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COLUMBIA, MISSOURI: Investigative Reporters and Editors is proud to announce the finalists for its 2019 Golden Padlock Award celebrating the most secretive government agency or individual in the United States.
“From protecting powerful companies and politicians from public scrutiny to hiding the use of millions in taxpayer dollars to shrouding serious crimes in secrecy, the honorees for this year’s Golden Padlock Award are creative masters of information suppression,” said Robert Cribb, chair of IRE’s Golden Padlock committee. “Their skill, wit and perseverance in concealing hard truths from the people they serve illustrates a deep commitment to personal service at the public’s expense by whatever means necessary.”
The finalists are:
Michigan State University: For keeping sweeping sexual assault scandals under tight wraps, including serial abuse by disgraced team doctor Larry Nassar and hundreds of student complaints against faculty, staff and students. Last year, the attorney general’s special counsel accused the university of trying to “stonewall” the Nassar investigation, saying MSU officials were disingenuous in their commitment to transparency by issuing misleading public statements and withholding key documents. That secrecy reached well beyond Nassar's case. Last year, MSU officials refused to release records detailing whether 38 of its top officials faced misconduct investigations, the Lansing State Journal reported. MSU also fought to withhold names of athletes in campus police records until a 2015 state supreme court ruling awarded ESPN the records. In a separate 2017 case, MSU took the remarkable step of suing ESPN in response to a similar request for police reports involving student athletes. The lawsuit was dismissed when a judge concluded the lawsuit could "dissuade persons from making FOIA requests...out of fear of being sued by a public body."
Former Houston Mayoral Press Secretary Darian Ward: For spending much of her time on the city's payroll working on side projects — including reality TV show pitches — instead of answering reporters' questions. More than 5,000 emails obtained through a records request last year revealed that Ward had a busy second career running a private TV production company with the assistance of a city email account and city time. Earning more than $93,000 a year, Ward tried to hide her emails from public release for obvious reasons — they showed she was distracted with priorities that had nothing to do with serving the people of Houston. After the news broke, Ward resigned and later pleaded guilty in court to conducting personal work on the taxpayer's dime and was granted probation.
Massachusetts Justice Officials: For a pattern of secrecy inside three vital public state agencies. The Massachusetts State Police and Massachusetts Comptroller are keeping secret the pay of hundreds of employees based on an obscure state policy that allows employees to request their pay be kept secret if they or a relative have ever been a victim of a crime. Another nomination honored the work of three district attorneys who refused to comply with a request for a basic list of cases they prosecuted and what happened to those cases. They refused again after a Superior Court judge ordered the agencies to turn over the records, instead deciding to appeal ‑ dragging out the process and increasing the legal bills. And finally, the Massachusetts court system for routinely holding secret criminal court hearings including kidnapping, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and attempted murder cases. Many of these cases involve police, politicians and other public officials who have had their cases dismissed at closed door hearings with no records available to the public. Over the last two years, these gate keepers have set aside nearly 62,000 cases, tossing charges involving serious injuries or deaths.
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC): For controlling millions in public money while trying to avoid public oversight. Though technically a not-for-profit, the NYCEDC performs government functions, like managing city contracts, and controls hundreds of millions of dollars of public money and assets. In 2018, when New York City was among the jurisdictions vying to be the home of a new Amazon headquarters, the NYCEDC entered into a non-disclosure agreement with the online retailer, agreeing to keep secret certain aspects of their negotiations on behalf of the city. An unusual feature of the NDA was a promise from the NYCEDC to “give Amazon prior written notice” of any Freedom of Information Law requests related to the city’s bid. More recently, the NYCEDC has come under fire from the city’s comptroller for a lack of transparency in the bidding and selection process for the city’s ferry program. According to comptroller Scott Stringer, the NYCEDC has failed to “provide the full range of information, supporting documents and analyses necessary” to assess its $232 million contract with a ferry operator.
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA): For arbitrarily withholding monthly reports that reveal how mining companies are failing to pay millions of dollars in penalties for violations of safety laws. The penalties are a major enforcement tool and are designed to discourage safety violations that put miners at risk of injury and death. The federal agency had routinely made such records available until NPR discovered that many coal mining companies were continuing to operate without paying the safety fines. Taxpayers had to pay a $17,000 legal bill to resolve a FOIA lawsuit filed by NPR to obtain the records. Documents released to NPR as a result of the lawsuit showed the agency had lied about needing more time to compile the records, and that mining companies – including those tied to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice – had failed to pay a total of $56 million in fines.
Former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange: For withholding records cementing his role in an alleged bribery conspiracy. Strange's former office denied the possession of documents showing he forwarded a ghostwritten letter to the EPA in order to undermine the toxic soil cleanup at a superfund site. Those documents later surfaced as evidence in a Department of Justice probe, proving a reporter’s suspicion -- a powerful law firm representing coal industry interests had actually written the letter. They’d also funded Strange’s campaign. A federal trial centered around similar acts resulted in prison time for the firm’s VP and two of its lawyers. But Strange, who went on to fill AG Jeff Sessions’s Senate seat, was never indicted, and there were no consequences for the AG’s office for violating the state’s open records law.
Charleston (S.C.) County School District: For not only giving a new car to an employee caught with child pornography on his district-provided laptop, but for also refusing to release documents showing the school district had settled complaints brought by children claiming they were sexually molested by the man. WCSC-TV in Charleston asked for the settlement documents in March 2018. It would take seven months and repeated requests from reporters and lawyers for their release. When reporters asked for three months of emails that may explain why the man was still employed after the pornography was found and police were investigating, the district demanded more than $11,000 for the records. In another case, a judge ruled that the district deleted surveillance video -- in violation of its own policies -- showing a child allegedly attacked multiple times at school.
The winner will be announced June 15 at IRE’s annual conference in Houston. A representative from the winning agency will be invited to receive the honor.
Investigative Reporters and Editors is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting.
Judges for the 2019 Golden Padlock:
CONTACT:
Investigations today are full of data, documents and computer programming, but that wasn’t always the case. On this bonus episode, we’re sharing audio from the 2019 CAR Conference. Data journalism pioneer James B. Steele discusses his work with longtime reporting partner Donald L. Barlett. He also offers tips for finding stories and staying curious.
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 podcast? We've collected them for you.
Dusting (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
These Times (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Palms Down (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Up Up Up and Over (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Abby Ivory-Ganja and Kelly Kenoyer co-produced this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
Starting today, IRE members can vote online for the IRE Board of Directors and Contest Committee. Ballots will be sent to the primary e-mail listed in your membership profile.
Six of the board’s 13 seats are up for election this year. Four incumbents decided not to run for new terms. Members will also be voting for two members of the Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. To learn more about the candidates, click here.
After your vote is cast, it cannot be changed. Please be mindful that candidates for the IRE board and the contest committee have the option of joining the race up to June 14 (5 pm CDT).
If you’ll be joining us in Houston for the 2019 IRE Conference, you’ll have a chance to hear from the board candidates in person. A short forum will be held at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, June 14, immediately following the Showcase Panel. You’ll still have a day to vote online after the forum.
Voting closes at 6 p.m. CDT on Saturday, June 15. Results will be announced shortly afterward during the annual IRE membership meeting and later posted online. To learn more about the voting process, click here.
Jill Geisler
Jill Geisler, a prominent national expert on newsroom leadership, will be a featured speaker during two sessions at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
Geisler, an internationally known management consultant, author and former TV journalist, holds the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago. She also is the Freedom Forum Institute Fellow in Women’s Leadership.
Geisler is the author of Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know, a popular book for managers in any field. She wrote the book as an extension of a column and podcast that she produced over several years. Her podcasts have been downloaded more than 13 million times. For 16 years, she worked on the faculty at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Previously, she spent 25 years at WITI-TV in Milwaukee in several roles: reporter, anchor and ultimately vice president for news.
She will be featured in two sessions:
We're offering more than 200 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations. Learn how to improve reporting and storytelling across all platforms.
“Investigating Trumpworld” will be the featured Showcase Panel on Friday, June 14, at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
The fast-paced panel brings together award-winning journalists from print, radio and TV to offer behind-the-scenes stories and advice about some of the biggest investigations during the Trump Administration. Pierre Thomas of ABC News will moderate the panel, which includes:
The panel will shed light on key documents and data that can help journalists in any community investigate wealthy individuals, companies and foundations. The journalists also will offer advice on developing sources to help you navigate through sticky financial wickets. They’ll also talk about how to deal effectively with pushback and attacks on your work from powerful people — even the president.
We're offering more than 200 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations. Learn how to improve reporting and storytelling across all platforms.
For decades, children passed through the doors of Catholic orphanages. Some never walked out. On this week’s episode, Christine Kenneally takes us behind her work investigating hidden abuses in orphanages around the world. Her BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered that dozens of children had died violently, their deaths covered up and lost to time.
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.
Tessalit (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Uncertain Ground (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Mercurial Vision (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Sensitive (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Time Waste (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Darklit Carpet (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Blue (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Airliner (Podington Bear) / CC BY-NC 3.0
Simple Melody (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Kelly Kenoyer reported this episode. Abby Ivory-Ganja is our host. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
Applications are now open for small and midsize newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada to receive free data training from IRE in partnership with the Google News Initiative.
Newsrooms selected to participate in the Data in Local Newsrooms Training Program will receive two days of in-house IRE data training, plus follow-up data consultation and services as part of an ongoing partnership with IRE.
Newsroom managers: Apply here, and see our frequently asked questions for more information.
The deadline to apply is June 17. Selected newsrooms will be announced in July.
Francisco Vara-Orta
Francisco Vara-Orta worked in newsrooms around the country for 17 years before bringing his experience to IRE as a trainer. We talked with Francisco about his time as an investigative/data journalist and his previous work at IRE.
Q: How did you get started in journalism?
A: I got my start in journalism pretty young at my middle school. I was elected to student council and started a newspaper there and learned very early how much it meant for people to see themselves represented in publications.
From there I just did various student publications. I started one in my high school, and I restarted one at my college because ours had been defunct. Working with students, I found my connection with the industry.
My first professional experience was being published in my hometown newspaper during the Dow Jones News Fund Urban Journalism Workshop my senior year of high school. Not only did I get my first story published in the local paper, but I also met my best friend. That same friend went with me recently on my first solo trip as an IRE trainer. So, it's weird how things come full circle in this industry.
You’ve worked as a reporter at several types of outlets, from the San Antonio Express-News to Chalkbeat and Education Week. What has it been like to work for such a variety of organizations?
Working for different publications was a byproduct, honestly, of changes in the industry and the recession. In order to survive, I had to keep moving where the jobs were. Thankfully, those were all on my shortlist of dream jobs. But in the process of that pursuit, I got to try out so many different beats that it really helped me grow as a journalist and as a person. Getting to see different parts of the country and getting out of my comfort zone, I think, is really important. Journalists have to continue to do that until the day they lay down the keyboard or the pen.
Seeing different economic models was really, really valuable for my job as an IRE trainer. I have a better sense now of what pressures editors and reporters are under and how convergence is now the lay of the land for most of us. The evolution in the last 13 years — since I've been in the field full-time after graduation — has been astounding. And those newsrooms each taught me a different lesson that I think built toward me getting this position. I lived what they're living.
What are the most useful ways you think journalists can utilize data and investigative skills in their day-to-day reporting?
It's definitely a mindset, and there's no limit on how often to use it. I think that's the misconception about data investigative and journalism. You can do it on any beat, from news to features to sports to business. I think that's really important to keep in mind. Do not overwhelm yourself or to let imposter syndrome get ahold of you. It's important to embrace wherever you're at with math and with understanding your level of comfort with confrontation because you need to master those skills, gracefully, to know how to utilize data and investigative journalism skills in your reporting.
The majority of us do not have the luxury of working on projects all the time. It's important to remember that. For people who do get to work on those projects, I think it's important for them to mentor those coming up behind them. I think that's a way you can use your skills, too, when you feel like maybe you’ve hit a wall and you can't grow anymore. There's always room to grow in our field.
What’s the most memorable story you’ve worked on?
One that sticks out to me was in 2007, when I was at the Los Angeles Times, and I wrote a story about how Latinos are very cautious about taking out loans. This was a story I had seen play out at my college, St. Mary’s University, which serves predominantly Latino students. It was an experience I had in my own family. I didn't realize how many people didn't understand the story, the origins of it, or the skepticism of banks in our home countries.
I wrote that story, and it ran on the front page. I was 22 years old. And that alone felt great on a personal level. But afterward, a reader in Palm Springs said, "I would like to be a benefactor for the student you wrote about" who paid for his education in cash working at a CVS. The student had refused to take out a loan.
So, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I connected them. Later on, I got a message from the student I interviewed saying, "He is not only paying for the rest of my undergrad degree, he's offered to pay for my master’s and that of my girlfriend, and that of one of my other relatives."
Now (the student) teaches at the university he studied at. And I really had no idea how much that story mattered. You never know who's reading or watching.
You worked part-time at IRE when you were a graduate student at the University of Missouri. Tell me a little bit about that experience.
I was suffering from imposter syndrome, trying to figure out how to get to do more in-depth work, and there were just so few avenues. IRE really restored my faith in myself. I didn't see that coming. I really wanted to be taken seriously by the industry and felt like, for various reasons, that just didn't happen. So the fact that IRE wanted to hire and empower me really healed my soul. I had gone through a layoff at the LA Times and had to move around several times to stay afloat. And (IRE) reminded me that I had it. And I’d always had it. So, seeing us do that for other reporters and editors and students on a daily basis really motivated me.
The IRE staff are among the kindest people I've ever had the privilege to work with. They're very honest about what we need to do and where we need to improve. I think that lack of arrogance is so important in our field.
While in grad school, I got to go to New Orleans for the 2016 IRE Conference and work as staff. I remember, at one point we were on the elevator in New Orleans, and I looked around and I was the only person of color in the room. It was an open discussion that I was able to have with all the white people in office about why is this the case? Like, it's okay to talk about it, and my voice matters.
I also really felt — and this is something I think is under-explored — that I don't think gay men are always taken seriously as investigative reporters. I don't really see a lot of visibility of us in the data journalism world. So, for me, that was also alienating. I knew more investigative journalists of color than I did men who identified as queer or LGBTQ, and that intersectionality was really important. IRE wasn't scared to talk about that. In some newsroom, I felt like I could never bring it up.
IRE really gets the bigger picture about how we should operate culturally as an industry. It's really exciting to come back and be a part of that, where there's so much momentum. The silver lining of the Trump administration is that I think accountability journalism and training in how to do it is more in demand because people are recognizing the need for what our members do. It's really rewarding to be part of that process.
IRE Training Director Francisco Vara-Orta with students at Alabama State University.
Why did you decide to become a full-time IRE trainer?
In a way, to pay back the journalism field and IRE for the good they’ve brought into my life. You ask anyone on staff, and we've all weathered some of the storms out there in the industry, and you don't want to let go. We have this love for the cause. Being around that energy is really important.
I've only done a couple trainings so far, but instantly I see the impact. You don't always feel like that with your stories. I had heard that was the case. Like most journalists, I wanted to see it with my own eyes and feel it in my soul the way you do when you're out in the field. And it's true. There's a lot more work for us to do, and there's a lot that IRE wants to improve on and and be better at. But the organization’s heart and mind are in the right place.
You joined the full-time staff in February. What have you enjoyed so far about the job, and what’s been the biggest surprise?
I learn just as much from the people we're teaching as they do, hopefully, from me. I do have a different experience than my other colleagues, and I get reminded of this every so often. In a recent training I had two queer black journalists come up to me and tell me how much it meant for them to see me exist in the room in that position. And that's just something I take for granted; I'm just trying to get the projector to work and not bomb during the middle of my presentation. Sometimes our mere existence is an act of resistance in times like this, when you're just trying to represent yourself and where you come from. So that was really surprising to me because I was looking forward to the skill-building side of this, where I'll get teaching skills and I'll get to interface with people all over the country. I didn't realize the job would be so emotional at times, but in a good way.
Signups are now open for the mentorship networking program at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston.
We're making some changes this year to response to high demand: Rather than matching each participant with a single mentor, mentees will instead have the opportunity to talk with several prospective mentors at tables arranged by topic. This setup will allow more people to participate and encourage more networking among the group.
For mentors, this means you'll pick one area of expertise (FOI, data, management/career, etc.) to discuss with multiple participants. Mentees who are looking for help and advice on certain topics will be able to meet with different mentors. Connections made during the mentoring breakfast can grow and develop organically long after the conference.
The mentorship networking breakfast — co-sponsored by George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs and the Scripps Howard Foundation — will be held from 7:45 - 8:45 a.m. on Friday, June 14, in the Texas E room of the conference hotel.
Click here to sign up. Space is limited in this popular program. IRE will accept applications until Friday, May 24. You must register for the conference in order to participate.
Small and mid-sized newsrooms in the United States and Canada will receive immersive IRE data training to bolster local news coverage through a new partnership with the Google News Initiative (GNI).
As part of the Data in Local Newsrooms Training program, IRE will select 10 newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada through a competitive application process to receive the free training. Each newsroom selected will receive two days of in-house IRE data training, plus 15 hours of follow-up data consultation and services as part of an ongoing partnership with IRE.
“The ability to find reliable data, analyze it and visualize the findings through creative storytelling adds firepower to investigative stories,” IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. “We’re thrilled to team up with Google News Initiative to help more newsrooms ramp up their data skills. Readers and viewers across North America will benefit from stronger investigative stories with impact.”
“Part of the ongoing work of the Google News Initiative is to bring together the best practices from leaders in the field, and journalists interested in exploring new methods to help solve real challenges in newsrooms," said Nicholas Whitaker, Strategic Partner Lead on the Google News Initiative. “This program will draw from IRE’s expertise in delivering the very latest data skills and education to journalists across the U.S. and Canada, and support those journalists with the ongoing guidance they need to sustainably enhance their workflows and reporting.”
The program is designed to help small to medium-sized newsrooms improve their use of data for bolstering local news coverage. Here are the criteria to apply:
If you’re interested in receiving more information once the program fully launches later this spring, please complete this short online form.
For 30 years, IRE has operated its data services and training program known as NICAR, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, a joint program with the University of Missouri. Through hands-on training, IRE and NICAR have equipped thousands of journalists across the United States and around the world with data skills to enhance investigative stories across all platforms.
IRE awards the Philip Meyer Awards each year to recognize the highest-caliber work involving data and social science methods. This year’s winners included investigations that uncovered hundreds of uncounted deaths in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, environmental hazards in Philadelphia schools that create serious health problems for children, tax loopholes involving stocks and private foundations, and systematic exclusion of African-Americans on juries in Mississippi.
IRE also provides a selection of national databases for sale that have been standardized and cleaned for easier analysis. Datasets popular with journalists include the National Bridge Inventory, Boat Accidents, National Inventory of Dams, a simplified College Scorecard, FBI Uniform Crime Reports and fatal vehicle accidents.
“Data often helps uncover stories that otherwise would be hidden from the public,” Haddix said. “Equipping journalists with data skills empowers them to find and produce hard-hitting stories that make a positive difference in their local communities. With data, journalists can fact-check claims of politicians, business leaders and other officials to help hold them accountable to the people.”
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