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 "watchdog journalism" ...
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Des Moines Register Reader's Watchdog
The Des Moines Register Reader's Watchdog column that takes on issues faced by individual Iowans who are at wits’ end and can't get answers from public officials, businesses and the justice system. Watchdog reporter Lee Rood's job is to give voice to readers who present important issues, to investigate all sides of those issues and to seek solutions that eluded others. This is a unique effort that both engages readers and values traditional watchdog reporting. At a time when journalists are seeking to remain relevant, build credibility and engage readers, she has launched this initiative that focuses not on the stories that she thinks are important, but on issues that are critical to our readers. In the past year, she wrote more than 60 columns, digging into watchdog issue brought to her by Iowans. Her work has put a new spotlight on wrongs that needed righting. Her work has led state lawmakers to propose legislation that requires Iowans to call 911 if they are present at the scene of an overdose. She has prodded the state attorney general's office to develop a plan to enforce laws that require companies to have worker's compensation insurance. She has fought through red tape for readers who didn't have someone in their corner to do so. Lee Rood's bold move to launch a new form of watchdog journalism for the Des Moines Register has made Iowans' lives better. Online, this body of work lives at DesMoinesRegister.com/ReadersWatchdog.
Tags: Public officials; businesses; justice system
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Dark Markets
The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of financial markets in 2012 performed a rare and extraordinary service: It exposed evidence of hidden manipulation by corporate executives and professional traders that the markets’ official government watchdogs were utterly unaware of. Reflecting potential widespread harm to millions of ordinary investors, federal prosecutors and securities regulators raced to follow the Journal stories with major investigations. A team of reporters spent six months creating a database examining how more than 20,000 corporate executives traded their own companies’ stocks over the course of eight years. What the team found was disturbing: More than 1,000 executives had generated big profits, or avoided big losses, by trading their company stock in the days ahead of corporate news announcements that led to big moves in the shares. The Journal also exposed a regulatory loophole that had helped the executives take advantage of inside knowledge ahead of other investors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office and the Securities and Exchange Commission all launched investigations the day the Journal article appeared.
Tags: Financial markets; corporate executives; stocks; Federal Bureau of Investigation
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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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The Dark Side of Whistleblowing
Whistleblower David Durand, celebrated as a hero, reaped $126 million from the feds for ratting on his company, TAP Pharmaceuticals, for billing fraud; then Durand's story fell apart. Reporter Weinberg counters the supposed journalistic tendency to "worship" whistleblowers by showing how federal law provides a profit motive for liars and disgruntled workers -- and even the government itself.
Tags: journalism ethics; business ethics; watchdog; anonymous sources; backgrounding; whistleblower
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Your Right to Know
A team of 52 Journal News reporters gathered evidence through a FOI audit of 121 agencies in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam. The audit revealed that school districts and counties generally received an A for their compliance of FOI law. But police departments failed miserably, with a mere 37 percent of them giving out arrest data. Worse, New York's toothless Sunshine Law stifled access to public information and provided little incentive for government agencies to comply.
Tags: FOIA audit; Freedom of Information Act; data negotiation; open records; state government; city government; watchdog journalism
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No title (id: 9237)
Akron Beacon Journal reveals that Medicaid, while reputed to be woefully inadequate in its payments, is a source of enormous profit for many physicians and nursing home owners; finds that state watchdog agencies ask few questions about the quality of service provided, nor do they ask how much profit is enough for health care that is heavily reliant on government subsidy, 1992.
Tags: OH Zajac
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Ohuio House GOP minority knuckles under; Fast track for horse racing in Ohio House; House GOP leader finagled big tax break
Akron Beacon Journal examines the close relationship between the state speaker of the house and house minority leader; finds that the minority leader has abandoned his watchdog post; also finds a tight relationship between a horse racing track, of which the minority leader is general manager, and the state legislature; legislation favorable to racing sailed through the legislature; three-part series.
Tags: OH; Vernal Riffe Jr.; Corwin Nixon
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No title (id: 2093)
Wall Street Journal article finds close ties between Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the commodities industry--which it is supposed to regulate--under the Reagan administration; supposed watchdog is more like a puppy, August 1984.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 708)
Atlanta Journal and Constitution runs series on independent telephone companies in Georgia that charge high rates for poor service and in turn use those funds for personal gain; series also examines improprieties on the part of watchdog agencies that conducted shoddy, incomplete audits of the firms, July 1980.
Tags: None