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IRE’s TV Watchdog Workshops are going virtual in 2021, allowing us to reach more journalists and keep everyone safe during the pandemic. These half-day workshops are open to broadcast journalists and will focus on tips and techniques for journalists working in television news.
Each of the four virtual workshops will focus on a different aspect of investigative journalism with sessions tailored to television reporters, producers and news directors. The workshops will include interactive sessions, group activities and time for attendees to network with other broadcast journalists across the country.
Registration is $35 for each workshop and includes a one-year IRE membership or renewal for the first 500 people to sign up for any of the events and qualify for IRE membership. Regular membership price is $70/year for professionals and $25/year for students. Each person can receive only one membership or renewal for the 2021 Virtual TV Watchdog Workshop series.
The workshops and free memberships are made possible by support from Knight Foundation. Before the pandemic, IRE hosted TV Watchdog Workshops in Denver, Seattle, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Dallas.
“We’re excited to bring this valuable training online and make it accessible to more journalists than ever before,” IRE Deputy Executive Director Denise Malan said. “These unique events will help broadcast journalists dig deeper for their stories, expand their investigative toolkit and network with other journalists from across the country.”
Registration is open for the first two workshops and will open soon for the other two:
A fully redesigned IRE website will debut in December with improved navigation, easier event registration and a more robust search of Resource Center materials.
The transition to a new website will require a few temporary outages:
Members and the public alike will see a variety of improvements on the new site, including:
IRE last redesigned its website in 2011. The new website has been developed in partnership with Hoot Design Co., a women-led creative branding agency in Columbia, Missouri, near IRE headquarters at the Missouri School of Journalism.
Investigative Reporters & Editors has launched its search for a new executive director to lead the world’s largest organization supporting investigative and data journalism.
The position involves overseeing a dynamic organization with more than 6,300 members internationally, 13 full-time staff members and dozens of volunteer contributors, as well as serving as a faculty or staff member at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Those interested in the position can access application materials here. You can search for the position by using the job identification number: 34900. The application deadline is January 15.
For 45 years, IRE — a nonprofit organization — has led the journalism industry in supporting and training journalists and college students in techniques for investigative reporting and data analysis. The organization runs the world’s biggest conferences on investigative journalism, and its data arm – the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) – runs the world’s biggest data journalism conference. IRE provides training and resources for journalists in news organizations of all sizes, from rural U.S. communities to cities across the globe. Its website, ire.org, offers a growing portfolio of training tools, including podcasts, video tutorials and an extensive library of resources.
The job search began 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.
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 committee is meeting regularly to review applicants for the position of executive director and will recommend finalists for the position to the full 13-member board of directors, which will make the final selection.
The right candidate will have experience in investigative journalism, management experience, teaching or training experience and an enthusiasm for evangelizing on behalf of investigative journalism and raising funds to support that mission.
IRE is located in Columbia, Missouri, and while not required, there is a preference for a candidate who would relocate after the pandemic. For a Columbia-based candidate, a faculty appointment could include teaching one class per semester at the School of Journalism. The position also involves considerable travel, both domestically and internationally. Salary will be commensurate with experience.
Candidate screening will begin immediately, with a goal of filling the position by early 2021.
Applicants must submit a resume, a letter outlining employment history and achievements, a statement no longer than two pages of your vision for the organization, as well as relevant material or samples that demonstrate work in investigative journalism, any evidence of teaching experience and fundraising, and a one page diversity statement that specifically addresses how you would engage with a diverse student population with regards to teaching, research, mentoring and advising. The names and contact information for three references should be provided.
June 30, 2020
Cheryl W. Thompson of NPR will serve another year as IRE’s board president, the full board decided unanimously today during a livestreamed video meeting. Thompson, IRE’s first African-American president, has served in the role during the past two years. She is in her sixth year on the IRE board.
The board also elected other members of the Executive Committee for one-year terms:
During a month-long online voting process that concluded June 20, IRE members elected seven candidates to the board, including three Black members, increasing representation to a total of four. In addition, women hold a majority for the second consecutive year on the 13-member board.
Following the announcement of election results, the newly constituted board elected officers on June 20. The process resulted in an all-white Executive Committee. On June 24, the Executive Committee announced that all five members would resign to pave the way for a new election of officers.
Board members are elected by IRE members for two-year terms: seven seats during even-numbered years and six seats in odd-numbered years. There are no term limits for board members. Each year, the full board votes on one-year terms for its Executive Committee: president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and an at-large member.
June 29, 2020
IRE recently awarded eight fellowships to upcoming Data Journalism Bootcamps thanks to the generosity of financial supporters. Recipients will either attend the August Online Data Journalism Bootcamp or the January 2021 Data Journalism Bootcamp. IRE is fortunate to have funding available to provide fellowships for financial assistance.
Alexia Fernandez Campbell from the Center for Public Integrity, Kaylee Tornay from Mail Tribune (Medford, Oregon) and Andrea Perdomo from WGCU Public Media (Ft. Myers, Florida), received the Ottaway Fellowship.
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund, the Ottoway Fellowship is aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership.
Ramon Galindo from KNSD-TV (San Diego, California) and Archith Seshadri from Nexstar Media Group, received the Knight TV Data Fellowship.
The Knight TV Data Fellowship is funded by the Knight Foundation to strengthen data watchdog skills at local TV stations across the United States.
Carter Walker from LNP Media Group received the Total Newsroom Training Fellowship.
Total Newsroom Training (TNT) Fellowships are open to those who have completed two days of TNT training.
Samantha Hogan from Pine Tree Watch/Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and Liz Owens from WRDW/WAGT-TV (Augusta, Georgia), received the R-CAR Fellowship.
Established by IRE member Daniel Gilbert, the fellowship is intended to provide rural reporters with training they might 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, sign up to receive IRE’s newsletter about fellowship opportunities.
The Executive Committee of the IRE Board of Directors sent the following letter to the full Board of Directors this afternoon:
Dear members of the IRE Board of Directors:
On Saturday, members of IRE elected one of the most diverse boards in its 45-year history. Seven members were elected to the board over the weekend, including three Black members, increasing representation to a total of four. In addition, women hold a board majority for the second consecutive year.
But the election for the executive committee – which resulted in an all-White committee – left us heartbroken and frustrated. This result contradicts IRE’s mission. Our Bylaws, which require an immediate vote, set up a rushed process that contributed to this outcome.
Since this disappointing result, we have been discussing ways to address this for this Board, and all future Boards. Therefore, all five executive committee members are resigning their positions to allow for a new election. In addition, we are taking the following actions:
We believe these changes can better express IRE’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Signed,
The members of IRE’s Executive Committee: Jodi Upton, Steven Rich, Brian Rosenthal, Bethany Barnes and Jennifer LaFleur
Update (May 20): The first camp set for June 15-16 is sold out. Another mini-bootcamp will be offered online June 29-30. See below for registration details.
Registration is open for IRE’s first-ever online mini-bootcamp in data journalism.
In the bootcamp, which will be June 15-16, attendees will learn fundamentals of cleaning, analyzing and visualizing data using spreadsheets and Tableau. Courses will be taught remotely through live instruction, small-group workshops and activities.
In addition to two days of live, hands-on training, attendees receive:
The mini-bootcamp is designed to help journalists learn fundamental data skills during the coronavirus pandemic. It is geared toward beginners, and no data experience is necessary to enroll.
“Our data journalism bootcamps have a long history of teaching practical skills that any journalist in the newsroom can use immediately,” said Denise Malan, IRE deputy executive director. “We’re excited for this new evolution in our data training program that will help members build these skills during a time they are needed more than ever.”
Dates: June 15-16, 2020 (sold out); June 29-30 (registration open at this link)
Capacity: 20 attendees
Cost: $250 (Attendees also must be current IRE members. Membership costs $70/professionals and $25/students)
Questions? Email training@ire.org
Ron Campbell credits IRE for rescuing him after being laid off in 2014 from The Orange County Register.
“I had a new full-time job within five months and I had part-time work within, literally, one week of my layoff,” he said. “Because I had developed skills sufficient that I could almost immediately find employment after having to turn in my badge and walk out of a job that I had had for more than 20 years.”
Campbell, now the data editor for NBC Owned Television Stations, views his $70 annual IRE membership as a career lifeline. “Having grown and added skills through IRE, I was able to survive. So think of IRE, think of that $70, as a way of purchasing a life vest.”
Campbell is one of dozens of journalists this month helping celebrate the value of IRE membership in short video testimonials.
We invite you, too, to share how IRE has helped you -- and how you have helped others through IRE. Post your comments, along with a short video clip or photo, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. Please use #IREstrong and tag @IRE_NICAR. During May, help us flood our social streams with IRE camaraderie and impact!
“If you’ve let your IRE membership lapse, we’d love to have you back in the fold,” IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. “And if you’ve thought that IRE benefited only projects or I-Team reporters, we’d love to show you how every journalist can be an investigative journalist.
“I’ve been a member for 22 years, and I owe my career to IRE,” Haddix said. “When times get tough, IRE is even more critical to help navigate troubled waters.”
In true IRE spirit, the Support a Journalist program enables you to contribute toward memberships for professional journalists and academics who have been laid off or furloughed, or whose job has been eliminated within the past year. Full details are online for those who need help and for those able to help financially.
Student memberships remain a bargain at $25 a year. IRE student members are able to extend their $25 membership rate for three years after college graduation.
Resources available only to IRE members include the quarterly IRE Journal magazine, thousands of tipsheets, and premium reporting tools such as Tableau Desktop. In addition, IRE has taken steps during the coronavirus pandemic to provide journalists, students and educators with free resources. Check out our series of free webinars and our expanded NICAR-Learn collection of data tool tutorials, filled with new videos and free access for a year.
Through IRE, you can get to the bottom of your story and the top of your field.
Not even a pandemic can disconnect IRE members. Collaboration, training, resources, support. That’s been the IRE way for more than four decades. Together, for decades to come, we’ll remain afloat.
Investigations that proved Russian jets bombed Syrian hospitals, documented dangerous solitary confinement of vulnerable immigrants, revealed conditions inside Amazon warehouses and uncovered sexual abuse of children are among the winners of the 2019 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.
“This year's entries were powerful examples of investigations that held institutions and people accountable,” said Jennifer LaFleur, an IRE board member and chair of the IRE Awards contest committee. “Many of the investigations also made use of innovative techniques, enabling them to do stories that could never be done before.”
Norberto Santana Jr., an IRE board member who also served as a contest judge, added: “At a time when trust in government is beyond strained, these entries really inspire in terms of these reporters' dedication to public service. Whether it's protecting vulnerable seniors, workers or kids, or preserving voting rights, or fighting corruption abroad or checking our own federal government's truthfulness on the fight against terrorism and the war in Afghanistan, reporters all across America and abroad are really stepping up to offer people real information they can use to stay informed and most importantly, get involved.
“That's the true power of investigative reporting,” Santana said. “It changes things. It allows people to get involved.”
This year’s winners were selected from more than 450 entries. The awards, given since 1979, recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The contest covers 17 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes.
The IRE Awards will be presented at a luncheon on August 28 at the 2020 IRE Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Tom Renner Award (for covering organized crime or other criminal acts): “Plunder and Patronage in the Heart of Central Asia,” Radio Azattyk (RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz service), the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and Kloop, a Kyrgyz outlet. Due to multiple threats received by reporters and editors, the names of individual contributors are not disclosed.
Link to OCCRP series; Link to RFE/RL series
FOI Award: “The Afghanistan Papers: The Secret History of the War,” The Washington Post, Craig Whitlock
Link to Washington Post series
Print/Online Division I (tie):
“While the judges were impressed with all of the entries, they were unable to name just one winner in the Print/Online Division I category. We felt that both pieces were important and strong,” contest judge Ron Nixon said. "Both investigations saved lives in different ways."
Print/Online Division II:
“Beaten, then Silenced,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, Lisa Gartner
Link to Philadelphia Inquirer first story
Print/Online Division III: “At Risk: Boys & Girls Clubs and Sexual Abuse,” Hearst Connecticut Media, Lisa Yanick Litwiller, Hannah Dellinger, Viktoria Sundqvist, Meghan Friedmann, Peter Yankowski, Humberto Rocha, Tatiana Flowers
Link to Hearst Connecticut Media first story
Print/Online Division IV: “It’s Time For You to Die,” The Post and Courier, Jennifer Berry Hawes, Stephen Hobbs, Glenn Smith, Andrew Whitaker, Seanna Adcox
Link to The Post and Courier first story
Broadcast/Video Division I: "Syria Health Care Under Attack," The New York Times, Evan Hill and Christiaan Triebert
Link to The New York Times story
Broadcast/Video Division II: “Unwarranted,” WBBM-TV, Chicago, Dave Savini, Michele Youngerman, Samah Assad, Jeff Harris, Tiffani Lupenski, Marda LeBeau, Mike Klingele, Alif Muhammad, Deandre Taylor, Scott Wilson, Derek Dalton
Link to WBBM-TV story
Broadcast/Video Division III: “Fooling the Feds,” Fox45 News, Baltimore, Jeff Keene, Chris Papst, Carolyn Sachse, Dwayne Myers, Jed Gamber
Link to Fox45 News story
Broadcast/Video Division IV: “Patient Pain: The Massive Money in Medical Debt,” East Idaho News, Nate Eaton, Nate Sunderland, Mike Price
Link to East Idaho News story
Radio/Audio - Large: “Amazon: Behind the Smiles,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Will Evans, Katharine Mieszkowski, Taki Telonidis, Rachel de Leon, Kevin Sullivan, Najib Aminy, Andrew Donohue, Esther Kaplan, Matt Thompson, John Barth (PRX), Al Letson, Melissa Lewis, Hannah Young, Byard Duncan, David Rodriguez, Mwende Hinojosa, Jim Briggs, Fernando Arruda
Link to Reveal story
Radio/Audio - Small: “Prosecution Declined,” Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, Eleanor Klibanoff, Kate Howard, Laura Ellis
Link to the KYCIR story
Student - Large: “State of Emergency,” Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, News21 staff
Link to News21 series
Student - Small: "Believe at your own risk," SUNY Stony Brook, Rachael Eyler
Link to SUNY Stony Brook series
Investigations Triggered by Breaking News: "Inside Texas' Botched Voter-Rolls Review," The Texas Tribune, Alexa Ura, Ryan Murphy, Matthew Watkins
Link to The Texas Tribune first story
IRE Award for Sports Investigations: “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: Game Change,” HBO, Josh Fine, Bernie Goldberg, Nisreen Habbal, Tres Driscoll, Joe Perskie
Link to HBO story
Book: “Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Book” by Katherine Eban
Click here for a complete list of winners, finalists, judges and judges’ comments.
In early March, we put together a panel at the 2020 NICAR Conference on how to cover the response to COVID-19. Although much has changed in the past month, there were some key takeaways from the panel that will ring true throughout the pandemic.
Panelists Caroline Chen from ProPublica, Anna Barry-Jester from Kaiser Health News and Sarah Babcock from the New Orleans Health Department, offered four tips for how to cover the coronavirus outbreak.
1. Look at lab capacity when reporting on testing
From the beginning of this outbreak, the United States decided against using the World Health Organization’s test guidelines. Caroline Chen noticed the slow rollout of testing, and eventually realized that American tests weren’t working properly.
“I had noted that it was taking New York City still a couple days to get answers to their tests. At that point, they were still coming back negative,” Chen said.
The tests were later found to be faulty.
“That [decision to go with our own protocol] lost us a bunch of time,” she said.
The lack of testing allowed the virus to spread in the United States undetected, exposing many people to the coronavirus without the knowledge of health departments. If you want to look into testing in your own area, Chen suggested looking at capacity. If a lab only has one technician and that person can only do X number of tests a day, how many tests can they realistically run?
2. Pull inspection reports to see if hospitals were prepared for the outbreak
The United States, by many metrics, was underprepared for the coronavirus outbreak. The Trump administration closed the White House pandemic office well before the COVID-19 outbreak began, stunting the federal government’s ability to respond. But Sarah Babcock of the New Orleans Health Department said local and regional health agencies are ready for this kind of outbreak.
“We have infectious disease outbreaks every single day around the country. And so our response to COVID-19 is the same as a child with measles, just at a larger scale,” Babcock said.
The local health department is notified if an odd number of people start showing up in the hospital system, and it knows which symptoms are cropping up often in the community, Babcock said.
“Almost every [health department] is already going to have a flu pandemic or infectious disease outbreak plan on the shelf ready to go,” she said.
Hospitals were preparing for the crisis to hit the U.S., and Chen said you can pull past inspection reports to see whether they were adequately prepared.
“There is a specific citation that can be given by [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] inspectors or federal government inspectors, that the tag is infection control specifically,” she said.
You can ask experts to look at those tags and tell you whether the hospital is following proper protocols to protect health care workers and whether they’ve had recent training on personal protective equipment.
Reporters should keep an eye on local nursing homes for signs of the outbreak, Anna Barry-Jester said. One Washington nursing home was linked to 34 coronavirus deaths.
Kaiser Health News has a tool available to look at infection records in nursing homes across the U.S. Using the tool, you can quickly find the number of times homes in your city or state have been cited for infection control violations since 2017.
3. Be careful with statistics
Because testing is so limited, it’s hard to know what the actual fatality rates are for COVID-19.
“Not every person that has coronavirus is ever going to get tested,” Babcock said. “And there's never going to be a time where anyone who wants a coronavirus test can get a coronavirus test.”
The expected fatality rate has fluctuated significantly across time and location. In South Korea, which has expansive testing and a relatively mild rate of infection, death rates have remained much lower: just 0.6 percent. Italy, meanwhile, has limited testing and an elderly population, so its death rate is nearly 8 percent.
Chen also cautions against predictive statistics for infections. While epidemiologists are creating great models for how many infections there might be in a given city in the next few months, writing headlines with those numbers could cause a panic.
“People are just going to take that and run off in a panic,” Chen said. “So I just try not to do that. I think that's fear mongering.”
4. Health department officials can be the most reliable human sources
If you’re trying to find data about coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization are obvious go-tos. But Chen also recommends the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
“They are very media friendly, and they're sort of aggregating information,” she said.
You can also look into public health associations, both regionally and nationally, Barry-Jester said. The American Public Health Association is one option, and it has regional offices across the country.
Johns Hopkins University has also put together a Coronavirus Resource Center that has updated information and stats.
When it comes to human sources, Babcock cautioned against using your local doctor as a health expert.
“They don't always have information that came out early that morning with the latest statistics or don't know the background that hasn't been released publicly yet,” she said. “The people who are going to know your most accurate and timely information are your health department officials.”
Babcock suggested interviewing public health officials, but said they’re often busy because of the outbreak. Instead of asking for individual interviews, she urged reporters to go to press conferences whenever they happen.
“I would say it is 1,000 times easier to get a written statement or a phone call than it is an in-person interview,” Babcock said.
You can find the tipsheet from the NICAR20 session here.
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