Learning about sources of political spending can be “like unpacking a Russian nesting doll,” says Michael Beckel, a politics reporter for the Center for Public Integrity.

Using tax filings as his primary source, Beckel investigated the third most politically-active nonprofit in 2012 as part of the Center for Public Integrity’s Consider the Source project.

 “In all, we examined records from the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Election Commission, Federal Communications Commission, the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office and the California Secretary of State’s office,”  Beckel said. The tax documents contained information the FEC filings didn’t have ...

Jack Gillum of The Associated Press recently published a story showing that vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan has relied on many of the programs he's criticized and suggested cutting. The report wouldn't have been possible without tools like DocumentCloud and Overview, Gillum said in a post on the Overview project's website. DocumentCloud enabled Gillum to analyze, annotate and publish large volumes of documents. Overview allowed him to sort the documents into topics and visualize their contents.

In all, there more were that 9,000 pages of material to review.  Using Document Cloud in concert with Overview helped Gillum ...

In the wake of Sandy's destruction, countless efforts will be made to help victims. Already, ABC/Disney has designated a "Day of giving," the National Football League and it's players association has pledged $1 million to the Red Cross and iTunes is directly accepting donations.

Countless calls will be made for the public to donate to charities large and small. Reporters can investigate charities to analyze their past performance. They can also arm the public with knowledge by instructing them in ways they can check out who they are donating money to before it leaves their pockets.

These ...

Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog reports that the State of New Jersey is suing itself over a possible release of records to the website.

Lagerkvist reports that on Oct. 15, the state attorney general filed a motion seeking to stop the state Government Records Council from reviewing files, which on Aug. 31 had ordered state pension officials to turn over 26 records for inspection, to determine if any of those records should be released to New Jersey Watchdog.

The records relate to an alleged $245,000 pension scheme involving Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, which New Jersey watchdog first reported ...

San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal is home to a rare deep water port that’s valuable to the maritime industry, but for the last ten years, developers have argued that the area should be transformed into an entertainment district.  When two businessmen responsible for running the U-T San Diego began promoting the stadium, Brooke Williams of iNewSource.org along with reporters from KPBS San Diego decided to investigate.  Their series “Port Authority:  What’s a Port Worth, Anyway?” compiles reporting, documents, interactive pieces, and video to show the plans and potential effects the changes would have on San ...

On Thursday, The Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer in Raleigh won bronze in the Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, for their series "Prognosis: Profits," in which the reporters dissected the finances of large healthcare institutions and discovered inflated prices, lawsuits against thousands of needy patients and minimal charity care to the poor and uninsured -- all practiced contradicting the core missions of the hospitals.

• The Charlotte Observer's stories: www.charlotteobserver.com/hospitals
• The News & Observer's stories: www.newsobserver.com/prognosisprofits

Ames Alexander and Karen Garloch ...

The University of New Orleans announced Thursday revised plans for a multimedia news collaboration between NPR affiliate WWNO-FM and the independent nonprofit news site, The Lens.

The partnership moves WWNO away from the creation of its new platform, neworleansreporter.org. The university-operated WWNO will instead produce content under the existing brand of The Lens. 

“In this way, we will be able to achieve the original scope, staffing and reporting goals of NewOrleansReporter.org while reducing duplication and building on established infrastructure,” WWNO General Manager Paul Maassen said in the announcement.

The Lens announced that it plans to "build out a ...

Covering religious organizations can be difficult, because it can be tough to get public documents. Kansas City Star reporter Judy Thomas, spoke at an IRE training session for McClatchy journalists and offers the following tips:

• Get to know your subjects inside out. Subscribe to newsletters, magazines and other publications of the organizations you cover. Get a flow chart of the organization, learn the chain of command, become familiar with the acronyms.


• While churches typically don't have to file IRS 990 forms, it's worth checking because some do so voluntarily. (www.guidestar.org is a good place to check ...

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 ...