If you fill out the "Forgot Password" form but don't get an email to reset your password within 5-10 minutes, please email logistics@ire.org for assistance.
Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors (FIRE), a fiscally sponsored project of IRE, is pleased to announce the launch of FIRE Diversity Fellowships to promote investigative training for underrepresented reporters nationwide. Made possible with support from the Ford Foundation, the fellowships are available to journalists of color currently working as freelance investigative reporters, or planning to do so soon.
The FIRE Diversity Fellowship can be applied to IRE Watchdog Workshops and other IRE trainings in 2018. Watchdog Workshops cover a range of investigative topics, from use of public records, to interviewing and sourcing techniques.
The fellowship includes the following:
For information about the trainings, the fellowship application and due dates, visit this page.
Questions? Email application@firenewsroom.org, placing “FIRE Diversity Fellowship” in the subject line. For more information about the FIRE Diversity Fellowships, visit http://firenewsroom.org/program/diversity-fellowships.
Our student sponsorship program is back for 2018! Last year, members sponsored nearly 130 memberships and donated hundreds of dollars to our student fund.
For just $25, you shared the spirit of IRE – encouraging journalists to grow through training and mentorship.
We ask for your support again this year as we aim to introduce more students to IRE. Please consider sponsoring a $25 student membership on behalf of your alma mater, college media or for an intern at your news organization. You don't have to know a student – we can help with that.
You can also make a donation to our student fund, which will send an ethnically or racially diverse student to an IRE training.
Visit our sponsorship site for more details and spread the word using hashtag #SponsorIRE.
**February 12, 2020 update: Starting August 1, 2020, PacerMonitor will no longer offer free subscriptions to IRE members. Instead they will offer a 50% discount which, for IRE members, will be $24.50/mo for their Plus plan and $49.50/mo for their Professional plan. Members who currently have free subscriptions will find those subscriptions ending July 31. They have the option of converting to a discounted plan.Â
IRE is proud to announce its newest partnership: PacerMonitor. The agreement will provide IRE members free access to PacerMonitor’s advanced tools and extensive database of more than 3 million PACER documents.
PacerMonitor is a legal research tool created to help people follow federal court cases. Founded in 2011 by former corporate restructuring professional Joe Rosen, PacerMonitor has expanded from its initial focus on bankruptcy and now includes all federal courts, making it a useful tool for many reporters and editors.
The partnership provides IRE members a free one-year PacerMonitor Enterprise subscription, which includes full database access, advanced searching capabilities and the ability to set up alerts. IRE members just need their own PACER credentials to take advantage of this offer.
"We are truly excited for this partnership after hearing and seeing the success many of our reporter subscribers have found using our service," said PacerMonitor’s Christopher Mayfield.
"With the help of our alerting system, users have been able to break news and deliver excellent, in-depth pieces. We encourage any IRE members to reach out to us with questions to make sure you get the most out of our service."
Questions about PacerMonitor? Contact Christopher Mayfield at christopher@pacermonitor.com.
Want to request your free one-year Enterprise subscription? Current IRE members should email IRE’s membership coordinator Amy Johnston at amy@ire.org. If you have not already established your PACER credentials you will need to do that first by going to https://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/pscof/registration.jsf.
More IRE member benefits
Other IRE member benefits include free or discounted access to these premium reporting tools:
The suggestion box is open for IRE’s annual Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference, which heads to Newport Beach, California, next March. We’re also starting an email list so you can keep up with news about the conference.
Use this form to share ideas, suggestions and other comments to help us plan the best possible NICAR19 conference. No suggestion is too big or too small.
Here are a few ways you can use this form:
Have several ideas? Great! Fill out the form as many times as you’d like. And help us spread the word by sharing this form with friends and colleagues.
Keep in mind that IRE retains editorial control over the content of its conferences. If we use your idea, our team will take care of reaching out to speakers and finalizing details. Here are some other tips we put together to help you make the best pitch and understand our process.
Make sure to get your ideas in by Sept. 30. Please direct questions to conference@ire.org.
You can also sign up here for a special 2019 CAR Conference email list to receive details as we announce them. We'll let you know any time we make a major announcement, update you on the planning process and remind you of key dates/deadlines surrounding the conference.
More than 1.4 million people in the U.S. alone have fallen victim to a mail scam centered around a psychic named Maria Duval. Officials around the world have tried to shutter the multimillion-dollar scheme with little success. It was unclear if the scam’s namesake was even a real person. So, CNN investigative reporters Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken decided to follow the fraud back to its source and uncover its leaders. Their reporting took them through a maze of shell companies, to a Brazilian surfing school and even the South of France.
You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you.
Looking for links to the stories and resources we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you.
The Records (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Our Digital Compass (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Slow Line Stomp (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Sunday Lights (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Parisol (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Stately Shadows (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
The Confrontation (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Julie Christie reported this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. Blake Nelson draws our episode art. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
Thanks to the generosity of many, IRE is fortunate to have funding available to provide fellowships to its training events. These fellowships provide financial assistance to attend IRE boot camps. This month, IRE awarded six fellowships for the August 2018 CAR Boot Camp.
Ana Ley from The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia), Sarah Rafique from KXAN-TV (Austin, Texas) and Francesca Fionda from The Discourse received Ottaway Fellowships.
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund, the Fellowship is aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE's membership.
Valerie Gonzalez from KRGV-TV (Weslaco, Texas), Cathy Tatom from KPRC-TV (Houston, Texas) and Jill Burke from KTUU-TV (Anchorage, Alaska) received Knight TV Data Fellowships.
Funded by the Knight Foundation, the Knight TV Data Fellowships were created to build a network of local television journalists committed to producing watchdog journalism. The funding to IRE includes not only fellowships for IRE training, but also support for IRE TV Watchdog Workshops and creation of a new digital TV Watchdog Network.
**UPDATE (July 18, 2018)**
IRE is grateful for the overwhelming response. We received more than 370 offers to help the Capital Gazette put out its paper. At this point, the Baltimore Sun, which is coordinating the efforts, said that because of your generosity, they now have "more offers than we could possibly use." However, if you’d still like to help, you can go to this page and contribute to a fund for families and/or for memorial scholarships.
Again, on behalf of the IRE board, a heartfelt thank you. You make us proud to be journalists.
— Cheryl W. Thompson
President, IRE Board of Directors
The Capital Gazette staff needs our help. In the wake of the June 28 shooting, they need journalists to help publish the daily paper.
They are looking for reporters and editors who can commit two to five consecutive days in July, August and/or September. While all help is appreciated, journalists will need to be on-site at the Baltimore Sun office. The Sun wishes to clarify that visiting journalists are being paid.
If you wish to help, please complete this form by Tuesday, July 24. The list will be submitted to The Baltimore Sun, which is coordinating the assistance. The Sun will be contacting journalists with additional details.
If you would like to help the families of the shooting victims and/or support memorial scholarships in their honor, please visit this page for more information.
If you have questions, contact IRE’s Director of Partnerships Chris Vachon at chris@ire.org.
IRE is bringing its acclaimed data and coding boot camps to three cities this fall and offering scholarships to each camp. These boot camps are sponsored in part by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.
The camps will include instruction in data analysis and cleaning using Excel, SQL, Python and — for the first time — R.
Demand for in-depth, hands-on data training has continued to grow in the last several years, and the three annual Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR) boot camps that IRE hosts at its headquarters at the University of Missouri School of Journalism have been at or near capacity. After also seeing record attendance at the CAR Conference this year, IRE decided to bring more data training to its members.
"A data or coding boot camp will change a journalist’s life," IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. "This immersive hands-on training will equip journalists with skills to wrangle data, find hidden watchdog stories and explore new ways of storytelling online."
Each camp also will have 10 tuition waivers available through a competitive application process, thanks to support from the Park Foundation and donations from IRE members at the annual CAR Conference last March in Chicago. The scholarships will pay the full tuition fee and do not cover travel or lodging.
Here are details on each camp:
IRE will also host its annual fall CAR boot camp on the University of Missouri campus on Aug. 5.
IRE also plans to host some on-the-road boot camps in Spring 2019. If your organization can provide space in a computer lab and would like to host a camp, please contact Senior Training Director Denise Malan at denise@ire.org.
IRE is poised to begin its new fiscal year July 1 in a position of strength in terms of membership, finances and expanded training offerings.
"Through the tireless efforts of our IRE staff and leadership from our board of directors, IRE continues to evolve to meet changing needs of our members across the country and around the world," IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said.
Haddix and then-board president Matt Goldberg presented "The State of IRE" during the annual membership meeting, held during the national IRE Conference in Orlando. Slides from the report are posted here.
Highlights include:
By Julie Christie, IRE & NICAR
The newly elected IRE Board of Directors named Cheryl W. Thompson president last week during the organization’s annual conference in Orlando. She makes history as IRE’s first African-American board president.
Thompson first joined the board in 2015 and became vice president in 2017.
She teaches investigative journalism at The George Washington University and writes investigative stories for The Washington Post.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Christie: Tell us a bit about your history with IRE.
Thompson: I attended my first IRE conference in 1996 in Providence, Rhode Island. I was on a panel to talk about an investigation I had done into irregularities of a heart transplant program at the University of Kansas Medical Center. It was there that I knew I really wanted to be a part of this organization. I saw how organized it was. I saw the skills that it offered and I thought, "You know, I need to be part of this."
It was also in Providence that I met a recruiter from The Washington Post who attended my panel and asked me for my resume. I started at the Post the following January. So my point is, those connections are invaluable, but it helps when you belong to organizations like IRE. You just never know who you're going to meet.
It took me 19 years to decide to run for the IRE board. I just wanted to make sure when I ran for the board in 2015 that I had the time to devote to the organization. I don't believe in joining organizations if I can't give my all. So that's why it took so long, and then I knew enough about the organization where I really could contribute and bring something to the table.
What are you most excited about for your new role?
I'm excited that I get to continue working with the amazing folks on the board. Everyone is really dedicated to ensuring that IRE continues to thrive. I'm also excited to collaborate and share ideas that hopefully will move the organization forward. Investigative journalism is needed now more than ever in this country and also around the world.
Diversity in journalism is a huge conversation right now, especially at IRE. What does it mean for you to be the first black Board president?
I'm honored to lead this 5,700-member organization that I've been a part of for so long. I actually never thought that when I joined IRE, I would one day be its president. You know, I don't think like that. I just tried to work hard for the organization and pitch in where I saw need, like becoming a mentor to other young black journalists who want to do watchdog journalism. Being a woman of color who just happens to be board president allows me the opportunity to show everyone that IRE is about inclusivity. Our organization should reflect the tapestry of this country, which is not just black and white.
There are 13 faces on this board and none of us can succeed without the other members, so we’re a team. There are not a lot of women of color in investigative journalism in print, but the numbers are growing and that's a good thing. So, I think having myself and others out there representing IRE could help continue to grow the numbers.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the organization?
While the organization is in good financial health, there's always a need for more funding. And the rapidly changing landscape of newsrooms as they cut back and reorganize is bound to have membership consequences for groups like IRE. But we will continue to look for ways to help fill the gaps created by staff cuts.
Looking ahead, what are your goals as board president?
When I first ran for the board in 2015, my platform was to increase diversity and boost student membership. I've worked diligently to help make that happen by ensuring that we have a diverse pool of speakers for conferences, and that we get students more involved.
Since I started teaching investigative journalism at George Washington University, more than 100 students have joined IRE. They love the resources IRE offers. I’m also a huge supporter of IRE's mentoring program and I want that to grow. We had about 175 mentors and mentees at this year's conference.
I'd also like to work closer with the international community. IRE collaborates with international partners and it would be terrific to do cross-border collaboration, but we need to find funding to do more training and collaboration in places like Africa. African journalists do amazing, sometimes dangerous work as investigative journalists, so it would be great to do more training and collaboration. I'm also proud to say that we had more than 100 international journalists from 20 countries at this year's conference in Orlando, and that included nearly two dozen from South Korea. So involving international journalists also builds our diversity.
Tell us a little bit about your current roles at The Washington Post and George Washington.
I like to say that I have the best of both worlds, at least that's what my editor told me when I was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm teaching the next generation of journalists, and it’s fantastic to be able to hopefully mold and shape them because they're going to to take over and this is going to be their world and they need to have the skills and tools to get out there and really do good journalism. So I'm happy to be able to do that, but I also still get to write investigative stories for The Washington Post. Journalism is my passion. It always has been and it always will be.
Looks like you haven't made a choice yet.
