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Welcome to Anaheim!
If you’re attending IRE24 and looking for some ways to step away from the conference bubble (in addition to Disney, of course), here are some local events and places to check out! Please note, most events here are not affiliated with IRE, and this is not an exhaustive list.
IRE's annual investigative journalism conference will take place June 20-23 in Anaheim. Learn more about the conference, explore the schedule and register here.
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is thrilled to announce that the keynote speaker at the 2024 IRE Conference in Anaheim will be Ava DuVernay.
The award-winning filmmaker will speak as part of a fireside chat with Kevin Merida, the former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, on Saturday, June 22 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. PDT.
DuVernay, an Academy Award nominee and winner of Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, among numerous other awards, often focuses her documentaries and other films on historical events and journalists bearing witness to history.
Her historical drama “Selma” — which chronicles the 1965 voting rights marches — was the first film directed by a Black woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. “When They See Us,” a Netflix miniseries, received 16 Primetime Emmy nominations for its portrayal of the five teens falsely accused in the 1989 Central Park jogger case.
DuVernay’s most recent film, the critically-acclaimed “Origin,” chronicles the tragedy and triumph of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson, who investigates America’s class division and hierarchy as she writes her book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
"For years, Ava DuVernay has championed the important work of investigative journalists and also pushed for improvements in the media industry and in Hollywood," IRE Board President Brian M. Rosenthal said. "She is an important voice, and we can't wait for our members to be motivated and inspired by her message."
Merida, who will speak with DuVernay in the fireside chat, has led award-winning coverage at the Los Angeles Times, ESPN, Andscape and The Washington Post. During his tenure, the Los Angeles Times won four Pulitzer Prizes and its first Oscar for the documentary short film, “The Last Repair Shop.”
"With IRE24 so close to Hollywood, even jaded journalists can be a little starstruck,” IRE executive director Diana Fuentes said. “We’re certain this keynote conversation will resonate with IRE members."
DuVernary’s other credits include “13th,” “Middle of Nowhere” and “Queen Sugar,” which became the longest running Black family drama in television history in its seven seasons.
She also broke ground with “Origin,” becoming the first African American woman director to compete in the Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest film festival, in its 90-year history.
DuVernay spoke to TIME about the film’s significance today:
“This is a time when we need to be alert,” DuVernay told TIME. “We need to be aware of the stripping of freedoms and rights. The intention of certain people to distort history, to say it doesn't matter, to say it never happened. And books being taken off shelves, information being contorted. This is the time when we have to push through our fatigue and open our eyes and engage.”
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is the nation’s premier training organization for investigative journalism. We provide training, resources and a community of support to thousands of journalists around the world.
Our annual conference will take place June 20-23 in Anaheim, California. Learn more about IRE24 here.
Investigative Reporters and Editors has named its finalists for the 2024 Golden Padlock Award honoring the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.
The 2024 award celebrates the best of government opaqueness with five finalists chosen from a competitive field of nominees. Together, their secrecy techniques include hiding vital public records of public interest, ordering a police raid on a newsroom and fighting journalists in court to block public access to records.
"This group of finalists have exhibited unique ingenuity in their attempts to ensure the public is left in the dark about important issues impacting their communities," said Golden Padlock committee chair Robert Cribb. "Their commitment to secrecy is matched only by the impassioned work of journalists fighting to make it public.”
The finalists for the 2024 Golden Padlock Award are:
Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto for a pattern of secrecy including suing a journalist for the return of public records that her own office gave out. The records included headshots of roughly 9,000 Los Angeles police officers released to journalist Ben Camacho in response to a public records request. Feldstein Soto later turned to the courts to demand the images not be published, claiming undercover officer images were included. Then, in a second suit, her office argued Camacho is liable for legal costs related to the release. Feldstein Soto failed to convince a judge that any undercover officers were included in the cache of images released. But the lawsuit remains before the courts amid vocal criticism from a coalition of media groups alleging her actions are an attack on First Amendment rights.
The Georgia Department of Corrections for shielding details about deaths, riots and drug overdoses in the state's prisons from the public, journalists, legislators and even investigators from the Department of Justice. Last year, a record 37 homicides occurred in Georgia’s prisons, yet the department issued only one news release between 2021 and 2023 about inmate deaths. The department increased secrecy by heavily redacting incident reports, rarely announcing worker arrests linked to contraband and withholding video footage — information it used to provide — after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution began exposing failures in the correctional system and the DOJ opened an investigation. The state agency even failed to comply with a federal subpoena for incident reports, internal investigations and audits until the court intervened.
Marion County Kansas police chief Gideon Cody for leading a raid on the office of the Marion County Record and the home of its co-publisher, Eric Meyer. Police bodycam video shows Meyer’s 98-year-old mother and co-publisher, Joan Meyer, shouting down police officers as they rifled through the family’s personal belongings. She died the next day of a heart attack. The newspaper had been chasing a tip it had received about Cody but had not published the information. The raid has been widely condemned as an illegal abuse of power designed to silence small town journalists seeking to hold powerful figures in their community to account. Cody later resigned after released images of the raid showed him reviewing newspaper documents about himself. But there was other fallout, including the resignation of a senior journalist on the story, who cited anxiety about being a reporter in Marion County.
The Hawaii Department of Human Services for stonewalling a review of its own actions in the death of a 6-year-old girl. Federal law and state regulations require the state to disclose details of cases in which a child dies or nearly dies of abuse or neglect. It took a public interest law firm's petition to open the girl's case file to reveal why she was placed with adoptive parents who are accused of murdering her. Further reporting by Honolulu Civil Beat found that Hawaii reports far less than some other states about abuse and neglect deaths and near-deaths.
The Michigan State Police for refusing to release the names and employment histories of police officers. The data is crucial for reporters, citizens and researchers to identify "wandering cops" who find new law enforcement jobs following disciplinary actions, criminal misconduct or quiet firings. Michigan is among at least a dozen states where journalists have hit walls trying to access records that have helped identify officers that have changed jobs undetected after committing such offenses as planting evidence, beating suspects, taking kickbacks or making false arrests. Even Michigan’s attorney general — the state's chief law enforcement officer — is supporting reporters at the Invisible Institute and the Detroit Metro Times in a current lawsuit seeking to make the records public.
The winner of the 2024 Golden Padlock Award will be announced during the awards luncheon at the IRE Conference on Saturday, June 22, in Anaheim, Calif.
With Pride Month coming up in June, IRE members are excited to celebrate and reflect at IRE24.
Over the years, IRE has expanded programming on covering LGBTQ+ issues and historically marginalized communities, and this year is no exception. With more than a dozen IRE24 sessions — such as "Getting trans issues right in the 2024 elections" and "Investigating hate crimes and bias incidents" — journalists across the country will get top-notch training and guidance on how to responsibly and accurately cover these topics.
Some sessions were planned in partnership with LGBTQ+ members of IRE and the Trans Journalists Association; others were the result of listening sessions held to hear members' ideas and concerns.
Another panel, called "Authenticity in Investigations: Covering Your Own Communities," will help journalists navigate identity. Reporters who are members of minority groups, whether it be the LGBTQ+ community or a racial group, often face challenges and sometimes criticism when they cover their own communities. Especially on issues of objectivity and transparency.
At IRE24, Josh Hinkle of KXAN-TV, Barbara Rodriguez of The 19th and Kat Stafford of Reuters will share their experiences and how they ensure trust among their audiences.
This session was partly inspired by Hinkle's work at KXAN-TV, where he explored the nuances of this topic on an investigative podcast called "Catalyst." Francisco Vara-Orta, IRE's Director of Diversity and Inclusion, was a guest on this episode. (You can listen here before you head to IRE24).
Along with learning how to report, we're proud that the IRE Conference offers a friendly space for LGBTQ+ members and allies to meet and mingle. This year, the LGBTQ+ networking session will take place on Thursday, June 20, at 11:30 a.m.
Always a lively event, the networking session builds on others that have been hosted at conferences in recent years, including at NICAR24 in Baltimore.
"There was plenty of queer joy and connection among LGBTQ+ members and allies at NICAR24, and we’re expecting a similar spirit of camaraderie in Anaheim," said Olivia Sanchez, chair of IRE's LGBTQ+ subcommittee.
Sanchez and Hinkle, IRE Board Vice President and chair of IRE's Member Services Committee, hosted the two-part networking event in Baltimore. Vara-Orta and Training Director Adam Rhodes also were hosts. The listening part of the gathering led to a broad-based discussion on ideas for possible conference and workshop sessions, which bore fruit at IRE24 and will help shape conferences in the future.
At the NICAR24 event, members showed interested in increasing resources that could lead to stronger coverage of LGBTQ+ issues and finding ways to fill gaps for incomplete or inaccurate data related to queer and trans communities. These conversations are essential in helping IRE provide relevant and culturally competent training for its global membership.
If you have ideas or would like to contribute to this work, reach out to Vara-Orta at francisco@ire.org. Committees for 2024-25 will be appointed in July and August, and volunteers are welcome!
Francisco Vara-Orta is IRE's Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Josh Hinkle, of KXAN-TV in Austin, is IRE Board Vice President and chair of IRE’s member services committee. Olivia Sanchez, of The Hechinger Report, based in Portland, Oregon, is chair of the LGBTQ+ subcommittee.
IRE24 will take place June 20-23 in Anaheim, California. Learn more about the conference here.
IRE is adding a new membership category to benefit early-career journalists beginning this summer.
Beginning July 1, early-career journalists can join IRE for $50/year. Along with paying less in membership dues, these members will also have lower registration fees for some events. This category is open to journalists who have five years of experience or fewer.
The IRE Board voted unanimously to create this new pricing structure at its last meeting in April. There will be no refunds for early-career journalists who paid their dues before July 1, 2024 but you'll have the option to renew at the early-career rate next time if still applicable.
"I and the rest of the Board believe that these changes represent a major step forward for IRE and will help us to fulfill our mission to serve the investigative journalism industry," IRE Board President Brian Rosenthal said. "As our business continues to evolve, I am proud of our organization for keeping up."
In July, the professional membership rate will also increase by $5 to $75/year. This is the organization's first increase since 2011. The student membership rate will stay the same at $25/year.
Other membership changes to the Articles of Incorporation will be presented to IRE members at IRE24 in Anaheim next month. The proposals include:
These amendments aim to open IRE membership to more people and give young journalists greater flexibility as they start their careers. IRE members will vote on the proposed changes to the Articles of Incorporation at the annual meeting of the membership at the IRE24 Conference in Anaheim this June. The membership meeting is at 5:30 p.m. PDT Saturday, June 22. Only eligible professional, academic, retiree and student members may vote.
Learn more about the IRE membership tiers here. Read the minutes from the IRE Board of Directors' last meeting here.
The IRE Radio Podcast is back after a four-year hiatus. Check out these three new episodes on education-related topics:
You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and other streaming platforms.
Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter reported and hosted the episodes. Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Read on for more information about each of the new episodes and additional resources and links to topics discussed.
On this episode, we recap “Separate and unequal: 5 must-have stories from the K-12 education beat,” a panel from IRE’s inaugural AccessFest Conference in 2023, featuring two veteran journalists who cover education.
Melissa Barragán Taboada is the editor of the Globe’s “Great Divide” education team, which examines inequities in education. Prior to coming to the Globe in 2021, Taboada was a reporter and editor for 20 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she led the paper’s education coverage. Taboada taught a "Reporting on Education" course in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, her alma mater.
Chastity Pratt is the education bureau chief responsible for leading The Wall Street Journal's coverage of pre-kindergarten through higher education, including managing education reporters based in bureaus across the country. She previously covered education at Bridge Magazine, the Detroit Free Press, Newsday and The Oregonian.
In the spring of 2022, an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas was victim of a mass shooting, resulting in 21 lives lost – a massive tragedy for the community. The ABC News Investigative Unit, lead by Cindy Galli, decided it was time to stay. Uvalde: 365 was a yearlong project where the ABC News team stayed in Uvalde for more than a year to report the aftermath of this tragedy.
You can watch the ABC News team’s new documentary, “21: Loyal and True,” streaming on ESPN+ and Hulu. Members of the Uvalde 365 team also have a new book coming out, “One Year in Uvalde,” a story of hope and resilience that will be released in May 2024.
On this special episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, we pull from 2023 and 2024 NICAR Conference recordings to explore how Phil Meyer inspired countless reporters, students and colleagues. This episode also includes excerpts from an interview with Meyer by Charles Lewis from a decade prior.
Meyer pioneered the field of computer-assisted reporting and introduced social sciences methods to newsrooms. His groundbreaking book, “Precision Journalism,” turned 50 years old in 2023. He died on Nov. 4, 2023, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We would love to hear from you.
(May 8, 2024) — Journalists come to IRE conferences to sharpen their data analysis and investigative reporting skills, getting training on how to ask the toughest questions and pursue stories relentlessly.
That creates a great reporter in the field but often poses a dilemma for their editors and executive producers. How do you manage someone who’s trained to challenge authority?
Train the manager.
In 2022, IRE launched a new initiative to focus on investigative management, from story reviews and legal guidance to difficult conversations and safety concerns. We also sought to supercharge a community of support that continues to thrive today.
Our next management training will be at the IRE Conference, June 20-23, at the Anaheim Marriott in California. It’s an updated Master Class featuring a new segment on navigating union shops as well as other front-burner topics. The session includes instructors who are tops in their fields including Emma Carew Grovum of the Marshall Project, Cindy Galli of ABC News, Josh Hinkle of KXAN-TV, Gonzalo Magana of ABC10 Sacramento and Mc Nelly Torres of the Center for Public Integrity.
“Managing investigators is different than managing other groups, and that means managing not as a one-size-fits-all approach but managing people individually,” said Cody Lillich, a senior investigative producer at Arizona’s Family in Phoenix, who attended the Master Class at IRE23 in Orlando. “I would also say this group has helped to continue the conversation — I know if I have a management question, there's a group I can turn to for advice.”
So far, more than 180 managers and aspiring managers have trained at IRE online and in-person through these investigative management courses and associated webinars, creating a shared contact network of like-minded professionals with unique responsibilities.
The first “Managing Investigators” Master Class in 2022 was online, and it focused on pervasive management challenges of that specific leadership role. Hinkle and Torres joined Jodie Fleischer of Cox Media Group and Jennifer Forsyth of the Wall Street Journal to guide the class through more than three hours of discussion, advice and more.
“I love that I always learn something new from those attending while we open this space and try to teach this class,” Torres said.
It soon became an in-person course at both NICAR and IRE conferences, adding more top instructors to the lineup — including Carew Grovum, Nicole Vap of the CBS Innovation Lab and Jamie Grey of Gray’s InvestigateTV.
Outside of conferences, IRE has hosted webinars to make management training accessible to all our members. The latest webinars taught editors how to protect their teams from threats and bring more "people" skills to the newsroom. The online training is the work of a board subcommittee comprised of Grey, Vap and Kat Stafford of Reuters. It’s a subcommittee of IRE’s Member Services Committee, chaired by Hinkle.
If you’re a current (or aspiring) investigative manager, your colleagues want you to join IRE's next management training in June. Sign up for this Master Class now while spots are still available.
IRE24 will take place June 20-23 in Anaheim, California. Learn more about the conference here.
To celebrate Earth Day, we put together some tips for reporting on the environment. Journalists shared this guidance in past training sessions and interviews. Find more helpful resources at The IRE Resource Center.
Climate reporting often means presenting issues or conflicts that may not have happened yet. When that’s the case, try to find ways to get visually creative. This can help make your journalism not just more visually appealing, but more accessible. That’s what Amal Ahmed and Ivan Armando Flores did to tell the story of oil and gas development along the Texas coast.
“It’s either pipes, steel, industry, nature or just this very barren, empty landscape where something will happen,” Flores told IRE. With the help of a drone pilot, he combined long-exposure photography and drones to paint the landscape with light.
—The IRE Journal Q1 2023, “Show your work" by Matt McCabe
When an agency says it’s helping disadvantaged communities or addressing inequities, ask for the specifics. Scrutinize the data.
For example, in 2022, the White House released an environmental justice screening tool to figure out which communities are flagged as “disadvantaged." The tool used environmental, health, economic and other indicators, but Grist noted one major one missing — race.
Grist added race back in and then conducted its own analysis, concluding that the findings appeared to be the same.
"The tool appears to implicitly account for race in its selection of disadvantaged communities," Grist reporters Naveena Sadasivam and Clayton Aldern wrote. "That’s because many of the criteria that the tool uses — proximity to hazardous facilities, linguistic isolation, and proximity to traffic, among others — are effectively functioning as proxies for race."
—NICAR24 panel, “Data and Accountability on the climate beat” by Emily Zentner of The California Newsroom, Dillon Bergin of Muckrock, Savanna Strott of Public Health Watch, Clayton Aldern of Grist
Tampa Bay Times’ “Poisoned” revealed how a Florida factory exposed hundreds of workers to dangerous levels of lead — and how the company kept polluting despite promises to change. The series won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.
But it was a challenging reporting process. The factory was run by a private company, so tools like FOIA could not be used. And workers weren’t eager to speak out.
“When I started to break through, it was because there were a few folks who … began to believe in what we were doing, who spoke up on our behalf,” Corey Johnson told KALW-FM. “That built over time. It didn’t happen initially. But it built up.”
—KALW-FM 2022, “Media Roundtable: How Florida’s only lead factory poisoned its workers and polluted the community” by Rose Aguilar
“FOIA is like the lottery,” E&E News’ Kevin Bogardus told IRE. “You gotta play to win. And it’s better than a lottery — there are things you can do to increase your odds.”
Bogardus recommends submitting FOIA requests for the calendars of your EPA regional administrator. (Ask for the “official record copy calendar,” not the public calendar). If a certain meeting seems newsworthy, say, with a major polluter, request any records that were “prepared for, created for, distributed at, or resulted from the meeting.”
This technique revealed the EPA’s concern over actor Mark Ruffalo’s tweets criticizing the agency.
After you get a confirmation email of your request, forward that email to the
designated FOIA officer and say, “Hey, I just FOIA’d this — let me know if you need anything
else,” Bogardus added.
—The IRE Journal Q1 2023, “FOI Files” by David Cuillier.
Sometimes, environmental reporting tries to answer complex, big picture questions. But other times, it can stem from what people are experiencing day-to-day. In Indianapolis, WTHR-TV decided to investigate when viewers asked: “Is my recycling actually getting recycled?”
WTHR’s Bob Segall placed tracking devices in curbside bins and followed trucks to show how items are taken to recycling facilities.
“There’s just a lot of interest in recycling right now,” Segall said. “It’s something that’s going to connect with viewers and readers.”
—IRE Webinar 2024, “Anatomy of the investigation: Recycling … Digging into a system of secrets” by Rick Gevers of Rick Gevers & Associates, Cho Park of ABC News, Bob Segall of WTHR-TV and Tonya Simpson of ABC News.
Flatwater Free Press’ Yanqi Xu reported on nitrate pollution in Nebraska’s water. But when she requested public emails for emails containing keywords, such as “nitrate,” the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy sent the newsroom a bill of more than $44,000.
“The department claimed that the fees were assessed to account for time NDEE employees needed to review which emails related to our request and which ones should remain confidential,” Xu explained.
Flatwater Free Press sued the department and won.
—The IRE Journal Q1 2023, “Nitrate pollution in Nebraska water” by Yanqi Xu
See more tipsheets, articles and webinars at The IRE Resource Center.
"In a difficult year for journalism, the winners of the 2023 IRE Awards give us hope,” said Lily Jamali, chair of the IRE Contest Committee. “The work of these dogged journalists reflects an ongoing commitment to truth and accountability against a backdrop of dwindling industry resources. Entries showed the powerful impact that can come from combining investigative reporting techniques with vivid storytelling. Our colleagues at times put themselves at great risk. They nevertheless got the story and helped bring about change.”
This year’s winners were selected from more than 450 entries. Since 1979, the IRE Awards have recognized the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The 2023 contest covers 19 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes. The top award is the IRE Medal, given to winners of the FOI Award and Tom Renner Award each year. Contest Committees may designate IRE Medals for additional work deserving special recognition for remarkable impact and accomplishment. Three newsrooms received IRE Medals this year.
Note: Contest entry materials from IRE Award winners and finalists will be made available in the IRE Resource Center. You must be logged in with your IRE membership to access the IRE Resource Center.
Correction: The April 5, 2024, announcement of the 2023 IRE Award winners and finalists was updated on April 12, 2024, to include a second winner for the Print/Online - Division III category. The winning entry from Tampa Bay Times was accidentally omitted from the original post. We regret the error.
Judges’ comments: This sweeping report from The Globe and Mail is one of the most ambitious public records projects ever published. Its bold combination of investigative analysis and public education reconnected a nation with the democratic ideals enshrined in its freedom of information law.
Judges’ comments: This international investigation revealed the U.S. government profits from and promotes the sale of American guns around the world, threatening political stability in emerging democracies, fueling gang violence and undermining its own stated foreign policy. After its publication, the Biden administration halted the export of most guns for 90 days and ordered a review of the government’s support of the U.S. gun industry. The team spent a year accumulating and deciphering data from a number of countries, including confidential case files from Latin America. This series incorporated especially striking informational graphics and network-quality video in addition to clear, vivid storytelling to keep the judges absorbed from beginning to end.
Judges’ comments: In this extraordinary series, ProPublica reporters unearthed the most significant ethics scandal to hit the modern-day Supreme Court, an institution that has long shrouded itself in a veil of secrecy. The team showed the hypocrisy that lurked beneath that veil in a manner that has proven unassailable despite many failed attempts to challenge their reporting. This ambitious project, revealing how certain sitting justices benefitted from the largesse of wealthy tycoons, sparked a national conversation on judicial reform and prompted the adoption of the court’s first-ever ethics code. From building their own database of Alaska fishing licenses to tracking down yacht workers scattered around the globe, “Friends of the Court” offers a masterclass in investigative journalism. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote more than a century ago, “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” ProPublica’s reporters showed just how impactful sunlight can be.
Judges’ comments: This was a comprehensive investigation into a national health crisis hiding in plain sight: the tens of thousands of Americans who bleed to death from potentially survivable injuries each year. The team reviewed nearly 300 medical journal articles and did exhaustive data work to create a map showing the distance from any address to the closest trauma center, highlighting the stark disparities between rural and urban communities. The judges were impressed by the in-depth reporting, clear writing, compelling presentation and focus on solutions to this pressing issue.
Judges’ comments: Nursing home abuse is sadly a familiar story, afflicting vulnerable seniors at the hands of mostly low-paid, under-supervised staff. But less familiar is deadly violence against seniors, particularly those with dementia, at the hands of other residents. The Arizona Republic unearthed a disturbing pattern of resident-on-resident harm, with seniors suffering physical and sexual assault at the hands of other seniors, chiefly as a result of neglect, poor staff training and high turnover. The reporting team filed more than 40 public records requests for police calls to 400 facilities, built a database to track cases and calls, then wrote a Python script to scrape the state’s citation system. The result was an impressive package that highlighted a little-known problem that showed state policy protected secrets instead of seniors, benefiting an underregulated industry.
Judges’ comments: This compelling investigation left virtually no stone unturned in its exploration of kratom, a substance that has been linked to "legal morphine" despite its risks. Members of the team showed admirable initiative as they exposed the industry's supply chain, marketing tactics and lobbying efforts in states across the country. In addition to its exhaustive efforts involved in tracking kratom overdoses, the Tampa Bay Times centered families affected by promoters of this unregulated substance, and furthered the public's understanding of an emerging health threat.
Judges’ comments: This entry had one of the best lines in all of the entries and is the gold standard of reporting on this issue. The story did the police’s job for them, handing them their investigation on a silver platter. This story showed impact, had striking visuals and is relatable to people across the country. The more the story went on, the better it got, and it left no stone unturned.
Judges’ comments: This was a searing and comprehensive piece of reporting that unmasked the Russian government’s abduction and relocation of Ukrainian children, making an emotional impact far greater than a list of names and numbers or scattered news reports ever could. Judges were also impressed by the team’s use of open-source intelligence and strong accountability interviews with the specific officials responsible for taking children from their homes and families — all work that will likely stand as an important testament once the war is over.
Judges’ comments: This team relentlessly pursued public records and scoured social media about the training an Oath Keeper veteran was providing hundreds of Texas law enforcement officers: that their authority is above that of the U.S. Supreme Court and that county sheriffs are more powerful than the FBI. KXAS discovered the officers earned continuing education credit for the classes and that the Texas department overseeing the program didn’t even know the curriculum. The team took the familiar story of the Oath Keepers and Jan. 6 much deeper and broader. Their work resulted in state investigations and policy changes. It is a testament to the value of persistent follow-up on the stories we think we already know.
Judges’ comments: This captivating series demonstrates the success of laser focus on a local story. Cross-referencing thousands of records revealed many of the officers in a tiny town, including the chief, worked lucrative part-time jobs hours away and that half had been fired, demoted, or discharged from their previous jobs. KHOU’s reporting kept the judges hooked. After it ran, the city council shut down the police department and filed charges against seven former officers.
Judges’ comments: This dogged series of reports by Jeremy Finley and the WSMV team exposed how Tennessee officials repeatedly have allowed unlicensed staffers to wear badges, carry guns and falsely present themselves as police officers. Their diligent and direct work made an impact.
Judges’ comments: This well-presented series unearthed brazen corruption by two public officials — a mayor and a police chief — who pulled in other taxpayer-funded salaries while supposedly doing their day jobs. This investigation relied on meticulous documentation and spun their findings into a compelling story that got results.
Finalists:
Judges’ comments: Reporters uncovered a scheme where a government-funded nonprofit entrusted to care for adults deemed incapacitated by the courts was selling their homes for below-market value to companies connected to the Miami city attorney, which were then flipping them for a profit. The series had an immediate impact, with the county launching an investigation into the program and Miami firing the city attorney.
Judges’ comments: This project tackled an important topic, how eastern Kentucky — one of the poorest regions in a state with a high overall poverty level — dealt with the cleanup of a devastating rainstorm and flood. Reporters tracked down leads about problems with debris cleanup contractors, including families that had their home demolished without their permission. The reporting team found that wealthy and powerful contractors paid off workers and secured inflated government contracts. Reporters spent a year poring over thousands of debris tickets and invoices to discover a pattern of abusive contractor behavior, which has since led to multiple lawsuits.
Judges’ comments: The story of a raid on a Kansas newspaper became a national outrage, but KSHB persisted after the national spotlight faded. The station’s relentless pursuit of the truth uncovered lies in the police chief’s affidavit justifying the search warrant, ultimately leading to his suspension. The judges were impressed by the reporter’s push for transparency and fight for public records.
Judges’ comments: "Boxer Pensions on the Ropes" shows how at its best, investigative journalism can both reveal injustices and lead to change. These stories exposed multiple failures by administrators of a pension program envisioned as a safety net for boxers who fought in California. Decades later, not only was the program underfunded, many boxers that were supposed to benefit had no idea it existed. With poignant portraits sprinkled throughout, the series drove home the systemic failure to support these fighters when their careers are over. The judges were also impressed with the tenacity involved in obtaining key information not initially released in public records. The effort ultimately ensured that dozens of checks made it to people who needed them.
Judges’ comments: An impressive effort. The broad survey helped show the breadth of the investigation. This is a system story holding the universities accountable. The story also identified shortfalls, which allow universities to skirt accountability.
Judges’ comments: This story’s combination of complex data journalism and good shoe-leather reporting made this ambitious piece easily stand out. The judges also appreciated the way the reporter presented the data in a clear and transparent way that didn’t distract from the story’s impact. The moving on-the-ground testimonies collected from the real people at the heart of the data tied everything together.
Judge’s comments: The book combined strong investigative journalism with captivating literary journalism, engaging the reader with strong storytelling. The authors included vivid descriptions of the subjects’ lives that helped the reader feel invested in the subjects. The authors also used local journalists to help tell the story and placed us at the center of some of the intense moments, like when a resident admonished her adult daughter for “dropping the f-bomb” as fire loomed outside and they were trying to escape. The book lets journalism do the talking.
Judge’s comments: This documentary provided a raw, rare window into the politics of gang-controlled neighborhoods. The filmmaker’s ability to build trust with reluctant or fearful sources so viewers could hear their insight was a home run. It was old-school street reporting at its best. Judges noted that “The Holly” avoided simplifying the roots of violent crime into good character versus bad character categories. It was well-shot, well-told and memorable.
Judges’ comments: This project revealed shocking new information about the 1989 crime, uncovered powerful audio and turned its investigative attention to the experience of the people of Mission Hill, the African-American neighborhood that was slandered by Charles Stuart and subject to a campaign of abuse by the Boston police department in the months after Stuart murdered his wife and lied to the police saying "a black male" had shot her. That threadbare description was enough to drive Boston city government, the city's white population and — crucially — the news media into a frenzy. In beautifully edited and finely crafted episodes, "Murder in Boston" does more than excellent investigative work and powerful storytelling. It expands the range of what can be considered documentary texts, taking seriously the abuse suffered by the Black men and their families caught in Boston's dragnet and positioning the sensational crime in the history of racism in Boston and beyond. "Murder in Boston" turns its scrutiny not only on the police department and mayor's office, but on the Globe itself and asks probing questions about why so many in the city and the newsroom were willing to run with Charles Stuart's racist lie. It's a fine work of investigative journalism in audio, but it is also more than the sum of its parts, a work of conscience, sociology and reckoning.
Contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working journalists. Work that includes a significant role by any member of the IRE Contest Committee or the IRE Board may not be entered in the contest. Work in which board members did not play a significant editorial role can be entered. First-round screeners were not allowed to review categories in which their news organization could compete.
Serving on the Contest Committee represents a significant sacrifice on the part of the individual contest judge — and often an entire newsroom — that may have done outstanding investigative work.
This year’s contest judges:
To ensure fairness and transparency, some judges were not present during deliberations in specific categories due to potential conflicts of interest. They were:
First-round screeners by category:
Thank you, judges and screeners!
IRE, founded in 1975, is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to training and supporting journalists who pursue investigative stories. IRE also operates the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), a joint program with the Missouri School of Journalism.
For questions or concerns about the IRE Awards please contact Doug Meigs, dougm@ire.org.
Over the course of 2023, IRE fellows Halima Gikandi, Leslie Rangel and Kaylee Tornay worked hard and dug deep to share important, investigative reporting with their communities.
They asked questions about abuse allegations, spoke to experts about mental health and analyzed data on child care. We’re proud to share their investigations, part of the Chauncey Bailey Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship program.
Halima Gikandi, of The World, found several allegations of abuse, neglect and misconduct at two Uganda orphanages. Listen to her multi-part series "No place to call home":
“Halima is relentless, tenacious and she reaches for big stories,” Andrew Lehren, Gikandi’s IRE mentor, shared on LinkedIn.
Leslie Rangel, of KTBC’s Good Day Austin, highlighted the mental health crisis for kids in Texas, which ranks last in the nation for access to mental healthcare. Watch “Admitted,” her multi-part series: Texas mental health crisis: Parents and professionals say the state is failing children
“I wanted to be a journalist… to make sure that stories were being told of people who look like me, people who look different and have different lived experiences. And to really just bring more accountability and justice to everyone’s story,” Rangel told us at IRE23 in Orlando.
Kaylee Tornay, of InvestigateWest, reported on lack of child care supply in Oregon. Several counties are considered “severe” child care deserts for infants and toddlers, despite tens of millions dollars of investments. Read her story: Badly Needed Infant And Toddler Care Investments Aren’t Reaching Oregon’s North Coast
“It feels really rewarding to work this long on understanding such a complicated topic, and I’m happy with the result,” Tornay told IRE after her project was completed in November. “And there’s more to come!”
The Chauncey Bailey Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship is intended to prepare and support a journalist of color for a solid career in investigative reporting. Fellows attended IRE conferences, trained at data bootcamps and received mentoring to work on their projects. Learn more about the fellowship here.
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