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Think about the last time you got a call, email or direct message from someone who wanted to share a crazy story. You might have thought there was no way what they were telling you could be true. That’s what happened to Brett Kelman, a reporter at the Tennessean. A tip about military health care fraud back in 2015 seemed too wild to be true — until it wasn’t. On this episode, Brett breaks down how he reported the story years after getting the tip and how there’s still more fraud to be uncovered.
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.
Noe Noe (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Cloud Line (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Illa Villardo (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Heather (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Inamorata (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Town Market (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Abby Ivory-Ganja reported this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
COLUMBIA, Missouri – Journalists who exposed the plight of medically fragile children, unsafe schools and dangers in remote Alaskan villages are among the winners of the 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.
Some of the winners and finalists in this year’s contest faced personal peril for pursuing their stories. As examples, a Catholic diocese tried to tarnish the reputation of a reporter’s brother, who was a seminarian, and the Myanmar government jailed two Reuters journalists in an attempt to prevent publication.
“The consensus among the judges was that this year’s winners and finalists were among the best works they’ve ever seen,” said Jill Riepenhoff, chair of the IRE Awards contest committee. “The investigations exposed maddening, shocking, shameful and tragic behavior by government agencies and private entities. They also showed the resilience and determination of journalists to hold the powerful accountable.”
This year’s winners were selected from more than 500 entries. One project, “Myanmar Burning,” was singled out for an IRE Medal, the highest honor the organization bestows. The awards, given since 1979, recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The contest covers 18 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes.
The IRE Awards will be presented at a luncheon on June 15 at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston, Texas.
IRE Medal: “Myanmar Burning,” Reuters, Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their Reuters colleagues
View this story online
Tom Renner Award (for covering organized crime or other criminal acts): “War Crimes and Corruption in Yemen,” The Associated Press in partnership with The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Maggie Michael
View this story online
FOI Award: “The Force Report,” NJ Advance Media, Craig McCarthy, Carla Astudillo, Stephen Stirling, S.P. Sullivan, Erin Petenko, Disha Raychaudhuri, Blake Nelson, Yan Wu, Joe Atmonavage, Christopher Baxter, Ashleigh Graf
View this story online
Print/Online Division I: “Myanmar Burning,” Reuters, Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their Reuters colleagues (medal winner)
View this story online
Print/Online Division II (tie):
Print/Online Division III: “Perversion of Justice: How a Future Trump Cabinet Member Gave a Serial Sex Abuser the Deal of a Lifetime,” Miami Herald, Julie K. Brown and Emily Michot
View this story online
Print/Online Division IV: “From Criminal to Cop in Alaska’s Most Vulnerable Villages,” Anchorage Daily News, Kyle Hopkins
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division I: "Deceptive Diplomacy -- Cover-up by the UN," SVT Mission Investigate, Swedish Television, Le Monde, Radio France International, Foreign Policy Magazine, Süddeutsche Zeitung
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division II: “Lien On Me,” KUSA-TV, Denver, Chris Vanderveen, Chris Hansen, Anna Hewson, Katie Wilcox, Nicole Vap
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division III: “The Two-Hour Diploma,” Fox45 News, Baltimore, Jeff Keene, Chris Papst, Carolyn Sachse, Dwayne Myers, Kevin Drennan
View this story online
Broadcast/Video Division IV: “Fall From Grace: How Buffalo's Bishop Hid Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo,” WKBW I-Team, Charlie Specht, Jeff Wick
View this story online
Radio/Audio - Large: “Insult to Injury,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, PRX, KQED, Will Evans, Alyssa Jeong Perry, Katharine Mieszkowski, Taki Telonidis, Ziva Branstetter
View this story online
Radio/Audio - Small: No winner
Student - Large: “Food Plight: Cafeteria Inspections Reveal Critical Health Violations at New York City Schools,” CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Pauliina Siniauer, Mallory Moench, Rahima Nasa, Jeremy Ibarra, Lizeth Beltran, Nicole Rothwell
View this story online
Student - Small: "Student Threatened Professor More Than a Year Before Killing Him," USC Annenberg Media, Cole Sullivan and Sam Bergum
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Investigations Triggered by Breaking News: "Zero Tolerance," ProPublica, Ginger Thompson, Nadia Sussman, Adriana Gallardo, Derek Kravitz, Decca Muldowney, Alex Mierjeski, Claire Perlman, Lilia Chang, Ken Schwencke, Jess Ramirez, Kavitha Surana, Robert Faturechi
View this story online
IRE Award for Sports Investigations: “Spartan Secrets,” ESPN Outside the Lines/E:60, John Barr, Paula Lavigne, Dan Murphy, David Lubbers and Nicole Noren
View this story online
Book: “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyrou
Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism: “Toxic City: Sick Schools”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker, Dylan Purcell, Jessica Griffin, Garland Potts, James Neff
View this story online
Click here for a complete list of winners, finalists, judges and judges’ comments.
Starting today, IRE will begin accepting applications for candidates for the IRE Board of Directors. This year six of the board’s 13 seats are up for election. Three incumbents have decided not to run for new terms.
The initial filing period for candidates is April 8 – May 12. All candidates filing by this time will appear on the initial ballot when voting begins in late May.
Electronic online voting will be open both before and during the IRE Conference this summer. Those coming to the conference will have a chance to hear from the candidates, and we encourage all those attending the conference to wait to vote until after hearing the candidates speak. Information about each candidate will also be posted online.
As in the past, candidates may join the election after the initial filing period. However, voting will have already begun, which could diminish a late-filing candidate’s chances of being elected. To be considered, a late-filing candidate must be nominated by 5 pm (CT) on Friday, June 14.
You’ll also be voting for two members of IRE’s Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. Those interested in judging will apply using the same procedure as IRE Board candidates, and will be selected on the same ballot. Contest Committee candidates’ information will also be available on the IRE website, but they will not make speeches at the conference.
For more details, including how to declare candidacy, please review our 2019 Board Election webpage and Election Q&A.
Starting April 8, IRE will begin accepting applications for candidates for the IRE Board of Directors. This year six of the board’s 13 seats are up for election.
The initial filing period for candidates is April 8 – May 12. All candidates filing by this time will appear on the initial ballot when voting begins in late May.
Electronic online voting will be open both before and during the IRE Conference this summer. Those coming to the conference will have a chance to hear from the candidates, and we encourage all those attending the conference to wait to vote until after hearing the candidates speak. Information about each candidate will also be posted online.
As in the past, candidates may join the election after the initial filing period. However, voting will have already begun, which could diminish a late-filing candidate’s chances of being elected. To be considered, a late-filing candidate must be nominated by 5 pm (CT) on Friday, June 14.
You’ll also be voting for two members of IRE’s Contest Committee, which judges the IRE Awards. Those interested in judging will apply using the same procedure as IRE Board candidates, and will be selected on the same ballot. Contest Committee candidates’ information will also be available on the IRE website, but they will not make speeches at the conference.
The detailed 2019 election timeline is listed below:
For more details, visit our 2019 Board Election page.
Do you know an investigative journalist who has exhibited extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance?
Perhaps someone who has faced extreme threats for his/her investigative reporting? Someone who has been targeted by authorities for harassment for doing his/her job? Someone who has faced other kinds of intimidation?
Please take a moment right now to nominate that person for this year’s Don Bolles Medal. The nomination form can be found on our website.
The IRE Board created the honor in 2017 as a way to draw public attention to the difficult circumstances under which some of our colleagues are forced to operate.
In 2017, the first Don Bolles Medal was bestowed posthumously to Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea, who was assassinated in retaliation for her efforts to expose organized crime and corruption.
Last year, it was awarded to Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were imprisoned while reporting on human rights abuses in Myanmar.
The medal was created in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Arizona Project, an effort led by IRE to finish the work of Don Bolles, an Arizona Republic investigative reporter who was killed in 1976 by a car bomb.
Bolles’ death came a few days before the first national IRE conference in Indianapolis, where the veteran reporter had been scheduled to speak on a panel. At the time, Bolles had been investigating allegations of land fraud involving prominent politicians and individuals with ties to organized crime.
After his murder, nearly 40 journalists from across the country descended on Arizona to complete his investigation. News organizations across the country published their findings. Their message: Even if you kill a reporter, you can’t kill the story.
Please help us to pick the next recipient of the Don Bolles Medal.
Patti DiVincenzo
Patti DiVincenzo was an investigative producer and data specialist at WSB-TV in Atlanta for 16 years. Now, she’s bringing her experience to IRE as a trainer. We talked with Patti about her broadcast career and her time as an IRE member.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
My brother went to the University of Missouri, and he decided that he wanted to major in newspaper. And I tried a bunch of stuff at KU; I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I thought, well, I’ll take a journalism class and see what I think, and I loved it. And then I took a television class and just fell in love with the whole idea of wrapping a story around the video. There was something about dealing with the video — not the on-camera stuff, but just the whole idea of writing things a different way.
What was it like being an investigative reporter in Atlanta, a city that’s not exactly known for being the most cooperative with journalists?
It’s difficult to work with people who don’t want to help. I think the thing they do all the time is they just hope you forget. And when you don’t, they fight back on everything, and call your bosses, and your boss’ boss’ boss, and that type of thing, so it’s a challenge.
In Atlanta, we’ve been dealing with an ongoing city hall corruption case. In the beginning, most of the media outlets had filed a lot of open records requests. One day, then-Mayor Kasim Reed and city officials held a news conference — they had a big wall of papers and said, “This is all here, have at it” — and it was the biggest joke. They were trying to look like they were transparent, and they were anything but transparent. Some of the pages had spreadsheets on them that were like 1 inch by 1 inch, maybe smaller. You couldn’t read it. It was funny because we actually all started working together — the newspapers and TV stations — and so when one of us went through a box, we would mark “nothing here” or put a mark on it and the name of the person who looked at it. We all had to work together to figure out how to get through it because there were just so many documents.
For one year, I worked with a team of reporters from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB to identify all the police shootings in Georgia. We found some amazing stories. I mean, I can’t tell you the number of times I sat at my desk, and you would just hear someone say, “Oh my gosh,” as they were reading some document. It was a very sad and emotional story, but it was amazing that no one had really looked at it as a whole. I’d never worked on a project that took that much time before.
It was probably the most important story because we changed a law. In Georgia, when there was a grand jury for a shooting, the police officer was allowed to sit in the grand jury room the entire time. Then, he or she was allowed to give a closing talk to the jury — but the officer didn’t have to go under oath or testify, he just got to get up and explain what happened. It was crazy. Now the law prohibits officers from sitting in the grand jury room the entire time, and if they talk to the jurors, prosecutors can cross-examine them.
I think the biggest challenge is probably the same thing as it is at newspapers: feeding the beast. It's so much more than it was before, because now you have to tweet so many times a day and you have different versions of a story. You have to think about, how is it going to look for broadcast and the web? There's just a lot to do in a little bit of time.
The first time I remember getting to go to a conference was in Philadelphia in the ‘80s. It was so amazing to go to a conference and feel like, these people understand me. You can never stop learning. And if someone’s like, “Well, you’ve been to all these, why do you go?” it’s because I’m always learning something. And beyond that, it gets you so excited, because it’s so much fun to be around people who like to do the same thing you do. It gets you all refreshed and ready to go back and tackle the world.
I went to a panel on machine learning once, and I must’ve, like, leaned on my phone or something. There was a quiet moment, and my phone said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.” And I thought, well, that’s appropriate. Everyone started laughing, and I thought, “Well, I don’t understand either, but OK.”
I think it’ll be really fun to be around people who like watchdog reporting. I think my favorite part is going to be planning and setting up workshops, because I love learning. I just love it when you’ve got people who want to know more, and you can always learn something from them, too.
Thanks to the generosity of many, IRE is fortunate to have funding available to provide fellowships for financial assistance to its CAR boot camps. This month, IRE awarded eight fellowships for the March 2019 CAR Boot Camp.
Marcy de Luna from the Houston Chronicle, Adam Rhodes from Law360 and Wayne Washington from The Palm Beach Post received the Ottoway Fellowship.
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund, the Ottoway Fellowship is aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE's membership.
Nicole Nixon from KUER (Salt Lake City) and Becky Cooper from the the Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) received the Total Newsroom Training Fellowship.
Total Newsroom Training (TNT) Fellowships are open to those who have completed two days of TNT training between 2013 and 2018.
Dorian Hargrove from NBC 7 (San Diego, California) and Niccole Kunshek from KVII (Amarillo, Texas) received the Knight TV Data Fellowship.
Funded by the Knight Foundation to strengthen data watchdog skills at local TV stations across the United States.
Whitney Downard from The Meridian Star (Meridian, Mississippi) received the R-CAR Fellowship.
Established by IRE member Daniel Gilbert, the fellowship is intended to provide rural reporters with training they may not otherwise receive. The fellowship is offered in conjunction with the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.
If you are interested in applying for a fellowship for financial assistance for future IRE boot camps, go here for more information and due dates. The next due date is May 20.
IRE also offers financial assistance to its annual conference taking place in Houston in June. Deadline for those applications is April 15. More information can be found here.
On high school graduation day, the future looks bright, especially for Boston’s valedictorians. But as years pass, things come to look quite different for the city’s top students. A quarter of them didn’t finish college within six years. Many wanted to be doctors, and today, none of them are. On this episode, Meghan Irons and Malcolm Gay of the Boston Globe take us behind their investigation into how the city’s valedictorians are fairing more than a decade after graduation. The project offered a new approach to investigating inequality and could be replicated in any community.
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.
Donnalee (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
True Blue Sky (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Lakeside Path (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Insatiable Toad (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Lupi (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Boston Landing (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Abby Ivory-Ganja reported this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.
Rick Hutzell
We’re pleased to announce that Rick Hutzell will deliver the keynote address at the 2019 IRE Conference in Houston, June 13-16.
The editor of Capital Gazette Communications in Annapolis, Maryland, will address IRE19 attendees nearly a year after the June 2018 shooting that killed five Capital Gazette employees.
“Choosing Rick as our keynote speaker for this year's luncheon was an easy decision for the board,” IRE Board President Cheryl W. Thompson said. “What he and his newsroom went through was unthinkable, yet they pressed on. Their determination and dedication to our craft have inspired journalists everywhere.”
Hutzell oversees the editorial staff of The Capital, the Maryland Gazette, the Crofton West County Gazette and the Bowie Blade-News. He joined The Capital in 1987 as an assistant city editor, holding several positions before his promotion to editor in May 2015.
The National Press Foundation named him the 2018 Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year, an honor he received for guiding his newsroom through and past the mass shooting.
"We saw courage in the face of unimaginable tragedy in the Capital Gazette editor and his staff," NPF judges wrote. "As pledged, they put out a 'damn paper' the next day, and every day since in service to their community. It underscores the importance of local newspapers and the unbreakable bond with their communities."
Time magazine recognized the Capital Gazette staff as “guardians of the truth” as part of its Person of the Year 2018.
More information about Hutzell is available on the Capital Gazette website.
The keynote address will take place during the IRE Conference awards luncheon on Saturday, June 15.
Thanks to everyone who pitched and voted on the 2019 Lightning Talks for NICAR19. Here are the talks we’ll be hearing Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m.
1. How to write a data story in five minutes | Youyou Zhou
What does it mean to be a data analyst, a coder, a designer, or all of the above -and- a journalist? The chart maker at the graphic desk writes story. The computer's guy leads investigations. How's our work fit into the traditional way of talking about journalism? There are ambiguity, confusion and reluctancy. But there is a framework. I'm going to talk you through the framework, something you can use to inform your reporting process, as well as answer the question "What do you do as a data journalist?"
2. 5 ways to write racist code (with examples) | Alex Garcia
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York “stop-and-frisk”, Twitter sentiment analysis -- The programs we write, the data we analyze, and the assumptions we make have the potential for unintended consequences to creep into our work. These consequences have the ability to hurt people of color and other marginalized groups. In this lightning talk, learn how these problems begin, see working examples of these, and learn how to recognize and correct it in your next project!
3. How to build a massive database that no one wants you to build | Disha Raychaudhuri
A condensed primer on how we built The Force Report, the most comprehensive statewide database of police use of force, from 506 FOI requests
4. FOIA is my API | Matt Kiefer
Sometimes FOIA is your only option to get the records you need. But writing emails doesn't scale well when you're submitting and tracking requests to hundreds or thousands of agencies. In these situations, you can write computer programs to write emails for you, relying on the Freedom of Information Act to do the heavy lifting. I'll talk about some tools I've built to send requests, track responses and even read the attachments that come back.
5. 911, What’s Your Emergency: How insider knowledge of law enforcement has been an asset | Stacy Montemayor
I used to be a 911 dispatcher where I learned a lot about the language, processes and attitudes of law enforcement in the United States. That knowledge recently became an asset as I explored and cleaned 9 years of a police department’s calls for service. I’ll share some of these insights and how to decode certain types of police data.
6. How To Use Your Data Skills To Gain Financial Independence | Sean McMinn
What would be different if you didn't *need* your paycheck? Would you take three day weekends and coach your daughter's softball team? Would you turn down stories you didn't want to do? Or would you just quit your job altogether?Data journalism isn't just on the higher paying end of reporting jobs, it gives you the mindset to think about how you could become financially independent of your job entirely — and the skills to pull it off.
7. My own worst enemy: Overcoming impostor syndrome* | Kate Martin
Ever feel like you're a fraud and it's only a matter of time before someone finds out? Congratulations! You have impostor syndrome! Learn strategies to silence your inner contrarian.*Note: speaker may not be qualified to give this talk.
8. How to beat a serious case of the post-project blues | Christopher Baxter
The glory of your grand investigation has faded, readers have moved on and editors are asking what you've got next. But all you want to do is hide under your desk with a weighted blanket. The post-project blues are legit and need to be recognized. I'll call them out and share ways reporters can cope and editors can help.
9. Blindspotting: Covering communities you’re not a part of | Emmanuel Martinez
Stories about marginalized communities need to be told in a manner that does them justice and doesn’t further perpetuate harm. But it’s hard to tell these stories in an effective manner when you’re not a part of those communities.I will talk about how we can use fault lines and intersectionality to combat our own blind spots and biases to produce better journalism.
10. Save Student Newsrooms. How you can help the next generation of journalists | Caitlin Ostroff
Last year, more than 100 student newspapers banded together to advocate for themselves and the issues they face, including loss of independent funding and censorship by their institutions. Advocacy by students is a start, but professional journalists must play a role in safeguarding independent student journalism as mentors and advocates for the future generation of reporters.
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