Ire Radio Podcast

How do you cover a topic as complicated and divisive as immigration? On this episode, Jay Root and Todd Wiseman take us through the Texas Tribune’s approach. Their “Bordering on Insecurity” project went beyond border walls and sanctuary cities to explain the deeper issues at play in the immigration debate. The reporters talked their way onto a crime scene in El Salvador, calculated how many people in Texas prisons were undocumented, and investigated what feeds the demand for immigrant labor. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2nxWv8H

If there’s a sweet spot in investigative journalism, Brian Rosenthal found it. His investigation into special education in Texas schools managed to pull back the curtain on a policy that was felt by thousands of students, teachers and parents – and was understood by none. Brian’s reporting for the Houston Chronicle revealed that state officials were arbitrarily blocking hundreds of thousands of children from the services they needed. On this episode, Brian talks about his investigation and its impact. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2o9lqfx

What happens when you investigate the leader of your own country? There’s perhaps never been a more relevant time to ask that question. On this episode, we’ll hear from two journalists who went up against some of the most powerful people and institutions in their own backyards. Rita Vásquez of Panama’s La Prensa and Vlad Lavrov, a staff writer for the Kyiv Post in Ukraine, discuss how they contributed to the massive Panama Papers investigation and offer tips for journalists wanting to afflict the powerful in any country. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2krqUCx

Soaring heroin and opioid addiction rates have left journalists across the country looking for new ways to cover the crisis and make the statistics stick. On this episode, we talk to reporters at two papers who found innovative ways to humanize America’s heroin epidemic. Stephen Stirling of NJ Advance Media takes us on a tour of “Herointown,” the state’s fourth largest city. Then Pat Beall and Mike Stucka of the Palm Beach Post discuss how they identified and profiled all 216 heroin deaths that occurred in one county in one year. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2jvIYLM

It’s been 50 years since the federal Freedom of Information Act was signed into law. A lot’s happened since then – not all of it good for the press. We’re calling this bonus episode "The State of the FOIA" because, over the next 30 minutes, we’ll be talking to three experts to figure out what our open records law looks like today and where we go from here. Media law scholar Jonathan Peters will provide some context on changes to the law, and reporters Philip Eil and Jason Leopold will help prepare us for our next FOIA battle by sharing stories of their hard-fought cases. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2i6VQUq

One of the biggest scoops this election cycle came from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold. His relentless shoe-leather reporting – and list making – revealed that Donald Trump wasn’t exactly the philanthropist he was claiming to be on the campaign trail. Instead of donating his own money to charity, Trump would give away or spend dollars donated to his foundation by other people. On this episode, David shares his experiences investigating Trump, talks about how he felt the morning after the election and offers tips for journalists covering the president-elect. EPISODE NOTES: ire.org/archives/30480

If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re affected by the topic of our show today. The phone, computer or tablet you’re using to play this episode is likely powered by a lithium-ion battery. And one of the main ingredients in those batteries is cobalt. Much of our cobalt comes from the Congo, where miners often dig by hand in unsafe conditions to find and sell the valuable mineral. On this episode, Washington Post journalists Todd Frankel, Michael Chavez and Jorge Ribas discuss their work in the Congo and explain how they tracked the supply chain back to the U.S. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2genkrx

How many people in the U.S. die of antibiotic-resistant infections? It seems like a simple question. But when a team of journalists from Reuters set out to gather the numbers, they realized that the answer would be anything but straightforward. They found out no one was properly keeping track of how many people die from these “superbugs” every year. On this episode, Deborah Nelson, Ryan McNeill and Yasmeen Abutaleb discuss their reporting process, from death certificate text analysis to interviewing loved ones left behind. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2fgYBSA

If you’ve ever been stopped by police, it’s likely an officer filled out something called a field contact report. Officials say the documents can be useful crime-solving tools, but they also have an unintended side effect: police now have massive digital databases tracking law-abiding citizens. On this episode, Glenn Smith and Andrew Knapp of The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, discuss how they investigated field interview practices across the country. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2eBGhVE

Brandon Stahl has spent years reporting on foster care for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But at a meeting with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he stumbled across a fact he’d never heard before: Minnesota places a higher share of American Indian kids into foster care than any other state. A year-long investigation with data journalist MaryJo Webster left them with a series of articles, some heartbreaking stories, and one big question. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2dDV6JK

What happens when a state cuts $100 million from its mental health budget? Reporters from the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune spent 18 months finding out. Their Pulitzer-winning investigation exposed deadly violence in Florida's mental hospitals, where staff shortages, regulatory fumbling and years of neglect were, for years, hidden from the public eye. In today's episode, we hear from Anthony Cormier and Leonora LaPeter Anton, two of the reporters who helped spur reform in the broken mental health system. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2bLZz74

A team of journalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution uncovered a nationwide phenomenon of sexual abuse in the medical community. Thousands of doctors, many still practicing, had a lurid history of sexual misconduct, their crimes hidden from the public. On this episode, we’re talking to reporter Carrie Teegardin and illustrator Richard Watkins about how they found victims of abuse all over the country and told their stories. EPISODE NOTES: http://bit.ly/2b3vEdK

Prisons have long posed a challenge for investigative journalists. And when you’re trying to report on a private prison – one owned by a company, not the government – the situation becomes even more challenging. On this episode, we’re talking to three reporters who managed to pull back the curtain on the for-profit prison system. Shane Bauer describes his risky decision to go undercover as a prison guard on assignment for Mother Jones. Then Marshall Project reporters Eli Hager and Alysia Santo take us through their less extreme but equally powerful investigation into the dangerous and deadly world of prisoner transportation companies. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2a3K8bR

No parent wants to put their child in danger. But when parents in some states enroll their children in religious day cares, that’s exactly what happens. On this episode, Reveal reporter Amy Julia Harris discusses what she found when she began investigating the exemptions granted to faith-based day cares. In a handful of states, religious day cares are free from government regulation, a fact some parents learned the hard way. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/1ts8hjG

You’ve probably heard of Jason Leopold, even if his name doesn’t immediately ring a bell. He’s the journalist who forced the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails. He’s also unearthed shocking details on CIA torture and spying. Jason works at VICE News, and he's the master of the federal FOIA request. In fact, he’s such a prolific requester that a government employee once called him a “FOIA terrorist.” On this episode, we’re sharing some audio from the 2016 CAR Conference, where Jason shared some of his best tips for prying records out of the government. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/1OIUl8E

No es un secreto en México, ni en Colombia, que la gente desaparece, muchas veces por los carteles y sin razón clara. Daniela Guazo y su equipo de datos de El Universal trabajo con El Tiempo de Colombia para darle una cara humana a la grave situación de los desaparecidos en ambos países. NOTAS DEL EPISODIO: bit.ly/1QWqr0a

It’s no secret to Mexicans or Colombians that people are disappeared, all the time, often at the hands of cartels and with seemingly no reason. We talked with Daniela Guazo from Mexico’s El Universal about the work she and her team did along with Colombia’s El Tiempo to give a human face to an issue that has affected nearly 100,000 families. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/1YhMrsp

For nearly 15 years, a journalism professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been investigating the case of the Fairbanks Four, a group of men convicted in the 1997 beating death of a teenager. And he hasn’t been working alone. Each year, students in Brian O’Donoghue’s investigative reporting class picked up the case. Their work had a huge impact: In December 2015, the Fairbanks Four were exonerated, freed after nearly two decades behind bars. On this episode, Brian takes us through the investigation. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/26otklP

Approximately 2,700 women are serving time at Lowell Correctional Institution, the nation’s largest women’s prison. On this episode, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown discusses her year-long investigation into Lowell. Documents, interviews and a Facebook page for former inmates helped her expose a world of sexual extortion, abuse and corruption inside the Florida prison. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/1XcWQFa

There are certain pieces of advice you hear over and over again at our annual computer-assisted reporting conference: Get out there, take risks and experiment. So at our recent conference in Denver, we sent University of Missouri journalism student Jack Howard to do just that. On this bonus episode, you’ll hear his five-minute experiment: capturing the NICAR experience and turning it into audible data.