To celebrate Earth Day, we put together some tips for reporting on the environment. Journalists shared this guidance in past training sessions and interviews. Find more helpful resources at The IRE Resource Center. 1. Get visually creative Climate reporting often means presenting issues or conflicts that may not have happened yet. When that’s the case, try to find ways to get visually creative. This can help make your journalism not just more visually appealing, but more accessible. That’s what Amal Ahmed and Ivan Armando Flores did to tell the story of oil and gas development along the Texas ..read more

Investigative journalist Eric Eyre led the way in exposing the opioid crisis in rural West Virginia.  He’s won multiple awards: The field’s top honor, the Pulitzer Prize. An IRE Medal. A National Headliner Award. Most recently, in 2021, the IRE Book Award. And he still finds value in being an IRE member. “I still use the tipsheets,” Eyre said. “I tell people, before they launch into a project or a story, to look back (at the IRE Resource Center). … I know for the series on opioids that I did, I used that to see what had already been done, so I didn't duplicate what had been done (and) get ..read more

Investigative Reporters and Editors is pleased to announce that the organization is partnering with three major airlines to provide discounts for those flying to California for the IRE24 conference in Anaheim June 20-23. "In this tumultuous time for the journalism industry, we at IRE are doing everything we can to ensure that our best-in-class training is accessible and affordable for all reporters and editors,” said IRE Board President Brian M. Rosenthal. “We know that our members are facing enormous financial pressures, and we are committed to finding creative solutions to better serve their ..read more

"In a difficult year for journalism, the winners of the 2023 IRE Awards give us hope,” said Lily Jamali, chair of the IRE Awards contest committee. “The work of these dogged journalists reflects an ongoing commitment to truth and accountability against a backdrop of dwindling industry resources. Entries showed the powerful impact that can come from combining investigative reporting techniques with vivid storytelling. Our colleagues at times put themselves at great risk. They nevertheless got the story and helped bring about change.” This year’s winners were selected from more than 450 entries ..read more

NICAR24 was like a homecoming for St. Louis data journalist Janelle O’Dea. “It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year,” O’Dea said. “If I'm around other journalists when I say that, they're like, ‘Wow, you're such a nerd.’ And I'm like, ‘Yes I am. Proud to be!’” This conference was especially meaningful because it was her 10th NICAR, O’Dea explained to her nail artist a day before flying out to Baltimore. She showed a photo of the NICAR24 t-shirt, designed by Realtor.com's Evan Wyloge, and talked about how the organization helped kick start her career.  Nail artist Heather Young took i ..read more

Eight newsrooms will receive custom, grant-funded watchdog training in the coming year through IRE’s Total Newsroom Training program. Total Newsroom Training provides two days of intensive, personalized training for small and medium-sized newsrooms dedicated to watchdog journalism. This is the 11th year Investigative Reporters and Editors has offered the program, and will reach the milestone of 100 newsrooms trained under TNT in 2024. "The fundamental mission of IRE is to provide the best in data analysis and investigative journalism training, providing a thriving network of like-minded journa ..read more

Over the course of 2023, IRE fellows Halima Gikandi, Leslie Rangel and Kaylee Tornay worked hard and dug deep to share important, investigative reporting with their communities. They asked questions about abuse allegations, spoke to experts about mental health and analyzed data on child care. We’re proud to share their investigations, part of the Chauncey Bailey Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship program. Halima Gikandi Halima Gikandi, of The World, found several allegations of abuse, neglect and misconduct at two Uganda orphanages. Listen to her multi-part series "No place ..read more

The 2024 NICAR Conference is just around the corner. This year, members are heading to Charm City. IRE’s annual data journalism conference will host amazing sessions March 7-10. But what is there to do outside of conference sessions and networking in Baltimore?  Thanks to NICAR24 Regional Committee members Tisha Thompson, Mallory Sofastaii and Kimi Yoshino, we’ve got you covered! Thompson is an investigative reporter with ESPN. Sofastaii is a consumer investigative reporter at WMAR-2 in Baltimore. Yoshino is editor-in-chief of The Baltimore Banner Need a bite to eat? These options are jus ..read more

IRE is proud to partner with Sunshine Week this year.  National Sunshine Week, celebrated annually in mid-March, is a public awareness campaign to shine a light on the importance of public records and open government. It’s a reminder to journalists and citizens alike — we have a right to know what’s going on in government! “It’s a cause everyone can support,” David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, wrote in The IRE Journal this month.  “As Stanford’s James Hamilton calculated in his ‘Democracy’s Detectives’ book, for every dollar spent on records-bas ..read more

The results are in! Here's the lineup for Lightning Talks at the NICAR24 conference in Baltimore next week, in speaking order: 1. Your own worst enemy: How to organize your work so your future self won't hate you | Justin Myers, Chicago Sun-Times You might have been here before: trying to pick apart some old analysis or script, wondering in anger what kind of jerk designed it this way — only to realize that jerk was you. I've been in that situation, too, and over the years I've found some ways to be kinder to the ever-present coworker known as My Future Self. I'd like to share some of them. 2 ..read more