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 "state agencies" ...
-
Mining for Gold in County and State Government
Shipp provides useful tips for mining through your county and state government agencies, including how to deal with employees who aren't familiar dealing with reporters and what to know before you even talk to them.
Tags: mining; local; county; state; government agency
-
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
-
Resources for the Education Beat
This tipsheet is simply a list of 32 resources for covering schools - agencies and their websites. (Five of them are specific to the state of Michigan.)
Tags: education; schools; Department of Education; Education statistics; ERIC; private schools; charter schools; stimulus; health and human services; Education Writers Association (EWA)
-
Public Information 101: How to obtain public records to hold government accountable
A short tipsheet on the Freedom of Information Act as it applies to federal agencies. Hall also includes details about the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and 10 survival tips for journalists.
Tags: FOIA; Illinois; watchdog; government; state government; federal government; agencies
-
Investigating Public Health Agencies & Programs
The author discusses how to investigate public health agencies. She includes advice for reporting in crisis situations, as well as story ideas for enterprise pieces about the agencies. The tipsheet includes sources for covering notifiable diseases in your area, bioterrorism funds, lab safety, and lab animal welfare.
Tags: public health; local government; state government; CDC; MMWR; story ideas; beat reporting
-
Higher Education: Following the Money
Parsons discusses some typical higher education stories and explains his investigation into the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
Tags: education; universities; college; PHEAA; state government
-
Using data to investigate abusive teachers
Davis and Doig explain how to investigate abusive teachers. Included are tips as to where to look for complaints against teachers, such as the state Department of Education or the agency in charge of your state's teacher certification. The tipsheet suggests what trends to look for in the data, and what pitfalls to anticipate
Tags: Department of Education; abuse; complaints; teachers; faculty; education; discipline
-
Using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act
A successful FOIA request takes knowledge, planning, persistence and toughness. Loury offers tips about preparing the request, submitting the request, and negotiating with the agency over information. He also includes several examples of FOIA requests that he has submitted.
Tags: Freedom of Information; Sunshine Law; state government; public records; open records
-
Policing the Police
Goldman explains how law enforcement officers are regulated by an agency typically called peace officer standards and training boards, or POSTs. This agency licenses law enforcement professionals and can revoke their licenses when necessary. He provides other standards, laws and grounds for revocation, suggests topics for journalists to consider when reporting on the subject, and also gives examples of some great news stories that have addressed the performance of the state POSTs agencies.
Tags: law enforcement; POSTs; peace officer standards and training boards; corrections officers; certification of law enforcement