The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets 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. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "bridges" ...
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Campaign finance the data science way
The Center for Investigative Reporting and IRE teamed up with the San Francisco data science company Kaggle to help bridge the gap in journalism between hacking, math and substantive expertise. They challenged data scientists to approach a database journalists have looked at a million times over: federal campaign contributions. We'll introduce you to the winner of the competition and discuss the tools the data scientists used and their results.
Tags: hacking; math; data; campaign contributions; campaign finance
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Data State Of Mind
What is a data state of mind? Approaching story ideas with the mindset that you are going to quantify or measure something, rather than just getting the facts and all sides of the story. Learn more with this tip sheet.
Tags: data state of mind; facts; story; safety; bridge collapse
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10 stories for most anywhere
Herzog provides a list of stories that can be done in almost any community and the data you can use to complete them: overtime for public workers; underground fuel tank issues; emergency service response time; parking tickets; problems with voter rolls; daycare inspections; stimulus spending on bridges; speeding tickets; minority home-loan gap; gas pump accuracy
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Understanding Stimulus Data
LaFleur discusses the use of stimulus data, and how it impacts "nearly every beat" such as housing, transportation, community programs, unemployment and technology. She outlines how to get started with the data, and useful federal sites to reference in your coverage. She explains how to sort through the data and see the role it is playing locally.
Tags: stimulus; recovery; economics; bridges; dams; infrastructure; community programs;
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Infastructure CAR
The authors list and explain sources for infrastructure data, such as the National Bridge Inventory, Consolidated Federal Funds Reports, and the Highway Safety Information System. For each source, the authors describe what sort of data is available and how it can be used for CAR stories. The authors also list additional resources and other tipsheets on the same topic.
Tags: dams; bridges; highway; federal government; online resources; public data; story ideas
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Broadcast and CAR: Quick Hits and Visuals
Thompson lists databases to use when breaking news happens. She includes sources for data about airplane crashes, hazardous materials, boating accidents, bridges and campus crime.
Tags: NICAR; databases; breaking news
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No-Hassle Database Publishing
A guide on using Caspio Bridge.
Tags: database; rapid; online; technology; research information
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Navigating Transportation Data: Covering Accidents and Infrastructure
The authors list both sources and story ideas related to transportation. They include sources for stories about vehicle accidents, transportation infrastructure, and public transit. The authors also discuss some recent stories on this topic and include tips and advice for reporters pursuing similar investigations. Finally, they list some IRE resources about transportation.
Tags: automobiles; cars; highways; railways; transit authority; bridges; public records; traffic accidents
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Managing the CAR Story
This tipsheet offers a lot of good advice for editors trying to manage CAR stories. Nostrand focuses on communication, building trust and continuing CAR education to bridge the gap between CAR reporters and the rest of the newsroom.
Tags: newsroom management; editing; editors; computer-assisted reporting; training
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Tearing Up the Highways
This tipsheet is a great guide to investigating local highways and bridges. The authors offer some ideas to start the investigation - like reading through daily construction logs and going to board meetings. The second half of the tipsheet is devoted to investigating bridges. The authors give advice about what phrases to look for and which documents and databases are especially helpful.
Tags: safety; transportation; traffic; construction; accidents; inspections; roads