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IRE members to vote on membership rules at annual conference
(with options for voting in-person and virtually)
Lauren Grandestaff
IRE Executive Director Diana Fuentes and IRE Board President Brian M. Rosenthal will lead the annual membership meeting for all IRE members in Marquis Center at the Anaheim Marriott on Saturday, June 22, at 5:30 p.m. PDT. As part of the meeting, there will be votes on several proposed amendments to the IRE Articles of Incorporation.
These six proposed amendments, which are summarized directly below and listed in full at the end of this post, are designed to make IRE more inclusive, more accessible and more relevant, particularly amid industry upheaval:
The first amendment would make all retired journalists eligible for membership in IRE, even if they were not part of the organization while they were working journalists. (Currently, retirees are only eligible if they were previous IRE members.)
The second amendment would give the organization the discretion to extend associate membership to individuals who are not full-time journalists but work part-time in news gathering, presentation and/or production (currently, part-timers are only eligible if they work in "reporting or editing”) and to individuals who are not journalists but have contributed to the field of investigative journalism (currently, non-journalists are only eligible if they have contributed to IRE specifically). Unlike full members, associate members cannot vote in IRE elections.
The third amendment would allow recent college graduates to temporarily remain student members (instead of professional members) until they land their first job. This would allow them to pay less in membership dues.
The fourth and fifth amendments are both technical, fixing grammatical issues and gendered language.
The sixth amendment would clarify that members can vote on amendments to the Articles of Incorporation remotely if they virtually attend the membership meeting where the vote is taking place.
The IRE Board has unanimously approved all of these amendments. In order to be enacted, they must also be approved by 2/3 of IRE Members present at a membership meeting.
In-person voting will initially be conducted by a show of hands; if it is unclear whether a proposal passes or fails, paper ballots will be used. In addition, for the first time, members who cannot attend in-person may register to attend and vote virtually using an online poll. Only eligible professional, academic, retiree and student members may vote.
If you have any questions, or if you would like to share feedback before the meeting, please contact the IRE Board at board@ire.org.
Here are the proposed amendments, in full:
Amendment #1: To expand who can become a “Retired” member of IRE (Section 5.01)
Current language: The Retired class shall be limited to persons who formerly belonged to the Professional and or Academic class but have retired from their occupation.
Proposed language: The “Retired” class shall be limited to persons who have retired from journalism and are no longer working full-time.
Amendment #2: To expand who can apply to be an “Associate” member of IRE (Section 5.01)
Current language: “Associate” membership will be available to former Professional or Academic members who are not retired, individuals engaged part-time in reporting or editing, plus individuals recognized by the Board of Directors for their contributions to this corporation to the field of investigative reporting and editing.
Proposed language: “Associate” membership will be available to former IRE Members who are not retired; to individuals engaged part-time in news gathering, presentation and/or production; or to individuals recognized by the organization for their contributions to the field of investigative journalism.
Amendment #3: To allow recent college graduates to temporarily remain student members (Section 5.01)
Current language: The Corporation shall recognize as “Student” members those college students pursuing a degree, who subscribe to the Corporation, in order to be entitled to receive the benefits of its educational activities.
Proposed language: The “Student” class shall be limited to college students pursuing a degree and recent graduates who are not yet working.
Amendment #4: Technical/grammatical changes to Section 5.01
Overall current language: Section 5.01. Classes of Membership. The Corporation shall have five classes of membership. The classes of membership shall be entitled “Professional”, “Academic”, “Retired”, “Associate” and “Student” respectively. The Professional class shall be limited to persons substantially engaged in news gathering, presentation or production. The Academic class shall be limited to persons engaged full-time in research or teaching in the field of journalism. The Retired class shall be limited to persons who formerly belonged to the Professional and or Academic class but have retired from their occupation. “Associate” membership will be available to former Professional or Academic members who are not retired, individuals engaged part-time in reporting or editing, plus individuals recognized by the Board of Directors for their contributions to this corporation to the field of investigative reporting and editing. The Corporation shall recognize as “Student” members those college students pursuing a degree, who subscribe to the Corporation, in order to be entitled to receive the benefits of its educational activities. Associate members shall not be eligible for the voting rights which are reserved to the other classes of members. (Amendments adopted 6/7/08, 3/6/15)
Overall proposed language: Section 5.01. Classes of Membership. The Corporation shall have five classes of membership. The classes of membership shall be entitled “Professional,” “Academic”, “Retired”, “Associate” and “Student” respectively. The “Professional” class shall be limited to persons substantially engaged in news gathering, presentation and/or production. The “Academic” class shall be limited to persons engaged full-time in research and/or teaching in the field of journalism. The “Retired” class shall be limited to persons who have retired from journalism and are no longer working full-time. The “Student” class shall be limited to college students pursuing a degree and recent graduates who are not yet working. “Associate” membership will be available to former IRE Members who are not retired; to individuals engaged part-time in news gathering, presentation and/or production; or to individuals recognized by the organization for their contributions to the field of investigative journalism. Associate members shall not be eligible for the voting rights, which are reserved to the other classes of members. The Board of Directors may further define each of these classes. (Amendments adopted 6/7/08, 3/6/15, 6/22/24)
Amendment #5: To remove gendered language (Section 2.03)
Current language: No member of the Corporation shall have or receive any earnings from the Corporation, except a member who is an officer, director, or employee of the Corporation, in which event he may receive fair and reasonable compensation for his services as an officer, director, or employee: and a member may also receive payments of principal and interest at a rate not exceeding six percent (6%) per annum on funds loaned or advanced by him to the Corporation.
Proposed language: No member of the Corporation shall have or receive any earnings from the Corporation, except a member who is an officer, director, or employee of the Corporation, in which event they may receive fair and reasonable compensation for their services as an officer, director, or employee: and a member may also receive payments of principal and interest at a rate not exceeding six percent (6%) per annum on funds loaned or advanced by them to the Corporation.
Amendment #6: To clarify that members can vote on Articles amendments virtually (Section 10.10)
Current language: The Corporation reserves the right to amend, alter, change or repeal any provisions contained in the Articles of Incorporation in any amendment hereto, in any manner now or hereafter prescribed or permitted by the Act or any amendment thereto; upon two-thirds vote of the Members after majority adoption by the Board of Directors of a resolution submitting such amendment of the articles to the membership at an annual or special meeting by written notice given to Members
Proposed language: The Corporation reserves the right to amend, alter, change or repeal any provisions contained in the Articles of Incorporation in any amendment hereto, in any manner now or hereafter prescribed or permitted by the Act or any amendment thereto; after majority adoption by the Board of Directors of a resolution submitting such amendment of the articles to the membership, upon two-thirds vote of the Members in attendance, in-person or virtually at an annual or special meeting by written notice given to Members.
