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 "federal spending" ...
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Analysis Tools at FollowTheMoney.org
Roth Barber highlights the many great tools at FollowTheMoney.org in this tipsheet. There's everything from an independent spending database to "A unique view of the top 10,000 donors to political campaigns at both the state and federal level—information that exists nowhere else."
Tags: campaign spending; donors; tracking the money; L-CAT; contributors
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Broadcast: After Breaking News, What's Next?
This tipsheet is comprised of many useful web links covering topics of aviation accidents, automobiles and trucks, political campaign data, federal spending, U.S. court system, crime, business records, weather and more.
Tags: aviation; transportation; accidents; weather; government; federal spending; courts; crime
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Useful Websites for data and quick lookup
A comprehensive list of links for accessing data and information online for topics such as: aviation accidents; automobiles/trucks; political campaign data; federal spending; U.S. court system; crime/inmates; business records and nonprofits; weather; general useful tools online.
Tags: aviation accidents; automobiles/trucks; political campaign data; federal spending; U.S. court system; crime/inmates; business records and nonprofits; weather
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Following the Stimulus Money
Poston and Grabell give links to and information on several sites that can assist you in reporting on and tracking stimulus funds
Tags: Recovery act; stimulus; government spending; federal procurement data; transportation; infrastructure
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Data on Deadline
This tipsheet lists helpful websites to use when you need to access data on deadline. Suggested data links include the American Community Survey to campaign finance data to tracking airplane tail numbers.
Tags: data; quick hit; deadline; census; campaign finance; aviation; transportation; economics; FAA; NHTSA; automobile; consumer safety; politics; courts; federal spending; databases; reporting
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Stimulus Webinar
Cohen dissects the stimulus explaining some of the basics, and describing the best way to report on it. Cohen includes a list of possible story ideas using stimulus data.
Tags: stimulus; economic recovery; The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RAT); Office of Management and Budget; OMB; federal spending; recovery.gov; USASpending.gov; contracts: FPDS;
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CAR for Money and Politics
The authors list and describe sources for data to use in stories about money and politics. Some of the sources are place to find concrete records, such as the Federal Election Commission and the IRS. Other sources include organizations that have already compiled the records into searchable databases, like the Center for Public Integrity and OMB watch.
Tags: lobbyists; campaign contributions; politics; government documents; government contracts; government spending; sources; internet research
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Data Before and After a Disaster
Heath lists and describes different federal programs that provide financial assistance after a natural disaster. He discusses where to get records of each program's spending, and how to best incorporate that information into a CAR story. Heath also describes the programs used by federal agencies to run simulations and assess potential damage; most of those programs are available for free and could be useful for reporters covering a recent disaster.
Tags: natural disaster; FEMA; forest service; demographics; geophysical data; SBA loans; flood insurance; housing assistance
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Following the Money: Federal Spending
Moulton explains the process of examining federal spending, beginning with the Federal Procurement Data System and continuing to federal assistance such as loans, grants, direct payments, insurance, etc. The tipsheet also includes questions that should be asked when examining federal money, including queries regarding amounts being spent and what the money is being spent on. The tipsheet also features pages from the Web site fedspending.org.
Tags: federal spending; loans; grants; direct payments; insurance; fedspending.org
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Military Data: Contracts Casualties
This tipsheet is a good guide to investigating the military. Fabey discusses how to take advantage of the military's love of records and find the good investigative stories buried in the databases. He discusses which data analysis programs to use, as well as how to spot the discrepancies that could lead to a story. One very helpful think Fabey does is explain why some things, like sudden increases in the cost of ships, may seems indicative of a good story but are really quite routine for the military.
Tags: war reporting; military; federal government; contracts; federal spending; army