Resources

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal, Winter 2009 by Pressley, Gretchen

Extra! Extra!

* "Our Hungry Planet series," Matt McKinney, Chris Serres, Richard Meryhew, 5tar Tribune. In a seven-part multimedia series, the newspaper examines the global food market through the eyes of farmers and consumers from Cambodia to Papua New Guinea to southern Minnesota. The series explores the powerful and conflicting forces around the world influencing the supply and price of food. (International: Dec. 5, 2008)

* "Labor exploitation rampant in Chinese-owned mining companies," Simon Clark, Michael Smith, Franz Wild, Bloomberg Markets. The two articles, "China lets child workers die digging in Congo mines for copper" and "China defies Peru rescue of miners afflicted with lung disease," reveal the exploitation of indigenous peoples by Chinese-owned mining companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The authors report that, "hundreds of workers have been injured or killed since 2005 working for Chinese companies." The investigations examine the companies' lack of health and safety standards and abuse of child labor. (Business, International, Workplace: Aug. 1 1 , 2008)

* "Crime and Punishment series," Sandro Contenta, Robyn Doolittle, Betsy Powell, Jim Rankin, Patty Winsa, The (Toronto) Star. A new law increasing mandatory minimum sentencing was passed even though Canada's crime rate has dropped more than 25 percent during the past 1 5 years. The series looks at the monetary and social costs of the tougher approach to crime, including how U.S. mandatory minimum sentences have failed to curb crime. Three never-before-released data sets formed the foundation of the investigation. (CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local), International, Justice (courts/ crime/law): July 21, 2008)

* "Child slavery problem plagues Haiti," Dan Harris, "Nightline." Harris went undercover to investigate the problem of child slavery in Haiti. Within 10 hours of leaving New York City, he was able to negotiate the purchase of a young girl for $1 50 from a man who claimed to be a former member of parliament. (Broadcast, International, Justice (courts/crime/law), Social Issues: July 9, 2008)

Uplink

* "Farmsubsidy.org opens access to EU farm payments," Brigitte Alfter, Farmsubsidy.org. The organization is the driving force in bringing Europe's farm subsidies into the public eye. Brigitte Alfter, Tommy Kaas and Nils Mulvad recount the history of this network organization, which uses freedom of information laws and computer-assisted reporting to gather and distribute subsidy data from European Union nations. (March/April 2007)

* "No boundaries," Jennifer LaFleur, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. LaFleur discusses how journalists overseas, specifically in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, are developing mapping skills and making certain projects a lot easier. (Sept. 2000)

* "Finding data," Noemi Ramirez. This article explains some problems faced by reporters in another country when trying to obtain data, and Ramirez gives some solutions. (March 2000)

Online

* The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (www. publicintegrity.org/investigations/icij). The ICIJ is a collaboration of the world's pre-eminent investigative reporters. Launched in 1 997 as a project of the Center for Public Integrity, ICIJ globally extends the Center's style of watchdog journalism and works with 100 journalists in 50 countries to produce long-term, transnational investigations.