IRE

Working with Data Refuge, an organization set up to preserve climate and environmental data, Investigative Reporters and Editors has compiled an index of more than 100 datasets gathered by the likes of NASA, the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It’s not just the fear of things that are online disappearing,” Minshew said. “There’s also the fear that funding for data collection and hosting of data by the government will disappear in the near future.”

Horvit, who has been Investigative Reporters and Editors executive director for roughly a decade, will leave the organization for a new job at the University of Missouri. What that new job is has yet to be announced. 

The annual IRE Awards recognize outstanding investigative work and help identify the techniques and resources used to complete each story. This year’s winners included WVUE New Orleans and KHOU Houston. Other TV winners included Telemundo, The Weather Channel and PBS Frontline.

How to do just that was what many in the record crowd of journalists at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference were eager to learn. And they weren’t disappointed. Session participants say the strong interest among TV reporters reflects a widespread resurgence in watchdog and investigative journalism.

Speakers at last week’s Investigative Reporters & Editors conference say that 76% of local broadcasters partner with other  news outlets, and it behooves TV reporters to maximize the potential — and benefits — of those collaborations, whether they like it or not. And the same goes for collaborating with their own digital teams. There should no longer be a division between on-air and digital departments.

Next week’s Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in San Francisco has increased the number of broadcast-specific sessions to 15. They will cover topics including visual storytelling, interviewing techniques, going undercover on a budget and how to select stories. IRE’s Mark Horvit expects to see large numbers of broadcast news people taking advantage of the speakers and panel sessions..

With more television stations and groups investing in investigative journalism, some industry groups, including Investigative Reporters and Editors, are seeing a resurgence of interest and attendance, and not at the expense of other organizations.

A new study by AR&D and Investigative Reporters and Editors shows that 62% of consumers consider investigative content reason enough to follow particular news outlets, including TV stations.

The annual IRE Awards recognize outstanding investigative work and help identify the techniques and resources used to complete each story. Among the winners are KTRK Houston, KQED San Francisco and WVUE New Orleans.