IRE 2023 conference schedule
208 sessions confirmed • Updated July 25 • All times are ET
208 sessions confirmed • Updated July 25 • All times are ET
The IRE 2023 conference will run from Thursday, June 22, to Sunday, June 25 in Orlando, at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld (6677 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32821).
Click here to register for the conference. More details will be added to this schedule as they are confirmed.
The Guidebook guide for IRE 2023 is now available. First, download the Guidebook app if you haven't already. Then you can click here to access the conference guide.
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Showing 208 of 208 sessions
Welcome, first-timers! 👋
Time: Thursday, June 22, 8:15 – 8:45 a.m. (30 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Welcome to #IRE23! Hear from IRE staff about tips and tactics to navigate our conference like a pro and learn about key resources that IRE offers once you're back home.
Speakers
Diana R. Fuentes was named IRE's executive director in April 2021. She oversees training, conferences and services for 6,000 members worldwide, and for programs including the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). She most recently was deputy metro editor of the San Antonio Express-News, overseeing a team of reporters who cover government, courts, diversity issues, the environment and history, among other duties. She has more than 30 years of journalism experience, from police reporter and statehouse bureau chief to editor and publisher. A second-generation Texan who's fluent in Spanish, Fuentes has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Lauren is the Director of Content. She oversees the training and editorial teams as well as manages the programming for IRE's events including its three major conferences. Lauren also manages the IRE Awards. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology with an emphasis on queer theory and social inequalities and a master’s degree in library science with an emphasis on inequitable access to information - both from the University of Missouri. Lauren has been with IRE since 2011.
Cody Winchester (he/him) was a newspaper reporter, data specialist and web developer before joining IRE as a training director in 2017. He became director of technology in 2022.
Connect on social media: GitHub
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Benét Wilson
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Benét Wilson. Benét can help you with resumes, cover letters, career navigation and networking.
Speaker
Benét J. Wilson is director of the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship, a year-long program designed to train early-career journalists. She was previously a senior editor and travel/aviation writer for The Points Guy. She serves on the board of Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and has served on the boards of the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. She is a strong advocate for media diversity, mentoring and career navigation. She has moderated workshops and webinars on topics including resumes/cover letters, digital journalism, branding and social media. She graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a B.A. in broadcast journalism. She resides in San Antonio, Texas.
Breaking down the investigative narrative
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
The goals of investigative and narrative writing can be in tension with each other –– one seeks to tell, the other show. But the best investigations deftly combine the two, using the tools of storytelling to make people and policymakers care about harms, wrongdoing and matters of accountability. We'll give an overview of how to report, write, structure and edit an investigative narrative and unpack the challenges that even veteran reporters and editors struggle with along the way.
Speakers
Lauren Caruba is an investigative reporter for The Dallas Morning News, where she focuses on long-term projects and accountability reporting. She is a two-time local reporting Livingston Awards finalist, including for her body of work on COVID-19, which was also recognized by Texas APME and the Headliners Foundation of Texas. An ardent fan of immersive storytelling, her stories have twice been anthologized in Mayborn/UNT’s Best American Newspaper Narratives series.
DeGregory is a listener, a writer, a podcaster. She loves embedding in strangers’ lives and sharing their stories. Over the last 30 years, she has written more than 3,000 stories at newspapers across the East Coast. DeGregory came to the Tampa Bay Times in 2000 and has won dozens of national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. She is also a mother, a dog lover, a teacher and die-hard Deadhead.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Facebook Group
Matthew Hansen is the editor of the Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska's first statewide journalism nonprofit newsroom. Previously he was a longtime reporter and columnist at the Omaha World-Herald.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Mary Rajkumar is the international investigations editor for The Associated Press. She has led and edited two Pulitzer Gold Medal-winning projects. The most recent, "Erasing Mariupol," published in 2022, is credited with saving thousands of Ukrainian civilian lives. An earlier project in 2016, "Seafood From Slaves," documented modern-day slavery and resulted in the rescue of more than 2,000 people. She has also led and edited three projects named as Pulitzer finalists.
Broadcast track: 60 ideas in 60 minutes
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
A speed round of best ideas anyone can do in their markets. Jot these down and go do them now!
Speakers
Mark Greenblatt is the senior national investigative correspondent for Scripps News. He will, this July, become the next executive editor of the Howard Center For Investigative Journalism at ASU's Cronkite School. Mark's reporting has earned three Peabody Awards, the IRE Medal, the duPont, the Livingston and other awards. He is a current IRE Board Member, the past president of the Fund For Investigative Journalism, a lifelong Red Sox fan and he brews his own beer.
Kerry Kavanaugh is an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy award-winning anchor and investigative reporter at WFXT in Boston. She started her career more than twenty years ago as a multimedia journalist in Bozeman, Montana. Kerry then spent time reporting in Des Moines, Tampa and Atlanta before moving back home to Boston in 2015. She is a graduate of Boston College, where she majored in communications.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Data visualization and storytelling with Datawrapper
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Datawrapper is a practical, free, browser-based data visualization tool -- particularly useful for journalists who don't have much experience with visualizations or need to make them quickly.
In this hands-on session, you'll learn the basics of choosing the right visualization type for your data, inputting the data and using Datawrapper's customization and annotation tools to meaningfully integrate the visualization into your story, as well as avoiding visualizations that are misleading or difficult for your audience to understand.
The goal is to get you the technical knowledge needed to work with Datawrapper and give you the tools to apply journalistic values when utilizing data visualizations of any kind.
This session is good for: Anyone who wants to learn how to make basic data visualizations.
Instructor
Adam Rayes is Indiana Public Broadcasting's labor and employment reporter. For IPB and others in Colorado and Michigan, where he grew up, he has analyzed data and used it to create eye-catching, informative visualizations that are fun to play with and widely accessible.
Google Sheets 1: Getting started with spreadsheets
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
In this introduction to spreadsheets, you'll begin analyzing data with Google Sheets, a simple but powerful tool. You'll learn how to enter data, navigate spreadsheets and conduct simple calculations like sum, average and median.
This session is good for: Data beginners.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Zack Newman is an investigative data producer for 9NEWS (KUSA-TV) in Colorado, where he works on collaborative and individual investigations. The Eagle Scout and improvisor came to Denver from New York City, where he worked for MSNBC and as an investigative field producer for the documentary "Sky Blossom." He has won awards including a regional Emmy, national Edward R. Murrow and national Sigma Delta Chi. Newman graduated from the University of Missouri.
How to deliver local election stories that count
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Democracy begins at the local level, with elections for mayor, legislative seats, school boards and more. Voters are hungry for information about candidates’ integrity and allegiances — and to make sure they're not voting for the next George Santos — but not for coverage that feels like civics homework.
In this panel, you'll learn how to dig up details on campaign funders, political alliances, and past entanglements, find and follow leads on campaign finance corruption, and explore innovations in engaging voters through news apps and other projects.
Speakers
Brendan has spent more than 20 years working in the money in politics field. Previously, he worked with the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). He has worked extensively with federal and state campaign disclosure data. He also worked on creating CFI’s database of state laws. Brendan graduated from Colgate University with degrees in political science and history.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Alyssa is executive editor with THE CITY and a former member of the NY Daily News editorial board. Previously, Katz was editor of The New York World and City Limits. She is the author of “The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life” and “Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us.”
Grace Panetta is a political reporter at The 19th* covering the intersection of gender and politics. She previously worked at Insider for four years covering politics with a focus on elections and voting, and she has contributed two book chapters on election administration for the University of Virginia Center for Politics' books on the 2020 and 2022 elections. She holds a graduate certificate in election administration from The University of Minnesota.
Min Xian is the local accountability reporter at Spotlight PA and covers local government in north-central Pennsylvania, the state with the second largest number of municipalities in the nation.
Connect on social media: Twitter
How to project manage like a duck: A guide for reporters and editors
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Ducks paddle furiously beneath the surface but appear at ease to onlookers above water. Journalists can do that, too. In this panel, we'll take you through the project process, from start to finish and discuss how to manage your reporting, manage your colleagues and manage your life.
Speakers
Chabeli Carrazana is the economy reporter for The 19th*, where she focuses on women and LGBTQ+ workers, workplace discrimination and child-care policy. She was previously a business reporter in Florida covering the tourism industry for the Miami Herald and the space industry for the Orlando Sentinel. In 2021, she was a national Livingston Award finalist for her coverage of the women’s recession. Chabeli was born in Cuba and speaks fluent Spanish.
Rose Ciotta is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who co-edited "Assault on Learning," which won The Philadelphia Inquirer the 2012 Gold Medal for Public Service. She's the investigations and projects editor for EdSource, an award-winning education news web site. She founded and directs Investigative Editing Corps, which links editors to help local news do investigative reporting. She's a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow and has served on the IRE board.
Brian M. Rosenthal is an investigative reporter on the Metro Desk at The New York Times. He won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for exposing predatory lending in the taxi industry, and he was part of a team that won the 2015 Pulitzer in Breaking News for coverage of a deadly mudslide. He also was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer in Public Service. Brian grew up in Indiana and began his career at The Seattle Times and the Houston Chronicle.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Interviewing your data with SQL - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
If you love pivot tables and solving data problems with spreadsheets but wish you had more power, this session is for you. Structured Query Language, or SQL, can help you use powerful filtering functions, find patterns in millions of records and join multiple data tables. We'll introduce you to PostgreSQL, a powerful (and free!) database manager.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited. Laptops will be provided for the training.
Workshop prerequisites: The only prerequisites are a reasonable comfort level with using a spreadsheet. No previous SQL skills necessary.
Instructor
Liz is the senior training director at IRE and an adjunct professor of data journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. She previously worked as data editor for Kaiser Health News, as a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity and as the director of data services for IRE.
Investigative techniques you can use in everyday reporting
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
This session will focus on reporting tools and techniques you can use in your everyday work to elevate your quick turns to classic watchdog reporting.
Speakers
Sarah Cohen is the Knight Chair in Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School in Arizona State University. She previously worked as the leader of an investigative data reporting team at The New York Times and as a database editor for The Washington Post. Her work has been honored with the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Award, an IRE medal and others. She is a past president of IRE.
Caresse is a national consumer investigative reporter based in Washington D.C. with Gray Television’s InvestigateTV. Prior to InvestigateTV, she was a consumer investigative reporter at WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee. She has prior reporting experience at WWL-TV in New Orleans, WJRT in Flint, Michigan, and WCBI in Columbus, Mississippi.
Ashley Remkus is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and the local investigative editor for AL.com in Alabama. She previously worked as an investigative reporter, covering the justice system and policing with a focus on accountability and public access.
Master class: Editing the data-driven investigation - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Managing a data project presents challenges for any editor. No matter your comfort level with data, this half-day workshop will give you the foundation you need to help make sure your reporters aren’t running with scissors or spinning their wheels on data projects. Veteran editors Maud Beelman and Jennifer LaFleur will guide you through the ins and outs of data journalism from an editor’s point of view, including:
No data experience is necessary for this workshop. Editors, producers, educators, and those interested in newsroom management are welcome.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speakers
Maud Beelman is executive editor of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University, where she teaches at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She has been a journalist for four decades, first as a domestic, foreign and war correspondent, and for the last 25 years as an investigative editor. She was the founding director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the former U.S. investigations editor for The Associated Press.
Jennifer LaFleur is a senior editor at The Center for Public Integrity. She joined CPI from the Investigative Reporting Workshop. She also teaches at American University.
Master class: The investigative interview - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
You need one final confirmation to run your story. It's the key piece of a months-long project, only one person can provide it, and you've got one shot to get it.
The entire story comes down to The Interview. Will you be ready?
We can help. Sign up for this half-day Master Class in interviewing and get a playbook for getting the information you need.
Cheryl W. Thompson, Scott Zamost and Mark Horvit will cover all the crucial steps, from preparation to the conversation. We'll cover confrontational interviews, talking with survivors, getting the most from witnesses, convincing those who don't want to talk with you and much more.
So the next time you dial that number, knock on that door or corner an official who’s been avoiding you, you’ll be ready.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speakers
Mark Horvit is a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he teaches investigative reporting and directs the State Government Reporting Program. He is also chair of the Journalism Professions faculty. Horvit previously served as executive director of IRE & NICAR, where he conducted training in investigative reporting and data journalism throughout the world. Horvit worked as a reporter and editor for 20 years.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Cheryl W. Thompson is an investigative correspondent and senior editor for investigations at NPR, overseeing investigations for member stations. Before joining NPR in 2019, she spent 22 years as an investigative and beat reporter with The Washington Post, where she wrote about guns, police, immigration, and politics. Her stories have won myriad awards, including an Emmy, two IRE and National Headliner awards, and three NABJ awards. She also was on the team that won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting: in 2002 for 9/11, and 2016 for police shootings. She received NPR’s 2021 public service journalism award given annually to one journalist, and was the reporting coach on the network’s podcast, “No Compromise,” which won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. In 2018, Cheryl was elected IRE’s first Black president, and served three terms in that role.
When CNBC Senior Investigative Producer Scott Zamost speaks at conferences, he often says if you can't get in the front door, go around the side. If that doesn't work, go to the back. You will eventually find your way and get the story. A former senior investigative producer at CNN, he was also a producer at CBS News, WTVJ and WPLG. He has won more than 75 journalism awards and is a frequent IRE speaker.
The year in international investigations
Time: Thursday, June 22, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Come hear how your colleagues abroad are fighting back with extraordinary stories, holding power to account, despite the worst kinds of corruption, crime and outright deceit. The panel will give a rapid-fire tour of inspired muckraking from the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
This session was planned in collaboration with Global Investigative Journalism Network. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Hoda is the executive editor at Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and president of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalist Association (AMEJA). She is a New York-based investigative journalist and journalism trainer who has collaborated on projects with various organizations including ICIJ, ICFJ and Frontline. She previously worked at the investigative unit of ABC News, the investigative unit of CBS News and France 24.
Connect on social media: Linkedin
Drew Sullivan is the co-founder and publisher of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). OCCRP has won more than 100 investigative journalism awards and may be the first global investigative media with 65 investigative editors on six continents. He has also worked for the Tennessean, the Associated Press and was an aerospace engineer on the Space Shuttle project for Rockwell Space Systems.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Zachary Fryer-Biggs
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Zachary Fryer-Biggs. Zachary can help you with covering military communities and building sources in secretive worlds. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Zachary Fryer-Biggs is the managing editor at Military.com. Zach has been a national security journalist for more than a decade, during that time working as Newsweek’s Pentagon reporter and as an investigative reporter covering national security for the Center for Public Integrity, among other positions. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Reveal, The Daily Beast and other outlets.
Broadcast track: Teamwork makes the dream work: Collaboration for increased exposure
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Collaborating with other stations, nonprofits, or print/digital organizations can level up your investigative game. Come learn how to pitch a collab and best practices for managing a collab. You'll hear horror stories and award winning successes to help guide your next collaboration.
Speakers
Mark is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who leads Hearst Television's National Investigative Unit in Washington, D.C. For nearly 25 years, his career has been distinguished by investigative and original reporting across the U.S. and around the world. He's reported for CBS News, launched a news startup and taught journalism at Northwestern University and in Pakistan and Vietnam. He's also been honored with NLGJA's Al Neuharth Award for Innovation in Investigative Journalism.
As Managing Editor of Investigative Content for Cox Media Group, Jodie manages national collaborations and investigations for eight local television stations. She previously spent 20+ years as an investigative reporter at WRC-TV Washington, WSB-TV Atlanta and WFTV Orlando. She’s been honored with an IRE Award, duPont Award and numerous Murrow and Emmy Awards. She was elected to IRE’s Board in 2019 and 2021 and currently serves on the Executive Committee and Member Services Committee.
Connect on social media: Twitter
John Kelly leads data journalism and investigations for ABC Owned Television Stations and collaborative investigations with ABC News, following two decades as a reporter, editor and data journalist at The Associated Press, USA TODAY and Florida Today. He's led dozens of award-winning investigations, including winner of the Goldsmith Prize in 2020, winners of Edward R. Murrow Awards in 2020 and 2022, and a 2017 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Aparna Zalani is an investigative producer with the CBS News Innovation Lab. Previously she worked as a special projects producer at the CBS station in Dallas-Fort Worth. She also spent 15 years at NBC News/MSNBC.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Business track: Investigating private equity’s impact on the healthcare system
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
From hospitals to doctors' practices, even hospices, private equity firms are gobbling up more and more of the healthcare system in hopes of turning a profit. This panel will discuss how to investigate these transactions and their impact on patients.
This session is sponsored by Bloomberg. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Markian Hawryluk is a Denver-based health reporter with KFF Health News. He has worked for a number of health care industry and consumer publications, including The Bend Bulletin, The Houston Chronicle, American Medical News and Provider magazine. He has won numerous journalism awards for his health coverage, and in 2013 was a Knight-Wallace Fellow.
Michael Kaplan is an award-winning journalist based in Washington D.C. with the CBS News investigative unit. He has more than a decade of experience producing long-form television investigations for CNN, NBC and across the CBS News platforms, including 60 Minutes. His scoops tied to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the U.S. government's response to the COVID pandemic and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi have generated worldwide headlines.
Hannah Levintova is the special projects editor at Mother Jones. Her reporting focuses on business, corporate accountability, debt and financial inequality. Previously, she covered politics in Mother Jones’ Washington, D.C., bureau, and before that worked on the news desk at NPR, at the Washington Monthly, and for a stint as a FOIA officer at a federal agency. She holds an MBA from Columbia University, where she was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business Journalism.
Documentos públicos que debes solicitar ahora mismo
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
¡Ten listas tus plantillas para utilizar la Ley de Libertad de Información! En esta sesión estilo relámpago, los panelistas hablarán de cuáles son sus documentos favoritos al solicitar información en todos los niveles del gobierno. Algunos son récords olvidados y subestimados pero, verás ejemplos de cómo producen historias en las redacciones de todo el país.
Speakers
Erika Carrillo has led the Investigative team for the Univision newscast in Miami and has won 13 Emmy Awards. Carrillo led the “Nightmare Condos” investigation that exposed frauds in condominium associations, promoting reforms in Florida laws. She published ”Florida: Paradise of beauty and death," denouncing bad practices and lack of regulations in cosmetic surgery centers, forcing Florida legislature to amend the law. Erika spent five years covering the armed conflict in Colombia.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
Brenda Medina is an investigative reporter at ICIJ. She worked on the Pandora Papers, the largest global journalism collaboration. Before ICIJ, Brenda was a reporting fellow at ProPublica, in New York. Before that, she worked for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, where she covered local government and immigration and worked on investigations about public corruption, housing and labor issues. Brenda is from the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the U.S. in 2003.
Karen Rodriguez is an award-winning national investigative producer at Scripps News. Born on the tropical island of Cuba, Karen braves the cold of the midwest to tell stories that cause change. In 2022, she was one of the lead reporters nominated for a Peabody award for "The Model City" investigative podcast, detailing the Louisville Metro Police departments failure to reform.
Getting past — or just surviving — gatekeepers of investigative reporting and other premiere beats
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Journalists of color, women and people from underrepresented backgrounds in journalism often have to fight to prove that we deserve to be here, whether that's securing a coveted spot on an investigative team or on another premiere beat historically covered by white men.
The battle to be taken seriously or treated fairly often doesn't stop once you're hired, and having diverse leadership or editors doesn't always protect you. This discussion will feature journalists from different backgrounds and career paths describing how they've navigated this problem in their own careers, what they've learned from their experiences and where to find support.
Speakers
Ximena Bustillo is a multi-platform reporter at NPR covering politics out of the White House and Congress on air and in print. She is also a co-founder of Voces Internship of Idaho, a nonprofit that places Idaho's Latino college students in local newsroom internships. Before NPR, she was a food agriculture policy reporter and newsletter author at POLITICO covering immigration, climate, labor, supply chain and equity issues. She is a graduate of Boise State University.
Daphne is an investigative reporter for The Marshall Project. She previously worked at USA TODAY, The Palm Beach Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Miami Herald. She has spent most of her career covering issues surrounding the criminal justice system, but she has also worked internationally in Haiti and parts of the Caribbean.
Nicole Foy reports on poverty and inequality for the California Divide team at CalMatters. She was previously an investigative reporter in Texas and Idaho, covering Latino communities, agriculture and inequity. While in Idaho, she was a 2020 Community Impact Fellow for Stanford University’s John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program. She is the co-founder of Voces Internship of Idaho, which places Idaho Latino students in paid newsroom internships.
Google Sheets 2: Formulas & sorting
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Much of Google Sheets' power comes in the form of formulas. In this class, you'll learn how to use them to analyze data with the eye of a journalist. Yes, math will be involved, but it's totally worth it! This class will show you how calculations like change, percent change, rates and ratios can beef up your reporting.
This session is good for: Anyone who has taken Google Sheets 1 or has been introduced to spreadsheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Tisha is an investigative reporter for ESPN, whose appearances include, but are not limited to, espn.com, SportsCenter, SC Features, Outside The Lines and The Daily. She worked in local television and has won some awards, but what she really wants you to know is she joined IRE before it was technically allowed, while still in high school, and credits it for so much of her professional success. This conference is her professional family reunion and she can't wait to see you.
How to background people in an hour
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Whether covering a mass shooting or a breaking political scandal, reporters need to know how to thoroughly and quickly background people involved in breaking news events. In this panel, journalists will share concrete tips about mining social media accounts, maximizing Nexis searches, accessing public records online, finding friends and relatives and turning hunches into distinctive stories.
Speakers
Michael Biesecker is a global investigative reporter for The Associated Press. He reports on a wide range of topics, including human conflict, climate change, political corruption and deaths in government custody. Biesecker’s work has been recognized with numerous journalism awards, including the 2022 IRE Medal for a project tracking potential war crimes in Ukraine. He also teaches graduate courses in investigative and environmental reporting at Georgetown University.
Melissa Segura is an investigative journalist focusing on the intersections of race, class and the criminal legal system. She won the Polk Award in 2018 for an investigation of a Chicago detective who framed more than 50 people for murders they didn't commit; 40 have since been exonerated.
Connect on social media: Twitter
So you want to learn to code ...
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
If you've ever felt intimidated by the thought of learning to code, this session is for you! This slow-paced introduction to computer programming will cover basic concepts and common use cases in the newsroom, and you'll get hands-on practice running some pre-written Python scripts.
This session is good for anyone who wants to learn more about how programming.
Instructor
Cody Winchester (he/him) was a newspaper reporter, data specialist and web developer before joining IRE as a training director in 2017. He became director of technology in 2022.
Connect on social media: GitHub
Tailoring investigative journalism for the ear
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
This session will cover the essentials of compelling audio storytelling, including getting the most from your meetings with your sources, interviewing for good narrative, as well as building scenes and emotion into your story.
Speakers
Kate Howard (she/her) is an editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Previously, she spent six years at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. She edited two seasons of the investigative podcast Dig, which won an IRE Award and was nominated for a Peabody Award. Prior to working in investigative radio, Kate spent nearly 14 years as a newspaper reporter. She is based in Louisville, Kentucky.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ike Sriskandarajah is a producer at This American Life. He was previously a senior reporter and fill-in host for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Christine Willmsen is the managing editor of investigations at WBUR. Her work on jail deaths won a national Murrow Award in 2021. Willmsen worked at the Seattle Times, where she was twice named a Pulitzer Prize finalist and was on the reporting team that won a breaking news Pulitzer Prize. Other awards include Scripps Howard, SPJ Sigma Delta Chi, and the IRE Award. She received a Nieman Fellowship in 2016 and an honorary Doctor of Letters from her alma mater, Simpson College.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Catherine Winter edited this year’s IRE Award-winning podcast Sold a Story. She edited both seasons of In the Dark. She was story editor for The Lazarus Heist and season two of Thirteen Minutes to the Moon for the BBC, and she edited several seasons of The Uncertain Hour for Marketplace. She’s produced and edited many audio documentaries and has won Peabodys, duPonts, and RFK, IRE, George Polk, and Murrow Awards. She’s currently at The New Yorker, editing season three of In the Dark.
Trauma-informed reporting
Time: Thursday, June 22, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Trauma is everywhere and inevitable, but journalists don't always get an opportunity to consider how the news is affecting them or the communities they serve.
This session will help participants think broadly about how to prevent and minimize potential harm with the communities they cover, including interview techniques, understanding the importance of media literacy and how to apply trauma-informed best practices to their work.
Speaker
Marissa Evans is a health reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She teaches an online trauma-informed reporting class with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Before joining The Times in 2021, she worked for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she covered housing, how communities of color were affected by COVID-19 and how private hospitals seize tax refunds for unpaid medical bills. She previously reported for The Texas Tribune, CQ Roll Call and Kaiser Health News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Broadcast track: Investigating breaking news
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
How to cover breaking news - and then take it further. Concert tragedies, missing people and children, bridge and building collapses. How to stay on a big story and advance it from an investigative perspective.
Speakers
Ashley is an investigative reporter with NBC2 in Southwest Florida. Her work includes extensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian and the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the Medill Justice Project, her work helped lead to the exoneration of a Michigan man accused of murder and arson in 2005. She holds a Masters from Northwestern University and a Bachelors from Emory University, where she covered affordable housing as part of the Georgia News Lab.
Kylie McGivern is a seven-time Emmy award-winning investigative reporter at ABC Action News in Tampa, Florida. Since joining the I-Team in 2018, her investigations have received regional and national recognition. Kylie previously worked for KXAN in Austin, Texas, as a city government beat reporter on the I-Team, and she was an anchor/investigative reporter for WJHL in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Kelly Wiley is an award-winning investigative reporter with KXAN in Austin. Kelly's investigative work in Georgia, Florida, and Texas has focused mostly on education. In Florida, her investigation into a local diocese's decision to bring on a priest previously accused in a grand jury report of failing to report sexual abuse in the church earned her an Emmy award. Kelly began her career in journalism at WRDW in Augusta, Georgia.
Covering housing inequities: Lessons learned
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Join us for a discussion on various housing policies and how they harm communities across the country. We'll provide tools, sources, and tips on how to uncover stories about failing government-funded housing, the intersection between housing and lack of safety, evictions and more. As the country continues to deal with a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes, learn how to dig for the stories perpetuating the housing crisis for some of our most vulnerable residents.
This session is sponsored by the the Central Florida Foundation. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Downey is a reporter at Honolulu Civil Beat. Formerly, she was the editor of FTC:WATCH, an investigator for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and a staff writer for The Washington Post (1988-2008). She is the author of "Woman Behind the New Deal" and "Isabella the Warrior Queen." Downey grew up in Hawaii, where high housing prices began pushing people out of the islands in the 1980s. She has a lifelong obsession with housing affordability and housing access, abusive lending practices and tracking trends over business cycles.
Willoughby Mariano is an investigative reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution where she focuses on housing and criminal justice. She is a recipient of several local and national honors, including a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, and she is past president of the Atlanta chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Joaquin Palomino is an investigative reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle, his hometown newspaper. Since joining the Chronicle in 2015, Palomino has covered a variety of topics, including the juvenile justice and child welfare systems and homelessness. His most recent series, Broken Homes, detailed the often decrepit and dangerous conditions inside aging hotels used to house people experiencing homelessness.
Camila is a communications specialist for the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. She’s interested in eviction diversion measures, who gets harmed by evictions and tenant organizing. Prior to joining the lab, Camila was the housing reporter for Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR) through Report for America. She focused on covering housing policy with a social justice lens. Her work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PRX’s The World, NPR’s Here and Now and more.
Google Sheets 3: Filtering & pivot tables
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
A look at the awesome power of pivot — and how to use it to analyze your dataset in minutes rather than hours. We'll work up to using a pivot table by first sorting and filtering a dataset, learning how to find story ideas along the way.
This session is good for: Anyone familiar with formulas, sorting and filtering in a spreadsheet program.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Gary Harki is the investigations editor at Bloomberg Law. His 2020 investigation into the strip-searching of children by Virginia prisons led to the halt of the practice and numerous changes to state law. In 2019 he won the Al Nakkula Award honoring outstanding police reporting for his series on jailing people with mental illness. Previous stops include Spotlight PA, The Virginian-Pilot, The O’Brien Fellowship for Public Service Journalism and The Charleston Gazette.
Investigating big agriculture
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Agriculture is the leading industry in some states. That can mean big money for multi-billion-dollar corporations, but little power for the actual farmers. It can also spell trouble for neighbors and the environment. Find out how you can better investigate big agriculture. What records should you request? What data is available? How do you find real people? And what stories need to be told?
Speakers
Ames Alexander, an investigative reporter for The Charlotte Observer, has examined the less-than-charitable behavior of nonprofit hospitals, the mistreatment of injured poultry workers and many other subjects. His stories have won dozens of state and national awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award, the IRE award and the Gerald Loeb award. He was a key member of two reporting teams named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Nicole Foy reports on poverty and inequality for the California Divide team at CalMatters. She was previously an investigative reporter in Texas and Idaho, covering Latino communities, agriculture and inequity. While in Idaho, she was a 2020 Community Impact Fellow for Stanford University’s John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program. She is the co-founder of Voces Internship of Idaho, which places Idaho Latino students in paid newsroom internships.
Gavin Off has been the Charlotte Observer’s data reporter since 2011. Previously, he worked as a data reporter at the Tulsa World and at Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. He’s won national awards, including the National Headliner Award and the Victor K. McElheny Award, and he teaches data reporting at Queens University of Charlotte and the University of South Carolina.
Yanqi Xu (yen-chee shu) is an investigative reporter at the Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska's first independent statewide nonprofit newsroom. She covers the environment and recently completed a project on nitrate contamination in groundwater. She is a University of Missouri School of Journalism graduate.
Connect on social media: Twitter
La lucha contra la desinformación necesita colaboración para tener éxito: así es como podemos trabajar juntos
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Este panel explorará los retos de los medios que trabajan en silos para combatir la rápida "viralización" de la desinformación en español, que afecta particularmente a las comunidades latinas en Estados Unidos. Conversaremos sobre cómo unimos esfuerzos para detectar y monitorear la desinformación, así como distribuir contenidos para combatirla. Los panelistas y participantes en esta sesión analizarán cómo nosotros, como periodistas y fact-checkers, debemos unirnos para que nuestras verificaciones de hechos y explainers se vuelvan virales.
Speakers
Calzadilla, an RJI fellow for 2023-2024, is the editor in chief of Factchequeado.com, an initiative to combat mis- and disinformation affecting Latino communities in the United States. She was included in the Forbes.es list of the 100 most creative in the business world in 2022 for that project. She led elDetector, Univision News' fact-checking platform (first created in Spanish in the U.S.). She is a special citation recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Clavel Rangel is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist and co-founder of the Network of Journalists from the Venezuelan Amazon. She is also an editor for a political newsletter for the Latino community, and her work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian and The Washington Post. She focuses on covering human rights violations and amplifies the quality of journalism in the Amazon.
Local government reporting: How to make campaign finance data more useful year-round
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Campaign finance data isn't just about who’s spending what and giving to whom during the election. In this session, you'll learn how to use campaign finance data collected at the county and municipal level to create power maps related to the issue or beat you are working on. You'll also learn how to reverse-engineer campaign fundraising strategies and better understand the strength of local political connections and relationships.
As part of this discussion, we'll talk through the common approach to campaign finance data analysis – classifying donors by industry – and the pros and cons of applying that to your local donor data. We'll workshop ideas and work together to draft a local framework that can support deeper and more meaningful analysis.
Instructor
AmyJo Brown is a veteran journalist with a background in local government and investigative reporting. As a 2022-2023 Knight Lab Professional Fellow, she is building the Public Ledger, a data tool structured from local campaign finance data and designed to make local political relationships and their influence more visible. She also works as a consulting editor, helping news leaders on the specific organizational challenges of doing good journalism at the local level.
Networking: LGBTQIA+ journalists
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for anyone who identifies as part of the LGBTQIA+ community or as an ally.
Speakers
Olivia Sanchez is a higher education reporter. Olivia previously covered local and state government for the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Olivia earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Portland and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Police accountability: From data to narrative
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
In order to report on police accountability with authority, you often need data. But where do you get data? And what do you do if it doesn't exist? Once you have it, how do you identify sources and then build a narrative? This panel will explore the challenges and solutions. Attendees will also be given tips and ideas to take back to their own newsrooms.
Speakers
Barbara Laker, a native of Kent, England, is an investigative reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. With colleague Wendy Ruderman, she won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism for their series “Tainted Justice,” about a rogue narcotics squad in the Philadelphia Police Department. In 2019, she and Inquirer colleagues Wendy Ruderman and Dylan Purcell were Pulitzer finalists for their series "Toxic City: Sick Schools."
Connect on social media: Twitter
Cheryl Phillips teaches journalism at Stanford and founded Big Local News, a collaborative data journalism effort. The latest BLN project is Agenda Watch, a way to detect news from local governments. Previously, Phillips worked at The Seattle Times for 12 years, was twice part of breaking news coverage that received a Pulitzer Prize and was twice on teams that were Pulitzer finalists. She is a former IRE board member and board president.
Connect on social media: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastadon
Sarah Rafique is an investigative producer and data journalist at ABC13 in Houston, where she strives to hold government leaders accountable, amplify marginalized voices and find solutions for viewers. She previously worked in Killeen, Lubbock and Austin. During her decade as a journalist in Texas, she's become an expert in the state's open records laws.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020.
Telling the longform investigations
Time: Thursday, June 22, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You've got the interviews, the data, the documents, now time to put together your big story. But where do you start? This panel will focus on how to produce and publish longform work, including structure, keeping an audience engaged, and how to tie up everything in the end.
Speakers
Lauren Etter is an investigative reporter and editor at Bloomberg News. She is the author of "The Devil's Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul and the Addiction of a New Generation." Previously a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal, she holds master’s degrees in journalism and in law from Northwestern University.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Wendy Halloran is the Chief Investigative Reporter for KUTV 2 in Salt Lake City. Her reporting has led to new laws, criminal convictions, legislative hearings, focuses heavily on injustice, police misconduct, wrongfully accused and convicted cases. She uncovered Utah’s parole supervision failures that have had deadly consequences. Her work has twice been a finalist for an IRE Award, and has been recognized with the duPont Award, National Headliner Awards, multiple Emmy, and Edward R. Murrow Awards, among others.
Paula Lavigne is an investigative reporter for ESPN.
IRE Board of Director candidate speeches & meet and greet
Time: Thursday, June 22, 12:45 – 1:30 p.m. (45 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Description coming soon.
IRE Board of Directors meeting
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2 – 5 p.m. (180 minutes)
Location: Oceans 10, first floor
The IRE Board of Directors will meet on Thursday from 2-5 p.m. in Oceans 10 at the Renaissance Orlando SeaWorld, as part of the annual conference. The meeting is open to all IRE members.
Broadcast track: Investigative scripts that sing
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Whether you're writing a longform investigation or turning something in that's shorter than two minutes, in this panel you'll learn tips for making your scripts sing. How to avoid the dreaded phrases ("every parent's worst nightmare!"). And don't forget those intros and tags - hmmm, where do you park that company response, anyway...?
Speakers
A.J. Lagoe is an investigative reporter for KARE 11 in Minneapolis. His reporting routinely leads to criminal convictions, legislative hearings, and has resulted in numerous new federal and state laws. A.J. is a two-time IRE Award winner and also the recipient of many of journalism’s other highest honors including the George Polk, and multiple Peabody and duPont awards.
Bob Segall is the senior investigative reporter at WTHR in Indianapolis. His investigations often focus on government accountability, consumer safety and systemic failures. Through creative storytelling and dogged research, Bob's reporting triggers both local change and national results. Since joining WTHR's 13 Investigates team in 2006, his investigative projects have been honored with multiple Peabody, duPont-Columbia and IRE awards.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Tonya Simpson is an Emmy and Murrow Award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience. She began her career producing local newscasts and has worked in markets across several states. Before joining the ABC News investigative unit in December of 2019, she helped lead investigative and consumer reporting teams at stations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Broadcast track: Show & Tell with Stephen Stock
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Stephen Stock serves as National Investigative Correspondent for CBS News and Stations. Prior to joining CBS News, Stephen was a founding member of NBC Bay Area’s 15-member Investigative Unit. He also helped build investigative teams in Miami and Orlando. He teaches not only at IRE but at universities around the country. He’s won just about every broadcast journalism award including a Peabody, du-Pont, national SPJ, 3 Murrow, 6 AP awards and 18 regional Emmys.
College sports finances: Where the money goes, if it’s not in athlete pockets
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
The big business of college athletics is rapidly changing. Lawsuits, Congressional attention and the NCAA’s own rules are changing how and whether athletes can earn money — and from whom.
This fast-changing landscape is ripe with opportunities to scrutinize college athletics’ finances and examine where schools spend the millions of dollars they're not paying athletes. Panelists will discuss how they find key numbers in NCAA revenue and expense reports, how to use the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database to analyze data across schools and how to shape stories to pitch in your own newsroom.
Speakers
Rachel Axon is an investigative reporter who focuses on sports, the Olympics, sexual abuse and other accountability-driven reporting. She has spent more than 15 years in newspapers, most recently as a national reports at USA TODAY for a decade.
Steve Berkowitz is a reporter with the USA Today Sports’ enterprise and investigations group. Much of his work centers on helping to construct, maintain and analyze annually updated databases of college athletics compensation and finances.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jill Riepenhoff is nearing her fourth decade as a journalist. She spent more than 30 years at The Columbus Dispatch before joining Gray TV’s national team, InvestigateTV, in 2017. Throughout her career, she had dabbled in sports investigations, particularly at the collegiate level. Most recently, she dug into the eyepopping contracts of head college football coaches. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, a stone’s throw from The Ohio State University.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jason Wolf is a sports enterprise and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic. His work has earned dozens of national writing awards, including first-place accolades from the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society for Features Journalism and the Pro Football Writers of America.
Covering Florida: Where to begin?
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Florida politics and policy are increasingly becoming front-page news, and the journalists on this panel will guide you through the swamp to report on Gov. Ron Desantis' campaign, the state's escalating war on trans people, and more.
This session is co-sponsored by McClatchy. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Malena Carollo is an investigative reporter with The Markup who writes stories that expose broken systems and wrongdoing. She previously covered business topics at the Tampa Bay Times. Her work exposed how private interests forced a change to the national organ transplant system, harming patients in the South and Midwest; how a major Florida power company’s policy resulted in dozens of deaths; and how a Florida energy efficiency program can cost homeowners their houses.
Born and raised in Miami, Joshua's work takes a keen focus on hyper-local South Florida news with an eye towards local governments and how their decisions affect people day to day.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Joey Flechas covers Miami City Hall for the Miami Herald. He was part of the team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for coverage of the collapse of a residential condo building in Surfside, FL. A graduate of the University of Florida, he joined the Herald in 2013.
Frances Robles is a national and foreign correspondent for The New York Times, based in Florida. She files investigative reports and covers breaking news on a range of topics, including corruption, police shootings, natural disasters, Cuba and Central America. Her investigation into the shoddy work of a Brooklyn detective overturned the homicide convictions of more than a dozen wrongfully convicted defendants and won a George Polk award for justice reporting.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Covering Indigenous communities: Investigating untold histories
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Studies show media coverage of Indigenous communities can bolster damaging stereotypes about violence and poverty and dehumanized victims. Indigenous communities deserve better. This session will explore how to be culturally sensitive and build trust in Indigenous communities while crafting your next investigation. Speakers will share how they create meaningful investigations when data surrounding Native communities is often incomplete or non-existent. We will also share resources that can help you add critical historic context to report on sensitive issues responsibility.
Speakers
Rachel Adams-Heard is a reporter for Bloomberg News in Houston. She is currently on the investigations team after five years of covering energy and climate.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Karyn, aka Pabàmàdiz, is an award-winning journalist, the editor-in-chief of Canadaland and a visiting professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. Formerly, Karyn worked as the Managing Editor of CBC's Investigative Unit, and worked as the Executive Director of News and Current Affairs at APTN. Karyn was a 2020 Nieman Fellow. She is is a citizen of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in Ontario and is of mixed Algonquin and Italian descent.
PJ Randhawa is an international award-winning investigative reporter. She is currently the investigative race and equity reporter for KING 5’s Facing Race unit. She is a 2023 DuPont Finalist, two-time Edward R. Murrow Award winner and four-time regional Emmy winner. PJ’s investigative reporting has uncovered biased home appraisal policies, changed state law and resulted in the city of St. Louis declaring Jan 14th, 2022 as "PJ Randhawa Day."
Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is chair of the Society of Professional Journalists FOI Committee. She’s also the founder and executive director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit media organization based in Bismarck, N.D. The Alliance operates Buffalo's Fire, an independent digital news site. She’s reported for the mainstream press for 15 years. She’s a Harvard’s Nieman and Stanford’s John S. Knight fellow and a board member of SPJ and NAJA.
Digging into data for stories - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 6 p.m. (420 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Get started using data in your stories with IRE's mini-boot camp. In this six-hour, hands-on workshop, IRE’s experienced trainers will start with the basics of navigating Google Sheets and using formulas, then walk you through sorting, filtering and aggregating data with pivot tables to find story ideas. You'll come away with a solid base for analyzing data in your newsroom, including how to find and request data, identify and clean dirty data, find story ideas and make your work ironclad. We’ll also provide you with our detailed boot camp materials to help keep you on track long after you leave the conference.
Workshop prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this workshop and beginners are welcome. This workshop is good for those wanting to get started analyzing data for stories.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited. Attendees will need to bring their own laptop for the training and must have a Google account.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $75 to participate.
Instructors
Laura Moscoso is a Puerto Rican journalist and training director for IRE & NICAR. Laura is a professor focusing on data, visualization tools and media literacy.
Finding the story: Police stop data
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Tracking how often the police stop members of the public in your community is becoming a staple for journalists. Often, it can be a laborious process even just to find the most recent data. Join this hands-on session to learn about a new tool called OpenPoliceData that makes it easier to find and download police stop data.
We'll also walk through analyzing police stops data to find the story. No coding experience necessary, but by the time you leave, you'll know how to build an analysis in Excel, plus understand and run a script using a programming language so you can replicate your analysis easily whenever you need.
Instructors
Cheryl Phillips teaches journalism at Stanford and founded Big Local News, a collaborative data journalism effort. The latest BLN project is Agenda Watch, a way to detect news from local governments. Previously, Phillips worked at The Seattle Times for 12 years, was twice part of breaking news coverage that received a Pulitzer Prize and was twice on teams that were Pulitzer finalists. She is a former IRE board member and board president.
Connect on social media: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastadon
Matt is a data analyst in Fairfax County, Virginia, who volunteers with the NAACP and local police to increase data transparency. His experience revealed how challenging it is to locate and analyze police data. He started the OpenPoliceData Python library to reduce the research barriers for journalists, researchers and advocates. OpenPoliceData is free and open source software with a simple interface to find police data and download it to a common pandas or CSV format.
Connect on social media: GitHub
Freelancer secrets: How to get paid for doing good investigative work
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Freelancers share their secrets about how to connect with news organizations, how to know your worth, and how to make sure that the check is really "in the mail."
Speakers
Jane Sasseen is executive director of the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, which provides grants for investigative stories that "Follow the Money." Previously, she was senior editor and Washington bureau chief for BusinessWeek, politics editor-in-chief for Yahoo News, and Paris bureau chief of International Management magazine. She is a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award, the top prize in financial journalism.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Public service journalism lead reporter Trahan Martinez reported, produced and edited for The Dallas Morning News’ watchdog desk, appearing on KXAS-TV weekly. She is on the Morning News’ 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News finalist coverage team for police shootings at a Black Lives Matter rally. She has freelanced for The New York Times since 2001 and contracted for ABC News 20/20. Martinez, a member of the Journalism & Women Symposium, has also served on FOIFTx, Latinx community initiatives and scholarship committees.
Sandy West is a former full-time reporter for local newspapers, business publications and the Associated Press. As a freelancer, she covers child welfare for The Imprint and health-related issues for KFF Health News (formerly Kaiser Health News). Her work has been published in The Texas Tribune, The Washington Post and People Magazine, and was cited in a US Senate report on the 2021 Texas freeze/blackouts and the impact on the state’s senior citizens.
How to build a trauma-informed newsroom
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
We know the importance of being trauma-informed, but what does that look like for an everyday newsroom? Between breaking news, deadlines and the never-ending news cycles, finding time to create new programs and practices that can help prevent or curb harm to staff and communities is challenging.
During this session, participants will brainstorm and discuss solutions on how newsrooms can create programs, services, workflows and best practices that support staff and minimize harm to communities.
Speaker
Marissa Evans is a health reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She teaches an online trauma-informed reporting class with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Before joining The Times in 2021, she worked for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she covered housing, how communities of color were affected by COVID-19 and how private hospitals seize tax refunds for unpaid medical bills. She previously reported for The Texas Tribune, CQ Roll Call and Kaiser Health News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Master Class: Writing the investigative narrative - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 6 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Learn how to make your investigative writing compelling and powerful. We cover everything from defining an investigative narrative to how to report, organize, write and self-edit your own!
Topics include:
Preregistration is required and seating is limited.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speakers
Public records to request right now
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Get your FOI templates ready to roll! In this quick-paced, lightning-round style session, you will hear some of the panelists' favorite, overlooked and under-appreciated records to request from all levels of government. They'll also give examples of how these records were used to produce stories in newsrooms around the country.
Speakers
Carrie Cochran is a national investigative producer for Scripps News. Before joining Scripps in 2018, she was a reporter and filmmaker for 13 years at The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cochran has explored inequities in reporting on policing, sexual assault, immigration, gun violence and public health. Her work received the Pulitzer Prize and National Murrow Award in 2018, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Grand Prize in 2020, and was a Peabody Award finalist in 2022.
Karen Rodriguez is an award-winning national investigative producer at Scripps News. Born on the tropical island of Cuba, Karen braves the cold of the midwest to tell stories that cause change. In 2022, she was one of the lead reporters nominated for a Peabody award for "The Model City" investigative podcast, detailing the Louisville Metro Police departments failure to reform.
R 1: Intro to R and RStudio
Time: Thursday, June 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Jump into data analysis with R, the powerful open-source programming language. In this class we’ll cover R fundamentals and learn our way around the RStudio interface for using R.
This session is good for: People with a basic understanding of data analysis who are ready to go beyond spreadsheets.
Instructor
Broadcast track: Hindsight's 20/20 - The biggest lessons we’ve learned
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Brutally honest talk from three TV veterans about the mistakes they've made, the questions they've missed, and the trust they’ve misplaced in 60+ years of combined reporting. Come join the conversation as they open up about the important lessons they've learned the hard way.
Speakers
Daralene Jones is an evening anchor and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist. Jones is the executive producer of the award-winning Ocoee Massacre project, detailing the deaths of Black people on Election Day in 1920, in Ocoee, Florida. She also produced the Emmy-Award winning special, Groveland Four: Journey to Exoneration, documenting the exoneration of four Black men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in 1949.
Joce Sterman is a national investigative reporter for InvestigateTV. Her stories are seen on Gray Television's 113 TV stations, syndicated to their websites & streamed weekly on the InvestigateTV show. She's a National Headliner, Murrow and Emmy award winner. Joce's former roles include reporting for Spotlight on America, WJLA/ABC7 in Washington, DC, and WMAR/ABC2 in Baltimore. Her work has resulted in Congressional investigations & federal legislation.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Chris Vanderveen is the current Director of Special Projects at Denver's KUSA-TV. His investigations routinely involve complex and often overlooked subjects ranging from helicopter fuel systems to absurd medical billing practices. A recent recipient of the Peabody Award, Chris has also earned an IRE Award as well as a Scripps Howard Award in recent years.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Broadcast track: Show & Tell with Meg Christie
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Extracting data from PDFs
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Join this class to learn how to liberate data trapped inside PDFs. This class will cover some basic approaches for getting text out of PDF documents using powerful and freely available tools. Participants will be introduced to basic concepts and some common challenges encountered when working with tricky PDF documents.
This session is good for: People who are unfamiliar with PDF-to-text tools or would like to learn how these tools can be used for extracting difficult text from images embedded in a PDF document.
It's encouraged, but not required, to get access ahead of the workshop to Google Pinpoint and its Beta Data Extraction Tool. Sign up for Google Pinpoint HERE and register for its Beta Data Extraction Tool HERE.
Instructor
Emily Le Coz is a senior investigative reporter at USA TODAY. Previously, she was the managing editor of GateHouse Media's then-National Data and Investigations Team. Her work has won multiple awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, APME Public Service Award, ASNE Batten Medal, SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award and the National Headliner Award for Public Service. She was also a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the Selden Ring Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
How to transition from daily reporting to writing a book
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Book writing is one of the last bastions left of good investigative reporting, and it’s a great way to make use of all that research you did for your project (and to make some money to boot!). These published authors and journalists share their best advice, lessons learned and cautionary tales.
Speakers
Walt Bogdanich has been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes and four George Polk awards. For the last 21 years, he's worked as a reporter and editor at The New York Times. He previously reported for 60 Minutes and The Wall Street Journal. Bogdanich graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in political science and earned a master's degree at Ohio State University. He also teaches investigative reporting at Columbia University.
Alfredo Corchado is the Mexico border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News. He is author of Homelands (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018) and Midnight in Mexico (Penguin Books, 2013)
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jennifer Berry Hawes is reporter at ProPublica. Before that, she was an investigative reporter at The Post and Courier, where she and a team won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2015 for a series about South Carolina’s domestic violence epidemic. Jennifer also was a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing in 2019. Her book, “Grace Will Lead Us Home,” about the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2019.
Alison Young is the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting and Washington Program director for the Missouri School of Journalism. Before joining Mizzou in 2019, she spent 10 years as an investigative reporter for USA TODAY. Young is a past president of IRE’s board and has reported on safety risks in biological research labs for 15 years. Her book – "Pandora’s Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk" – was released in April.
Management track: Creating leadership opportunities for journalists of color
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Hiring is just the first step. Join this panel to learn how to ensure the journalists of color in your newsroom are getting the opportunities, mentorship and resources they need to succeed in this industry. You'll hear about how to support your employees as people, and how you help them score a seat at the table.
Speakers
Talia Buford is ProPublica's talent development director, where she oversees staff development, recruitment and hiring efforts. She joined ProPublica in 2017 as a reporter, covering disparities in environmental impacts. There, she was part of the team whose coverage of the coronavirus pandemic was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Previously, she was a journalist at The Center for Public Integrity, POLITICO Pro and The Providence Journal.
Alfredo Carbajal worked for 20 years at the Dallas Morning News and Al Día. He's co-leader of the News Leaders Association's Emerging Leaders Institute and former president of the American Society of News Leaders.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Chris Davis is a deputy investigations editor at the New York Times, where he works with the Local Investigative Reporting Fellowship program. Previously, he ran Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative teams at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Tampa Bay Times, and led investigative efforts across USA TODAY/Gannett.
Evelyn Larrubia leads business and technology investigations at the Washington Post. She is a former LA Times investigative reporter and public radio newsroom leader and was the first managing editor for investigations at the Markup, a nonprofit newsroom founded in 2018 to investigate technology's effect on society. In 2022, her team's groundbreaking work there was honored with a coveted Loeb, her 16th national journalism prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ron Nixon is Vice President for News, and Head of Investigations, Enterprise, Partnerships and Grants. He oversees Associated Press’s investigative and enterprise teams, as well as spearheading grant funding efforts and news partnerships. He received the inaugural 2021 News Leader of the Year award from the News Leaders Association. He helped oversee the AP’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Nonprofit secrets hidden in plain sight: Decoding forms 990
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Public charities, family foundations and other nonprofits are required to submit financial filings to the IRS and state governments. Panelists will review a sampling of real 990 forms to help new and veteran reporters alike learn what to zero in on, how to spot potential red flags and how to avoid common reporting mistakes.
Speakers
Laurie Styron is the CEO of CharityWatch, the only independent charity watchdog in the U.S. She has dedicated more than 23 years to the nonprofit sector, logging more than 10,000 hours as a nonprofit financial analyst and advising journalists on their investigations into charities. She has been quoted by major media outlets throughout the country, has vetted charities for Good Morning America and has advised 60 Minutes, The Fifth Estate and many other news outlets.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, LinkedIn (2)
Tisha is an investigative reporter for ESPN, whose appearances include, but are not limited to, espn.com, SportsCenter, SC Features, Outside The Lines and The Daily. She worked in local television and has won some awards, but what she really wants you to know is she joined IRE before it was technically allowed, while still in high school, and credits it for so much of her professional success. This conference is her professional family reunion and she can't wait to see you.
R 2: Data analysis and plotting
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
We'll use the tidyverse packages dplyr and ggplot2, learning how to sort, filter, group, summarize, join, and visualize to identify trends in your data. If you want to combine SQL-like analysis and charting in a single pipeline, this session is for you.
This session is good for: People who have worked with data operations in SQL or Excel and would like to do the same in R.
Instructor
Yanqi Xu (yen-chee shu) is an investigative reporter at the Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska's first independent statewide nonprofit newsroom. She covers the environment and recently completed a project on nitrate contamination in groundwater. She is a University of Missouri School of Journalism graduate.
Connect on social media: Twitter
The fight against mis- and disinformation needs collaboration to succeed — here’s how we can work together
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
This panel will explore the challenges faced by media organizations working in silos to combat the rapid "viralization" of mis- and disinformation in Spanish, which particularly impacts Latino communities in the U.S. We'll look at how we can join forces to detect and monitor mis- and disinformation, as well as distribute content to combat it. Panelists and participants in this session will analyze how we, as journalists and fact-checkers, need to come together to make our fact-checks and explainers go viral.
Speakers
Calzadilla, an RJI fellow for 2023-2024, is the editor in chief of Factchequeado.com, an initiative to combat mis- and disinformation affecting Latino communities in the United States. She was included in the Forbes.es list of the 100 most creative in the business world in 2022 for that project. She led elDetector, Univision News' fact-checking platform (first created in Spanish in the U.S.). She is a special citation recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Clavel Rangel is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist and co-founder of the Network of Journalists from the Venezuelan Amazon. She is also an editor for a political newsletter for the Latino community, and her work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian and The Washington Post. She focuses on covering human rights violations and amplifies the quality of journalism in the Amazon.
Using data to uncover how climate change is affecting your city
Time: Thursday, June 22, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Whether it’s flooding, rising seas or drought, wildfire or uncertain drinking water supplies, each city and state is experiencing the effects of climate change in its own way. But where do you find climate data, and what’s the best way to tell your city’s climate story?
This panel will bring together some of the best reporters and communicators on the climate beat to discuss how they use data as the foundation for reporting that reveals the science behind climate impacts and the people affected.
Speakers
Jennifer Brady is senior data analyst at Climate Central. In her role she uses data to identify significant trends, patterns and notable climate events, while managing a team of researchers and production staff. She previously worked at the U.S. EPA evaluating the climate change impacts of waste and contaminated land management.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Amy Green covers the environment and climate at Inside Climate News. Her extensive reporting on the Everglades is featured in the book "Moving Water," published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and the podcast "Drained," available wherever you get your podcasts. Amy’s work has been recognized with many awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award and Public Media Journalists Association award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald’s climate team, which covers how South Florida communities are adapting to the warming world. Her beat also includes environmental issues and hurricanes. She attended the University of Florida.
Bobby Magill covers water, public lands and the Interior Department for Bloomberg Law in Washington, D.C. Previously, he covered energy for Climate Central in New York and reported for local newspapers in Colorado and New Mexico. He is a former president of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Best practices for collaborations and partnerships
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Veteran collaborative journalists walk you through how to build systems to support internal and external editorial collaborations, work across platforms, ease concerns about competition, manage egos and get the right people at the collaborative table to better serve the public.
Speakers
Robert Cribb is founder and director of the Investigative Journalism Bureau and an investigative reporter at the Toronto Star. He has received national and international reporting awards for investigations into offshore tax evasion, child exploitation, human trafficking, dangerous doctors, environmental threats and public safety.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Rick Hirsch is an award-winning journalist who worked 42 years as a reporter and editor at the Miami Herald, the last 12 as managing editor. He now helps lead recruiting for McClatchy's 30 newsrooms. He's also Journalist in Residence at Florida International University. He’s played a key role in seven of the Herald’s 23 Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2022 award for breaking news coverage of the Surfside condominium collapse.
Jeanne is the founder of ClearHealthCosts, a no-longer-startup bringing transparency to healthcare by revealing what things cost. ClearHealthCosts has partnered with top media on consumer-friendly investigations. They have won a number of grants, saved people a ton of money, won multiple prizes and sparked consumer protection legislation and policy changes. Jeanne formerly worked for the New York Times, and won a shark-tank-type pitch contest to found CHC. Her TEDTalk has over 2 million views.
Chrissie Thompson is the founding director of the Education Reporting Network at The Associated Press. Previously, she founded an award-winning education team at USA Today and the USA Today Network. Before covering education, Chrissie won top awards for reporting on politics and business. She also edited a team that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. She has a master’s in higher ed administration from the University of Michigan and lives in Spokane, Wash.
Connect on social media: https://twitter.com/cthomptweets, https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissiethompson/
Bianca Vázquez Toness has spent the past three years investigating the impacts of the pandemic and school closures on American children's education and well-being. She earned the Education Writers' Association's top beat reporting prize in 2021 for stories showing how Massachusetts schools failed its most vulnerable students during the first year of pandemic lockdowns. She's worked in audio and print.
Beyond the box score: Finding the story in college athletics data
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Want to report on how college athletics programs are making and spending money? Interested in digging into participation numbers and assessing gender equity? This hands-on session will help you see how you can use public databases to report on college sports. Journalists will get practice using the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data and finding other NCAA data sets.
This session is good for anyone who has some experience working with data.
Instructor
Rachel Axon is an investigative reporter who focuses on sports, the Olympics, sexual abuse and other accountability-driven reporting. She has spent more than 15 years in newspapers, most recently as a national reports at USA TODAY for a decade.
Broadcast Show & Tell en español: Kerry Kavanaugh
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Asiste a este "show and tell." Comparte tu trabajo y tus observaciones para que otros mejoren sus destrezas de narración e investigación. Esta es también una buena oportunidad para establecer nuevos contactos.
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Kerry Kavanaugh is an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy award-winning anchor and investigative reporter at WFXT in Boston. She started her career more than twenty years ago as a multimedia journalist in Bozeman, Montana. Kerry then spent time reporting in Des Moines, Tampa and Atlanta before moving back home to Boston in 2015. She is a graduate of Boston College, where she majored in communications.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Broadcast track: Right on the money: Consumer investigations that count
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Now more than ever, our audience needs protection from scam artists and get-rich quick schemes. These are just some of the consumer issues the public deals with every day. This panel of investigators will tell you how to find stories right under your nose.
Speakers
Caresse is a national consumer investigative reporter based in Washington D.C. with Gray Television’s InvestigateTV. Prior to InvestigateTV, she was a consumer investigative reporter at WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee. She has prior reporting experience at WWL-TV in New Orleans, WJRT in Flint, Michigan, and WCBI in Columbus, Mississippi.
Mallory Sofastaii is an anchor and investigative reporter at WMAR-2 News in Baltimore, Maryland. In her weekly “Matter for Mallory” segment, she exposes wrongdoing by businesses and governments, holds officials accountable and has recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars for consumers. Her reporting has also resulted in federal indictments, legislative proposals and restitution for victims.
Local investigations with big impact
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Description coming soon.
Speakers
Erika Carrillo has led the Investigative team for the Univision newscast in Miami and has won 13 Emmy Awards. Carrillo led the “Nightmare Condos” investigation that exposed frauds in condominium associations, promoting reforms in Florida laws. She published ”Florida: Paradise of beauty and death," denouncing bad practices and lack of regulations in cosmetic surgery centers, forcing Florida legislature to amend the law. Erika spent five years covering the armed conflict in Colombia.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
Ciara Cummings is an award-winning investigative reporter who earned her Bachelors degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Florida. She began her professional career in 2017 at WRDW News 12 in Augusta, where she specialized in politics/government reporting. In 2021, Ciara joined Atlanta News First. Her investigative reporting on local healthcare, child welfare and political corruption have led to change in local policy and statewide legislation.
Brenda Medina is an investigative reporter at ICIJ. She worked on the Pandora Papers, the largest global journalism collaboration. Before ICIJ, Brenda was a reporting fellow at ProPublica, in New York. Before that, she worked for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, where she covered local government and immigration and worked on investigations about public corruption, housing and labor issues. Brenda is from the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the U.S. in 2003.
Karen Rundlet is Senior Director for the Journalism Program at Knight Foundation. In her role, Rundlet invests in methods that support a financially sustainable future for local news. Under her leadership, Knight has invested in programs that prepare leaders to manage, partner and serve diverse, digital teams and audiences. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Georgetown University and was a Maynard Institute fellow.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Anne Ryman is an investigative reporter with ABC 15 Arizona. Before that, she was at The Arizona Republic for 22 years. Her 2021 investigation “Licensed to Abuse,” about massage therapists, led to the replacement of the entire state massage therapy board and a new law that requires more stringent background checks for massage therapists. She was part of the 2018 Pulitzer-Prize winning team in explanatory reporting at The Arizona Republic.
Pandemic's long-term effects on three public health sectors
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
A deeper look at mental health, reproductive health and community health/access to care in coverage. Three years later, these public health sectors still fall behind in equitably addressing ongoing issues across the U.S. In Texas, access to care is getting more limited as wealthier neighborhoods see more incentives to expand, while those same breaks come far and few for others. In other parts of the country, the pandemic has allowed for a rise in substance abuse and for Americans' mental health to slide downward. Among that, low-income earners face an uphill battle for access to reproductive health care.
Speakers
Laura Garcia is the afternoon/evening news editor at The Texas Tribune. She previously reported on health care at the San Antonio Express-News and also has bylines at the Victoria Advocate, The Roanoke Times, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the Longview News-Journal, as well as The Ranger at San Antonio College. Laura is president of the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists and region 8 coordinator for the Society of Professional Journalists.
Erica Hensley is a public health reporter based in and covering the South, focusing on reproductive health and equity. She previously worked as an investigative reporter for Mississippi Today, where she was a Knight Foundation fellow and where her COVID-19 work helped put national attention on Mississippi’s COVID-19 response. She has won the Doris O'Donnell Innovations in Investigative Journalism Fellowship and Atlanta Press Club's investigative reporting award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Krystal Nurse is an investigative journalist at the Lansing State Journal and a senior fellow of the National Press Foundation’s Widening the Pipeline fellowship. She has unearthed under-reported stories about real estate, race and equity, including topics like Michigan state police classifying anti-police crimes as hate crimes and the history of forced boarding schools for Native Americans in the state.
Renuka Rayasam, senior correspondent, joined KFF Health News in 2022 from POLITICO, where she wrote for the magazine, covered Texas politics and launched a nightly newsletter. She has worked for the Austin American-Statesman and U.S. News & World Report. She also freelanced from Berlin. She has a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in German and political economy from the University of California-Berkeley.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Protecting journalists who become political pawns: What should newsrooms do when faced with a situation like Evan Gershkovich's arrest
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Description coming soon.
Speakers
Gordon Fairclough is The Wall Street Journal's world coverage chief. He has lived and worked in Bangkok, Seoul, Shanghai, Prague, New Delhi and London. He was part of Journal team that won the Pulitzer for international reporting in 2007.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Kerry Paterson is deputy director of emergencies at the Committee to Protect Journalists. She helps guide CPJ’s emergency assistance and journalist safety work worldwide, and to shape CPJ’s response to crises. She joined CPJ in 2014 and previously served as deputy director of advocacy and communications. Prior to joining CPJ, Paterson worked with the Initiative for Conflict-Related Trauma, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the Women’s Media Center.
Public records track: A deep dive into PACER to find untold stories in federal court records
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
PACER, the federal court records system, is antiquated and hard to navigate. Using PACER-sleuthing skills developed over years, Seamus Hughes has helped journalists break national stories about topics ranging from terrorism and public corruption to corporate espionage. In this session, Hughes will offer tips and suggestions on how to use PACER to find and tell these stories.
Speaker
R 3: Gathering and cleaning data
Time: Thursday, June 22, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Learn how to use R to scrape data from web pages, access APIs and transform the results into usable data. This session will also focus on how to clean and structure the data you've gathered in preparation for analysis using tidyverse packages.
This session is good for: People who have used R and have a basic understanding of how to retrieve data from APIs.
Instructor
First-timers reception
Time: Thursday, June 22, 6:15 – 6:45 p.m. (30 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3-4, first floor
We invite all first time IRE attendees to a special reception where you can meet IRE board members and others prior to the welcome reception. We look forward to welcoming you to the conference! Light appetizers will be served. Each attendee will receive one drink ticket for beer, wine, soda or bottled water. Conference name tags are required for entry.
Welcome reception
Time: Thursday, June 22, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Atrium, first floor
Join us at the welcome reception on Thursday starting at 6 p.m. in the Atrium. Light appetizers will be served. Each attendee will receive one drink ticket for beer, wine, soda or bottled water. Conference name tags are required for entry.
IRE mentorship program breakfast (sponsored by Sinclair Broadcast Group) — invitation only
Time: Friday, June 23, 7:45 – 8:45 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-7, first floor
If you signed up for the conference mentor program, come meet your match at this invitation-only breakfast.
This event is sponsored by Sinclair Broadcast Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Ask an expert: The Marshall Project offers office hours
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 11:15 a.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
The Marshall Project’s team may not always be hiring, but they're excited to offer up a number of slots for resume/portfolio review, mock interviews, data reviews, etc.
Broadcast track: Show & Tell with Rick Gevers
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Rick Gevers is a longtime IRE member and supporter who spent 12 years as a television news director. In 1995. he started his own business an agent for a select group of on-air clients. He also publishes a widely read newsletter on TV management changes. He has spoken to many University classes and served on the (then RTNDA) Board of Directors as an at large member.
Broadcast track: Sources: How to get 'em, how to keep 'em
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Whistleblowers, disgruntled former employees, a fed-up spouse ... they can all be valuable on background or on the record. So how do you introduce yourself to them? Get them to trust you? Get them to stay in communication? Best practices for finding and keeping sources, including making agreements, working with your management and legal team on anonymous sourcing and keeping those sources loyal to you for years after the story airs.
Speakers
Scottie Hunter is the co-anchor of 9News at Five at WAFB Channel 9. He also serves as the lead investigative reporter. While there he has covered a number of stories that have garnered national attention. He was previously a reporter at KPLC, and at WVAS-FM in Montgomery, Alabama. He was also a reporter at WTVY-TV in Dothan, Ala. He, his wife Jasmine, his son Jason and dog Bear enjoy calling Baton Rouge home.
Jesse Jones is a consumer reporter for KIRO-TV in Seattle. He started his career at KSTW in Seattle and moved to investigative reporter jobs in Baltimore and Cincinnati. He returned to Seattle in 2005 to work with the KING 5 Investigators. Nine years later, he joined KIRO-TV.
Andie is an investigative journalist at ABC10 in Sacramento, California. She regards her expertise as the ability to break down complex systems in a digestible way. A state worker once called her “persistent to the point of annoying.” This drive has resulted in her reporting passing laws, forcing state and federal agencies to change their policies as well as several prestigious awards including a Peabody nomination and the IRE Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
Finding the immigration story beyond the headlines
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Covering immigration can be daunting, especially for those unable to keep tabs on the ever-changing policies or latest headlines. This class is for anyone interested in covering immigration beyond the border wall. In this session, you will learn to use public datasets to help find local, state and national stories about missing migrants, work visas and court challenges to immigration policy. We will also spend some time talking about best practices for covering the immigrant community.
This session is good for anyone who has some or limited experience working with data.
Instructor
Kristian Hernández is a senior investigative reporter at the Center for Public Integrity. Hernández is an award-winning journalist and first-generation Chicano from El Paso, Texas, with more than a decade of experience covering immigration and criminal justice in the U.S., Mexico and Central America.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Google Sheets 4: Advanced pivot tables
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
You've done a few pivot tables and are getting curious about what more you could do with them. What happens if you aggregate by more than one column? What are those "column" and "filter" boxes for? Come unlock the full potential of pivot tables in this intermediate spreadsheet class.
This session is good for: People familiar with spreadsheets and aggregating data with pivot tables, or anyone who has taken Sheets 1-3.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Ben Wieder is an investigative reporter for McClatchy's Washington bureau and the Miami Herald and leads McClatchy's national data team. His work has often focused on real estate, finance, political influence, corruption and the scammers who call South Florida home. He previously worked at the Center for Public Integrity and Stateline.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Interviewing your data with R - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
We'll introduce you to R, a free, powerful open-source programming language that will take your data reporting to the next level. By the end of this three-hour session, you will be able to read data from common file types into R, clean and explore it, and make your entire data workflow reproducible. We'll also talk about how to find help when you're stuck.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited.
Workshop prerequisites: This session will be most helpful if you're comfortable working with data in spreadsheets and you're ready for a more powerful analysis tool.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Instructor
Charles Minshew is the digital storytelling and data editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is the former director of data services for Investigative Reporters & Editors. Charles previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel as a graphic artist with a focus on data. In 2012, Charles was on the staff of The Denver Post that won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of a shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Investigating algorithmic harm: Best practices and hard-learned lessons
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Algorithms touch every aspect of social life and every reporter’s beat. They also have the potential to harm the most vulnerable members of society. How do you investigate algorithms that are riddled with bias, prejudice, and randomness? What are the best practices and methods to hold algorithms accountable?
Leading investigative reporters and a computer scientist from Princeton University will share how they use public records, experiments and collaborative reporting to uncover algorithmic harm. They will present templates and blueprints to empower reporters to avoid common mistakes as they investigate technologies that affect their communities.
This session was planned in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Garance Burke is a global investigative journalist leading an Associated Press team probing the impacts of artificial intelligence technologies on our communities. Her stories have prompted federal investigations, cabinet-level resignations and hearings. Her work on the treatment of migrant children was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and the subject of an Emmy-winning AP-FRONTLINE documentary. She was a John S Knight Journalism-Human-Centered AI Fellow at Stanford University.
Sayash Kapoor is a Computer Science Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. He studies the societal impact of AI. He is currently co-authoring a book titled AI Snake Oil, which looks critically at the societal impact of AI, with Arvind Narayanan.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Hilke Schellmann is an Emmy-award winning freelance investigative reporter covering artificial intelligence for the Wall Street Journal, MIT Technology Review and the Guardian. Her book THE ALGORITHM will be published by Hachette in January 2024. She is also a journalism professor at New York University.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Marina Walker Guevara is executive editor at the Pulitzer Center. Before, she was deputy director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. She managed two of the largest collaborations of reporters in journalism history: The Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, which involved hundreds of journalists using technology to unravel stories of public interest from terabytes of financial data.
Investigating forced labor in the United States and abroad
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
More than 20 years after federal lawmakers created a law prohibiting human trafficking, more is understood about the nature of sex trafficking in the United States. In this panel, you'll hear about how to investigate forced labor – the other category included in the definition of human trafficking that is even more widespread and less well understood.
Speakers
Jenifer McKim is the deputy investigative editor for the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting in Boston. She covers social justice issues, including human trafficking, criminal justice and child welfare. She has been awarded two national Murrow Awards, a Casey Award for Meritorious Journalism and a finalist nod for the Pulitzer Prize. She is a Nieman fellow with a BA from Wesleyan University and an MS from Boston University.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Katie is an award-winning investigative journalist focusing on human rights, energy, healthcare and finance. Her work has been published by the Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, and others. She is a lead reporter on the ICIJ's Trafficking Inc project. She is based in Brooklyn, before that she was a reporter in the United Arab Emirates, where she published investigations on human rights and human trafficking across the Persian Gulf region.
Hoda is the executive editor at Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and president of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalist Association (AMEJA). She is a New York-based investigative journalist and journalism trainer who has collaborated on projects with various organizations including ICIJ, ICFJ and Frontline. She previously worked at the investigative unit of ABC News, the investigative unit of CBS News and France 24.
Connect on social media: Linkedin
Master Class: Outlining and structure: The writer's missing manual - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Outlining might be the single best thing you can do to make you a better, faster writer. This isn't the roman numeral outlining your middle school teacher taught you. We'll take a story from the ground up, showing how early considerations about structure and framing develop into a draft.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speaker
Matt Apuzzo is the international investigations editor for The New York Times. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he is based in London where he runs a team of reporters.
Public records track: 7 things you didn’t know about getting documents and records, from RECAP to ChatGPT
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
When it comes to obtaining public records to inform your stories, it can feel impossible to know where to start, especially if your tried-and-true approaches are no longer working.
Reporters and editors will come away from this session with concrete tips on how to access the information they need — how to search the text of federal court records for free, how to navigate the FBI’s “Central Records System,” how NOT to use ChatGPT to generate FOIA requests and more!
This session was planned in collaboration with Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and sponsored by the TEGNA Foundation. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Ziva Branstetter is a senior editor at ProPublica, supervising a national investigative team. She previously served as corporate accountability editor at The Washington Post, where she led projects including the Pandora Papers collaboration. Branstetter also worked at Reveal and spent more than 20 years as a journalist in Oklahoma. Her investigation into that state’s flawed death penalty was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Branstetter served three terms on the IRE board.
Mark Caramanica is partner at the law firm of Thomas & LoCicero in Tampa, Florida. His practice focuses on media law, intellectual property and civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Mark was an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the nation's leading legal advocacy nonprofit organization serving free press and First Amendment interests. In that role, he specialized in freedom of information, access and intellectual property issues.
Adam A. Marshall is a senior staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. His work includes litigation in federal and state courts and training journalists on government transparency.
Shine light on the business of local governmentwith Agenda Watch
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Are you a reporter keeping tabs on controversial topics debated by school board members? An investigator tracking city contracts scooped up by certain companies? The new Agenda Watch platform is designed to help you shine light on the business of local government. The project, created by Big Local News at Stanford, with support from the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, centralizes agendas, agenda packets and meeting minutes from thousands of local city councils and other decision-making bodies in a single, easily searchable platform. Even better, Agenda Watch lets you sign up for alerts on potentially newsworthy items coming up for discussion at future meetings. Join Big Local for this session to learn how to begin using their new platform to cover your beat.
Speaker
Cheryl Phillips teaches journalism at Stanford and founded Big Local News, a collaborative data journalism effort. The latest BLN project is Agenda Watch, a way to detect news from local governments. Previously, Phillips worked at The Seattle Times for 12 years, was twice part of breaking news coverage that received a Pulitzer Prize and was twice on teams that were Pulitzer finalists. She is a former IRE board member and board president.
Connect on social media: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastadon
Unearthing secrets: How to scrub any candidate or public official
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
We'll discuss how to find out everything you need to know about the people in power, from building a vetting strategy to identifying the right stories. We'll cover which records to pull, surprising angles to consider, and how to source up for success.
Speakers
AmyJo Brown is a veteran journalist with a background in local government and investigative reporting. As a 2022-2023 Knight Lab Professional Fellow, she is building the Public Ledger, a data tool structured from local campaign finance data and designed to make local political relationships and their influence more visible. She also works as a consulting editor, helping news leaders on the specific organizational challenges of doing good journalism at the local level.
Steve Eder is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He reported on policing in America and shared in the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a series of articles examining fatal traffic stops. Eder has also reported extensively on former President Donald Trump, including his administration and business dealings. In 2018, Eder was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for reporting on workplace sexual harassment issues.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Sweet is a freelance journalist who has covered both national, regional and local news for over a decade. Most recently, she broke several major scoops on George Santos for POLITICO and Long Island Patch, stories that were aggregated by every major news outlet in the U.S. and beyond. Previously, Sweet covered Long Island news, generating original features across a range of news topics.
Connect on social media: Twitter
You need a disability beat: The stories and audiences we miss
Time: Friday, June 23, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Come to this panel to learn about working with disabled people and communities to investigate stories about inequity and injustice.
This session was planned in collaboration with National Center on Disability and Journalism. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Susannah Frame is the chief investigative reporter and reporting coach at KING 5. She’s won many national awards including a du-Pont Columbia Award, three Peabody Awards, three National Edward R. Murrow Awards and a national Emmy, and she’s been a finalist for the IRE Award five times. Her investigations have changed public policy, sparked FBI and congressional investigations, and created many new state laws.
Kristin Gilger is the director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She also is the Reynolds Professor of Business Journalism at the Cronkite School, where she has served as assistant, associate and interim dean. She is the co-author of the book, "There's No Crying in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned About What it Takes to Lead."
Daniel King is the standards and copy editor at Mother Jones. He was previously the copy chief at Gizmodo Media Group and Fusion, and he has edited at the Village Voice, BuzzFeed News and JazzTimes. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker.
Jennifer LaFleur is a senior editor at The Center for Public Integrity. She joined CPI from the Investigative Reporting Workshop. She also teaches at American University.
Broadcast track: Building the investigative powerhouse and landing a job there
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Join this roundtable of high-powered broadcast executives to find out what they're looking for in an investigative reporter – and how they've built their teams to diversify in background, experience, beat – so that they all learn from one another while providing the best coverage for their audiences. They'll share how to illustrate the importance of investing in investigative, using/adding resources and cheerleading and mentoring a team. Lots of opportunity for Q&A, so be sure to get in front of these leading news managers for a compelling discussion.
Speakers
Angela Barajas Prendiville is the executive producer of Atticus, TEGNA’s national award-winning investigative unit based in Atlanta. She oversees long form investigative content available for TV, streaming and digital. Prior to Atticus, Angela spent several years at CNN as a field producer pitching and developing enterprise stories. She's covered presidential elections, natural disasters and led the network coverage in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.
Cindy Galli is executive producer of ABC News’ award-winning investigative unit in New York. She oversees a team of correspondents, reporters and producers specializing in investigations ranging from government fraud and corporate corruption to racial injustice, consumer and environmental issues. She serves on IRE's board of directors and has been a member since 1994. A longtime consumer investigative reporter, Cindy is a San Francisco Bay Area native and proud Berkeley alum.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Nicole is the executive producer of content development for the Innovation Lab at CBS News and Stations. She leads a team of journalists producing data-driven and solutions-based national investigative stories that are scaled for local markets. Nicole previously served for six years on the IRE Board of Directors. She has two daughters and lives in Denver with her husband and dogs.
Broadcast track: Show & Tell with Dorothy Tucker
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Dorothy Tucker is a Chicago native, raised in Chicago's Lawndale and Austin communities. She has been a reporter for CBS2 Chicago since 1984. Currently, she is a reporter on the station's 2 Investigator team and is also President of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Detrás de la historia
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
El panel de periodistas ofrecerá un marco general sobre cómo se
trabaja en una unidad especializada en investigación, así como en
salas de redacción reducidas. Cómo se manejan más eficientemente
los recursos periodísticos, qué metodología se sigue ante el
bombardeo de “fake news” y cómo seleccionar historias que le
importen a la comunidad sobre todo en ambientes altamente
polarizados.
Speakers
A journalist specialized in Latin American finance and politics, Antonio María Delgado covers Venezuela for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. He spent more than half of his 30-year career with Reuters working as a reporter in Venezuela, a bureau chief in Ecuador and editor in charge of Latin American economic news for the agency’s Spanish-language service.
Directora editorial del CPI. Fue directora y reportera de la Unidad de Investigación de El Nuevo Día, corresponsal de Primera Hora y de cadenas radiales. Ha publicado en medios latinoamericanos a través de colaboraciones con el GDA. Es coautoras del libro La Noticia y yo 2.0. Ha sido ganadora del Premio Nacional de Periodismo de la Asociación de Periodistas de Puerto Rico y de Excelencia Periodística del Overseas Press Club por sus reportajes de investigación.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Daniela is a bilingual investigative journalist who has great interest in human trafficking and health care stories. Before joining InvestigateTV, Daniela interned three summers with WTVJ in South Florida and worked with their digital duopoly team. Daniela is graduate of Indiana University with both a bachelor’s degree and masters degree in journalism.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Aiola Virella is a journalist with 27 years experience in written, radio and multimedia press. She holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Puerto Rico. She worked as a government affairs and political reporter and has held various management positions such as assignment editor, news director and editor in chief. Although her professional experience has taken place for the most part in Puerto Rico, she also served as global editor of Metro World News.
Editors roundtable: The next generation of investigative journalists
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
The investigative journalism ecosystem has gone through major changes, with both good and bad ramifications for small and mid sized newsrooms. This roundtable discussion between editors will cover the challenges involved with identifying, hiring, training and retaining investigative journalists in this new era. We'll cover competing with national newsrooms on salary, navigating national partnerships, ensuring reporters get the support they need, our role with high schools and colleges and much, much more.
Speakers
Mark Katches is the editor and vice president of the Tampa Bay Times. Since joining the Times in 2018, the newsroom has won the Pulitzer Prize twice and been a finalist once. Before that, he edited or oversaw three other Pulitzer-winning projects and five more Pulitzer finalists. He’s a former IRE board member who led the organization’s mentorship program for several years.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Wendi C. Thomas is the editor and publisher of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. A 2016 Nieman fellow, she was part of ProPublica's Local Reporting Network from 2019-2021. Her “Profiting from the Poor” investigation tied for first place in the Investigative Reporters & Editors 2019 awards in the print/online division 1. Thomas also won the 2020 Selden Ring Award winner for investigative reporting and is a proud product of public schools.
Finding the story: Campaign finance data
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
A hands-on introduction to searching for, finding and using federal campaign finance data for beginners. This class will cover using the Federal Election Commission website to find and download different types of campaign finance data. We'll also review things to know about the data, including common pitfalls.
This session is good for: people who want an introduction to finding and working with federal campaign finance data. Knowing some spreadsheets will be helpful.
Instructor
For the past six years, Michael Beckel has been the research director at Issue One, a D.C.-based bipartisan political reform advocacy group. He previously worked as a reporter for more than a decade, with stints at the Center for Public Integrity, OpenSecrets.org, Mother Jones and two alternative newsweeklies in Colorado. He’s happy to talk with reporters, especially about money in politics and election administration issues.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Free, easy data viz
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Need a chart, map or other visualization to make your work stand out? Come for this roundup of free (or mostly free) data visualization tools that anyone can use.
Speaker
Jamie Grey is the managing editor of Gray Television's national investigative team, InvestigateTV. She lives in Kansas City and was previously a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and also a television reporter in Iowa and Idaho. She particularly loves data journalism and uses Excel to manage her tennis team and fantasy football roster.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Google Sheets: Using string functions to manipulate data
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Maybe you converted a PDF or imported a table into a spreadsheet -- or maybe an agency gave you a poorly formatted file. You can use string functions to reformat your data and get your spreadsheets working for you.
This session is good for: Anyone comfortable with using formulas and functions in Google Sheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Kate Martin is the sexual assault and health reporter for NBC News. Her work over two decades of journalism has sparked reforms, resignations, firings, criminal indictments and convictions. At least five state laws or legal precedents have changed because of her work.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating inequities in education
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Public education systems have, for years now, pledged to resolve inequities in their policies and services for students. But issues persist, whether it’s school districts not adhering to Individualized Education Program plans; discipline policies inequitably impacting students of color; or missing data on students experiencing homelessness complicating the ability to meet their unique needs.
In this panel, journalists will walk you through the stories they uncovered that reveal what happens when school systems don’t work as they should, are inequitable by design, or lack the full picture of the student bodies they serve. You’ll walk away with insights on how to report out similar stories across the country, and a deeper understanding of why this type of journalism matters.
Speakers
Corey Mitchell is a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, where he writes about racial, gender and economic inequality in education. He previously worked as an associate editor at Education Week and as an education reporter and Washington correspondent for the Star Tribune.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ileana Najarro covers race and opportunity for Education Week, with a special focus on English learners. She has previously written for the Tampa Bay Times and the Houston Chronicle. She won an NAHJ Elaine Rivera Civil Rights and Social Justice award for coverage of a Texas law’s impact on undocumented families. She grew up in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Chris Papst is the lead investigative reporter for Fox45's Project Baltimore, a long-term investigative unit that focuses on educational issues in Maryland. Chris is a four-time IRE Award winner.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating judges and the courts
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Judges wield enormous power and often can only be removed for crimes and extreme wrongdoing, and therefore they are accountable to few. Most are not required to respond to public records requests. Federal jurists in particular operate in a world shrouded in secrecy -- and many are appointed for life.
Panelists reveal how to pierce the veil of judicial secrecy by uncovering corruption, abuse, harassment and hidden financial interests with data, documents, sources, strategies and little-known archives for both state and federal courts. These tips and story ideas will be useful for both beat and investigative reporters.
Speakers
James V. Grimaldi won a Pulitzer Prize this year as part of a team that found thousands of senior federal officials investing in companies they regulated. That followed an award-winning series that exposed federal judges who broke the federal conflict-of-interest law. A winner of many national and local awards, Grimaldi also won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2006. He is a past president of IRE and on the board of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Lise Olsen is senior reporter and editor at the Texas Observer and the author of "Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System that Protects Them and the Women who Blew the Whistle," winner of the 2022 IRE Book Award. Her investigative reporting led to the impeachment of a federal judge and the prosecution of a congressmen, and her work has been featured in documentaries on CNN, A&E and Netflix.
Connect on social media: Website
Andrew Pantazi is an editor at The Tributary, a worker-run investigative nonprofit newsroom in Jacksonville, Florida. He previously worked as a reporter at The Florida Times-Union and as a union organizer with the NewsGuild.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Strategies reporters can use to earn trust
Time: Friday, June 23, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
No individual journalist can solve the problem of declining trust in the news. But there ARE things we all can be doing day to day to earn trust with sources and with the public. In this discussion, a panel of journalists and people who study trust will share specific strategies for reporters to demonstrate that their work is credible, defend their integrity and be responsive to the (sometimes legitimate) reasons people have for not trusting journalism.
Speakers
Joy Mayer founded Trusting News in 2016 after a 20-year career in newsrooms and teaching. The Trusting News team examines perceptions of news and trains journalists in transparency and engagement strategies. Joy spent 12 years at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she developed an audience engagement curriculum and a community outreach team in the newsroom of the Columbia Missourian. She is based in Sarasota, Florida.
Samantha Putterman is a journalist with PolitiFact based in Florida reporting on misinformation, with a focus on abortion and public health. Previously, she reported for the Bradenton Herald and the Tampa Bay Times.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Jennifer Berry Hawes
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Jennifer Berry Hawes. Jennifer can help with writing longform narratives and covering traumatic events. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Jennifer Berry Hawes is reporter at ProPublica. Before that, she was an investigative reporter at The Post and Courier, where she and a team won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2015 for a series about South Carolina’s domestic violence epidemic. Jennifer also was a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing in 2019. Her book, “Grace Will Lead Us Home,” about the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2019.
Broadcast track: From boring to blockbuster: Visualizing the non-visual investigation
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Data and documents may be the key to your story – but can fall flat on TV. How can you bring your investigation to life? Creative visuals and graphics are just some of the tools that can make your work pop. Join photojournalists, producers and on-air storytellers as they walk through how they translated their reporting to impactful stories that kept viewers glued to the screen - no matter the story length or subject.
Speakers
Samah Assad is an award-winning investigative journalist and producer with CBS Chicago. She uses data analysis, public records and mapping to expose systemic failures and government corruption. From digital to TV to documentaries, her longform reporting uncovers police abuse, inequities and failures in how sexual assault cases are investigated. She's dedicated to holding the powerful accountable and elevating voices that are systemically and historically unheard.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Beth is a content creator for NBC LX News based in Dallas, Texas. She's an award-winning investigative photojournalist, craft editor and lover of every story that most people deem a visual challenge. She lives by the idea of "innovate or die" and always tries to push the creative boundary in her work. Oh, and sometimes she does data work!
Cristin Severance is an investigative reporter and documentary producer obsessed with innovation, accountability journalism and modern storytelling techniques. She leads the documentary unit at WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she produces investigative documentaries on topics including gun violence, maternal health disparities and the fentanyl epidemic. She spent nearly 20 years as an investigative reporter in Dallas, San Diego, Cleveland and Portland, Oregon.
Business track: How to use public documents to cut through corporate PR spin, dig into corporate misconduct and reveal undue big business influence
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Companies spent a lot of the past year pointing to outside influences allegedly impacting their operations: a dramatic rise in retail theft, an increase in worker wages, supply chain issues and inflation. Meanwhile, those same companies – many of whom posted record profits - were hit with billions of dollars in fines for stealing worker wages, cheating consumers and degrading the environment. In this panel, learn how to dig into company behavior, using Violation Tracker, the world’s largest, publicly available regulatory database of civil and criminal corporate penalties, as well as budgets, public records requests, campaign contributions and other documents. Cut through the corporate PR and secrecy to tell the complete story of some of the most powerful entities when it comes to making decisions that impact all of us.
Speakers
David Armiak is research director and an investigative journalist with the Center for Media and Democracy. David joined CMD in 2015, has conducted extensive investigations on dark money, corporate corruption, and right-wing networks, and is responsible for filing and analyzing hundreds of public records requests every year. David has a strong research interest in social movements and political power, and has delivered many talks on the subject.
Jason Garcia is one of Florida’s leading investigative journalists and the publisher of “Seeking Rents,” a newsletter and podcast exploring how businesses influence public policy. The winner of multiple state and national awards, Garcia is the author of “Big Profits, Tiny Taxes,” which exposed how corporations dodge taxes, and a 2021 series uncovering a dark-money “ghost candidate" election scheme. He previously worked for the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Trend magazine.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Arlene Martínez is with Good Jobs First (GJF), a nonprofit resource center focused on corporate and government accountability in economic development (and home to the Subsidy Tracker, Violation Tracker and Amazon Tracker databases). Before joining GJF, Arlene launched the daily California newsletter for the USA TODAY Network and reported for the Ventura County Star in California, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was a Los Angeles Times METPro reporting fellow.
Maria Perez is an investigative reporter for The Examination. She has reported on companies that harm or exploit members of minority communities and on public health issues at USA Today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Naples Daily News. She won a George Polk Award for her investigation into Florida companies that profited from undocumented workers and reported them to prosecutors after they got injured on the job.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Digging deep into anti-trans legislation, locally and nationally
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
In this panel, these journalists will share the reporting tips and tricks that helped them cover the wave of anti-trans legislation beyond what’s on the surface. Reporters will talk about using public records, uncovering back-room political deals, and how they report on an ever-changing issue with confidence, rigor and accuracy.
Speakers
Lauren is an investigative reporter focused on Texas politics and policy. Her expertise areas include courts, criminal justice and LGBTQ issues. During her time covering the Louisiana Legislature, Lauren shared an IRE award with a team reporting on the state's campaign finance system. She has received several honors from the LGBTQ Journalists Association and has twice been nominated for a GLAAD award. She loves cats, cemeteries and comic books, and she cooks a mean steak.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
Madison Pauly is a California-based reporter covering gender and justice for Mother Jones, where she’s worked for eight years. Her reporting on sexual violence and incarceration has been cited in numerous lawsuits and honored as a Dart Award finalist. One of her recent investigations revealed leaked emails showing how anti-trans activists and religious-right groups coordinated with state lawmakers to push bills restricting healthcare for trans youth.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jo Yurcaba is a reporter for NBC Out, the LGBTQ section at NBC News Digital. They specialize in covering the transgender community and, recently, the surge in anti-trans legislation. They call North Carolina home but are temporarily based in Washington state.
Elections track: 2024 is already here. Buckle in.
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
National politics has become a defining factor for every story—from your local school board or zoning commission to public health decisions and even dating. The 2024 election cycle is an especially momentous one because it represents a stress test for American democracy at every level—and we’re already well into it. We’ll discuss the tools and ideas that journalists need to gear up for it.
Speakers
Lily Jamali is a senior reporter at American Public Media's Marketplace. Before joining Marketplace, Lily served as an anchor for Bloomberg TV Canada and co-host/correspondent at KQED’s The California Report. Her investigative reporting on the bankruptcy of California utility PG&E was finalist for the 2021 IRE Award and Scripps Howard Award. She was a member of this year's IRE Contest Committee. She is currently writing a book on bankruptcy for Simon & Schuster.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Aaron Kessler is a journalist, teacher and project leader specializing in investigative reporting and data analysis at the intersection of business and politics. He works on the national data team of The Associated Press in Washington, and is on IRE's board of directors. He's previously reported for outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and got his start as a city hall reporter at the Joplin Globe.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmkessler/
Hannah Levintova is the special projects editor at Mother Jones. Her reporting focuses on business, corporate accountability, debt and financial inequality. Previously, she covered politics in Mother Jones’ Washington, D.C., bureau, and before that worked on the news desk at NPR, at the Washington Monthly, and for a stint as a FOIA officer at a federal agency. She holds an MBA from Columbia University, where she was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business Journalism.
Nicholas Warren is a staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida based in Tallahassee. His work focuses on voting rights and redistricting in addition to other civil liberties areas.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Finding balance: How to manage stress at work and home
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
This interactive panel will cover actual tips for dealing with trauma in journalism, from how to recover after life-changing incidents to tips for navigating the system at work to get the help you need.
This session is sponsored by the Houston Chronicle. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Zack Newman is an investigative data producer for 9NEWS (KUSA-TV) in Colorado, where he works on collaborative and individual investigations. The Eagle Scout and improvisor came to Denver from New York City, where he worked for MSNBC and as an investigative field producer for the documentary "Sky Blossom." He has won awards including a regional Emmy, national Edward R. Murrow and national Sigma Delta Chi. Newman graduated from the University of Missouri.
Nickeas covered policing for CNN for two years until December 2022. Before that, he covered violence at the Chicago Tribune for almost ten years. During that time, Nickeas was a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia Journalism School and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Neena Satija is an investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle. She was previously a reporter at The Washington Post, the Texas Tribune and Reveal. Her work has won a Peabody Award and two national Edward R. Murrow awards for investigative reporting. She's also been nominated twice for a National Magazine Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Finding the story: Scams, fraud and a mountain of consumer complaint data
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Investigating a tip about a consumer scam? Did your viewer/reader send money on Zelle to their "chat friend" working on an oil rig? Supercharge your story with data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, FBI IC3 and BBB to find sources and add context with trends. We'll walk through key data sources to identify story ideas for your coverage area — and how to rank it in a national context.
This session is good for anyone who has some or limited experience working with data.
Instructor
Penzenstadler is a reporter on USA TODAY's investigative team working on national projects. Before joining USA TODAY, he was a city hall reporter at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wisconsin. Before that he worked as a military and general assignment reporter at the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota.
Google Sheets: Importing and data prep
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Don't give up if your data isn't presented in a neat spreadsheet. This session will teach you how to get data into a spreadsheet and prepare it for analysis. We will look at how to import text files, deal with data in a PDF, and get a table on a web page into a spreadsheet.
This session is good for: Anyone comfortable working in Google Sheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Kate Howard (she/her) is an editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Previously, she spent six years at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. She edited two seasons of the investigative podcast Dig, which won an IRE Award and was nominated for a Peabody Award. Prior to working in investigative radio, Kate spent nearly 14 years as a newspaper reporter. She is based in Louisville, Kentucky.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Management track: Being a player-coach
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
At some point in your career, you might find yourself in a hybrid player-coach role, with a mix of managerial, editorial and reporting responsibilities. Investigative and data reporters who have thrived in these roles weigh in on how they made them work -- without losing their sanity.
Speakers
Kathleen McGrory is a reporter at ProPublica. She began her career at the Miami Herald and was later an investigative reporter and editor at the Tampa Bay Times, where she won the Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting. She holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
Cheryl W. Thompson is an investigative correspondent and senior editor for investigations at NPR, overseeing investigations for member stations. Before joining NPR in 2019, she spent 22 years as an investigative and beat reporter with The Washington Post, where she wrote about guns, police, immigration, and politics. Her stories have won myriad awards, including an Emmy, two IRE and National Headliner awards, and three NABJ awards. She also was on the team that won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting: in 2002 for 9/11, and 2016 for police shootings. She received NPR’s 2021 public service journalism award given annually to one journalist, and was the reporting coach on the network’s podcast, “No Compromise,” which won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. In 2018, Cheryl was elected IRE’s first Black president, and served three terms in that role.
Ben Wieder is an investigative reporter for McClatchy's Washington bureau and the Miami Herald and leads McClatchy's national data team. His work has often focused on real estate, finance, political influence, corruption and the scammers who call South Florida home. He previously worked at the Center for Public Integrity and Stateline.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Showcase: Local coverage, lasting impact: The Uvalde story
Time: Friday, June 23, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
In the weeks after the horrific mass shooting that killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, the staff of the Uvalde Leader-News were looking forward to the day when the national media's bright spotlight shone somewhere else.
Nonstop national media attention can be retraumatizing. Many residents and journalists alike simply wanted to live, grieve and look for answers. Among them was award-winning reporter Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was one of the victims at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022.
How did Rubio and the other journalists at this small, family-owned newspaper carry on with its mission in the wake of this tragedy? And how can journalists who find themselves in similar situations find the strength to cope?
Join this powerful discussion featuring Rubio and Craig Garnett, publisher of the 144-year-old Uvalde Leader-News.
Also joining the conversation: ABC News correspondent John Quiñones, whose "Uvalde: 365" team spent a year in the community, and the executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Bruce Shapiro, who trains journalists in trauma-informed reporting. The discussion will be moderated by Cindy Galli, executive producer of the ABC News Investigative Unit.
This session is sponsored by ABC News. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
A meetup about IRE Meetups
Time: Friday, June 23, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Don't you want to see your IRE friends more than once or twice a year? Grab your lunch and drop by to discuss plans for networking meetups and social events in various cities. All ideas are welcome, and we'd love your help as an organizer for events in your city!
Speaker
Aaron Kessler is a journalist, teacher and project leader specializing in investigative reporting and data analysis at the intersection of business and politics. He works on the national data team of The Associated Press in Washington, and is on IRE's board of directors. He's previously reported for outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and got his start as a city hall reporter at the Joplin Globe.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmkessler/
International luncheon (sponsored by Global Investigative Journalism Network and Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University) — invitation only
Time: Friday, June 23, 12:45 – 2:15 p.m. (90 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-7, first floor
This event is co-sponsored by the Global Investigative Journalism Network and Investigative Reporting Workshop/American University. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Media lawyers Q&A
Time: Friday, June 23, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Does your investigation involve complex legal questions and you're unsure how to proceed? Bring your lunch and your questions for a personal discussion with some prominent media law experts that will be presenting throughout the conference. We'll provide drinks and dessert.
This session is sponsored by the TEGNA Foundation. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Rachel Fugate is a partner at Shullman Fugate. Her practice handles all aspects of media law, including defense of defamation, invasion of privacy and other content-related claims. She has argued several media matters in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout Florida. Rachel also provides daily advice on content related issues, including newsgathering advice, responses to retraction demands and subpoenas, and pre-broadcast and pre-publication review.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Twitter (company), LinkedIn
Dana J. McElroy is the managing partner of Thomas & LoCicero’s South Florida office in Fort Lauderdale, where she represents journalists on a regular basis. A former editor of the Independent Florida Alligator, McElroy worked as a staff writer for the Florida Times Union and Gainesville Sun before attending law school. McElroy received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in 1984 and graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in 1989.
Gunita is an attorney at Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she litigates under freedom of information laws while helping reporters with records requests. She has co-authored two publications about the effect of COVID-19 on access to public records and also serves on the board of LION Publishers. Gunita was previously an attorney at the transparency organization Property of the People, where she used FOIA to foster accountability of government. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Gunita Singh
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Gunita Singh. Gunita can help you with public records requests and negotiations. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Gunita is an attorney at Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she litigates under freedom of information laws while helping reporters with records requests. She has co-authored two publications about the effect of COVID-19 on access to public records and also serves on the board of LION Publishers. Gunita was previously an attorney at the transparency organization Property of the People, where she used FOIA to foster accountability of government. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Broadcast track: Anatomy of an investigation: Executing stories from start to finish
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
From pitch to air, how an initial and maybe obscure tip led to successful investigative stories. Challenges, work arounds, solutions, successes – plus collaborations, partnerships, team projects and more! We pick apart compelling content to find out how they got the end result.
This session is sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Jamie Grey is the managing editor of Gray Television's national investigative team, InvestigateTV. She lives in Kansas City and was previously a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and also a television reporter in Iowa and Idaho. She particularly loves data journalism and uses Excel to manage her tennis team and fantasy football roster.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Josh Hinkle is KXAN’s director of investigations and innovation, leading the station’s duPont and IRE Award-winning investigative team on multiple platforms. He also leads KXAN’s political coverage as executive producer and host of “State of Texas,” a weekly statewide program focused on the Texas Legislature and elections. Josh teaches broadcast journalism at St. Edward’s University in Austin. In 2021, he was elected to the IRE Board of Directors.
Cho has been with ABC News for over a decade and specializes in long-form investigations for ABC News platforms and Hulu. She's covered a wide spectrum of topics, including illegal child labor on ethically certified farms to racial bias in the NFL concussion settlement program, and she has been honored with multiple awards for her work. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she now calls Brooklyn her home.
Julie is a national-award-winning investigative reporter for CBS News & Stations in Sacramento. Her accountability reports also air in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where she previously worked. Julie’s reports have prompted recalls, federal investigations and several new laws. He work has been honored with dozens of journalism awards, including more than a dozen Emmy Awards. Julie is also an AMS-sealed Meteorologist, News Anchor and Multi-Skilled Journalist (MSJ/VJ).
Broadcast track: Show & Tell with Duane Pohlman
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speaker
Pohlman's award-winning investigations have exposed political corruption, environmental threats, the resurgence of white supremacy groups and a wide variety wrongdoings, resulting in investigations, prosecutions, and new laws. He is a past IRE vice-president and former chair of SPJ Professional Standards & Ethics. He currently chairs the journalism advisory board at his alma mater, Bowling Green State University, and he is the co-founder and president of the Ohio Center for Journalism.
Investigating transportation: Trains, planes and automobiles
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
From heavy trucks to light rail, we'll talk about how to cover different modes of transportation, what to watch for, and who to speak to. We'll introduce you to the National Transportation Safety Board and the various interest groups that exist to birddog government. We'll also show you ways to get answers from your state’s Department of Transportation if they aren't talking.
Speakers
Jonathan D. Salant is assistant managing editor, politics, at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and has spoken at several IRE conferences. A former National Press Club president, he has been based in Washington, D.C., for 36 years and was part of teams that won the Dirksen Award for congressional coverage and the Robin Toner Prize for local political reporting. He just was elected to the Society of Professional Journalists D.C chapter's Hall of Fame.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Post, Mastadon, Facebook
Jennifer Titus is an investigative reporter at 10TampaBay, the CBS affiliate in Tampa. Her work at 10Investigates over the past decade has prompted change at the local and state level. Her latest investigation, unGUARDED, took an in depth look at improperly installed guardrails across the state, which prompted a full review by the state's transportation department.
Benét J. Wilson is director of the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship, a year-long program designed to train early-career journalists. She was previously a senior editor and travel/aviation writer for The Points Guy. She serves on the board of Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and has served on the boards of the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. She is a strong advocate for media diversity, mentoring and career navigation. She has moderated workshops and webinars on topics including resumes/cover letters, digital journalism, branding and social media. She graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a B.A. in broadcast journalism. She resides in San Antonio, Texas.
Investigations for campus coverage
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
This session will focus on how to hold universities (especially your own) to account. Hear from reporters who have turned their investigative eye on their own universities, the unique challenges they faced, and how they overcome roadblocks to do their work.
Speakers
Theo Baker is the youngest ever recipient of a George Polk Award for his series uncovering numerous allegations of research misconduct on the part of Stanford president and billionaire neuroscientist Marc Tessier-Lavigne. A freshman at Stanford, he serves as the investigations editor for The Stanford Daily, an independent student-run paper.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Drew Hawkins is a writer and journalist in New Orleans, Louisiana. You can find his work in The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Louisiana Illuminator, Scalawag Magazine, HAD, Nurture Literary, and the proverbial elsewhere. Drew is the producer and host of Micro, a LitHub podcast featuring short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry read by the author, and he recently became the Health Equity reporter in the Gulf States Newsroom.
Maria Pham is a videographer for the award-winning LSU Cold Case Project. She also is a full-time creative services producer for WAFB Channel 9. Maria's favorite part of video production is writing and editing. In 2022, she earned her broadcast journalism undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University. When Maria is not behind the camera or editing on the computer, she's cooking up a dish based on that deal she couldn't miss at the grocery store.
Connect on social media: Linkedin
University of Central Florida faculty member Mary Shanklin has a long body of work that has been recognized by a host of journalism organizations. She now teaches classes including news reporting, metro reporting and mass comm law. Her upcoming book, "American Castle:100 years of Mar-a-Lago" (Diversion Publishing, New York, NY) is set for release in September.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Vidrine is a recent LSU graduate who participated in the Cold Case Project for two semesters before working as a student researcher on the project. During this time, she investigated two cold cases -- the disappearance of Joseph Edwards and the 1972 Southern Shooting -- in addition to running the social media accounts and facilitating a new website. Vidrine is currently enrolled in a program studying UX/UI design and hopes to pursue this career path in the future.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Master class: Successful project management for collaboration - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 6 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Collaboration is required to do ambitious work, but what does it really take to work well with others? We'll share ground rules for pitching and designing successful partnerships and discuss shared challenges for cross-organization investigations. Hear from leaders in nonprofit and international news organizations who have made partnerships work for them on projects big and small.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speakers
Darla Cameron is the managing editor for visual journalism for The Texas Tribune. She manages the photo, multimedia and data visuals teams and helps set newsroom strategy and define processes. She previously worked at The Washington Post and the Tampa Bay Times and currently serves on the IRE Board of Directors.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Mago Torres is an investigative journalist who works at the intersection of research and data. She is the data editor at The Examination, an independent and investigative organization that covers global health. Her interdisciplinary path in journalism has taken her to work on award-winning long-form investigations and develop programs that support collaborations, and data and investigative stories in the U.S. and internationally.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Pitch in for pitches
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
We've all heard stories of how journalists got the coveted interview, the linchpin public record, or how laws were changed once their reporting came to light. But what if you got to witness — and even help — bring an idea to fruition?
During this session, several pre-selected participants will have their story or project idea presented to the crowd, with a panel of journalists leading discussion on how to improve it. Audience attendees will also have an opportunity to give guided feedback. This session is designed to help and lift up ideas so that they can be strengthened for newsroom approval, Big-P project potential and maximum impact.
To make your pitch, fill out this form by June 12.
Speakers
Marissa Evans is a health reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She teaches an online trauma-informed reporting class with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Before joining The Times in 2021, she worked for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where she covered housing, how communities of color were affected by COVID-19 and how private hospitals seize tax refunds for unpaid medical bills. She previously reported for The Texas Tribune, CQ Roll Call and Kaiser Health News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Kat Stafford is a national investigative race writer at The Associated Press.
Connect on social media: Twitter
MaryJo Webster is the head of the data team at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. She is also a senior fellow with the Center for Health Journalism's Data Fellowship program. Previously, she worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, USA Today, the Center for Public Integrity, IRE and small papers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Preparing new reporters for the news industry
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
It can be a scary time to be a journalist for those just starting out. But this panel will focus on how leaders can make sure the greenest among us are prepared for what they'll face, how to support new reporters in these challenges, and how to make sure they stick around.
Speakers
Rebecca Aguilar is in Dallas. She did 28 years in TV news covering the police and court beats. In her four decades, her investigations have uncovered registered sex offenders among U.S. postal workers, VA hospital doctors experimenting on veterans without their knowledge, Catholic pedophile priests secretly moved by the church to Texas only to abuse again, and even a man posing as a criminal lawyer. She's been honored with 50 awards and nominations for her work.
Connect on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram
David Boardman is dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. Under his leadership, the school has created many new initiatives, including the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media and the Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting. Before joining Temple, Boardman was the top editor of The Seattle Times, which won four Pulitzer Prizes and had 10 finalists during that time. He is a former president of IRE and winner of the IRE Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Graham Lee Brewer is a national reporter covering Indigenous communities and tribal nations at NBC News. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the president of the Native American Journalists Association. Before joining NBC, Brewer was an editor on the Indigenous affairs desk at High Country News and a regular contributor to NPR and the New York Times.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Lam Thuy Vo is a journalist who marries data analysis with on-the-ground reporting to examine how systems and policies affect individuals. She is currently a reporter with The Markup and will be an associate professor of data journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in the fall of 2023. Previously, she was a journalist at BuzzFeed News, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America and NPR's Planet Money.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Using OpenRefine, a power tool for cleaning data
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Learn how to use OpenRefine, a powerful tool for quickly cleaning up dirty data. You'll learn about faceting, simple clustering, applying common data transformations and more.
This session is good for people with basic experience working with data.
Instructor
Daniel Lathrop, a data reporter at Scripps News, is a longtime investigative reporter and editor. Prior to January, he was an investigative reporter at the Des Moines Register. He is a multiple IRE Award winner and finalist, winner of the White House Correspondents Association Edgar A. Poe Award and numerous other honors. A onetime professor of media informatics, he is part of the inaugural class of the E.W. Scripps Company's Journalism Journey Initiative.
Web scraping with Python
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
If you need data that's trapped on a website, writing some code to scrape the page could be your solution. This entry-level class will show you the basic process of using the Python programming language to harvest information from a website and save to a local data file.
This session is good for: People who work with data and want to learn a little programming to scrape a website.
Instructor
When story subjects push back
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Increasingly, the subjects of stories are not just denying wrongdoing. They are attacking journalists -- launching PR campaigns to lie about them, putting up billboards to belittle them and even opening criminal investigations into their work. On this panel, four reporters who have been through the wringer will discuss how to handle it with grace, and how to know when to make it part of the story.
Speakers
Jatara McGee is an award-winning investigative reporter at WLWT in Cincinnati. The University of Maryland graduate started her career as a multimedia journalist in Charleston, West Virginia. At WLWT, she was promoted to investigative reporter after two years of GA reporting. Jatara has been recognized with a regional Murrow, NABJ Salute to Excellence award and thirteen Emmy nominations. She's president of the Greater Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists.
Josh Renaud is a developer and data journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 2022, he received the National Press Club's domestic John Aubuchon Award for press freedom, and an Ethics in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, after discovering that a state website was exposing the sensitive information of thousands of Missouri teachers, and persevering through an investigation and false accusations made by the governor.
Connect on social media: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastadon
Brian M. Rosenthal is an investigative reporter on the Metro Desk at The New York Times. He won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for exposing predatory lending in the taxi industry, and he was part of a team that won the 2015 Pulitzer in Breaking News for coverage of a deadly mudslide. He also was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer in Public Service. Brian grew up in Indiana and began his career at The Seattle Times and the Houston Chronicle.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Working with sources who are reluctant to share their stories
Time: Friday, June 23, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
A key question in almost every investigation is how to work with potential sources who have vital information – but are reluctant to share it. They may be victims of crimes, incarcerated people, members of marginalized groups, even possible whistleblowers with access to confidential material. How can you earn their trust? And how can you ensure that they are not retraumatized or harmed by helping you? This panel will equip you with the tools to connect with sources in a variety of vulnerable circumstances.
Speakers
Zach Despart is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune. He investigates power — who wields it, how, and to what ends — in Texas government. He has extensively covered the Uvalde school shooting, including a groundbreaking investigation on the role the gunman’s rifle played in the disastrous police response. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle and is a New York native and graduate of the University of Vermont.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Leslie Eaton is a senior editor for investigations at The Marshall Project, the nonprofit newsroom covering criminal justice. Projects she edited there have won awards including the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and the Goldsmith Prize. She previously ran the investigations team at the Dallas Morning News, served as Texas bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal and was a reporter at The New York Times.
Keira Farrimond has been everything from topical producer to line producer to executive producer to now investigative producer in her 18-year career in journalism. She has worked in newspaper, radio, television and podcasts, creating daily reports, in-depth investigations as well as documentaries. She’s been the recipient of multiple awards, including a regional Edward R. Murrow award for her work on the COLD podcast and six regional Emmy awards.
Corey Johnson is an investigative reporter with ProPublica. His work has won numerous state and national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, two IRE Gold Medals, the George Polk Award, the Worth Bingham Prize, the Scripps Howard Award for Public Service, a National Headliners Award and a NABJ Award. He is an Atlanta native, a Florida A&M University graduate and a co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Alfredo Carbajal
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Alfredo Carbajal. Alfredo can help with: enterprise reporting, reporting on immigration and diverse communities, leadership development and coaching. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Alfredo Carbajal worked for 20 years at the Dallas Morning News and Al Día. He's co-leader of the News Leaders Association's Emerging Leaders Institute and former president of the American Society of News Leaders.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Broadcast Show & Tell en español: Rebecca Aguilar y Valezka Gil-Wester
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Asiste a este "show and tell." Comparte tu trabajo y tus observaciones para que otros mejoren sus destrezas de narración e investigación. Esta es también una buena oportunidad para establecer nuevos contactos.
Show & Tell sessions allow you to share your investigations with colleagues from around the country. Veteran broadcasters will moderate each session. Each slot runs for 15 minutes.
This session is sponsored by the Napoli Management Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Rebecca Aguilar is in Dallas. She did 28 years in TV news covering the police and court beats. In her four decades, her investigations have uncovered registered sex offenders among U.S. postal workers, VA hospital doctors experimenting on veterans without their knowledge, Catholic pedophile priests secretly moved by the church to Texas only to abuse again, and even a man posing as a criminal lawyer. She's been honored with 50 awards and nominations for her work.
Connect on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram
Valezka Gil is a four-time Emmy Award-winning consumer investigative reporter at Telemundo 31 in Orlando, FL. She helped launch Telemundo 31 Response Unit in April 2019. Gil has helped in recovering more than half a million dollars for viewers with unsolved consumer issues. She is a native of Venezuela and graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2013. At the university, Gil launched the first Spanish-language newscast. She is also an active member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists of Central Florida.
Broadcast track: Covering the inevitable: A mass shooting in my market
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
How to dig in while the news is still breaking and in the weeks and months that follow. From reaching sources, backgrounding victims and suspects, and balancing live coverage with in-depth reporting, to investigating the emergency response and preserving your own mental health. Hear from reporters who've tackled this tough assignment. What did they learn and how can it help you better prepare for when it happens in your market?
Speakers
A two-time IRE award winner, Jeremy Finley is the chief investigative reporter at WSMV-TV in Nashville. In addition to his reporting, Jeremy is a novelist, whose books have been profiled on NPR, People Magazine and the New York Post. He's also the co-host of a literary television program on Nashville Public Television that profiles authors and their new novels. His heroes are investigative reporters, so he already likes you.
As the Chief Investigative Reporter at ABC News, Josh Margolin’s reporting appears on all ABC programs and platforms. He leads the network’s coverage of a wide range of stories – from breaking crime news to law enforcement and terrorism to covid. Josh has worked at newspapers around the country, including the NY Post and The Star-Ledger in NJ, where he led the team that won a Pulitzer. Josh is the co-author of The Jersey Sting.
Karla Ray is an award-winning anchor and investigative reporter, with the bulk of her career spent breaking and covering big stories in Florida. Her exposure of inmate deaths under the care of the same medical provider led to sweeping changes within local jails, and her recent reporting on the lack of standards for human trafficking safehouses led to first of its kind legislation to regulate them in Florida
KTNV Chief Investigative Reporter Darcy Spears has won more than 20 Emmys, nine Edward R. Murrow awards, Associated Press awards and more on both a national and local scale. A member of the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, Darcy has been investigating Las Vegas for 28 years. Darcy has a B.A. in Mass Communications from UC Berkeley and a Masters degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Data analysis with Python
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
In this session, you'll learn how to analyze data using the popular Python data analysis library pandas. You'll learn about the benefits of scripting your data projects and enough syntax to load, sort, filter and group a data set.
This class is good for: People who are comfortable working with data in spreadsheets or SQL and want to make the leap to programming.
Instructors
Carlie is a data journalist on the USA TODAY graphics team, where she creates data visualizations for explanatory and investigative stories. She previously worked at Honolulu Civil Beat and graduated from the University of Missouri.
Dian Zhang is a data journalist on the USA TODAY investigations team, where she uses data and quantitative analysis to tell stories. She also creates statistical charts and databases for the team. She graduated from Columbia Journalism School.
Go dox yourself
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
In this hands-on session, Kristen Larson and Sean Sposito from Yahoo’s Information Security team will cover why doxxing is a threat to journalists and suggest some tools and techniques for cleaning up your online footprint.
This session is good for: Anyone.
Instructors
Kristen is a digital security expert with five years of experience working with journalists and newsrooms. Currently, Kristen manages the security behavioral engineering team at Yahoo, which is responsible for training and supporting journalists working at Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and TechCrunch. She also enjoys reading cookbooks and spending time with her rescue pup, Georgia.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Sean Sposito is a member of a nudge unit embedded in the Paranoids — Yahoo’s information security organization. There, he works to catalyze positive security change.
How to make a great story into a great narrative podcast
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Ever wondered what it takes to make a limited-run podcast, the kind that unfurls an investigation over episodes, introduces unforgettable characters and asks big questions? We'll give you a high-level view of how to turn great reporting into a great audio narrative.
Speakers
Ana Arana is an award-winning veteran investigative journalist and media trainer with experience covering international organized crime. A former U.S. foreign correspondent who reported from Central America and Colombia, Arana has worked most recently as a freelance journalist and editor. She has received several awards, including a team award from the Online News Association, a Third Coast Audio Festival Silver Award, a Peabody and two Overseas Press Club awards.
Emily Hanford is a senior education correspondent for APM Reports. Her work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times. Her 2018 audio documentary “Hard Words” won the inaugural public service award from the Education Writers Association. Her most recent project, the podcast “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong,” won a 2023 IRE Award and was nominated for a Peabody. Emily is based in Washington, D.C.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Julieta Martinelli is Pulitzer Prize and International Documentary Association award-winning senior producer and investigative reporter working on long-form audio documentary projects and narrative podcasts at Futuro Media. There, she leads reporting projects at Studios, Latino USA and Futuro Investigates. Her reporting is people-centered and examines systems of power, corruption and access to human rights in the fields of criminal justice, immigration and incarceration.
Christopher Peak is an investigative reporter at APM Reports. He co-reported “Sold a Story,” a podcast about the disproven approach to teaching reading used by many districts. Peak previously covered schools for the New Haven Independent and the Point Reyes Light. He was a finalist for the Education Writers Association’s national award for beat reporting, and he has won numerous regional awards, including Connecticut SPJ's First Amendment Award. Peak is a Yale graduate.
Investigating junk science
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
A panel discussion on how to recognize, investigate and write about junk science.
Speakers
Ziva Branstetter is a senior editor at ProPublica, supervising a national investigative team. She previously served as corporate accountability editor at The Washington Post, where she led projects including the Pandora Papers collaboration. Branstetter also worked at Reveal and spent more than 20 years as a journalist in Oklahoma. Her investigation into that state’s flawed death penalty was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Branstetter served three terms on the IRE board.
Daphne is an investigative reporter for The Marshall Project. She previously worked at USA TODAY, The Palm Beach Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Miami Herald. She has spent most of her career covering issues surrounding the criminal justice system, but she has also worked internationally in Haiti and parts of the Caribbean.
Lauren is an investigative reporter focused on Texas politics and policy. Her expertise areas include courts, criminal justice and LGBTQ issues. During her time covering the Louisiana Legislature, Lauren shared an IRE award with a team reporting on the state's campaign finance system. She has received several honors from the LGBTQ Journalists Association and has twice been nominated for a GLAAD award. She loves cats, cemeteries and comic books, and she cooks a mean steak.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
Brett Murphy is a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. He joined the newsroom in 2022, after working as an investigative reporter at USA Today, where he covered labor, criminal justice and the federal government. Murphy has won several national journalism awards. He also co-founded the “Local Matters” newsletter, a weekly roundup of the best investigative and watchdog reporting from local newsrooms around the country. Murphy is based in Brooklyn.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating prisons and jails
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Prisons and jails are closed off from society by design. Their walls and fences keep journalists out and secrets in, making reporting on them all the more difficult and vital. Hear from reporters from the Associated Press, New York Times, Marshall Project and Flatwater Free Press who’ve exposed abuse, neglect and other injustices in correctional facilities from Rikers Island to the Bay Area. Harness their techniques, tools and best practices to produce more impactful journalism. With more than a million people in the U.S. locked up in prisons or jails, there are many more important stories to be told.
Speakers
Natalia Alamdari is the Seacrest Greater Nebraska reporter at the Flatwater Free Press, where she drives around the state finding stories from rural Nebraska. She's taken readers inside prisons and crypto mining farms, and even overseas to a hotel of Ukrainian refugees and Nebraska volunteers in Warsaw, Poland. Before coming to Nebraska, she worked at newspapers in Delaware and Missouri, writing about education, politics and more. She's a Mizzou grad and a Texan.
Joseph Neff is an investigative reporter at The Marshall Project who worked at The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, and The Associated Press. He was a Pulitzer finalist and has won awards including the Goldsmith Prize and the MOLLY National Journalism Prize.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jan Ransom is an investigative reporter for The New York Times focusing on criminal justice issues, law enforcement and incarceration in New York. The Newswomen's Club of New York named her “Journalist of the Year” for their 2022 Front Page Awards for her coverage of the crisis at Rikers Island, one of America's most expensive jail complexes. She is a graduate of Howard University and a native New Yorker.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Sisak is a reporter for The Associated Press in New York City. He covers law enforcement and courts with a focus on investigations into former President Donald Trump. Sisak also reports on U.S. policing and criminal justice issues, including the federal prison system. He was previously a reporter and editor for the AP in Philadelphia and at a newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He grew up on Long Island and is a graduate of Hofstra University.
Management track: Pre-publication red flags for editors
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Pre-publication review is a crucial part of newsrooms’ viability, and editors who know how to spot red flags in a story can protect their newsroom from legal liability. This session will provide a primer on common vetting principles that editors can use to assess risk and decide when to seek legal help. Participants will come away with practical takeaways and resources that they can apply to their work moving forward.
Speakers
John Dunbar is the executive editor of the Daytona Beach News Journal and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He was previously editor of investigations at the Daily Memphian and held that same title at Bloomberg Industry Group. Prior to that he was CEO of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., a reporter for the Associated Press, also in Washington, and an investigative reporter at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.
Katie Townsend is Deputy Executive Director and Legal Director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org). She oversees the litigation, amicus, and other legal work of RCFP attorneys, and represents the Reporters Committee, news organizations, and individual journalists, including documentary filmmakers, in court access, freedom of information, and other First Amendment and press freedom matters.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Reporting on human rights abuses in conflicts abroad and at home
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
After the bullets, bombs or drone strikes land how do you make sense of what happened? When human rights abuses take place how do you find out who was at fault? Whether it's war, an insurrection or police in riot gear down the street, you'll learn how to retrace steps, make some surprising phone calls and squeeze more information out of the internet than you thought possible. Oh, and wondering where the money came from to fund the conflict you're covering? We'll cover that too.
Speakers
David Armiak is research director and an investigative journalist with the Center for Media and Democracy. David joined CMD in 2015, has conducted extensive investigations on dark money, corporate corruption, and right-wing networks, and is responsible for filing and analyzing hundreds of public records requests every year. David has a strong research interest in social movements and political power, and has delivered many talks on the subject.
Rowan Philp is senior reporter at the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), where he identifies transferable tips and tools from interviews with watchdog reporters around the world. He was formerly chief reporter for South Africa’s Sunday Times. As a foreign correspondent, he reported on major news events from more than two dozen countries, from separatist conflict in the Philippines to the 2010 Haiti earthquake and state terror in Zimbabwe.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Amy Walters is an award-winning senior producer for Al Jazeera's daily news podcast "The Take," and she also works with Al Jazeera's investigative team on their podcast projects. She has spent her career reporting, producing and editing audio journalism for NPR and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting before landing with Al Jazeera.
Who’s it for? Bringing investigative stories to the communities we cover
Time: Friday, June 23, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
This panel will explore how to report for and with communities in-mind, and not just about them. Journalists Kelly Garcia and Albert Serna Jr. will discuss the tools and strategies they use to further their in-depth and investigative reporting, while also building trust in the communities they serve.
Speakers
Lakeidra Chavis is a staff writer for The Marshall Project. She has written on wide-ranging topics, including the rise in Black suicides during the pandemic, the changing structure of gangs, the opioid crisis and victim compensation. Lakeidra previously reported at The Trace, ProPublica Illinois and NPR stations in Chicago and Alaska. Lakeidra is a 2021 Livingston Award finalist. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Albert Serna Jr. is a queer Chicano journalist originally from the San Gabriel Valley outside of Los Angeles. His enjoys reporting on investigative topics at the intersections of race, identity and culture.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Networking: Early-career journalists
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is sponsored by Holland & Knight. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Naomi Harris is a higher education reporter for the non-profit news outlet Open Campus. She joined the national reporting staff in 2021 and focuses her coverage on race and equity in higher education.
Zack Newman is an investigative data producer for 9NEWS (KUSA-TV) in Colorado, where he works on collaborative and individual investigations. The Eagle Scout and improvisor came to Denver from New York City, where he worked for MSNBC and as an investigative field producer for the documentary "Sky Blossom." He has won awards including a regional Emmy, national Edward R. Murrow and national Sigma Delta Chi. Newman graduated from the University of Missouri.
Networking: Educators
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for educators.
Speakers
Kathy Best helps teach the next generation of investigative reporters by producing national investigations at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. She is the former editor of The Seattle Times and was an editor and reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Baltimore Sun and Missoulian.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Dave teaches a data-heavy investigative journalism course at Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he also guides journalists and student reporters on nine-month projects through the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism. His 32-year reporting career at the Milwaukee Journal and Journal Sentinel culminated in a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. He's from La Crosse, WI and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Networking: Freelancers
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for freelance journalists.
Speaker
Networking: Journalists of color
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5&7, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for journalists of color.
This session is sponsored by the ProPublica. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Lam Thuy Vo is a journalist who marries data analysis with on-the-ground reporting to examine how systems and policies affect individuals. She is currently a reporter with The Markup and will be an associate professor of data journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in the fall of 2023. Previously, she was a journalist at BuzzFeed News, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America and NPR's Planet Money.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Benét J. Wilson is director of the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship, a year-long program designed to train early-career journalists. She was previously a senior editor and travel/aviation writer for The Points Guy. She serves on the board of Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and has served on the boards of the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. She is a strong advocate for media diversity, mentoring and career navigation. She has moderated workshops and webinars on topics including resumes/cover letters, digital journalism, branding and social media. She graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a B.A. in broadcast journalism. She resides in San Antonio, Texas.
Networking: Later-career journalists
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 6&8, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for journalists who have been in the field 15 years or more.
Speakers
Pohlman's award-winning investigations have exposed political corruption, environmental threats, the resurgence of white supremacy groups and a wide variety wrongdoings, resulting in investigations, prosecutions, and new laws. He is a past IRE vice-president and former chair of SPJ Professional Standards & Ethics. He currently chairs the journalism advisory board at his alma mater, Bowling Green State University, and he is the co-founder and president of the Ohio Center for Journalism.
MaryJo Webster is the head of the data team at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. She is also a senior fellow with the Center for Health Journalism's Data Fellowship program. Previously, she worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, USA Today, the Center for Public Integrity, IRE and small papers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Networking: Mid-career journalists
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is sponsored by Newspack. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Jonah Newman is the managing editor at Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago focused on issues of equity and justice in the court system. Previously, he worked as an editor and data reporter at Pacific Standard, the Chicago Reporter, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Rachel is an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy-award winning investigative reporter. Rachel's investigations have changed state laws, led to indictments and created change in communities across the country.
Connect on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Networking: Students
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is sponsored by Graham Media Group. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Allison is a political science and political communication major at LSU. She fell in love with journalism her sophomore year thanks to the Cold Case project. She has worked as a research assistant for a journalism professor for a year and a half. She has also been a reporter for the Reveille and the statehouse bureau at LSU. In her free time, Allison enjoys rowing and spending time with friends.
Connect on social media: Twitter, Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonallsop
Claire Sullivan is a rising senior at Louisiana State University and a reporting intern at the Louisiana Illuminator. She was a part of the team awarded an IRE Award this year for an investigation into a 1972 unsolved police shooting at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is originally from Waterbury, Connecticut, and hopes to work as a reporter after graduation.
Networking: Women
Time: Friday, June 23, 5 – 6 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Mix and mingle, meet friends old and new, and build your professional community in this fun and informal networking session.
This session is for people who identify as women.
This session is sponsored by Thomas LoCicero. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Kate Howard (she/her) is an editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Previously, she spent six years at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. She edited two seasons of the investigative podcast Dig, which won an IRE Award and was nominated for a Peabody Award. Prior to working in investigative radio, Kate spent nearly 14 years as a newspaper reporter. She is based in Louisville, Kentucky.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Treasure Roberts joined WKMG News 6 January of 2021 as an overnight breaking news multimedia journalist. Within one year she was promoted to nightside reporter. Prior to joining the team, she worked in Peoria, Illinois as a reporter/fill-in anchor and co-launched the station's first investigative team. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended college at Michigan State University. She graduated with her bachelor's degrees in journalism and media & information.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Joy Mayer
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 11:15 a.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Joy Mayer. Joy is available to talk about adding transparency to stories or addressing audience perceptions of the news. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Joy Mayer founded Trusting News in 2016 after a 20-year career in newsrooms and teaching. The Trusting News team examines perceptions of news and trains journalists in transparency and engagement strategies. Joy spent 12 years at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she developed an audience engagement curriculum and a community outreach team in the newsroom of the Columbia Missourian. She is based in Sarasota, Florida.
Broadcast track: Art of the interview: Getting sensitive sources to talk
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
One of our most popular panels every year - we give step by step techniques to persuade reluctant subjects to go on camera. And then when you have them in the hot seat, there is, indeed, an art to your questioning. Learn from the best here.
Speakers
Jenna Bourne is an investigative reporter at 10 Tampa Bay (WTSP). She’s the host and executive producer of “What’s Brewing?” on YouTube, an investigative series geared toward Gen Z. Jenna previously reported for Action News Jax (WJAX/WFOX) in Jacksonville, 7 On Your Side (WSPA) in Greenville/Spartanburg and News 8 (WKBT) in La Crosse. She graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Connect on social media: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
Ismael Estrada is a producer with the ABC News Investigative Unit who has spent the past year reporting on the school shooting in Uvalde, embedding with families as they navigate the law enforcement response to the tragedy. Previously, Ismael was a producer with CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 for 13 years, investigating stories in Africa, Mexico, Colombia and throughout the United States.
Chris Papst is the lead investigative reporter for Fox45's Project Baltimore, a long-term investigative unit that focuses on educational issues in Maryland. Chris is a four-time IRE Award winner.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Google Sheets 1: Getting started with spreadsheets (repeat)
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
In this introduction to spreadsheets, you'll begin analyzing data with Google Sheets, a simple but powerful tool. You'll learn how to enter data, navigate spreadsheets and conduct simple calculations like sum, average and median.
This session is good for: Data beginners.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University. Before that, he worked for 26 years at the Boston Globe, specializing in data storytelling. He was a member of the Spotlight team, the newsroom’s investigative unit, when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 for its coverage of the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal. That story was turned into the movie “Spotlight,” which won an Oscar for Best Picture.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
How to SLAPP back against bogus defamation lawsuits
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
In 2022, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project had to defend against 42 strategic lawsuits against public participation -- SLAPP -- filed against its journalists and outlets.
OCCRP co-founder and publisher Drew Sullivan will take you through how to best position yourself to win one of these bogus defamation lawsuits, from the first threatening legal correspondence through to dismissal.
You'll also hear about Reporters Shield, the new program defending investigative reporting around the world from legal threats meant to silence critical voices. This program, developed by OCCRP and the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar Association, offers a coordinated global response to the legal threat of SLAPPs and other claims against independent journalism.
Speaker
Drew Sullivan is the co-founder and publisher of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). OCCRP has won more than 100 investigative journalism awards and may be the first global investigative media with 65 investigative editors on six continents. He has also worked for the Tennessean, the Associated Press and was an aerospace engineer on the Space Shuttle project for Rockwell Space Systems.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating inequity in higher education
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-6, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Investigating inequity in higher education is about examining who gets the privilege of a degree and what’s at stake. Expert journalists will provide suggestions for sourcing, datasets, navigating university flacks, investigating the intersection of education and business and wrangling public records out of recalcitrant officials’ hands.
This session is sponsored by the Lumina Foundation. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
David Cuillier, Ph.D., is director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. He was a journalist in the Pacific Northwest before teaching 17 years at the University of Arizona and then joining Brechner July 2023. He was president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and Society of Professional Journalists, and he is co-author of "The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records."
Connect on social media: Twitter
Francie Diep is a senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She covers money, rankings, prestige and state funding. Before The Chronicle, she spent a decade covering health and science, including health inequities, for publications including Pacific Standard, Popular Science and Scientific American.
Molly Minta, a Florida native, covers higher education for Mississippi Today in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit news organization focused on higher education. Prior to joining Mississippi Today, Molly worked as a fact-checker for The Nation, The Appeal and Mother Jones.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Olivia Sanchez is a higher education reporter. Olivia previously covered local and state government for the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Olivia earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Portland and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Master Class: Managing investigators… or how to lead journalists born to challenge authority - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Being a news manager is already tough, but what if you supervise investigative journalists? They come with an extra layer of challenges, because their very job (and likely their personality) makes them hyper-alert to authority figures.
This course is designed to give you some tools and tactics to lead individuals and entire teams of investigators in a more effective way. Learn from four investigative managers from different media at different stages of their leadership careers. How did they launch into their roles, and what experience have they gained along the way? This course is for current investigative managers and anyone aspiring to step into such a position in the future.
Topics will include: managing compassionately, hiring challenges, transitioning to management, forging partnerships, building relationships, handling resource cuts, organization/structure, tough decisions/conversations, in-house training/growth, delivering feedback, creating inclusive opportunities, and juggling responsibilities/projects/work.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speakers
As Managing Editor of Investigative Content for Cox Media Group, Jodie manages national collaborations and investigations for eight local television stations. She previously spent 20+ years as an investigative reporter at WRC-TV Washington, WSB-TV Atlanta and WFTV Orlando. She’s been honored with an IRE Award, duPont Award and numerous Murrow and Emmy Awards. She was elected to IRE’s Board in 2019 and 2021 and currently serves on the Executive Committee and Member Services Committee.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jennifer S. Forsyth is deputy chief of investigations at The Wall Street Journal, helping to manage a team of investigative reporters and data experts. She previously has served as U.S. Editor for the Journal. She managed a collaboration with PBS’s Frontline on the U.S. Indian Health Service, which won the Worth Bingham Award for Investigative Journalism, and edited stories that were part of a Pulitzer-winning package on Trump’s hush money.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Josh Hinkle is KXAN’s director of investigations and innovation, leading the station’s duPont and IRE Award-winning investigative team on multiple platforms. He also leads KXAN’s political coverage as executive producer and host of “State of Texas,” a weekly statewide program focused on the Texas Legislature and elections. Josh teaches broadcast journalism at St. Edward’s University in Austin. In 2021, he was elected to the IRE Board of Directors.
Mc Nelly Torres is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor at the Center for Public Integrity where she leads a team investigating inequality. Previously, Torres worked as an investigative producer for NBC6 in Miami and co-founded FCIR.org. Torres is a product of newspapers including the Sun-Sentinel and the San Antonio Express-News. She was a recipient of the Gwen Ifill Award in 2022. Torres was the first Latina to be elected to the IRE board of directors.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Nicole is the executive producer of content development for the Innovation Lab at CBS News and Stations. She leads a team of journalists producing data-driven and solutions-based national investigative stories that are scaled for local markets. Nicole previously served for six years on the IRE Board of Directors. She has two daughters and lives in Denver with her husband and dogs.
Master class: It’s just video… Until a storyteller creates an experience
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
Tried and true drivers of the narrative: focus, surprise, suspense, and character are powerful tools. It’s time to put them to work in your stories. Together, let’s answer the questions, why do we laugh, why do we cry, why do we care — and how can we make it happen for our viewers more often? Boyd Huppert will open wide the toolbox that’s helped him earn an unprecedented 22 National Edward R. Murrow Awards in both hard news and feature reporting.
Topics will include:
Bring your notepad. This session will be loaded with practical tips to bring back to your newsroom and your next story.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Speaker
During his 39-year career in television news, Boyd Huppert has become widely known for his work as a video storyteller and teacher. Boyd has spent nearly three decades at KARE in Minneapolis. He also serves as national storytelling coach for the 49 newsrooms of TEGNA. Boyd's work has earned 22 National Edward R. Murrow Awards, six Sigma Delta Chi Awards, the Scripps Howard Award, a national Emmy for feature reporting and 148 regional Emmys.
Reporting on guns as public safety and business beats
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Join Lakeidra Chavis from The Marshall Project and Jason Grotto from Bloomberg News to learn some tools you can use to cover one of the most pressing issues in our country: guns. Walk away with new ideas for your next big (or small) story on gun culture, policy, or industry.
Speakers
Lakeidra Chavis is a staff writer for The Marshall Project. She has written on wide-ranging topics, including the rise in Black suicides during the pandemic, the changing structure of gangs, the opioid crisis and victim compensation. Lakeidra previously reported at The Trace, ProPublica Illinois and NPR stations in Chicago and Alaska. Lakeidra is a 2021 Livingston Award finalist. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jason Grotto specializes in quantitative analysis, using databases, statistics and mapping to ferret out corruption, negligence and bad public policy.
Reporting tips and tools for covering immigration in your community
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
In this panel, speakers will demonstrate how to ethically report on immigration in your communities. You'll also hear from speakers about databases you can use for valuable stats on legal and undocumented immigration.
Speakers
Zita Arocha is a journalist, writer and educator. She is a project consultant for Poynter on immigration training for journalists and a professor emeritus in communication at The University of Texas at El Paso. Her memoir, "Guajira, the Cuba Girl," will be published in fall 2023.
Kristian Hernández is a senior investigative reporter at the Center for Public Integrity. Hernández is an award-winning journalist and first-generation Chicano from El Paso, Texas, with more than a decade of experience covering immigration and criminal justice in the U.S., Mexico and Central America.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Kriel is a reporter with the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. Previously she was a reporter at the Houston Chronicle covering immigration, often focused on the Texas border. She received the 2019 George Polk Award for national reporting, in part for her continued work on family separations at the border. She has also reported from Central America for Reuters and across Texas for the San Antonio Express-News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Solutions story ideas for investigative journalists
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Want to make your investigations stronger by including a solutions component? This panel will help you find a good angle for any investigation.
Speakers
Damaso (he/him) has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He is the investigative editor of the NY Amsterdam News and the founding editor of the Blacklight investigative unit. He has been published by The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Der Spiegel, KSFR radio, the Miami Herald, Forbes.com and The Irish Times.
Tina Rosenberg is co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network. She is a longtime New York Times writer. Before going to the Times, she wrote magazine articles and books. One of her books, "The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism," won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Tracking dark money up and down the ballot
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 1, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Anonymous spending to influence elections happens from the federal level all the way down to the local. We'll offer ideas and tips to track dark money groups that don't disclose their funders. We'll share what you can glean about dark money groups from campaign finance data, digital ad databases, and OpenSecrets.org, as well as corporate records, IRS form 990s, Department of Labor filings, and more.
Speakers
For the past six years, Michael Beckel has been the research director at Issue One, a D.C.-based bipartisan political reform advocacy group. He previously worked as a reporter for more than a decade, with stints at the Center for Public Integrity, OpenSecrets.org, Mother Jones and two alternative newsweeklies in Colorado. He’s happy to talk with reporters, especially about money in politics and election administration issues.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Brendan Fischer is Deputy Executive Director at Documented, an investigative watchdog group. He is a lawyer with expertise in campaign finance and government transparency issues, and was previously the Director of Federal Reform at Campaign Legal Center.
Sandra Fish is a data journalist specializing in politics. She works primarily with the Colorado Sun but also with OpenSecrets.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Taylor Giorno is the money-in-politics reporter for OpenSecrets in Washington, D.C., where she covers campaign finance, lobbying and foreign influence. She holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Upping your Excel game - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 – 11:15 a.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
If you've found yourself struggling in a spreadsheet, thinking that whatever you were trying to achieve seemed harder than it should've been, then this is the class for you. We'll learn about various tools and functions in Excel that come in handy when you need to re-structure or otherwise get your data ready for analysis. We'll cover string functions, logical functions, date functions, reshaping data, merging data using lookup functions and perhaps a few other nifty tricks if time allows. We'll do some “drills” introducing you to these concepts, then put your new skills to work in a sort of “scrimmage,” fixing up some real-life data. You'll also walk out with practice data and a 30-page tipsheet that covers, in detail, everything from the class, plus more that we won't have time for.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited. Laptops will be provided for the training.
Workshop prerequisites: You should have prior experience using Excel or Google Sheets, and be comfortable with introductory-level spreadsheet skills, such as sorting, filtering, SUM and AVERAGE functions, calculations such as percentage change or percent of total, and how to use pivot tables.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $25 to participate.
Instructor
MaryJo Webster is the head of the data team at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. She is also a senior fellow with the Center for Health Journalism's Data Fellowship program. Previously, she worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, USA Today, the Center for Public Integrity, IRE and small papers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Web scraping with Python - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Saturday, June 24, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (210 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
If you need data that's trapped on a website, writing some code to scrape the page could be your solution. This entry-level class will show you how to use the Python programming language to harvest information from websites into a data file. We'll introduce you to the command line and show you how to write enough code to fetch and parse content on the web.
Preregistration is required and seating is limited. Laptops will be provided.
Workshop prerequisites: This class is programming for beginners. Some basic familiarity with Python and HTML is helpful but not required.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $40 to participate.
Instructor
Cody Winchester (he/him) was a newspaper reporter, data specialist and web developer before joining IRE as a training director in 2017. He became director of technology in 2022.
Connect on social media: GitHub
A year in local investigations: Watchdog story ideas
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Learn new and old tricks from the stories and reporters featured in the Local Matters newsletter, which spotlights a selection of great local watchdog journalism every Sunday. By showcasing a year of great work by radio, TV and newspaper reporters, we'll share tactics and tips for digging deep into stories at your local media outlet.
Speakers
Brett Murphy is a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. He joined the newsroom in 2022, after working as an investigative reporter at USA Today, where he covered labor, criminal justice and the federal government. Murphy has won several national journalism awards. He also co-founded the “Local Matters” newsletter, a weekly roundup of the best investigative and watchdog reporting from local newsrooms around the country. Murphy is based in Brooklyn.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Broadcast track: The art of accountability
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
The granddaddy of broadcast panels. You don't want to miss your colleagues sharing their skill for unscheduled interviews, tough sit-downs and good-old "let me show you this document here ..." Holding the powerful accountable - on camera - is truly an art. Body language, camera position, strategy of questioning - it's all important and these panelists have honed it for you.
This session is sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Phil Williams is chief investigative reporter for WTVF-TV, the CBS affiliate in Nashville. Phil is a four-time recipient of the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award and a three-time recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award. He is the only TV journalist to ever receive a coveted Toner Prize for political reporting. Beginning his career as a print reporter, Phil was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Lee Zurik’s hard-hitting investigations continue to effect change and garner respect. Lee’s work has been recognized with journalism’s top awards. He is currently Vice President of Investigations for Gray Television. In that role, Lee oversees Gray’s national investigative team as well as a weekly investigative show that airs on 113 Gray stations. In addition, Lee is the evening news anchor and chief investigative reporter at WVUE-TV in New Orleans.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Giving muscle to local news organizations for investigative projects and robust local reporting
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Amid the erosion of local news, growing efforts are being made to bolster local news organizations and their capacity to do investigative and robust local reporting. This panel will identify editing, project management and legal resources available to local newsrooms. This comes amid new initiatives to support local newsrooms and their role in American Democracy.
Speakers
Jim Brady, who joined Knight Foundation in 2021 as Vice President of Journalism, is a digital media innovator whose experience ranges from leading major brands such as washingtonpost.com and Digital First Media to starting a company that built local news sites in three cities. Brady is a past president of the Online News Association, a two-time judge of the Pulitzer Prizes, and a graduate of American University.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Rose Ciotta is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who co-edited "Assault on Learning," which won The Philadelphia Inquirer the 2012 Gold Medal for Public Service. She's the investigations and projects editor for EdSource, an award-winning education news web site. She founded and directs Investigative Editing Corps, which links editors to help local news do investigative reporting. She's a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow and has served on the IRE board.
Samantha Hogan focuses on government accountability projects for The Maine Monitor. Samantha joined the nonprofit newsroom in 2019 with Report for America. She spent 2020 reporting on Maine’s lack of a public defender system with the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. She has also partnered twice with the Investigative Editing Corps on projects about county jails recording attorney-client phone calls and problems with Maine’s probate courts.
Rui Kaneya is a senior editor at ProPublica, where he helps oversee projects for the Local Reporting Network. He was previously a reporter and editor at the Center for Public Integrity, where he worked on long-term investigative projects. Before joining Public Integrity, he was an investigative reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat. He also served as a correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review and as a reporter and editor at The Chicago Reporter.
Google Sheets 2: Formulas & sorting (repeat)
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Much of Google Sheets' power comes in the form of formulas. In this class, you'll learn how to use them to analyze data with the eye of a journalist. Yes, math will be involved, but it's totally worth it! This class will show you how calculations like change, percent change, rates and ratios can beef up your reporting.
This session is good for: Anyone who has taken Google Sheets 1 or has been introduced to spreadsheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Bracey Harris is a national reporter based in Mississippi covering the South for NBC News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating LGBTQ+ issues in the criminal legal system
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
This panel will focus on how to cover and investigate the treatment of LGBTQ+ people inside the criminal legal system. Reporters will go over their techniques for tracking homicides, police failures to solve crimes, jail violence and jail housing placement policy, and law enforcement’s frequent inability to classify victims and suspects by their gender identities. The panel will also discuss the recent spate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the criminal penalties that come with it. Whether you are a veteran investigative reporter or a daily reporter trying to improve your breaking news practice, this session will have something new for you.
Speakers
Nicole Einbinder is an investigative correspondent at Insider. Most recently she was part of the team that published the award-winning “Deaths in the Family” series, the most comprehensive examination of transgender homicides to date. She is currently reporting on constitutional violations in prison with a criminal justice grant from Columbia University’s Lipman Center. Nicole’s work has been recognized by the LA Press Club, SABEW and the Religion News Association.
George Joseph is an investigative courts reporter for THE CITY, a non-profit New York City news outlet. Previously, he worked for WNYC NY Public Radio and Gothamist.com, where he published a series on police corruption allegations in Mount Vernon, New York. The series resulted in the dissolution of the city's narcotics unit and the launch of a Department of Justice investigation into the city's police department.
Jo Yurcaba is a reporter for NBC Out, the LGBTQ section at NBC News Digital. They specialize in covering the transgender community and, recently, the surge in anti-trans legislation. They call North Carolina home but are temporarily based in Washington state.
Investigating issues that impact the welfare of children
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Wrongdoing in the foster-care system has long been a target of investigative reporters, but recent years have seen a new angle emerge: Overreaches by child protective agencies in addition to failures to pay attention.
Reporting on the harm that these agencies can inflict on a family requires a careful touch. In this panel, you'll get a solid introduction to the topic and ideas for specific investigative targets, including foster care contractors, child welfare investigators, medical evaluations and more.
Speakers
Neil Bedi reports on the federal government for ProPublica in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for the Tampa Bay Times in Florida, where he worked on stories about patient safety, worker safety, criminal justice, government inaction and more. In 2021, he won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting with Kathleen McGrory for their investigation into a sheriff's predictive policing initiative that targeted families and profiled schoolchildren.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Carol Marbin Miller is deputy investigations editor at the Miami Herald. She holds degrees from Florida State University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Writing about children and vulnerable adults, her stories have led to the passage of about 10 state laws, including measures that reformed Florida's child welfare system, overhauled the involuntary commitment law, closed military-style boot camps and revamped a program for children born with severe brain injuries.
Dave is an investigative reporter at CBS Chicago honored with the Peabody, DuPont, IRE, NABJ and five national Edward R. Murrow awards. His series on wrong police raids, "My Name Is Anjanette Young," led to new laws and new search warrant policies and police training. Dave also specializes in child welfare issues and environmental and public health investigations. Since 1989 he's worked in Dayton, Zanesville, Raleigh, Rochester and his hometown of Chicago.
Brittany Wallman is a reporter on the South Florida Sun Sentinel's investigations team and serves as the newspaper's investigations editor. After decades as a local government beat reporter, she joined the I-Team in 2018 to help cover the Parkland shooting, and she shared in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for that work. A transplant from Iowa/Oklahoma, Wallman is a 1991 graduate of the University of Florida.
Public records track: Navigating FOIA
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 1, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
The U.S. Freedom of Information Act can serve as a gateway to vital information about how the federal government is operating at the national, state and local levels, but too often journalists are stonewalled when requesting records under the law. This session will cover strategies you can use to find success with FOIA, including practical tips you can apply when drafting requests, engaging with records custodians, asking for expedited processing or looking for records that might be public in other places.
We’ll also address ways to respond to public records denials, and where to find pro bono resources that can help you take action to compel agencies to comply with the law.
This session was planned in collaboration with Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and sponsored by the TEGNA Foundation. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Nate Jones is the FOIA director for The Washington Post, where he works with reporters to target documents to request, appeal and sue for. He works with reporters to obtain local, state and federal records and to think strategically about public records in all formats. He gives FOIA training sessions and advises reporters on how to write, refine and track requests; navigate delays and overredactions; and overcome other bureaucratic resistance.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Gunita is an attorney at Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she litigates under freedom of information laws while helping reporters with records requests. She has co-authored two publications about the effect of COVID-19 on access to public records and also serves on the board of LION Publishers. Gunita was previously an attorney at the transparency organization Property of the People, where she used FOIA to foster accountability of government. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020.
Storyboarding your investigation
Time: Saturday, June 24, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-6, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Whether you use Post-Its, a white board, a spreadsheet or an old-fashioned yellow pad, keeping your head above a flood of information is crucial to your investigation’s success. This session will tap examples for techniques to navigate the key phases of organization in any medium: managing material; pruning and pivoting; and visualizing the story.
Speakers
David Boardman is dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. Under his leadership, the school has created many new initiatives, including the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media and the Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting. Before joining Temple, Boardman was the top editor of The Seattle Times, which won four Pulitzer Prizes and had 10 finalists during that time. He is a former president of IRE and winner of the IRE Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Lisa Gartner is the investigative editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, where projects she had led have prompted new laws, criminal investigations and the resignations of elected officials. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, the IRE Award, George Polk Awards for Education Reporting and Justice Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize and the Livingston Award, among other honors. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Angela M. Hill is a senior producer for enterprise video at the Washington Post where she co-leads a team of video journalists. Prior to The Post, she was a national investigative producer for the Scripps Washington Bureau where she reported/produced broadcast stories. Angela was also an investigative producer for ABC News Network in New York. She's won Emmy and Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, a Robert F. Kennedy Grand Prize Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
J. David McSwane is an author and investigative reporter for ProPublica.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Maud Beelman
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Sign up for one-on-one coaching, mentoring and feedback with Maud Beelman. Maud can help you with developing, managing and editing investigative projects. Feel free to bring any materials you’d like to review.
Speaker
Maud Beelman is executive editor of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University, where she teaches at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She has been a journalist for four decades, first as a domestic, foreign and war correspondent, and for the last 25 years as an investigative editor. She was the founding director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the former U.S. investigations editor for The Associated Press.
Broadcast track: The journalism juggle: Balancing daily and investigative reporting
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Learn how to balance being an investigative journalist who also needs to contribute daily to the news cycle. You can do both effectively! Hear from reporters about both quick-turn investigations in just a few days and larger investigation strategies. We'll also discuss the tools and strategies used to manage record requests and story ideas.
Speakers
Justin is the consumer investigator for WSB-TV in Atlanta. His investigations have brought changes to state laws and federal rules. He previously worked as the Washington correspondent for WSB and its sister stations across the county and as a reporter at WAGA-TV in Atlanta and stations in Philadelphia, California and West Virginia.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Daniela Ibarra is an award-winning multimedia journalist at KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her reporting helped changed a state law. Previously, she reported at KTXS in Abilene, Texas. Ibarra is an at-large director for the Society of Professional Journalists. She was honored with a Rising Star award from the University of North Texas, where she earned her M.A. in Media Industry & Critical Studies and a B.A. in Broadcast & Digital Journalism.
Kyle Jones is NBC CT's New Haven reporter. She was born in New Haven but grew up in Maryland outside of D.C. Kyle has lived on Maryland’s Eastern Shore; Portland, Maine; and Savannah, Georgia. She has covered the trial of Alex Jones, eminent domain threats against homeowners and a federal discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In her free time, she enjoys craft breweries and local restaurants. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, IRE, The Links and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Financing your investigation
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-6, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Many journalists and newsrooms are unfamiliar with the process of finding money to support investigative projects, and this is especially true for journalists and newsrooms serving communities of color.
This panel will feature discussion among journalists who have successfully fundraised for individual reporting projects and for larger institutional funding. Get step-by-step tips on how to find and secure funding, from navigating the application to writing grant reports.
Speakers
Eric Ferrero is the executive director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, which provides grants and other support directly to journalists for specific investigative projects. Over the last 25 years, he has served in senior leadership roles at nonprofit and philanthropic organizations that support and partner closely with journalists to uncover groundbreaking stories, including at the Open Society Foundations, Innocence Project and Amnesty International.
Duc Luu is the director of sustainability initiatives of the Journalism Program at Knight Foundation. Prior to joining Knight, he was publisher and chief revenue officer for Washington City Paper, a local news leader for the Washington, D.C. area. He has also served in business development and new product innovation roles at The Economist and Foreign Policy magazine.
Damaso (he/him) has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He is the investigative editor of the NY Amsterdam News and the founding editor of the Blacklight investigative unit. He has been published by The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Der Spiegel, KSFR radio, the Miami Herald, Forbes.com and The Irish Times.
Tina Rosenberg is co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network. She is a longtime New York Times writer. Before going to the Times, she wrote magazine articles and books. One of her books, "The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism," won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Diane Sylvester is an award-winning multimedia journalist and newsroom leader working in the U.S. and internationally. Her work focuses on building diverse news teams, project development, editorial leadership, recruitment, strategic planning and fundraising. She recently served as founding executive producer of Futuro Media’s investigative unit, earning an Overseas Press Award in 2021 for a podcast series looking at U.S. and Mexican policies violating refugee rights.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Spoutible, Mastadon
Google Sheets 3: Filtering & pivot tables (repeat)
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
A look at the awesome power of pivot — and how to use it to analyze your dataset in minutes rather than hours. We'll work up to using a pivot table by first sorting and filtering a dataset, learning how to find story ideas along the way.
This session is good for: Anyone familiar with formulas, sorting and filtering in a spreadsheet program.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Gun control, climate change, housing crisis: How to look at the news through a military lens
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 1, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Just about every local or national issue can be looked at through the military and veterans communities. And, the health and welfare of service members and veterans inevitably affect the communities in which they live--from feeling a need to be included and joining an extremist group to dealing with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury. We'll show you how to think about stories differently but also provide you with story ideas you can write immediately and the data you need to get at them.
Speakers
Zachary Fryer-Biggs is the managing editor at Military.com. Zach has been a national security journalist for more than a decade, during that time working as Newsweek’s Pentagon reporter and as an investigative reporter covering national security for the Center for Public Integrity, among other positions. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Reveal, The Daily Beast and other outlets.
Kelly Kennedy is the managing editor for The War Horse. She is the only female U.S. reporter to both serve in combat as a soldier and cover it as a civilian journalist. In 2008, she broke the burn pit story, which has since led to the PACT Act. She covered ObamaCare for USA Today, has written four books, and has, with The War Horse team, earned a JFK Human Rights Journalism Award and three Edward R Murrow awards.
Miller is a ProPublica reporter and editor who loves doing deep dives and data analyses. He has experience in narrative journalism, national and international reporting, and he formerly worked at the Los Angeles Times and the Tampa Bay Times. He also loves bacon.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ron Nixon is Vice President for News, and Head of Investigations, Enterprise, Partnerships and Grants. He oversees Associated Press’s investigative and enterprise teams, as well as spearheading grant funding efforts and news partnerships. He received the inaugural 2021 News Leader of the Year award from the News Leaders Association. He helped oversee the AP’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Connect on social media: Twitter
How to begin investigating the influence of money and politics in medicine
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
This hands-on class will cover using the Lobbying Disclosure Act, Physician Payments Sunshine Act, and the Federal Election Campaign Act to monitor how moneyed interests seek to influence Washington policymaking. While the session will focus on health care policy making specifically, it will provide helpful tips and hands-on experience to anyone looking for a crash course on how to cover lobbying in Washington.
This session is good for anyone, no data experience needed.
Instructor
Nicholas Florko is the commercial determinants of health reporter for STAT, where he investigates the ways that business decisions impact health. His investigation into the human toll of substandard hepatitis C care in prisons was a finalist for the Livingston Award for National Reporting, the ASME National Magazine Award for Public Interest and the IRE Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Mental health care online: Easier access, unique risks
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You can’t miss the ads on social media for mental health apps. They boldly offer therapy and even medications online. But along with their promoted easier access to mental health care, there can be risks to patients: questionable prescribing, misdiagnoses, and incorrect treatment. These startups also often have to overcome a pressing need to pay back their investors. We’ll offer our tips for journalists on how to report on sensitive mental health issues, dealing with sometimes the most fragile of individuals seeking online help.
Speakers
Jessica Kegu is an award-winning investigative producer for CBS News in New York City. Jessica joined the investigative unit in 2019 and has since produced stories about toxic military bases, state medical boards, tech companies and more. She gravitates toward character-driven stories that expose broken institutions and, above all, strives to do work that creates meaningful change.
Matthew Mosk oversees the CBS News investigative unit. Prior to joining CBS News, he spent 12 years based in Washington, DC, as a senior producer for ABC News, working in the investigative unit on award-winning projects for broadcast, podcast, digital and streaming. Mosk spent nearly two decades as a government and politics reporter at the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the LA Times, and the Bergen Record.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ash-har Quraishi is an award-winning journalist, reporter and filmmaker with more than 25 years of local, national, international and investigative reporting experience. He is currently a national consumer correspondent for CBS News based in Chicago. Formerly the chief Midwest correspondent for Al Jazeera America, he was also CNN’s Islamabad bureau chief and correspondent after 9/11 attacks.
Dr. Sue Varma is a distinguished fellow of the APA and an award winning medical contributor.
Anna Werner is National Consumer Investigative Correspondent for CBS News. She is a two-time recipient of duPont-Columbia and George Foster Peabody Awards, along with three IRE awards and 35 Emmys. Past mental health investigations have resulted in the shutdown of a state center for the developmentally disabled, and revelations about a shock treatment used on vulnerable individuals. Her investigation into defective Firestone tires forced them off the market worldwide.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Public records track: Accessing court records & proceedings: What to look for, how to obtain it, and why it matters for your investigations
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Information relayed in court records and proceedings is essential to producing the in-depth reporting that communities need to understand how the judicial system is functioning. This session will cover the types of records that courts must make publicly available, how to access them and what to do if the records you seek are sealed.
Speakers
Brett Murphy is a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. He joined the newsroom in 2022, after working as an investigative reporter at USA Today, where he covered labor, criminal justice and the federal government. Murphy has won several national journalism awards. He also co-founded the “Local Matters” newsletter, a weekly roundup of the best investigative and watchdog reporting from local newsrooms around the country. Murphy is based in Brooklyn.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Katie Townsend is Deputy Executive Director and Legal Director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org). She oversees the litigation, amicus, and other legal work of RCFP attorneys, and represents the Reporters Committee, news organizations, and individual journalists, including documentary filmmakers, in court access, freedom of information, and other First Amendment and press freedom matters.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Ben Wieder is an investigative reporter for McClatchy's Washington bureau and the Miami Herald and leads McClatchy's national data team. His work has often focused on real estate, finance, political influence, corruption and the scammers who call South Florida home. He previously worked at the Center for Public Integrity and Stateline.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Spotlight on student-led investigative journalism
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Lehman College students spent a semester digging in to the prevalence of dangerous chemical contaminants in the soil in low income communities of color in their Bronx neighborhoods and explored how these sites followed long-established patterns of discrimination, segregation and devaluing Black and Latino communities. For a reporting team comprised completely of first-generation students of color this was both enraging and empowering. These brownfield sites have been known to the state for years, in some cases decades, but no progress is made towards remediation. Using public records and shoe leather reporting, students built a smart map of contaminated sites that makes info about property owners, what's in the ground and how long it's been known to authorities easily accessible to the public. Students produced a video highlighting the story of one of the sites and the activists pushing for greater transparency from the state and a sidebar on the failed efforts to regulate the most commonly found contaminant. The package is being published by Citylimits, NYC's public policy news source.
The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune and the University of Utah investigated the homicide of Doug Coleman, one of a string of LGBTQ murders in Salt Lake City in the late '70s. Students helped write and report the story through interviewing sources and filing records requests and found key internal city documents that named the prime suspects in the murder of Doug Coleman.
Speakers
Aminata Gueye is a junior at Lehman College, City University New York, where she is a journalism and Africana studies double major. A native of New York City, she was a lead reporter on the "Buried Beneath" project, which examined toxic chemical contamination in Bronx neighborhoods and the slow pace of remediation. She has interned at the United Nations/English Speaking Union and is interested in pursuing work in researching African history, journalism and international relations.
Eileen Markey is the editor of "Without Compromise: The Brave Journalism that First Exposed Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and the American Epidemic of Corruption," an anthology of the work of legendary Village Voice muckraker Wayne Barrett. She reports on urban policy and social movements and teaches at Lehman College, City University of New York.
Eric Peterson is the executive director of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project. He is also a journalism instructor at the University of Utah, the past president of The Utah Society of Professional Journalists chapter and a former private investigator.
Ryan Pullido recently graduated from Lehman College, City University New York, with a cum laude in journalism. Pullido, a Filipino-American residing in Queens, was lead reporter on the "Buried Beneath" project that examined toxic chemical contamination in Bronx neighborhoods and the slow pace of remediation. Pullido interned at City Limits and BronxNet and is interested in pursuing work in both sports and investigative journalism.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Turning your investigation into a narrative on multiple platforms
Time: Saturday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
It’s challenging enough turning an investigative story into a compelling narrative, but how do you pinpoint the best aspects of that investigation to tell it on different platforms? We will look at investigations that had strong narrative elements to start with and explain how they were successfully expanded into a documentary film, podcast or serial.
Speakers
Tom Junod is a senior writer for ESPN. He won two National Magazine Awards for GQ, and the profile he wrote for Esquire about Fred Rogers served as the basis for the 2019 film starring Tom Hanks, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." He is married to Janet Folk and the proud father of Nia Junod. He splits his time between Marietta, Georgia, and Long Island, New York, where he was born.
Connect on social media: Twitter
James Neff, deputy managing editor for investigations at The Philadelphia Inquirer, is the author of five nonfiction books, including the narrative history "Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy vs. Jimmy Hoffa," and "Mobbed Up," an IRE Award-winner that HBO adapted as the movie “Teamster Boss.” An 18-part serial narrative Neff wrote and co-reported for the Seattle Times, “The Terrorist Within,” was a Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting. He is a past president of IRE.
Nicole Noren is a director, producer and journalist for ESPN. A recipient of five Emmys, two Edward R. Murrow Awards and a Peabody, Noren has reported extensively on gender-based violence, health and education. Her 2022 short documentary "Betsy & Irv" was the video accompaniment to the IRE Finalist investigation, "Untold." The film received an Emmy nomination and two Real Screen Awards.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
IRE Awards luncheon
Time: Saturday, June 24, 12:30 – 2:45 p.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Oceans 5-12, first floor
A highlight of the IRE conference, the IRE Awards luncheon begins at 12:30 p.m. in Oceans Ballroom 5-12. We will present the 2022 IRE Awards and salute some of the best investigative work of the past year. Admission to the luncheon is included in your conference registration. Conference name tags are required for entry.
The IRE Awards luncheon is co-sponsored by NBC News/NBCUniversal Local.
Ask an expert: One-on-one with Diane Sylvester
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans Ballroom Foyer, first floor
Description coming soon.
Speaker
Diane Sylvester is an award-winning multimedia journalist and newsroom leader working in the U.S. and internationally. Her work focuses on building diverse news teams, project development, editorial leadership, recruitment, strategic planning and fundraising. She recently served as founding executive producer of Futuro Media’s investigative unit, earning an Overseas Press Award in 2021 for a podcast series looking at U.S. and Mexican policies violating refugee rights.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Spoutible, Mastadon
Broadcast track: Behind the badge, beyond the bench
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
How often are you assigned a court case or arrest & suddenly you realize this has more layers to it than a general assignment/dayside story? Covering the police/court beat can often lead you to investigations like crooked judges, or court backlogs that create chaos. Plus, how do you get cops to trust you enough to expose issues in their department? Tips on how to dig into crime/cop stories that are deeper than a dayturn.
Speakers
Shannon Isbell is the News Director at WBRC Fox6 in Birmingham, AL. Shannon started in the industry when she was 18 as a web producer in the Evansville, IN market. Since then, Shannon has done many jobs in local TV newsrooms across the country, but her love is working on investigative and deep-dive stories. During her tenure at WBRC Fox6, Shannon’s team has spotlighted Alabama’s weak public records law. They have lobbied for change at the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee and used the megaphone that is WBRC Fox6 New to highlight the lack of accountability in the existing law. Shannon has a BA from the University of Southern Indiana and an MA in Journalism from The University of Alabama.
Zaneta Lowe is an award-winning, veteran broadcast journalist with more than two decades of experience. Since 2011, she’s worked at WREG-TV in Memphis, TN where she’s currently Daybreak/Noon Anchor & Investigative Reporter. Whether it’s from the anchor desk or through an investigation, Zaneta’s work focuses on shining a light on problems, protecting families, and holding the powerful accountable.
Andy Pierrotti is a national award-winning investigative reporter recognized with a George Foster Peabody and multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. Andy’s investigations have changed state laws, put people in prison, freed a man from jail and led to historic state fines. Most of Andy's stories focus on government accountability, civil rights, criminal justice, health care and consumer advocacy.
Dave is an investigative reporter at CBS Chicago honored with the Peabody, DuPont, IRE, NABJ and five national Edward R. Murrow awards. His series on wrong police raids, "My Name Is Anjanette Young," led to new laws and new search warrant policies and police training. Dave also specializes in child welfare issues and environmental and public health investigations. Since 1989 he's worked in Dayton, Zanesville, Raleigh, Rochester and his hometown of Chicago.
Business track: Investigating business and finance
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Whether you just started using Excel or it's been your companion for years, chances are there's a lot it can do that you've never realized. We sometimes think of Excel as the stepping stone to database managers or programming and overlook just how powerful its tools can be — especially if you're covering business and economics. Come find out why Excel is still so popular in the business world and we'll unlock some of its secrets. The people you're covering know these tricks — you should too.
This session is good for people of all skill levels.
Instructor
Aaron Kessler is a journalist, teacher and project leader specializing in investigative reporting and data analysis at the intersection of business and politics. He works on the national data team of The Associated Press in Washington, and is on IRE's board of directors. He's previously reported for outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and got his start as a city hall reporter at the Joplin Globe.
Connect on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmkessler/
Creating a newsroom FOI coach/evangelist
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 5:15 p.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Oceans 2, first floor
Learn tips from some of the nation’s top public records jedis for how to create a powerful newsroom FOI evangelist who can spread the knowledge and multiply the reporting power of any organization, big or small. Ideas for mentoring colleagues, tracking requests newsroom-wide, developing a FOI budget, engendering an aggressive document-state-of-mind culture, and getting management and the lawyers to back litigation. See a preview from the recent IRE Journal FOI Files tip sheet: https://tinyurl.com/FOIcoach.
Speakers
David Cuillier, Ph.D., is director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. He was a journalist in the Pacific Northwest before teaching 17 years at the University of Arizona and then joining Brechner July 2023. He was president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and Society of Professional Journalists, and he is co-author of "The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records."
Connect on social media: Twitter
Nate Jones is the FOIA director for The Washington Post, where he works with reporters to target documents to request, appeal and sue for. He works with reporters to obtain local, state and federal records and to think strategically about public records in all formats. He gives FOIA training sessions and advises reporters on how to write, refine and track requests; navigate delays and overredactions; and overcome other bureaucratic resistance.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Lewis Kamb is the national FOIA reporter for NBC News, where he focuses on obtaining and using public records to tell accountability stories. He formerly worked for The Seattle Times, where he exposed sexual abuse claims that led Seattle's mayor to resign and uncovered the dubious business dealings of lawyer Michael Avenatti. Kamb was part of the Times’ team that examined two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in coverage honored with Pulitzer, Polk and Loeb awards.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. He is a recipient of the 2022 George Polk award and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. In 2020, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse identified Leopold as "the most active individual FOIA litigator in the United States today." In 2016, Leopold was awarded the FOI award from IRE and was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame by the Freedom Forum.
Lam Thuy Vo is a journalist who marries data analysis with on-the-ground reporting to examine how systems and policies affect individuals. She is currently a reporter with The Markup and will be an associate professor of data journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in the fall of 2023. Previously, she was a journalist at BuzzFeed News, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America and NPR's Planet Money.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Katie is the executive producer of investigations at 12News in Phoenix. She leads a team of journalists to produce in-depth and data-driven coverage of breaking news and investigative series. Her work has prompted legislation and policy change in Colorado and Arizona and received the 2018 Investigative Reporter & Editor’s Award and the 2018 National Edward R. Murrow Award, among numerous local journalism honors. Katie graduated from the University of Iowa. Go Hawks!
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
Don't be afraid of the command line (Macs)
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
In this session for Mac users, you'll learn how you can use your computer's command-line interface (CLI) to make your life easier. We'll get some practice using built-in commands, think through a few real-world projects and discuss some handy third-party CLI tools, such as csvmatch, that can improve your workflow.
This session is good for: People who are comfortable working on a Mac.
Instructor
Cody Winchester (he/him) was a newspaper reporter, data specialist and web developer before joining IRE as a training director in 2017. He became director of technology in 2022.
Connect on social media: GitHub
From the hallway of the IRE Conference: Connections, ideas and stories
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Description coming soon.
Speakers
Kara Kenney is an investigative reporter with WRTV, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis. Her investigations have resulted in four changes to Indiana law, including more accountability for how schools report bullying incidents, radon testing and how superintendent contracts are approved. Her investigations have earned 11 Emmys, an Edward R. Murrow award and numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Jeff Taylor is a former executive editor and VP for news & investigations at USA Today. He also served as executive editor at The Indianapolis Star and senior managing editor at the Detroit Free Press. He won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting as a reporter. As an editor he oversaw a Pulitzer-winning investigation that sent a Detroit mayor to prison and an investigation that revealed sexual abuses within USA Gymnastics and sent team physician Larry Nassar to prison.
Mc Nelly Torres is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor at the Center for Public Integrity where she leads a team investigating inequality. Previously, Torres worked as an investigative producer for NBC6 in Miami and co-founded FCIR.org. Torres is a product of newspapers including the Sun-Sentinel and the San Antonio Express-News. She was a recipient of the Gwen Ifill Award in 2022. Torres was the first Latina to be elected to the IRE board of directors.
Connect on social media: Twitter
How to organize and sequence complex investigations: A conversation with the 2023 Livingston Award winners
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Investigative journalism plays a crucial role in laying bare abuses of power, but it requires meticulous planning and execution. Drawing from their work unraveling the largest public fraud in Mississippi's history and revealing how U.S. government officials heedlessly advanced their child separation policy, this year's Livingston Award winners will share their strategies and techniques for organizing interviews and source materials and crafting a clear and compelling investigative narrative.
This session is sponsored by the Wallace Center for Journalists. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Lynette Clemetson is director of the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan, where she leads the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards. A longtime reporter with The New York Times and Newsweek, she led strategy and new initiatives at NPR before joining Wallace House in 2016. She is involved in several boards and activities related to the freedom and safety of the press.
Caitlin Dickerson is an investigative reporter and feature writer for The Atlantic covering immigration, politics and other subjects. She won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for an investigation into the Trump administration's family separation policy. She is a former New York Times and NPR reporter. She is also a Peabody and Edward R Murrow Award recipient, and a three-time finalist for the Livingston Award.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Anna Wolfe is an investigative reporter who covers inequity and corruption in safety net programs and charities for Mississippi Today. She created the poverty beat, the first of its kind in the state, at the publication in 2018. Wolfe received national recognition, including the Goldsmith Prize, for her years-long investigation of the state’s historic welfare scandal. She previously worked at the Clarion Ledger, writing award-winning stories about hunger and medical billing.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Infiltrating government agencies
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-6, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
FOIA bombing, late-night parking garage meetings, immersing yourself in esoteric bureaucratic language, charming the secretary, snail mail, crashing Christmas parties. These reporters have infiltrated secretive state and federal agencies to expose wrongdoing, uncover hidden tragedies and improve public policy. This panel includes tips on source development, where to find data and records, and smart crafting of records requests to get what you want.
Speakers
Andrea Ball is an investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle. She has been a reporter for 30 years.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Sasha Ingber is the national security correspondent at Scripps News, bringing scoops and exclusives on the U.S. intelligence community, China, Russia, North Korea and extremism/terrorism. A Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grantee, she reported for NPR, Smithsonian and National Geographic in the US, Bangladesh, Iraq and Cuba. She also debunked Russian disinformation at the U.S. State Department after the illegal seizure of Crimea. She is based in Washington, D.C.
J. David McSwane is an author and investigative reporter for ProPublica.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Investigating banking and finance industries
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 1, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
In a world where interest rates, inflation and banks failing are dominating our minds and wallets, these journalists will tell you how they report on complicated financial issues and break through layers of hay to find the needles that make their work stand out.
Speakers
Christian Berthelsen is a financial investigations reporter for The Messenger, a digital news start-up in New York. He previously worked as a reporter and editor for more than two decades at publications including The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He has covered subjects including white-collar crime and federal law enforcement, foreign war zone reporting, banking and finance, capital markets and politics and government.
Ann Choi is an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Gillison covers financial regulation in Washington for Reuters. Most recently, he was senior investigator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the anticorruption organization The Sentry, where he participated in the "Congo Holdup" consortium to investigate Africa's largest-ever leak of financial data.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Former IRE President. IRE medal 2004, Pulitzer 2001, Polk 1984. Four bestsellers among eight books. NYTimes, Philly Inquirer, LATimes, Detroit Free Press, San Jose Mercury (1968-2008). Since '09, Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Syracuse University College of Law (but not a lawyer). Specialties: Trump, taxes, economics, regulation, law of the ancient world's effects today, fake news, casinos, policing. Father of eight.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Management track: How to lead in times of crisis
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Experts in managing international and U.S. domestic news coverage will discuss how to lead in times of crisis, whether your staff is covering a mass shooting or an environmental disaster. Emotional security is woefully lacking among journalists, but organizations such as Global Press are helping lead the way, partnering with mental health service providers to provide individual counseling and wellness support for journalists covering these difficult stories. Learn from journalists who are working actively on this issue and navigating how to get journalists resources they need to be better to do better work.
Master class: Under pressure: Real life in real time with breaking news - pre-registered attendees only
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 5:15 p.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 2-3, first floor
One of the hottest sessions at every IRE Conference! How would you and your newsroom fare in digging out little-known facts and information under the pressure of a breaking news deadline? One of the best ways to get better is to practice.
This is a real-life scenario where you can learn to break news without leaving your computer. The skills learned in this session can also be used for turning daily general assignment stories when there’s not breaking news. This session regularly fills up and the tipsheet that comes with it is in high demand. If you're interested, get there early to get a seat.
⚠️ This session requires pre-registration and an additional fee of $25 to participate.
Speaker
Stephen Stock serves as National Investigative Correspondent for CBS News and Stations. Prior to joining CBS News, Stephen was a founding member of NBC Bay Area’s 15-member Investigative Unit. He also helped build investigative teams in Miami and Orlando. He teaches not only at IRE but at universities around the country. He’s won just about every broadcast journalism award including a Peabody, du-Pont, national SPJ, 3 Murrow, 6 AP awards and 18 regional Emmys.
No code dataviz
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 5:15 p.m. (135 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Come to this session to learn and practice with free, template-ready tools for dataviz where no coding is needed. Registrants will learn how to choose the best graphical representation for each type of information and how to create different visual pieces. We want this session as interactive as possible, so if you have an idea already in mind, share it with the group and we can brainstorm and work on it together.
This session is good for: Anyone.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructors
Laura Moscoso is a Puerto Rican journalist and training director for IRE & NICAR. Laura is a professor focusing on data, visualization tools and media literacy.
Adam Rayes is Indiana Public Broadcasting's labor and employment reporter. For IPB and others in Colorado and Michigan, where he grew up, he has analyzed data and used it to create eye-catching, informative visualizations that are fun to play with and widely accessible.
Visual investigations
Time: Saturday, June 24, 3 – 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Visual forensics. Documentary photojournalism. Infographics. Social reporting. Image verification. Conceptual illustration. All of these techniques can be used for investigative journalism, but how? Panelists will share how we gather, parse and produce visual evidence and how to incorporate it into investigations in a clear and concise way.
Speakers
Rima Abdelkader is an Emmy and duPont-award winning senior reporter and producer on NBC News’ social newsgathering team, where she discovers, verifies and reports breaking news and enterprise stories, and uses social media in reporting user-generated content and in data verification efforts in online investigations in collaboration with newsroom shows and digital platforms.
Darla Cameron is the managing editor for visual journalism for The Texas Tribune. She manages the photo, multimedia and data visuals teams and helps set newsroom strategy and define processes. She previously worked at The Washington Post and the Tampa Bay Times and currently serves on the IRE Board of Directors.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Elyse Samuels is the senior producer for The Washington Post's visual forensics team, which focuses on investigative reporting based primarily on open-source visuals. She joined The Washington Post's video team in October 2016, where she has worked as a Facebook Live producer, universal desk video editor, the team's first verification video editor, video editor and reporter for The Fact Checker and a reporter on the visual forensics team.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Andrea Wise is a visuals editor at ProPublica working across the newsroom and leading visuals for ProPublica's joint investigative unit with the Texas Tribune. She is also co-founder of Diversify Photo, a community organization promoting a more equitable photo industry with free resources for professional development, mentorship and talent sourcing. As a photo editor, she has also worked for National Geographic, Newsweek and The Intercept, among others.
Breaking into audio & video: What’s a working reporter to do?
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 5-6, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Hoping to make your print project into a podcast, TV-style investigation, or video documentary? We'll get into the basics of what to know when reporting for radio and video, whether TV broadcast or documentary. Join us for how to’s on jumping between mediums: everything from the rule of thirds to making your interviewees comfortable in front of a camera and microphone. Become more versatile in your newsroom!
Speakers
Jinitzail Hernández is a video journalist at The Texas Tribune. Jini previously worked as the senior multimedia producer at CQ Roll Call in Washington, D.C., where she covered defense policy through articles, podcasts and videos. She also worked in Jerusalem as a press and policy fellow at The Media Line. Jini is a native Spanish speaker and is interested in using video to tell immersive policy stories through the lives of the people affected.
Naomi Kowles is the award-winning chief investigative reporter at the CBS affiliate in Madison, Wisconsin. The recipient of regional and national RTDNA awards, Naomi specializes in reporting on local and state government, criminal justice and abuse.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Charles is a senior reporter focusing on special projects. He has won numerous awards, including an IRE award, three SPJ Public Service Awards and a National Murrow. He was also a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and Third Coast Director’s Choice Award. He can be reached at charles@wshu.org.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Frank Zhou is the founding host and co-producer of Newstalk, The Harvard Crimson's flagship news podcast, which publishes weekly and streams in 38 American states and 40 countries. In 2023, he produced and edited "The Unabomber: The Man, The Myth, and The Manifesto," The Crimson’s first longform magazine feature reported for audio. He also reports for WVXU, Cincinnati’s NPR station.
Broadcast track: Lightning talks
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Get ready for a whirlwind of Ted(ish) talks from some of the best in the business. Our panelists, led by moderator Scott Zamost of CNBC, are lined up and ready to share their wisdom, so join us as we wrap up our Saturday broadcast sessions in style!
Speakers
Kristin is a Murrow and Emmy-Award winning journalist with 15 years of experience in TV news. She specializes in investigative storytelling as well as hard news. Kristin currently works for Gray TV's first news magazine InvestigateTV+, which launches later this year on every Gray station in the country.
After more than a decade covering investigations and Florida politics at WFTV, Christopher is now the head of investigations for the station, while still reporting periodically.
Veteran broadcast journalist Charlie McLravy has served as senior producer of INSIDE EDITION’s award-winning investigative unit since 2021. McLravy joined the program back in 2005 and has been instrumental in establishing the show’s reputation for exposing scams, rip-offs and hazards that threaten the safety of consumers.
Rachel is an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy-award winning investigative reporter. Rachel's investigations have changed state laws, led to indictments and created change in communities across the country.
Connect on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
When CNBC Senior Investigative Producer Scott Zamost speaks at conferences, he often says if you can't get in the front door, go around the side. If that doesn't work, go to the back. You will eventually find your way and get the story. A former senior investigative producer at CNN, he was also a producer at CBS News, WTVJ and WPLG. He has won more than 75 journalism awards and is a frequent IRE speaker.
Business track: Finding hidden costs and racial inequality in economic development
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Promising jobs, jobs and more jobs, state and local governments give away as much as $95 billion in taxpayer-funded economic development incentives per year. This panel will explore how overspending on incentives can exacerbate inequality in schools and neighborhoods, propelling racial and income disparities. Reporters will gain new tools for documenting the costs of economic development incentives – including tax increment financing (TIF), Opportunity Zones, film subsidies and others - through publicly available documents including Annual Financial Reports, tax expenditure budgets, and other public records. Government officials are quick to tout the benefits of attracting major companies, but often completely leave out the costs that too often turn a deal into a revenue drainer for local communities. Note: We'll pay special attention to local, state and federal incentives being generously doled out to electric vehicle companies and the semiconductor industry – and how to report out those full stories.
This session is sponsored by Bloomberg. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.
Speakers
Arlene Martínez is with Good Jobs First (GJF), a nonprofit resource center focused on corporate and government accountability in economic development (and home to the Subsidy Tracker, Violation Tracker and Amazon Tracker databases). Before joining GJF, Arlene launched the daily California newsletter for the USA TODAY Network and reported for the Ventura County Star in California, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was a Los Angeles Times METPro reporting fellow.
Angélica Serrano-Román covers state tax policy for Bloomberg Tax. Before covering tax news, she worked as a journalist and web editor at Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism. Angélica teaches (virtual) online and data journalism at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico. Angélica has an M.A. in business and economic reporting from New York University.
J. Dale Shoemaker is an investigative reporter based in Buffalo. For Investigative Post, he reports on economic development, tax subsidies, and labor issues. He previously covered development and politics for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Prior to that he covered politics and government for PublicSource in Pittsburgh. He's been the recipient of several reporting awards and his work led to the passage of a new transparency law in Pittsburgh in 2018.
Scott Trubey is the economy and environment editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is an award-winning business and investigative journalist who has covered real estate, banking, hospitality, aviation, public companies, government, public corruption and other topics. A Georgia native, Scott is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He has previously worked at The Augusta Chronicle and Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Educators roundtable: Best practices for teaching
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 3, first floor
Some of the most highly regarded data journalism teachers will share their tips, tricks and other best practices for teaching hands-on classes at the conference, in your newsroom, other venues or even college classes. The group will discuss their secrets for things such as preparing for a session, what expectations to have about your students, how to handle difficult situations in the class, and what to think about when choosing data for the lesson. They will also offer advice for those of you who have never taught at the conference on how best to break into the teaching ranks.
Speakers
Sarah Cohen is the Knight Chair in Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School in Arizona State University. She previously worked as the leader of an investigative data reporting team at The New York Times and as a database editor for The Washington Post. Her work has been honored with the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Award, an IRE medal and others. She is a past president of IRE.
Robert Cribb is founder and director of the Investigative Journalism Bureau and an investigative reporter at the Toronto Star. He has received national and international reporting awards for investigations into offshore tax evasion, child exploitation, human trafficking, dangerous doctors, environmental threats and public safety.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Yanick Rice Lamb, who has a Ph.D. in medical sociology, teaches journalism at Howard University and runs FierceforBlackWomen.com. She was editor of BET Weekend and Heart & Soul; an editor at the N.Y. Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Child and Essence; and a reporter at the The Blade. She wrote “Unintended Consequences: The Rubber Industry’s Toxic Legacy in Akron" for the Center for Public Integrity and BeltMag.com through the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Joe Stephens is the founding director of the Journalism Program at Princeton University, where he is Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence. For nearly two decades, he was an investigative projects reporter for The Washington Post. He is a three-time winner of the George Polk Award and a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Stephens served on Pulitzer juries in 2019 and 2020, and serves on the board of the Fund for Investigative Journalism
Connect on social media: Twitter
Finding needles in haystacks
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Fuzzy matching is a process for comparing non-standardized data. For example, names often appear in multiple datasets but are rarely typed exactly the same way. I might be represented as Liz Lucas, Elizabeth Lucas, Elizabeth K Lucas, Ms. Elizabeth Lucas, depending on the dataset. In this class we'll use a command line tool called CSV Match, developed by journalist Max Harlow, to help us find those inexact matches. We'll also talk about some real-world examples of how this is used in journalism.
This session is good for: People with some experience using the command line (though if you don't have any experience but you're adventurous, come anyway).
Instructor
Liz is the senior training director at IRE and an adjunct professor of data journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. She previously worked as data editor for Kaiser Health News, as a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity and as the director of data services for IRE.
Finding the story: Digging into IRS data on nonprofits
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
The IRS collects information on millions of hospitals, schools, arts organizations and other nonprofits. The IRS has put much of that data online. We'll use Excel to explore some of that data. We'll also talk about how you might use other tools, like R, Python or SQL to access additional data. But no coding is required to attend this class.
This session is good for anyone who has some experience working with spreadsheets or databases.
Instructor
Todd Wallack is an investigative and data reporter for WBUR Radio, an NPR affiliate in Boston. He previously spent eight years on the Boston Globe Spotlight Team. Wallack has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won national awards from SPJ, the Scripps Howard Foundation and other organizations, and he was a Nieman fellow in 2020.
Connect on social media: Twitter
How to break into freelancing and get investigative work
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Becoming your own boss sounds good, but what are the challenges and benefits of becoming an independent journalist? Come to this session and find out everything from the basics to getting into investigative freelance work. We'll cover:
-Getting started
-Building your independent team: lawyers, story contacts, editors
-How to pitch an investigation
-Finding documents on a budget
-Negotiating pay for a project
Speakers
Rebecca Aguilar is in Dallas. She did 28 years in TV news covering the police and court beats. In her four decades, her investigations have uncovered registered sex offenders among U.S. postal workers, VA hospital doctors experimenting on veterans without their knowledge, Catholic pedophile priests secretly moved by the church to Texas only to abuse again, and even a man posing as a criminal lawyer. She's been honored with 50 awards and nominations for her work.
Connect on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram
Public service journalism lead reporter Trahan Martinez reported, produced and edited for The Dallas Morning News’ watchdog desk, appearing on KXAS-TV weekly. She is on the Morning News’ 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News finalist coverage team for police shootings at a Black Lives Matter rally. She has freelanced for The New York Times since 2001 and contracted for ABC News 20/20. Martinez, a member of the Journalism & Women Symposium, has also served on FOIFTx, Latinx community initiatives and scholarship committees.
How to build a pipeline of talent and quality journalism
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
One of the most common challenges newsroom leaders say is trying to find the right fit for roles in their newsrooms. In 2023, expectations from our audiences and potential recruits dictate that you have to show intentionality in how you game plan your recruitment and then retention strategy. And you don't have to be in management to help out. We know word of mouth and whisper networks are crucial to successful matchmaking. Come hear from newsroom leaders who have helped build newsrooms, find amazing talent, and assemble a variety of voices and skill sets that our communities demand in our coverage today.
Speakers
Alfredo Carbajal worked for 20 years at the Dallas Morning News and Al Día. He's co-leader of the News Leaders Association's Emerging Leaders Institute and former president of the American Society of News Leaders.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Paul Cheung is the CEO of The Center for Public Integrity. He previously managed a $50 million investment portfolio at Knight Foundation, focusing on AI, sustainability and combating misinformation. Cheung has extensive experience in digital transformation, leading teams at top media outlets such as the Associated Press and The Miami Herald. He volunteers to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism and democracy, serving on the boards of multiple nonprofits.
Mark Horvit is a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he teaches investigative reporting and directs the State Government Reporting Program. He is also chair of the Journalism Professions faculty. Horvit previously served as executive director of IRE & NICAR, where he conducted training in investigative reporting and data journalism throughout the world. Horvit worked as a reporter and editor for 20 years.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Tracie is a leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in news media. She is the founder of The Pivot Fund, which seeks to support independent BIPOC community news. Powell is a Shorenstein Center Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, where she is researching mechanisms for funding and capacity building for media outlets run by and for BIPOCTM communities, and she is the board chair of LION Publishers.
Connect on social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
U.S. audiences need better international news
Time: Saturday, June 24, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Oceans 1, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Join this panel to discuss a recent Global Press study of U.S. consumers of international news, which compared the kind of “parachute” journalism often practiced by major U.S. newsrooms with high-quality journalism written by local reporters.
The findings have implications for diaspora communities in the U.S. seeking accurate news and information about their home countries. But this study also suggests a path for journalists, whether overseas or in the U.S., to transform their international reporting into something more representational, dignified and precise.
Learn how to improve your journalism by investing in media literacy, building reporting capacity through strategic partnerships, increasing transparency in newsmaking and investing in local expertise.
Speakers
Joy Mayer founded Trusting News in 2016 after a 20-year career in newsrooms and teaching. The Trusting News team examines perceptions of news and trains journalists in transparency and engagement strategies. Joy spent 12 years at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she developed an audience engagement curriculum and a community outreach team in the newsroom of the Columbia Missourian. She is based in Sarasota, Florida.
Laxmi Parthasarathy is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Press, an international news organization that trains and employs local women reporters in under-covered media markets. She is co-author of "The Bottom-Up Media Revolution: How Social Entrepreneurs are Building Trust Between Communities and the Media" (University of Michigan, 2012) and "Unlocking U.S. Audience Demand for International News" (Media Impact Funders, 2023).
Doris Truong is Poynter's senior director of teaching and diversity strategies. She provides the resources for news organizations worldwide to better connect with their diverse communities. Before Poynter, she worked at The Washington Post. She previously served as president of the Asian American Journalists Association and on the board of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism and is @doristruong most everywhere.
Connect on social media: Twitter
IRE membership meeting
Time: Saturday, June 24, 5:30 – 6:15 p.m. (45 minutes)
Location: Peninsula 4, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
IRE Executive Director Diana Fuentes and IRE Board President Mark Walker will lead a membership meeting for all IRE members at 5:30 p.m. in Peninsula 4. Following the membership meeting, the results of the board of directors and contest committee elections will be announced.
Closing reception
Time: Saturday, June 24, 6:30 – 8 p.m. (90 minutes)
Location: Atrium, first floor
Join us for a closing reception beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Atrium and enjoy one last evening of catching up with old and new friends, speakers and colleagues. Appetizers will be available along with a cash bar. Conference name tags are required for entry.
An introduction to mapping with QGIS
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Get started analyzing and visualizing geographic data using the free, open-source software QGIS.
This session is good for: Beginners looking to learn the basics of working with geographic data.
Instructor
Charles Minshew is the digital storytelling and data editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is the former director of data services for Investigative Reporters & Editors. Charles previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel as a graphic artist with a focus on data. In 2012, Charles was on the staff of The Denver Post that won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of a shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Early-career roundtable
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You've arrived to the IRE party — now start putting down some roots in the industry. As you navigate your career choices, what should be front of mind and what should you not sweat as much? Come join this conversation with your peers about how they are building a career.
Speakers
Josh Hinkle is KXAN’s director of investigations and innovation, leading the station’s duPont and IRE Award-winning investigative team on multiple platforms. He also leads KXAN’s political coverage as executive producer and host of “State of Texas,” a weekly statewide program focused on the Texas Legislature and elections. Josh teaches broadcast journalism at St. Edward’s University in Austin. In 2021, he was elected to the IRE Board of Directors.
Lauren Peace is an enterprise reporter who writes stories with a focus on equity and inclusion for the Tampa Bay Times. Previously, she worked as a public health reporter for Mountain State Spotlight, a nonprofit newsroom in West Virginia, her home state. There, she investigated how sudden hospital closures effected access to psychiatric care. Peace is a 2020 graduate of the Stabile Investigative Program at Columbia Journalism School.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Finding your health story in the CDC'S WONDER databases
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
The CDC WONDER datasets, which include the most comprehensive national dataset on death, are indispensable for reporters who cover health. This session will introduce you to querying tens of millions of death certificates and will give you a gentle introduction to ICD 10 codes and age-adjusted rates.
This session is good for anyone; no data experience required.
Instructor
Liz is the senior training director at IRE and an adjunct professor of data journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. She previously worked as data editor for Kaiser Health News, as a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity and as the director of data services for IRE.
Google Sheets 4: Advanced pivot tables (repeat)
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
You've done a few pivot tables and are getting curious about what more you could do with them. What happens if you aggregate by more than one column? What are those "column" and "filter" boxes for? Come unlock the full potential of pivot tables in this intermediate spreadsheet class.
This session is good for: People familiar with spreadsheets and aggregating data with pivot tables, or anyone who has taken Sheets 1-3.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Nate Carlisle is an investigative reporter and producer at FOX 13 Utah. He previously worked at the Salt Lake Tribune and the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Connect on social media: LinkedIn
How to investigate the local impact of global organized crime
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
That local crime story you’re working on may very well have ties to global organized criminal networks. Using a recent large investigation as an example, panelists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project will talk about the transnational infrastructure that makes criminals so powerful, why law enforcement is largely powerless, and why it is up to journalists to connect the dots to expose organized crime.
Speakers
Kevin Hall has been the North America Editor of OCCRP since August 2021. He is a two-time Pulitzer winner with McClatchy/Miami Herald, former bureau in Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City, proud Girl Dad and wanna-be musician.
Mary Ann Jolley is a senior reporter with Al Jazeera, previously with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has received numerous accolades, including the Royal Television Society’s Interview of the Year for her interrogation of Malaysia’s disgraced former Prime Minister, Najib Razak; several of Australia’s top journalism awards, the Walkley Awards; a United Nation’s Correspondent Association Award; a New York Festivals Grand Jury Prize; and a Nieman Fellowship.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Drew Sullivan is the co-founder and publisher of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). OCCRP has won more than 100 investigative journalism awards and may be the first global investigative media with 65 investigative editors on six continents. He has also worked for the Tennessean, the Associated Press and was an aerospace engineer on the Space Shuttle project for Rockwell Space Systems.
Connect on social media: Twitter
You've done it all, now what? Career roundtable
Time: Sunday, June 25, 9 – 10 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You've arrived to the IRE party and making inroads as you put down more roots in the industry. What should be front of mind and what should you not sweat as much? Come join in conversation with your peers about how they are building a career.
Speakers
Kathy Best helps teach the next generation of investigative reporters by producing national investigations at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. She is the former editor of The Seattle Times and was an editor and reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Baltimore Sun and Missoulian.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Diana R. Fuentes was named IRE's executive director in April 2021. She oversees training, conferences and services for 6,000 members worldwide, and for programs including the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). She most recently was deputy metro editor of the San Antonio Express-News, overseeing a team of reporters who cover government, courts, diversity issues, the environment and history, among other duties. She has more than 30 years of journalism experience, from police reporter and statehouse bureau chief to editor and publisher. A second-generation Texan who's fluent in Spanish, Fuentes has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Former IRE President. IRE medal 2004, Pulitzer 2001, Polk 1984. Four bestsellers among eight books. NYTimes, Philly Inquirer, LATimes, Detroit Free Press, San Jose Mercury (1968-2008). Since '09, Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Syracuse University College of Law (but not a lawyer). Specialties: Trump, taxes, economics, regulation, law of the ancient world's effects today, fake news, casinos, policing. Father of eight.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Acceso a la información pública
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
En esta sesión hablaremos sobre los marcos legales de la información pública en Estados Unidos. Además, compartiremos estrategias para solicitar información y qué tipo de historias se pueden producir.
Speakers
Diana R. Fuentes was named IRE's executive director in April 2021. She oversees training, conferences and services for 6,000 members worldwide, and for programs including the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). She most recently was deputy metro editor of the San Antonio Express-News, overseeing a team of reporters who cover government, courts, diversity issues, the environment and history, among other duties. She has more than 30 years of journalism experience, from police reporter and statehouse bureau chief to editor and publisher. A second-generation Texan who's fluent in Spanish, Fuentes has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Laura Moscoso is a Puerto Rican journalist and training director for IRE & NICAR. Laura is a professor focusing on data, visualization tools and media literacy.
Accessing Census data on data.census.gov
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
The U.S. Census Bureau continues to release updated population and housing data through the American Community Survey and 2020 Census, and more data tables are coming soon.
Join this session for a live demonstration of the latest version of data.census.gov, the official platform to access data from the Census Bureau’s most popular surveys and programs. You will learn tips and tricks to find tables, download data and create maps for your news stories.
This session is good for anyone who has some experience working with Census data.
Instructor
Rex Kung is a program analyst at the Dissemination Outreach Branch in the Center for Enterprise Dissemination (CED) at the U.S. Census Bureau. He maintains the data.census.gov Resources Page to make sure all the latest news, updates, releases, outreach events, tutorial videos, and webinars are up to date on the website. He also provides tutorials on how to use data.census.gov/Census API/Microdata Access. He has a master’s degree in Communication Studies from FAU.
Finding the story: Crime stats
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
Many crime statistics in the United States are flawed and out of date, challenging reporters to interpret them accurately. In this session, you'll hear about how to avoid misinformation about crime and how to access and assess the latest data from federal, state and local agencies. This is especially important as the FBI is transitioning to a new system of crime reporting.
This session is good for anyone who has some experience working with data.
Instructors
Ted Gest is president of Criminal Justice Journalists and editor of Crime and Justice News (ncja.org/crime-and-justice-news), a publication affiliated with Arizona State University and the National Criminal Justice Association. He formerly was an editor and reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and U.S. News & World Report. He is the editor of the IRE beat book "Understanding Crime and Justice Statistics," now being revised.
Mark Greenblatt is the senior national investigative correspondent for Scripps News. He will, this July, become the next executive editor of the Howard Center For Investigative Journalism at ASU's Cronkite School. Mark's reporting has earned three Peabody Awards, the IRE Medal, the duPont, the Livingston and other awards. He is a current IRE Board Member, the past president of the Fund For Investigative Journalism, a lifelong Red Sox fan and he brews his own beer.
Daniel Lathrop, a data reporter at Scripps News, is a longtime investigative reporter and editor. Prior to January, he was an investigative reporter at the Des Moines Register. He is a multiple IRE Award winner and finalist, winner of the White House Correspondents Association Edgar A. Poe Award and numerous other honors. A onetime professor of media informatics, he is part of the inaugural class of the E.W. Scripps Company's Journalism Journey Initiative.
Google Sheets: Using string functions to manipulate data (repeat)
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Maybe you converted a PDF or imported a table into a spreadsheet -- or maybe an agency gave you a poorly formatted file. You can use string functions to reformat your data and get your spreadsheets working for you.
This session is good for: Anyone comfortable with using formulas and functions in Google Sheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Covid-19 in 2020.
Networking: Solutions journalism
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
For those who do or would like to do solutions reporting — meet your people!
Speaker
Tina Rosenberg is co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network. She is a longtime New York Times writer. Before going to the Times, she wrote magazine articles and books. One of her books, "The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism," won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
The final fact check
Time: Sunday, June 25, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You've completed your reporting, gathered the evidence and interviewed the sources. It’s almost time to put your work into the world. From color-coded spreadsheets to presenting evidence to bosses and attorneys, we'll discuss techniques for conducting that final fact check for your investigations.
Speakers
Malena Carollo is an investigative reporter with The Markup who writes stories that expose broken systems and wrongdoing. She previously covered business topics at the Tampa Bay Times. Her work exposed how private interests forced a change to the national organ transplant system, harming patients in the South and Midwest; how a major Florida power company’s policy resulted in dozens of deaths; and how a Florida energy efficiency program can cost homeowners their houses.
Raquel Rutledge is investigations editor for The Examination and formerly a longtime investigative reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She is a 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for Local Reporting. In 2022, she led an investigation into electrical fires that was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Most recently, she partnered with Ken Armstrong of ProPublica to co-author “The Landlord & the Tenant,” which won a 2023 National Magazine Award.
John Voskuhl is a managing editor for investigations at Bloomberg News. He has reported and managed award-winning investigations for more than 35 years.
Bringing it all home
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal DE, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
You've just spent the past three days absorbing as much information as possible and now it's time to go home and put it all to use. But where do you start? And how do you not immediately lose all that knowledge you just gained? Come to this session to get simple tips and tricks to bring it all home and put it to good use. You'll also learn how IRE can help you ride the conference wave long after Orlando.
Speakers
Lauren is the Director of Content. She oversees the training and editorial teams as well as manages the programming for IRE's events including its three major conferences. Lauren also manages the IRE Awards. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology with an emphasis on queer theory and social inequalities and a master’s degree in library science with an emphasis on inequitable access to information - both from the University of Missouri. Lauren has been with IRE since 2011.
Francisco Vara-Orta brings 17 years of newsroom experience to his role as IRE's first director of diversity and inclusion. Vara-Orta joined the IRE staff in February 2019 as a training director. He has worked for a variety of online and print publications, including Chalkbeat, Education Week, the San Antonio Express-News, Austin Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Times.
Cody Winchester (he/him) was a newspaper reporter, data specialist and web developer before joining IRE as a training director in 2017. He became director of technology in 2022.
Connect on social media: GitHub
Dynamic duo: Documents and data
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal C, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Need help connecting the docs? We’ll discuss how to turn records into a roadmap for your reporting and storytelling, whether online or on-air.
Speakers
John Diedrich is an investigative reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and is currently a fellow in the O’Brien Fellowship for Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. His work has uncovered dangers in factories, hospital rooms and mixed martial arts. Diedrich was on a team that exposed risks from electrical fires hitting Milwaukee’s Black renters hardest. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has received a George Polk Award and Gerald Loeb Award.
Kelly Wiley is an award-winning investigative reporter with KXAN in Austin. Kelly's investigative work in Georgia, Florida, and Texas has focused mostly on education. In Florida, her investigation into a local diocese's decision to bring on a priest previously accused in a grand jury report of failing to report sexual abuse in the church earned her an Emmy award. Kelly began her career in journalism at WRDW in Augusta, Georgia.
Extracting data from PDFs (repeat)
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral A, first floor (Mac)
Join this class to learn how to liberate data trapped inside PDFs. This class will cover some basic approaches for getting text out of PDF documents using powerful and freely available tools. Participants will be introduced to basic concepts and some common challenges encountered when working with tricky PDF documents.
This session is good for: People who are unfamiliar with PDF-to-text tools or would like to learn how these tools can be used for extracting difficult text from images embedded in a PDF document.
Instructor
Liz is the senior training director at IRE and an adjunct professor of data journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. She previously worked as data editor for Kaiser Health News, as a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity and as the director of data services for IRE.
Finding the story: Campaign finance data (repeat)
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral B, first floor (PC)
A hands-on introduction to searching for, finding and using federal campaign finance data for beginners. This class will cover using the new Federal Election Commission website to find and download different types of campaign finance data. We'll also review things to know about the data, including common pitfalls.
This session is good for: people who want an introduction to finding and working with federal campaign finance data. Knowing Excel will be helpful.
Instructor
Sandra Fish is a data journalist specializing in politics. She works primarily with the Colorado Sun but also with OpenSecrets.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Google Sheets: Importing and data prep (repeat)
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Coral C, first floor (BYO laptop)
Don't give up if your data isn't presented in a neat spreadsheet. This session will teach you how to get data into a spreadsheet and prepare it for analysis. We will look at how to import text files, deal with data in a PDF, and get a table on a web page into a spreadsheet.
This session is good for: Anyone comfortable working in Google Sheets.
You must bring your own laptop (no tablets) to participate in this class, and you will need a free Google account to participate.
Instructor
What's next? Making career moves, big and small
Time: Sunday, June 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
Location: Crystal AB, first floor
Session audio will be recorded.
Eyeing a promotion? Thinking of making a (big or small!) move in your career? Come to this session to learn how journalists managed those same questions, made big leaps, and overcame setbacks.
Speakers
Angelika Albaladejo is an award-winning investigative journalist and television reporter with KMGH Denver7. She is transitioning from print to video reporting as part of the Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative. Albaladejo's work has been published by outlets including USA Today, The Guardian, Univision, CNN, The Miami Herald and Mother Jones. She has been a fellow with the Fund for Investigative Journalism and the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
Robert Cribb is founder and director of the Investigative Journalism Bureau and an investigative reporter at the Toronto Star. He has received national and international reporting awards for investigations into offshore tax evasion, child exploitation, human trafficking, dangerous doctors, environmental threats and public safety.
Connect on social media: Twitter
Diana R. Fuentes was named IRE's executive director in April 2021. She oversees training, conferences and services for 6,000 members worldwide, and for programs including the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). She most recently was deputy metro editor of the San Antonio Express-News, overseeing a team of reporters who cover government, courts, diversity issues, the environment and history, among other duties. She has more than 30 years of journalism experience, from police reporter and statehouse bureau chief to editor and publisher. A second-generation Texan who's fluent in Spanish, Fuentes has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.