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 "lawsuits" ...
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Policing the police: Uncovering law enforcement
Get tips on how to ask questions about informants, search warrants and seizures, disciplinary actions, and lawsuits so that you can police the police in your community.
Tags: cops; law enforcement corruption; search warrants; informants
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Covering a corrupt state agency
Trying to expose a corrupt state agency can be tricky, especially if the agency is secretive and exempt from FOIA laws. Bombardieri provides several tips and tricks to getting inside information from a seemingly impossible source.
Tags: campaign finance; lawsuits; state payroll
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Government Waste Initiative
McIntosh addresses the collaborative efforts of the Journal-Constitution, WBS-TV and WBS Radio to cover "questionable government spending, inefficiency and waste." She outlines the documents and public records a reporter should mine when covering the topic of government waste. She also outlines some reporting routines that our beneficial when covering government.
Tags: government waste; public records; budgets; audits; bond issues; expense reports; expense records; lawsuits; salary records; RFPs; RFQs
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Investigative Business Reporting
This tipsheet lists 22 websites helpful for business reporting.
Tags: business reporting; web sites; federal lawsuits; nonprofit; locating people; Congressional Research; politics; backgrounding; Freedom of Information
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Negotiating for Data
Gillum discusses the entire data negotiation process. The tipsheet begins with sources to find data. Gillum then moves on to reason why requests are often refused, and how reporters can challenge those refusals. Finally, Gillum suggests some alternate ways of acquiring data, such as filing a lawsuit or reporting on an agency's lack of compliance with FOIA rules.
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Open Records: So You've Been Turned Down! Now What?
Parsons discusses the steps to take after an open records request has been denied. He includes suggestions that range from re-phrasing the requests to filing a lawsuit.
Tags: open records; data negotiation; FOIA; sunshine laws
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The Health Beat: Drugs and Doctors
McKie offers fifteen tips for beginning an investigation into the Canadian health care system. His tips include "scour discussion groups to find out what people are talking about" and "pay attention to lawsuits."
Tags: health; doctors; sources; story ideas
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Investigating Medical Malpractice
This tipsheet lists website that can help reporters get information about doctors and their histories of medical malpractice claims. The list includes the Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Practitioners Databank. All together there are seven websites listed.
Tags: hospitals; doctors; medicine; lawsuits; court; American Medical Association
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Unearthing Documents, Sourcing and Legal Considerations
The title of this tipsheet pretty much says it all; the tipsheet lists various sources (paper, human, etc) and then gives specific advice about how to get as much from the source as possible. Some sources listed include: public records, lawsuits, criminal litigation, Secretary of State, CEOs and interviews.
Tags: sourcing; interviews; sources; FOI; paper documents; legal advice; internet sources
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Backgrounding the Individual On Deadline
Don Ray offers tips on what not to overlook when backgrounding a person. There is a long list of public records that are available at city hall or the county clerk, including deeds, building permits, birth, marriage and death certificates. Professional licenses, degrees, and awards are available, including verification of graduation and even copies of dissertations or theses. Lawsuits, criminal activity, campaign contributions - Ray suggests a mountain of information that you can check out.