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 "television advertising" ...
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Investigative work of Mike Wilksinson
The work samples of Mike Wilkinson are entries for the Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism. The first story shows how some struggling school districts are paying exorbitant teacher salaries. Another finds that a local television station's segments called "Best School Districts" are advertorials. The final story tracks the murder rates among young black men.
Tags: teacher pay; teacher salary; murder rates; advertising; school districts
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Is it true?
"For several years a local car dealership ran advertisements on the radio, television and in newspapers offering deals on cars that it could not live up to". As a number of complaints mounted, the investigation into the dealership began. The investigation revealed the dealership used false advertising and "even increased the interest rate on finance documents after they were signed by the customer".
Tags: Mike Young Motors; bait-and-switch advertising; advertisements; ads; false; car dealership; dealer's claims; violations; automobiles
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What's on the Menu?
Eight stations in the E.W. Scripps Television station Group worked together to investigate claims by national restaurant chains about low-fat and low-calorie menu items. The group specifically gathered menus from restaurants who listed the fat and/or calorie content directly on their menus, and decided to have the food tested at Analytical Laboratories, Inc. in Boise, Idaho. They created an excel spreadsheet and assigned each station three foods listed on various low-fat/low-calorie menus on the same way. The stations each packed their food the exact same way and videotaped this procedure to verify protocol. The packages were then sent overnight to Analytical Laboratories, Inc. for testing. The test results showed that out of the 23 items tested, 78% were over the fat limit and almost 69% were over the calorie limit listed on the package. A producer from KNXV-TV then contacted all the restaurants involved in the test and asked for a response. No company would go on camera for the story, though the company that owns Chili's and Macaroni Grill apologized and said they would work to reinforce the menu standards.
Tags: food; nutrition; low-fat; low-calorie; Ohio; false advertising
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Adoption: Fathers in the Dark
An investigation by KSTP-TV revealed that "in Minnesota if an unmarried man wants any say over whether his child is adopted he must put is name on something called the Father's Registry. He has 30 days after the birth to take this step. But, because this registry is seldom advertised, many men don't know it exists. (KSTP-TV) found two men who lost the right to their children because they failed to fulfill the requirements of the registry. Furthermore, (the station) found an adoption counselor guiding young women to hide from their boyfriends for 31 days to make sure they couldn't get on the registry in time to influence the adoption."
Tags: Father's Registry; Minnesota; children; adoption; out of wedlock
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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 Solutions Man; No body of evidence seen for Body Solutions; Researcher raises eyebrows with sudden support; Body Solutions' promises might be too good to be true
A San Antonio Express News investigative package questions the efficiency of Body Solutions, a widely advertised product supposed to contribute to weight loss. On of the stories follows the ups and downs in the career of Harry Siskind who, with his wife Patty, started Body Solutions, producer of weight loss products. The story details Siskind's tabloid past and his attempt to start a pilot television series. The articles reveal that - even though some researchers have believed in the new product - there is no evidence that Body Solutions products have contributed to the weight loss of the successful dieters. "The true sales force behind Body Solutions is made up of the disk jockeys and talk-show hosts at more than 1,000 stations across the country," reports the Express News.
Tags: diets; eating disorders; anorexia; bulimia; health; overweight; Sunday Mirror; tabloids; advertisement; journalism; Texas D'Lites; donations; nutrition; science
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Stealth TV
Award-winning New York journalist Russ Baker examines the implications of television invasion into schools. The report focuses on the performance of "Channel One, a public-affairs TV broadcast available exclusively for school viewing." The story reveals that "for 10 years now, the folks behind Channel One have been able to offer advertisers a dream demographic: a captive audience of nearly half of all American teenagers." The author finds that "the ads on Channel One are grossly out of place in an academic environment," and that the program offers poor news content despite its "self proclaimed ... educational mission." The story reveals that "the key American institutions - governmental, educational - that might be expected to raise an alarm ... have mostly been looking the other way."
Tags: education; television; advertising business; teachers; students; GAO; Federal Trade Commission; children; spending patterns
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Primetime Pushers
A Mother Jones investigation looks at the implications of the aggressive advertising of prescription drugs. The report poses the question, "What does it mean for our health care when serious medicine is marketed like soap." The story reveals that "pharmaceutical companies spent $1.7 billion on TV advertising in 2000, 50 percent more than they spent in 1999." It finds that "direct-to-consumers advertising has paid off ... often turning solid earners into blockbuster drugs." The investigation also exposes major pharmaceutical companies that have failed to comply with the federal regulations on direct-to-consumer ads..
Tags: FDA; Viagra; Xenical; Celebrex; Pfizer; Prozac; Eli Lilly; broadcast advertisement; doctors; patients
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Gated vs. Non-Gated
A WBRZ-TV investigation compares the security of gated and non-gated apartment complexes. The analysis of crime statistics surprisingly finds "that in most areas non-gated apartments are safer," and that some criminals might be actually more attracted to gated communities. The story details how "many people pay the extra money each month for the added security of a gated apartment complex," although some of these widely advertised complexes "didn't even have a fence."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; police; theft; assault
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Big Dreams ... Shattered Dreams
"'Big Dreams, Inc.,' a Minneapolis travel agency, was selling trips to the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii as well as other winter getaways. The deals were widely advertised on Twin City radio stations. Thousands of people bought them. KMSP-TV discovered the company owner was running a business that thrived on unethical and illegal behavior. He committed mail fraud, wrote more than a million dollars in bad checks, was wanted in Las Vegas for running a similar travel scam there and left a trail of unpaid bills that totaled in the hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; con artist; crime; fraud