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NICAR21 is moving online in March, and IRE needs your help to build a strong and successful virtual data journalism conference.
We are gathering ideas from our community via this form through Dec. 6. We want to know what session topics you’d like to see, what format is most helpful to you and how we can help you network and build connections with other members online. With an online conference, we have lots of flexibility to try different things, explore emerging technologies and connect with each other on new levels.
IRE’s annual data journalism conference was originally scheduled for March 4-7, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland. We are moving the event online because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Sign up for NICAR21 email updates here.
“NICAR is such a unique conference with its hands-on training, innovative sessions and collaborative spirit,” IRE Deputy Executive Director Denise Malan said. “While we wish we could see everyone in person, we are excited to create something new and different for NICAR this year, and make the event more accessible to journalists, educators and students around the globe.”
Here’s what we’re planning so far and what kind of input we’re seeking:
As always, we rely on this amazing, diverse community to help us highlight the very best in data journalism, and we cannot wait to see what you come up with! Feel free to reach out at any time to conference@ire.org.
October 29, 2020
Current and former IRE members who have been furloughed or laid off since March 2019 qualify for a complimentary one-year IRE membership renewal through IRE’s Support a Journalist Program.
The program is intended to help fund memberships for members of the professional and academic IRE community who have struggled to find work during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to apply for membership assistance, please fill out this form.
Annual memberships are $70 and provide access to thousands of tipsheets, exclusive databases, The IRE Journal magazine, premium reporting tools and much more. Journalists can also access the IRE Job Center, which is updated daily with open positions in the investigative journalism community.
IRE has taken additional steps during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure journalists have access to the resources they need to report on a topic that affects everyone. IRE also hosted a series of free webinars related to the pandemic and relaunched its NICAR-Learn library of data tool tutorials, with new videos and free access until 2021.
If you would like to help support IRE’s mission, please donate here.
October 28, 2020
Six veterans in the field of investigative journalism have been appointed as members of IRE’s executive director search committee.
IRE board president Cheryl W. Thompson has appointed Mark Rochester and Ziva Branstetter co-chairs of the committee. Thompson will serve on the committee along with Cindy Galli, Manny Garcia and Mark Horvit.
The job search was launched after current Executive Director Doug Haddix submitted his resignation, effective in January. Haddix has served as IRE’s director since 2016, overseeing the organization’s first virtual conference in September with nearly 3,000 attendees. Haddix also developed initiatives to further IRE’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, including training and mentorship programs for journalists of color.
“This is an opportunity to find someone who wants to build on Doug’s successes, particularly regarding diversity and inclusion,” Thompson said. “We’re excited to cast a wide net.”
David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri where IRE is based, said he looks forward to working with the new executive director.
“The Missouri School of Journalism and IRE have a longstanding collaboration training generations of investigative journalists,” Kurpius said. “The executive director is an important position in this relationship. Our faculty and staff look forward to … growing this work with the new executive director to the benefit of IRE members and organizations.”
The committee will meet regularly to review applicants for the position of executive director, who supervises the world’s largest organization supporting investigative, accountability and data journalism. IRE has more than 6,300 members, a $2.8 million budget and a $4 million endowment.
The committee will recommend finalists for the position to the full 13-member board of directors, which will make the final selection.
If you are interested in learning more about the executive director’s position, please contact Thompson at cherylwt01@gmail.com.
Here's a closer look at the search committee members:
Thompson is an investigative correspondent for NPR. She joined NPR in 2019 after 22 years with The Washington Post, where she covered D.C. police, the Justice Department and the White House. She also was on the investigative team where her examination into political corruption in Maryland sparked a federal investigation that resulted in the conviction of several elected and appointed public officials. She has won dozens of awards, including an Emmy, a shared Pulitzer, an IRE and three NABJ awards. She became IRE’s first Black board president when she was elected in 2018 and is serving her third term in that role.
Rochester is the editor in chief at Type Investigations, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in New York City, and IRE board vice president. He is the former senior news director for investigations at the Detroit Free Press, and has also held senior leadership positions at the Associated Press, Denver Post, Newsday, Indianapolis Star and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Branstetter is corporate accountability editor at The Washington Post, supervising a team of reporters devoted to investigating corporate behavior, the pandemic’s impact on nursing homes and coverage of defense contracting. She previously worked at Reveal and spent more than two decades as a journalist in Oklahoma, at the Tulsa World and as founder of an investigative newsroom, The Frontier. She is an IRE award winner, a 2015 Pulitzer finalist and previously served three terms on the IRE board, including as board vice president.
Galli is chief of investigative projects for ABC News in New York and a member of IRE’s board of directors. At ABC News, she oversees a team of award-winning network correspondents and producers specializing in long-form investigations ranging from government fraud and waste to corporate corruption, social justice, human rights and consumer issues. Galli also heads up collaborative investigative projects between ABC News and network affiliates around the country. A member of IRE since 1994, her work has garnered regional and national awards over 25 years of reporting. She was elected to IRE’s board in 2019, and her term expires in 2021.
Garcia is the senior editor for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. He previously served in top leadership roles at the USA Today Network and is also the former editor of the Naples Daily News, editor and general manager of Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald and senior news editor of the Miami Herald. As a reporter and editor, Garcia and his teams have won several prizes, including the Pulitzer, Goldsmith and IRE prizes. He previously served on the IRE board.
Horvit is an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he teaches investigative reporting, and is director of the school’s State Government Reporting Program. He previously served as executive director of IRE and NICAR, where he conducted training in investigative reporting and data journalism throughout the world. Horvit worked as a reporter and editor for 20 years before joining IRE.
October 15, 2020
Journalists, journalism educators and students can still register and participate in IRE’s virtual 2020 national conference, which features keynote speaker Ronan Farrow and 150 recorded sessions.
Professional and academic members can register until Sept. 13, 2021 for $250, and students can register for $50 to receive access to all of the recorded sessions from the Sept. 21-25 event. A current IRE membership is required to register, and attendees will receive conference login information within two business days after registering.
Members will be able to attend investigative sessions and listen in with IRE friends from across the country and around the world. Attendees will gain full access to recorded sessions and available tipsheets and slidedecks until Sept. 21, 2021 so that they can take full advantage of the high-caliber training. Session videos, tipsheets, slide decks and other materials may be accessed on demand during that period. Professors are encouraged to build IRE20 into your second-semester syllabus.
The IRE conference features multiple tracks and can be viewed at any time. The recorded sessions include panels, discussions and hands-on data training on demand. IRE20 offers high-caliber training sessions on topics including covering COVID-19, investigating law enforcement, exposing systemic inequities, Election 2020, public records, broadcast investigations and many more.
The IRE20 conference set an attendance record: 2,987. That shattered the previous conference high (1,985) set in Houston in 2019. More than 700 students attended the virtual conference. At least 125 journalists outside the United States joined the virtual event, representing 32 other countries on every continent except Antarctica.
The full schedule of sessions can be viewed here, and each description notes whether the session was recorded. Registration is available at this link.
October 14, 2020
Educators of color can apply for IRE’s Educator of Color Fellowship to attend an online Data Bootcamp for Educators.
The bootcamp will be virtual Jan. 4-7, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET and Jan. 8, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET. Fellowship applications are due Monday, Oct. 26 and require a letter of recommendation.
Fellowships are open to any educator of color teaching journalism at a college or university — no previous data experience required! Fellowships include a complimentary bootcamp registration ($800 value) and an IRE membership/renewal ($70 value).
“So much of what we did in the bootcamp I can immediately replicate in my classroom,” said Jessica Langlois, assistant professor of Journalism at Fullerton College and Data Bootcamp for Educators attendee. “It demystified data for me, and showed me how to get my students excited about data journalism.”
Bootcamps are taught by IRE’s experienced trainers and a college-level data journalism professor. Attendees will receive hands-on training on spreadsheet and database skills and will also learn how to teach those tools in a college setting.
In addition, attendees will learn how to build data lessons into coursework and how to create syllabi for data journalism courses. The bootcamp includes IRE training materials and data that can be used in class.
For more information, see the full bootcamp schedule.
Questions? Contact training@ire.org
October 12, 2020
It’s once again time to enter the Philip Meyer Journalism Award contest. Entries are now being accepted online, through Nov. 15.
Established in 2005, the award was created to honor Philip Meyer’s pioneering efforts to utilize social science research methods to foster better journalism. The contest recognizes stories that incorporate survey research, probabilities, and other social science tools in creative ways. Three awards are given annually:
Not sure what to enter? Watch award-winning data journalists Jennifer LaFleur, David Donald (deceased) and Tom Hargrove discuss best practices for great data reporting and stories that previously won the Philip Meyer Awards. To learn more about the contest, go to the Philip Meyer Award FAQ page, or contact IRE’s contest coordinator, Lauren Grandestaff at 573-882-6668 or lauren@ire.org.
The deadline for entries is November 15, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
October 8, 2020
The IRE Board of Directors will launch a national search to find a successor to IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix, who has announced his resignation, effective in early January.
“After four years in this demanding position, I am ready for a change,” Haddix said. “With IRE in solid shape, I feel confident that this is an appropriate time for a smooth leadership transition.”
IRE Board President Cheryl W. Thompson commended Haddix for his achievements. “The board is grateful for Doug’s service and all that he’s done for IRE over the last four years, including overseeing our recent first virtual conference, with nearly 3,000 attendees, the most in our history,” Thompson said. “He is leaving the organization in good financial shape and with a record-high membership of more than 6,500.”
During his tenure, IRE has developed several initiatives to address the organization’s diversity, including training and mentorship specifically for journalists of color, she said.
“We will miss Doug’s dedication and hard work,” she said, “and are thrilled that he has agreed to stay on until early next year.”
Haddix has worked as IRE’s executive director since October 2016. Previously, he worked as an IRE training director from 2008-11. He also served as an assistant vice president at Ohio State University and director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism. He worked for a decade as projects editor at The Columbus Dispatch, along with other editing and reporting jobs at newsrooms in Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
“It’s been a privilege to serve as executive director of IRE, an organization that I have loved since attending my first national conference in 1996 in Providence, Rhode Island,” he said. Coincidentally, that also was the first IRE conference for Thompson. “Her friendship has been invaluable to me through the years,” Haddix said.
If you are interested in learning more about the executive director’s position, please contact Thompson at cherylwt01@gmail.com.
October 1, 2020
Investigative Reporters and Editors awarded 189 fellowships to its first-ever virtual conference Sept. 21-25.
The fellowships included registration to the conference (a $175 value) and an IRE membership or membership renewal (a $70 value). Because the conference was online, IRE used funds that would have been used as a travel stipend for fellowship recipients to provide funds for more journalists to attend the online conference.
In addition, the Knight Foundation supported some unused IRE grant money to be used for fellowships for journalists, students and educators of color to attend the #IRE20 virtual conference.
“We are thrilled we could help a record number of journalists through our conference fellowship program, including many who were attending their first IRE event,” said Denise Malan, IRE deputy executive director. “We appreciate our funders’ generosity and support to bring this valuable training and networking to more journalists than ever before.”
Of the fellowships awarded, 56 percent went to journalists, students and educators of color, and 48 percent of the fellowships were awarded to journalists who were not previously IRE members.
Find information on all of IRE’s fellowships and scholarships here.
September 23, 2020
Investigative Reporters and Editors has named the City of Detroit and Mayor Mike Duggan as the winner of its annual Golden Padlock Award, which recognizes the most secretive U.S. agency or individual.
Detroit was selected for this national honor for its handling of a Detroit Free Press public information request and for ordering the destruction of internal documents.
Initially, city officials claimed key records the newspaper sought were lost in a corrupted file. When the Free Press demanded the files be recovered, the documents ultimately showed Duggan had ordered city officials to fundraise for a nonprofit run by a woman he was observed meeting with after hours at a suburban home.
The case also featured senior administrators ordering staff to delete emails related to the scandal – an act the city’s inspector general concluded showed “blatant disregard for transparency and good governance.”
A subsequent Free Press records request triggered a $222,000 fee estimate from the city, sparking a Free Press lawsuit, which remains before the courts.
“The siege mentality displayed by senior city officials in this case strains credulity,” said Golden Padlock committee chair Robert Cribb. “It is a reminder of the extraordinary lengths some dedicated civil servants and elected officials will go to protect self interest at the expense of the public interest.”
IRE invited Duggan and Detroit officials to receive the honor. No response was received. Detroit officials have denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
“Unfortunately, it seems more and more agencies compete for this award each year through their growing efforts to suppress information,” IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. “Our IRE community will keep watching, reporting and calling out violations of the public trust.”
There were no additional finalists this year.
JUDGES
CONTACT:
Robert Cribb, Golden Padlock committee chair: 416-579-0289; rcribb@thestar.ca
Doug Haddix, IRE Executive Director: 573-882-1984; doug@ire.org
September 13, 2020
An endowed gift to IRE from television journalist Rick Gevers and his wife, Karen Burns, will fund investigative journalism training for college students of color.
With the gift, IRE has established the Rick Gevers-Karen Burns Diversity Fund for College Journalists. Income from the fund will provide IRE training, resources and support annually at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and on other campuses for the benefit of student journalists of color.
“We originally had this idea when we updated our wills four years ago,” Gevers said. “But the events of the last few months convinced Karen and me we need more journalists of color investigating and reporting now. We hope this will have a positive impact for generations.”
Other individuals and companies are invited to contribute to this new IRE diversity fund, which will support training beginning in the 2021-22 academic year through the IRE on Campus program. Other funders of IRE on Campus include Lumina Foundation and the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
“This gift is beyond generous and will allow IRE to offer training in investigative and data reporting to more students of color,” IRE Board President Cheryl W. Thompson said. “We are so grateful.”
Since 1995, Gevers has been president of Rick Gevers & Associates in Indianapolis, a representation agency for broadcast journalists across the country. He has worked more than 40 years in TV news, including more than 11 years as an award-winning news director. Gevers also produces a free weekly newsletter that tracks management changes in the broadcast industry and spotlights TV news management job openings.
Burns has worked for more than 21 years at the Indianapolis Zoo, where she serves as executive vice president. She also serves as executive director of the Indianapolis Prize, the world's leading award for animal conservation. In addition, she is active in the Indianapolis community, holding leadership positions with several organizations.
“I’m humbled and awed by the generosity of this gift,” IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. “Rick and Karen are leaders in their fields, and they’re paying it forward so that young journalists of color can receive training to make a difference in their communities as well as their careers.”
If you’re interested in making a donation to the Rick Gevers-Karen Burns Diversity Fund for College Journalists, please contact IRE Director of Partnerships Chris Vachon: chris@ire.org or 317-371-6780. Or, you may contribute through IRE’s secure online donation page and designate your gift for this particular fund.
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