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.
We’ll be raising money at the 2018 IRE Conference in Orlando to support diversity scholarships. All donations made during the conference — on-site or online —will go toward this important cause and help send journalists of color to the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
We asked previous diversity fellowship recipients to share how the award made a difference in their careers. Here’s what Ralph Chapoco of the Washington County Daily News told us:
It was toward the end of the fall in 2016, fearing I had mistakenly chosen the wrong profession, that I began to wonder what my next career choice would be. Would I remain in the field that I had come to admire and adore, or would I return to my prior job, that of a scientist?
Journalism amounted to a career transition for me. I started as a scientist, transferred to marketing before finding my calling as a journalist. It has been three years since I made the switch. I have lived throughout the Midwest and written about a range of issues, from education to taxation.
Each transition represented an evolution for my skills and experiences, but after one year working at the Washington County Daily News (West Bend, Wisconsin) I felt I had begun to stagnate.
It was then that I reached out to veterans of the trade to solicit some advice. They told me about Investigative Reporters and Editors, the mission of the organization, programs available for journalists to deepen their understanding of the profession — and a conference where journalists from every part of the country and from every corner of the profession attend.
My life changed when I learned I would be one of the award recipients — the resources of a small-town publication are limited, and the only chance to attend was with a scholarship.
During the four days at the conference, I had the chance to learn from those at the top of their profession, from people I hoped to one day become. One of my most memorable moments was listening to a lecture about proper interview techniques. In that session, I learned the nuances of asking the necessary questions to obtain the most important answers.
I was taught how to identify the type of information a source could offer, and how to elicit that material from asking insightful questions. I understood how to present myself and how to establish a strategy for interviewing difficult officials.
All those resources pale in comparison to the data sessions I attended. With the assistance of IRE staff, I learned how to manipulate spreadsheets and analyze data, offering me greater insights into potential story ideas.
Of all my experiences in Arizona, I believe meeting my mentor was the most significant. The conference afforded me a person I could speak with about issues I deal with daily, receive guidance for addressing difficult concerns and someone I could rely on for motivation.
Miss the 2018 IRE Conference showcase panel "Doubling down on investigative reporting" with Dean Baquet, Marty Baron and Cynthia McFadden? We've posted audio.
In an epic newspaper competition, The New York Times and The Washington Post both have invested significant resources in watchdog journalism in recent years. Both have broken major stories on the Trump administration, sexual harassment and other issues on the national agenda. At the same time, both newspapers have reached record readership levels. Get an inside perspective from Dean Baquet, executive editor of the Times, and Marty Baron, executive editor of the Post. The lively, insightful conversation will be moderated by Cynthia McFadden, senior investigative and legal correspondent for NBC News.
Investigative Reporters and Editors has named the City of Atlanta as the winner of its annual Golden Padlock Award recognizing the most secretive U.S. agency or individual.
Atlanta was selected for this honor for directing city staff to block records requests and for releasing false invoices that triggered a criminal investigation into alleged violations of Georgia’s Open Records Act. In response to a potentially embarrassing records request from Channel 2 News, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s press secretary sent text messages to city staff advising they respond by being, "as unhelpful as possible…Drag this out as long as possible…And provide information in the most confusing format available."
In a separate case, a city attorney provided legal invoices totaling $1.4 million in response to an Atlanta Journal Constitution request. But there was a problem: The invoices weren’t real. City officials buried the real ones and created new documents made to look like invoices for release to reporters without disclosing the sleight of hand, the newspaper found.
In March, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal investigation into alleged violations of the state’s open records act. Then, in April, the two Atlanta news outlets filed a complaint with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr alleging “a culture of political interference” with open records requests at Atlanta City Hall, outlining 10 examples of alleged violations of the law and “a pervasive culture of noncompliance.
"The City of Atlanta has become the Golden Padlock Award’s first ever repeat nominee, adding to the remarkable achievement of its victory this year in the name of government secrecy excellence," said Golden Padlock committee chair Robert Cribb. "The city’s bold methods of stopping public interest information from reaching the public makes it richly deserving of this honor."
IRE invited city officials to attend the 2018 IRE Conference and receive the honor. No response was received.
"Some day, we hope, there will be no need for a Golden Padlock Award," IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. "Until then, we will keep shining a light on the most egregious abuses of the public trust."
To learn about the 2019 finalists, click here.
FINALISTS
IRE members returned three incumbents and elected four new members to the organization’s board Saturday.
Incumbents Jill Riepenhoff (Raycom Media), Nicole Vap (KUSA/9NEWS Denver) and Lee Zurik (WVUE-New Orleans) will be joined on the board by Matt Dempsey (Houston Chronicle), Jennifer LaFleur (Investigative Reporting Workshop/American University), Norberto Santana (Voice of OC) and Jodi Upton (Syracuse University).
Other candidates for the board were Emily Le Coz (GateHouse Media), Phil Williams (WTVF-Nashville) and Chrys Wu (Matchstrike LLC).
Board members serve two-year terms, with seven seats up for election during even-numbered years and six seats up for election in odd-numbered years.
After the election, the newly configured board selected members of the Executive Committee for the coming year: Cheryl W. Thompson, president; Lee Zurik, vice president; T. Christian Miller, treasurer; Jill Riepenhoff, secretary; and Nicole Vap, at-large member. Matt Goldberg, the immediate past board president, will serve in an advisory role on the Executive Committee.
The membership also elected two members to the Contest Committee: Jonah Newman (Chicago Reporter) and Jim Polk (retired journalist).
We’ll be raising money at the 2018 IRE Conference in Orlando to support diversity scholarships. All donations made during the conference — on-site or online — will go toward this important cause and help send journalists of color to the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
We asked previous diversity fellowship recipients to share how the award made a difference in their careers. Here’s what Sarah Rafique of KXAN-TV told us:
I wanted to go to the IRE Conference for years, but as a first-generation American and woman of color, it is sometimes hard to justify spending money to invest in yourself and your career. Receiving the Philip L. Graham Diversity Fellowship to attend the conference last year gave me the same opportunities to grow and connect with fellow journalists and truth mongers. The skills and tips I learned throughout the conference contributed to successful reporting over the last year and allowed me to make a positive impact on my community.
Two Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters who served on the IRE Board of Directors have been honored with Founders Awards: Jim Polk and the late Mike McGraw.
In addition, the IRE board also has presented Service Awards to outgoing board members Sarah Cohen, Andrew Donohue and Ellen Gabler.
"The impact these five individuals have had on IRE is profound," said Matt Goldberg, IRE board president. "We honor them for all the hard work, dedication and service they have given to our members."
In 2013, the IRE board created the Founders Award to recognize lifetime achievement, both for work in journalism and impact on IRE.
Polk is now retired after working more than 20 years for CNN as an investigative and documentary producer. Previously, he worked for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., the Washington Star-News and NBC News for two decades as a national correspondent. He earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for national reporting on the Watergate scandal. For his TV work, he has won a national News Emmy, as well as DuPont and Peabody awards.
Polk was elected to the IRE board during its first national conference in 1976. He served as IRE board president in 1978-80 and helped run five of IRE’s early national conferences. In recent years, he has served as an IRE Awards judge.
"Jim Polk has been an inspiration to countless IRE members," Goldberg said. "He has helped mentor so many journalists and truly serves as an ambassador for IRE in the journalism community."
McGraw, who died in January, had retired from the Kansas City Star in 2014 as an investigative reporter. Previously, he had worked for The Des Moines Register and The Hartford Courant. After retiring from the Star, he joined KCPT as a projects reporter and covered agriculture for NPR and KCUR’s Harvest Public Media. He and reporter Jeff Taylor shared the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for a seven-part investigation of the U.S. Agriculture Department.
McGraw served on the IRE board from 1994-2000. In addition, he contributed to the IRE Reporter’s Handbook, mentored countless journalists, and taught investigative reporting at the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas and as a Ferris professor in residence at Princeton University.
"For three decades, Mike McGraw inspired, encouraged and guided IRE members to do top-notch reporting. His legacy as investigative reporter and impact on our membership is unmatched," Goldberg said.
The three recipients of the IRE Service Award served a collective 22 years on the IRE board.
"The hard work and dedication by these three board members is evident by the strength and growth they brought to the organization," Goldberg said.
Cohen was first elected to the board in 2010 and served as its president from 2014-16. She works as Knight Chair for Data Journalism at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Previously, she worked as the editor for computer-assisted reporting at The New York Times and as the Knight Chair in computational journalism at Duke University. Cohen has also worked as a database editor for The Washington Post and as a reporter at newspapers in Florida. She has shared in the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, an IRE medal and the Goldsmith Prize.
Gabler, the outgoing board secretary, has served on the IRE board since 2012. She works as an investigative reporter at The New York Times. Previously, she worked at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She received the 2013 Livingston Award for Young Journalists in National Reporting and in 2016 was a Gerald Loeb and IRE finalist, and winner of the Pulliam First Amendment Award. Her team's work in 2014 was honored with the Selden Ring, Loeb, and Scripps Howard Award for Investigative Reporting, as well as several other national honors.
Donohue, the outgoing board treasurer, has served on the IRE board since 2010. He works as the managing editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Previously, he helped build and lead Voice of San Diego, a leading local investigative startup. Donohue served as a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University. He's been a part of teams that have won the IRE award twice, the Online News Association's awards for Innovation in Investigative Reporting and General Excellence, and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi award.
Looking for a place to grab a bite at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld? Here’s a list of the places to check out, their locations and hours.
Cash Sales (Grab and Go)
12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Location: Atrium CD
Starbucks
6 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Location: Atrium
Toppers Creamery
4 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Location: Atrium
Website: http://www.topperscreamery.com/
Tradewinds Restaurant (Buffet)
Lunch: 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Dinner: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Atrium
Boardwalk Bar and Grill (A la carte)
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Dinner: Food, 5 p.m. - midnight / Drinks, 5 p.m. -2 a.m.
Location: Atrium
Menu: Boardwalk Menu, Gluten Friendly Menu
Mist Sushi + Spirits
Dinner: Food, 5:30 p.m. -10 p.m. / Drinks, 5:30 p.m. - midnight
Location: Atrium
Menus: Sushi Menu, Bar Menu
Palms Grill
11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Location: Pool area
Menus: Palms Menu, Pool Bar Gluten Friendly Menu
Food trucks
(Thursday and Friday)
12 p.m. -2:30 p.m.
Locations: Outside of the Oceans ballroom
Attending:
We’ll be raising money at the 2018 IRE Conference in Orlando to support diversity scholarships. All donations made during the conference — on-site or online —will go toward this important cause and help send journalists of color to the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
We asked previous diversity fellowship recipients to share how the award made a difference in their careers. Here’s what Vernal Coleman of The Seattle Times told us:
I’d written a couple of watchdog stories before applying for the IRE diversity fellowship last year, enough to fall in love with accountability journalism, and to know that I had a lot to learn about using the digital tools that make it possible.
But covering a busy and challenging beat doesn’t leave much time to develop technical skills. I applied for the IRE fellowship thinking a few solid days of hands-on training and mentoring from more experienced journalists was what I needed.
Turns out, I was right. Between the training sessions, discussions with my assigned mentor and conversations with other journalists, I came away from the conference experience better prepared to do the kind of reporting my beat demands.
In June, I’ll be speaking at the IRE Orlando conference about the lessons I learned reporting a recently published watchdog story on the misuse of taxpayer-funded subsidies for poor renters that, at this time last year, was just barely an idea.
I credit a lot of people with helping me land that story. Several of them met through the IRE fellowship.
The 2018 IRE Conference begins Thursday. Below you'll find a few bits of information to help you prepare for this great conference! For the latest up-to-date information about panels, speakers and special events at the conference, please visit our conference website.
Hotel Information
The conference is taking place at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld, 6677 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32821.
Registration
Registration opens Wednesday at 2 p.m. and will be available Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the 1st floor meeting space at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld.
Weather
It's going to be a typical June in Orlando: warm and rainy. See the 10-day forecast thanks to weather.com.
Wireless Internet
Stop by the registration desk, check the mobile app or look for signs with the wireless access code available throughout the meeting space. Thanks to Raycom Media for sponsoring the wireless internet this year.
I-Ride Trolley Tickets
All registered conference attendees will receive a 3-day I-Ride trolley pass when they pick up their name tag at registration. The I-Ride trolley has different routes in the International Drive tourist district -- offering easy transportation to restaurants, shopping and nightlife. A map of routes can be found here.
Have a question or need help in a session?
Room monitors will be stationed in the hallways during sessions and will be happy to answer your questions.
IRE Conference app
(Thanks to Advance Local for sponsoring the app this year)
You're tech-savvy and care about the environment, and so do we. Rather than printing 1,800 schedules, we're giving you three ways to track the full schedule of panels, hands-on classes and special events with accurate, up-to-the-minute details:
Internet is not required for the app to work once it's downloaded. However, a connection is necessary to receive any updates sent by IRE.
Conference Daily Update
Be sure to check the conference app (Day 1 news update) or your email for any last-minute programming updates.
Broadcast Show & Tell and one-on-one mentoring
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes. One-on-one mentoring sessions will also be available during the conference with Al Tompkins and Barry Nash and Company. Learn more and sign-up for any of these broadcast options here.
Tweeting from the conference? Use #IRE18 to follow the action.
Special training
Be sure to check out the list of special sessions and other activities organized by our partners.
Updated IRE Principles (Code of Conduct)
Investigative Reporters & Editors is committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical ability, age, appearance or religion.
IRE supports vigorous debate and welcomes disagreement, while maintaining a civil and respectful community.
IRE may take any action it deems appropriate to deal with those who violate our principles, including exclusion from our events, forums, listservs and the organization itself.
Anyone who feels threatened or in immediate jeopardy during an IRE event should call building security in Orlando by calling 0 from a house phone or local police by dialing 911.
Additional concerns can be brought to the attention of IRE staff or board members in person. Contact information for both staff and board members can also be found on IRE's website.
IRE Board Meeting
Thursday, June 14 at 2 p.m. in Zander, located on the 2nd floor
This meeting is open to all IRE members.
Welcome reception sponsored by Google News Initiative
Thursday, June 14 at 6 p.m. in the Atrium
Kick off the conference with a welcome reception on Thursday night. Meet up with friends you have not seen since last year and welcome new attendees. Each attendee will receive one drink ticket for beer, wine, soda or bottled water.
Media lawyers brown bag sponsored by TEGNA Foundation
Friday, June 15 at 12:45 p.m. in Oceans 4
Does your investigation contain complex legal questions? Unsure of how to proceed? Bring your lunch and your questions for a discussion with some prominent media law experts who will be presenting throughout the 2018 IRE Conference. We'll provide drinks and dessert.
IRE Board of Directors candidate forum
Friday, June 15 at 6:15 p.m. in Oceans 5-8
Meet the candidates for the IRE Board of Directors at 6:15 p.m. in Oceans 5-8, located on the 1st floor of the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld following the afternoon Showcase Panel.
IRE Membership Meeting
Saturday, June 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Oceans 9-12
IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix and IRE Board President Matt Goldberg will hold an informational meeting and provide “The State of IRE” report for all IRE members at 5:30 p.m. in Oceans 9-12, located on the 1st floor of the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld.
Closing reception
Saturday, June 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the Atrium
Join us for a closing reception and enjoy one last evening of catching up with old and new friends, speakers and colleagues. Hors d' oeuvres and a cash bar will be available. Conference name tags are required for entry.
We thank you for your continued support and are looking forward to seeing you in Orlando!
The 2018 IRE Conference app is now available through Guidebook!
We encourage you to download our mobile guide to enhance your experience at the 2018 IRE Conference. You'll be able to plan your day with a personalized schedule, browse maps and connect with other attendees.
The app is free and compatible with iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Android devices. Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry users can access the same information via our mobile site.
To get the guide, choose one of the methods below:
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