The Investigative Reporting Workshop’s Blogs

Exemption 10

No, government is not too open

March 13-19 was Sunshine Week — a nationwide celebration of access to public information. Across the country, the week was marked by panel discussions, workshops and other events about using and understanding the latest developments in freedom-of-information resources. One of those was an event at the University of Missouri in which Charles Lewis, the Workshop's executive editor, argued that government has not become too transparent.

iFOIA's new site features tracking

Since 1996 the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has offered a free letter-generating service to provide users with the correct language and structure for FOIA requests. Over the past year the committee looked for ways to expand this tool to better serve reporters. In recognition of the fact that a single investigation can require hundreds of FOIA requests, they sought to make it easier for journalists to track and organize records requests.

“Reporters are always trying to remember where they’ve submitted requests, how much time has passed since they made the request and who they need to follow up with,” said Emily Grannis of the new ifOIA website.

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Shop Notes

Giving data journalism a second shot

Flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., for an internship was a nerve-racking way to start my year. But that jump for a data journalism internship with The Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University was the best choice I’ve made this year.

Americans prefer the government protect free speech over censoring 'fake news,' Pew study shows

Most Americans are against the U.S. government restricting fake news online and prefer it protect freedom of information. However, most do support technology companies taking a role in limiting fake news. 

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Incubating new economic models for journalism.

Latest from iLab

Emails reveal complaints to mayor's office about transparency watchdog

Emails from aides to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser show frustration with District transparency head Traci L. Hughes' “cracking down” on agencies, according to a new report from The Washington Post. 


Coverage of arming teachers

Over that last eight years, interest in arming teachers with guns is the result of school shootings. News coverage and Google searches reflect these trends. 

Blogs

Most Recent Posts

Giving data journalism a second shot

Flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., for an internship was a nerve-racking way to start my year. But that jump for a data journalism internship with The Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University was the best choice I’ve made this year.

Americans prefer the government protect free speech over censoring 'fake news,' Pew study shows

Most Americans are against the U.S. government restricting fake news online and prefer it protect freedom of information. However, most do support technology companies taking a role in limiting fake news. 

Defense fails in attempt to free two Reuters journalists in Myanmar

For the past three months, two Reuters journalists — U Wa Lone and U Kyaw Soe Oo — have been imprisoned in Myanmar for violating the country’s Official Secrets Act by reporting on a massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men in Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Charles Lewis receives I.F. Stone medal

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has awarded Charles Lewis the 2018 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. 

This month in investigative journalism

The Investigative Reporting Workshop rounds up some of the best investigative reporting in the month of March. 

Partners

Workshop Partners

We publish online and in print, often teaming up with other news organizations. We're working now on a new program with FRONTLINE producers, to air later in the year, and on the "Years of Living Dangerously," a series on climate change that has begun airing on Showtime. A story last year on the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention centers was co-published with The New York Times. Our updates to our long-running BankTracker project, in which you can view the financial health of every bank and credit union in the country, have been published with msnbc.com, now nbcnews.com, and we co-published stories in our What Went Wrong series on the economy with The Philadelphia Inquirer and New America Media. Our graduate students are working as researchers with Washington Post reporters, and our new senior editor is a member of the Post's investigative team. Learn more on our partners page.

Projects

Investigating Power update

Investigating Power update

Profiles of notable journalists and their stories of key moments in U.S. history in the last 50 years can be found on the Investigating Power site. See Workshop Executive Editor Charles Lewis' latest video interviews as well as historic footage and timelines. You can also read more about the project and why we documented these groundbreaking examples of original, investigative journalism that helped shape or change public perceptions on key issues of our time, from civil rights to Iraq, here.