums for our city's professional sports teams, the Bengals and Red. As (the) investigation enters its third year, work on the first stadium is two-thirds complete and ground will soon break on the second. Already, our investigation has revealed broken promises, manipulation of numbers in official reports, political cronyism in contract awards, creation of 'pass-through' companies and other questionable and possibly illegal activities...." 15) Jim Barry; John Campbell; Sam Zeff; Jennifer Snell; Denise Haley; Brad Naw (WTXF-Philadelphia) After transit union strike crippled Philadelphia's bus and subway service for forty days, WTXF-TV investigated the region's transportation agency - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA is one of the largest and most expensive transit systems in the county. This investigation exposed a widespread culture of laziness and dishonest work habits that was allowing hundreds of buses with potentially dangerous problems out onto the street each day. 16)Darcy Spears; Kim Kruger (KVBC-Las Vegas) "Taken for a Ride". Taxi drivers getting kickbacks for taking clients to certain bars/stripclubs.
Tags: TAPE; Investigative reporting; computer-assisted reporting; IRE; FOI; CAR; no transcripts
-
Rideau Revisited
In a three-part series the Times of Acadiana examines the "long and peculiar career" of Wilbert Rideau, a local prisoner who was arrested and tried for the murder of Julia Ferguson in 1961. Rideau, a slender black boy at the time of his arrest has since then become an award-winning journalist and editor of the prison news magazine. In 2001 he is now facing a fourth trial. The problem is that most witnesses of the crime are dead and the murder weapons are missing, the Times reports. The series depicts the political and social climate of Louisiana in 1961 and Rideau's efforts toward rehabilitation.
Tags: crime; murder; robbery; corrections; capital punishment; death row; Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola; courts; judges; justice
-
Crimes of Punishment
In this three-part series the Globe conducted an extensive investigation into the Suffolk County corrections department after allegations arose of widespread abuse of power and misconduct among correctional officers. Four officers were fired from the county's South Bay correctional facility after current and former female inmates brought up charges that guards exchanged privileges for sexual favors. The county officially recognized the allegations after a former female inmate's 1999 pregnancy showed a corrections officer was the father. The department is also facing charges of brutality from prison guards, largely stemming from a 1999 case when an inmate died in the custody of the sheriff's department. The Globe finds that at the heart of all of the problems is the county sheriff. Sheriff Richard Rouse has had a long history inside Boston politics, but some say "his grasp of corrections is minimal and his response to scandals has been mostly cosmetic." Moreover the Globe finds that Rouse spends very little time in the department, relying heavily on assistants while being paid a $104,000 salary and using a department vehicle illegally.
Tags: Law Enforcement; corrections; criminal justice; Suffolk County; Massachusetts
-
License to Kill
The Seattle Weekly reports "Belated revelations of a $10,000 crime-scene theft by veteran (Seattle Police Department) homicide detective led to a closer, critical examination of the department. We discovered further allegations of crimes by cops, turmoil within a department stemming from a politically correct chief, similar problems at the county and state level..."
Tags: justified homicides; race; crime coroner's office whitewash cover up