Center for Investigative Reporting

May 15th, 2013

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Exploiting legal loopholes, Democrats in the California Assembly pumped $5.8 million into key campaigns designated by Speaker John A. Pérez last year, our new data analysis shows. Not only did the infusion of cash help the Democrats win a supermajority in the Capitol, the system also paid off for the speaker’s biggest fundraisers.

According to the data, Pérez gave lawmakers who raised the most money the best assignments in the new Legislature – posts on the speaker’s leadership team and seats on the powerful “juice committees. They control bills affecting the financial bottom line for the Capitol’s wealthiest interest groups: from banks, insurance companies and public utilities to casinos, racetracks and liquor distributors.”

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September 19th, 2012

Welcome to TechRaking!

We’re just getting started with today’s TechRaking conference at IGN’s headquarters in San Francisco. We’ll be exploring the intersection of news and games and brainstorming ideas on how we can better reach and engage citizens with investigative journalism.

If you’d like to join in the fun, follow the #TechRaking hashtag on Twitter. We’ll be posting updates from the conference throughout the day. At the end of the event, the winning team from our design sprints will be awarded a $10,000 development grant from Coco Studios to jump-start its idea with CIR! Stay tuned.

September 18th, 2012

TechRaking II: Gaming the News

Interested in the intersection of news and games? In the second installment of our TechRaking conference series, gaming industry executives, designers and artists will convene with investigative journalists to explore how gaming platforms can be used to reach and engage citizens in investigative journalism.

TechRaking II will take place tomorrow, September 19, at IGN’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco and is co-presented with our partners at Public Radio International and the Online News Association. See a full schedule of events here.

In addition to participating in discussions with industry leaders, conference participants will be divided into teams and challenged to develop pitches for news games that connect players in radically new ways. The winning team will receive $10,000 worth of development time from Coco Studios to jump-start its idea with CIR!

Want to attend? There’s only a few spots left! Email Kristen Crawford to register: kcrawford@cironline.org. We’ll also be accepting a small amount of same-day registrations.

You can also join in on Twitter by following @CIRonline and using the #TechRaking hashtag.

August 1st, 2012

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Coming tomorrow: The I Files

Get ready: We’re about to launch a new YouTube channel, The I Files, dedicated to bringing you the best investigative news video online, featuring major partners such as The New York Times, BBC News, ABC News and the Investigative News Network, as well as the best emerging talent.

For more details on what to expect from the new channel, read this introduction from Senior Producer Stephen Talbot.

We’ll be debuting several exciting new videos on the channel tomorrow, so subscribe here to be among the first to see them: http://www.youtube.com/ifiles

December 21st, 2011

Hey Tumblrs - Thanks for following us throughout the year! We’ve had fun engaging with you about both our own and other great investigative reporting from around the world.

For those of you who may not be familiar with our history, we were founded in 1977 and are the nation’s oldest nonprofit investigative news organization, producing multimedia reporting that has impact and is relevant to people’s lives.

Take a moment to watch our new video to learn more about the kind of reporting we do! And if you want, visit our donate page and support us so we can keep digging through those documents so you don’t have to.

August 26th, 2011

onaissues:

The Price of Gas (by CIRvideos)

This animated feature from the Center for Investigative Reporting calculates the carbon footprint and other “external costs” of gasoline use in the U.S.

Do you think packaging news features as animated videos makes the concepts easier to grasp?

Reblogged from ONA Issues

August 11th, 2011

Watch a 15-minute clip of DIRTY BUSINESS, an investigative documentary from the Center for Investigative Reporting that reveals the true social and environmental costs of coal power and explores the murky realities of “clean coal” technology.

June 2nd, 2011

Jill Abramson becomes first female executive editor at New York Times

From the New York Times: “Jill Abramson, a former investigative reporter and Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, will become the paper’s executive editor, succeeding Bill Keller, who is stepping down to become a full-time writer for the paper.”

May 26th, 2011

California Watch: State opens seismic retrofit fund to thousands of schools

Big news from California. After California Watch’s On Shaky Ground investigation into the seismic safety of California’s schools, the state is opening the seismic retrofit fund to thousands of schools.

californiawatch:

State officials voted yesterday to expand access to a $200 million fund created for urgent seismic repairs at California’s public schools.

The move came in response to complaints that restrictive rules enacted by the Schwarzenegger administration had blocked the funds from thousands of schools.

The State Allocation Board, which controls funding for school repairs and construction, approved new rules that will allow almost all occupied buildings with the potential for catastrophic collapse to apply for a slice of the bond fund, which was approved by California voters in 2006.

The board’s 6-2 decision comes on the heels of a California Watch investigation that found that the Schwarzenegger administration, which had worried about a rush on the limited pot of money, had severely limited the eligibility rules for schools to qualify. As a result, most of the $200 million fund has been unused.

Read the full story

Reblogged from California Watch

May 9th, 2011

Raising Hell: A Citizens Guide to the Fine Art of Investigation: Knowing the facts is essential to educating and organizing citizens so they can participate in the decision making that affects their lives. Citizens have a right to know the facts but this right is useless unless they also have the know-how to obtain them. This guide is an introduction to how and where you can use libraries and public records for facts about individuals, government, corporations and ownership of property. You will want to check many other records, books, publications and people not mentioned here. They are all ballast to balance the secrecy of power with the public's right to know the truth. (PDF)

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@CIRonline

Founded in 1977, the Center for Investigative Reporting is the nation's oldest nonprofit investigative news organization, producing multimedia reporting that has impact and is relevant to people's lives. Building on our long track record of award-winning print, broadcast and web reporting, CIR is now seeking to help lead the way in transforming journalism for the 21st century.