Time is running out for your chance to get free investigative training for your newsroom. The deadline to apply for Total Newsroom Training from IRE is by the end of the day on Friday, Feb. 22. 

TNT is meant to reach organizations that are hungry for customized investigative training but can't afford it. Training is tailored to the needs of your newsroom and is designed to increase your ability to provide watchdog and enterprise coverage for your community and to produce work that can lead to changes and improvements in those communities.

Custom sessions can include hands-on training using ...

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IRE is launching a new program and is looking for news organizations dedicated to doing watchdog work. This is your newsroom’s opportunity to have intense, in-house investigative training -- for free. If your organization is hungry for customized investigative training and can't afford it, apply today. Spots are limited.

Total Newsroom Training from IRE is designed to increase the ability of news organizations to provide watchdog and enterprise coverage for their communities and to produce work that can lead to change and improvements in those communities.

The program is meant to help small to medium-size news organizations, and IRE ...

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By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

A public records request for e-mails sometimes can produce quick-turn watchdog stories with powerful results. Take the experience of John Russell, a business reporter for The Indianapolis Star. Russell sharpened his investigative skills during a two-day IRE watchdog boot camp in Nashville for Gannett employees. The training was one of three IRE boot camps for employees of the newspaper chain.

Russell put his training to use covering an ethics scandal over the revolving door between Duke Energy Indiana and state regulators. After the governor fired the chairman of the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission, Russell ...

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By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

Attorney Herschel Fink brandished a copy of a $400,000 check from the city of Detroit – payable to the Detroit Free Press for legal fees in a public records battle involving former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. While large, the payment didn’t cover the newspaper’s full costs in its aggressive investigation, which led to the mayor’s resignation and 99 days in a county jail for obstructing justice and assaulting a deputy.

Still, the room of more than 60 Gannett reporters and editors burst into sustained applause. They had gathered earlier this week for ...

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By Doug Haddix, IRE training director

Every trainer will tell you that one of the joys of the job is learning from people you’re training. During recent custom training for The Associated Press in San Francisco, the group was talking about ways to avoid high copying fees for paper documents. After I suggested using a portable scanner, camera or cell-phone camera, AP staffer Marcus Wohlsen shared a tip.

Turns out a relatively new app for the iPhone can help. It’s called JotNot ($4.99 from the iTunes store). A similar product, DocScanner ($5.99 from the iTunes ...

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In a short video, Minnesota journalists describe what they learned during three days of custom IRE training in December. Topics include Twitter, searching the "Deep Web" and using IRS 990 forms to probe nonprofit organizations. Check out the video on the IRE On the Road blog. Nearly 60 reporters, editors and publishers from small newspapers in southern Minnesota participated. The specialized IRE training was sponsored by Huckle and Mainstream newspapers.

By Doug Haddix

IRE training director

 

Nearly 60 reporters, editors and publishers from small newspapers in southern Minnesota took part in three days of IRE custom training in December. The specialized IRE training was sponsored by Huckle and Mainstream newspapers. Several reporters and editors shared what they learned in a short video. It touches on topics such as Internal Revenue Service filings for nonprofits, the "deep Web" and Twitter.

Building on IRE custom training, reporter Craig Smith of the Santa Fe New Mexican produced a two-part look at the financial challenges of arts organizations. The first installment gave an overview of the financial picture, while the second story examined salaries and funding for arts organizations. The second piece included a full listing of more than 100 top salaries at organizations such as the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Santa Fe Opera.

Smith relied heavily on IRS 990 tax returns, available for free at Guidestar.org.

“The February IRE training was useful to me in preparing this in that ...

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A tsunami map file came in handy recently during custom training at the Student Media Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The mapping file shows the value of looking into local geographic data, even if you don’t know how to use mapping software.

More and more local, regional and state governments are posting mapping files on their Web sites – including Santa Barbara county government. Every smart map has an underlying data table. So, even if you don’t use mapping software, exploring a government or university mapping site can lead you to data sets that you ...

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When asked why, during a slowing economy and troubled time for newspapers, Rob Dean decided to provide customized IRE training for his staff and other journalists from across New Mexico and Colorado, the managing editor of The Santa Fe New Mexican said he wanted to inspire young journalists to embrace and pursue their craft. See our slideshow above for more from Dean, along with some photos from the customized training, which occurred Feb. 5-7.