PODCAST · news
IRE Radio
by IRE Radio
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources.
Episodes
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A conversation with Ben Welsh
In this episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, veteran reporter, editor and computer programmer Ben Welsh discusses his journalism career and how he got to where he is today. As founder of the Reuters News Applications Desk, where he is currently an editor, Welsh has gained a multitude of tips and...
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2024 IRE Awards: Behind the scenes
In this episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, two judges for the 2024 IRE Awards share a behind-the-scenes look at their committee’s selection process. Judges chose winners and finalists from a pool of 546 entries across 19 categories. IRE announced the contest results on April 16, 2025. Featured...
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2024 Philip Meyer Award winner: “How Thousands of Middlemen Are Gaming the H-1B Program”
In this episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, Bloomberg reporters Eric Fan and Zachary Mider take you inside the investigation that earned them the 2024 Phil Meyer Award. Their winning work, “How Thousands of Middlemen Are Gaming the H-1B Program,” (published July 31, 2024) explored new data...
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IRE Radio: “40 Acres and a Lie"
“40 Acres and a Lie,” a collaborative investigation by Mother Jones, The Center for Public Integrity, PRX and Reveal, dives into unfulfilled promises to formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. The investigation used artificial intelligence to unearth hidden documents from the Freedmen's...
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The quest for diversity evolves
On this episode, Francisco Vara-Orta — IRE’s director of diversity and inclusion — reads an excerpt from his Nieman Lab Predictions for Journalism 2025 piece titled, “The quest for diversity evolves.” In it, he conveys what he believes is the future of diversity, belonging, equity and inclusion…
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IRE Radio: Supporting journalists with disabilities
More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. reported having a disability in 2022, yet people with disabilities have long been underrepresented in news coverage and in newsrooms. To explore this topic — and related concerns facing the news industry — IRE’s 2024 AccessFest Conference featured a panel…
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Disability is part of every beat
Although there has been a move to diversify journalism from the stories we tell to the people we interview, the sad reality is that not enough journalists prioritize disability coverage. As part of IRE’s virtual AccessFest conference in 2024, a group of distinguished disabled journalists…
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Introducing the Knight Election Hub
On this episode, host Nakylah Carter chats with Knight Election Hub’s Erica Peterson and Scott Klein. The hub — an initiative funded by the Knight Foundation — contains more than 100 free and discounted resources for reporters and editors covering elections. There are voter guides, data sets,...
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2024 Golden Padlock Award winner: Georgia Department of Corrections
On this episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, host Nakylah Carter discovers how the Georgia Department of Corrections came to win the 2024 Golden Padlock Award for frequently and deliberately withholding public information. Guest Lois Norder, senior editor for investigations at The Atlanta Journal...
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2024 Don Bolles Medal recipient: Marion County Record
On this episode, host Nakylah Carter chats with the 2024 Don Bolles Medal winner Eric Meyer, publisher of The Marion County Record. The Don Bolles Medal acknowledges investigative journalists who have “exhibited extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the...
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The legacy of Philip Meyer
On this special episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, IRE editorial assistant Nakylah Carter pulls from 2023 and 2024 NICAR Conference recordings to explore how Phil Meyer inspired countless reporters, students and colleagues. Meyer pioneered the field of computer-assisted reporting and introduced...
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A look inside Uvalde: 365
In this episode, IRE editorial assistant Nakylah Carter tackles the topic of mass shootings and how one team changed the way some newsrooms report on them. In the spring of 2022, an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas was victim of a mass shooting, resulting in 21 lives lost – a massive tragedy…
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Finding stories on the education beat
On this episode, IRE editorial assistant Nakylah Carter recaps “Separate and unequal: 5 must-have stories from the K-12 education beat,” a panel from IRE’s inaugural AccessFest 2023 conference, featuring two veteran journalists who cover education. Melissa Barragán Taboada is the editor of the...
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Broken Breath Tests
Police rely on alcohol breath tests to convict drunken drivers. But what happens when the machines they use aren’t reliable? Stacy Cowley of The New York Times looked into the problem of faulty breath test machines and found thousands of cases where the tests were thrown out. On this episode…
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Fighting Fentanyl
Opioid addiction is a decades-long crisis that killed roughly 47,000 people in 2017 alone, largely due to the potency of fentanyl. But despite all the warning signs, Congress didn’t pass any legislation on opioids until 2016. On this week’s episode, we’ll hear how Katie Zezima of the Washington...
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SPECIAL: Rediscovering Don Bolles
Investigative Reporters and Editors was formed in 1975, the year before Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb. He died days before he was scheduled to speak at IRE’s first annual conference. Now, decades after his death, the team at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com...
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BONUS: Telling an Unbelievable Story
On this bonus episode, we’re sharing audio from the 2016 IRE Conference. In a session on narrative storytelling, reporters T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong explain how they wrote their Pulitzer-winning story “An Unbelievable Story of Rape”. Their reporting is the basis of a new Netflix…
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Hooked on Fines
When protests rocked Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, few realized the tensions could be traced to a policy-based problem — local police were fining residents at abnormally high rates to fund the city’s operating budget. Mike Maciag of Governing Magazine spent a year looking into other communities...
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When Police Kill
When police kill civilians, the victims are often people of color. So, when Arizona Republic reporters Uriel Garcia and Bree Burkitt decided to investigate police shootings in their state, they knew their sources should be as diverse as their community. On this week’s episode, we’ll go behind the...
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BONUS: In The Clear
On this week’s episode, we’re sharing audio from the 2019 CAR Conference. Reporters from Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, Newsy, KUT Austin and ProPublica explained how they got data on “cleared” cases from more than 100 police departments across the country. The data showed...
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Inside the Missouri Investigative Journalism Workshop
On this special episode, students at the Missouri Investigative Journalism Workshop discuss their experiences at the weeklong summer program. Investigative Reporters & Editors supported the workshop, which was held at the Missouri School of Journalism. Corey Johnson of the Tampa Bay Times and…
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BONUS: Always Be Curious
Investigations today are full of data, documents and computer programming, but that wasn’t always the case. On this bonus episode, we’re sharing audio from the 2019 CAR Conference. Data journalism pioneer James B. Steele discusses his work with longtime reporting partner Donald L. Barlett. He…
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Silenced by the Church
For decades, children passed through the doors of Catholic orphanages. Some never walked out. On this week’s episode, Christine Kenneally takes us behind her work investigating hidden abuses in orphanages around the world. Her BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered that dozens of children had died...
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A Doctor Named Susy
Think about the last time you got a call, email or direct message from someone who wanted to share a crazy story. You might have thought there was no way what they were telling you could be true. That’s what happened to Brett Kelman, a reporter at the Tennessean. A tip about military health care...
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The Graduates
On high school graduation day, the future looks bright, especially for Boston’s valedictorians. But as years pass, things come to look quite different for the city’s top students. A quarter of them didn’t finish college within six years. Many wanted to be doctors, and today, none of them are. On...
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Neglected in Memory Care
In Oregon’s memory care facilities, confirmed abuse cases are more than twice as common as in other types of senior centers. Residents live in filthy conditions, develop bedsores, even die in the care of overworked and overwhelmed caregivers. But the failures of that system can be opaque unless...
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BONUS: Under Pressure
Journalism has always been a stressful job, but new challenges and pressures have made the work even more daunting. On this bonus episode, we’re reaching into our archives for audio from the 2018 IRE Conference. During a panel about managing stress, reporters Ken Armstrong, Mike Hixenbaugh and…
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The Housing Authority
Mice, mold and lead paint. Tenants in Illinois public housing complexes were doing their best to make their conditions more livable. But even after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development swooped in and seized control, change wasn’t swift. On this week’s episode, Molly Parker, an...
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Storytelling with Sound
As podcast audiences continue to grow, more newsrooms are making the leap to telling stories with sound. Podcasts can be a great vehicle for investigations, allowing journalists to reach interested audiences around the world. But the format also presents challenges, especially when it comes to...
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Reaching Behind Bars
In 2016, nearly 2.2 million adults were behind bars. If that were a city, it would be the nation’s fifth largest. That’s a critical community and one journalists often struggle to reach. On this episode, we’ll be exploring ways journalists can amplify the voices of inmates. The Marshall Project’s...
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A Pattern of Injustice
Every year, more than 2,000 women in Minnesota report to police that they were raped or sexually assaulted. So, the Minneapolis Star Tribune decided to take a look at what happens after a report is made, analyzing more than 1,000 cases. They found that in almost half, police failed to interview...
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Staining The System
Blood delivers oxygen to our tissues. It fights off infections. It courses through our veins. But can it help us catch a murderer? A little-known arm of forensic science, known as bloodstain pattern analysis, believes it can. On this week’s episode, Pamela Colloff, a senior reporter at ProPublica...
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Harvey’s Exploited Workers
After Hurricane Harvey devastated homes and businesses in southeast Texas, construction workers began the long process of rebuilding. But when payday came, some found their checks were short or that they didn’t get one at all. An investigation from the Dallas Morning News and Reveal from the…
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Denied Proof
Sometimes seeing is believing. But in Texas, at least, it’s not always that easy. Thanks to an obscure loophole in the Texas Public Information Act, law enforcement agencies can withhold evidence, including dash cam footage and recordings, if a suspect didn’t go through the court process. On this...
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A Psychic Scam
More than 1.4 million people in the U.S. alone have fallen victim to a mail scam centered around a psychic named Maria Duval. Officials around the world have tried to shutter the multimillion-dollar scheme with little success. It was unclear if the scam’s namesake was even a real person. So, CNN...
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What Happened Next
We’ve often wondered what happens with the investigations featured on the podcast. So, we decided to check in with three newsrooms featured on previous episodes and find out. Brian Rosenthal will share the impact of his Houston Chronicle investigation into Texas special education. Journalists at...
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The Dean’s Double Life
An anonymous tip led the Los Angeles Times to a shocking revelation about the University of Southern California’s medical school dean, an internationally renowned physician. Faculty and staff had complained for years about dean Carmen Puliafito’s conduct, but it wasn’t until the Times uncovered…
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The Shooter
February 14, 2018 started out as a relatively calm day for Florida’s Sun Sentinel newsroom. Then, Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a semiautomatic rifle. Before the day was done, 17 people would be dead and 17 more would be wounded in one of the deadliest school...
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Homeless on the Road
If you’re walking down the street in San Francisco, it’s impossible to ignore. On any given day there are nearly 7,500 homeless people on the city’s streets. It’s an issue many of America’s largest cities are struggling to keep up with. But some have found a cheap solution to reduce their…
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The Examiners
If someone dies under suspicious circumstances, it’s a medical examiner’s job to figure out what happened. But in New Jersey, 40 years of neglect has made it difficult for forensic pathologists to do their jobs. The result: grieving families without answers and potentially innocent people behind...
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Three Strikes
A 1982 Virginia law meant to reduce recidivism had a pretty simple concept: Three strikes and you’re out. Or, in prison terms, you’re in for good. On this week’s episode, we talk with Virginian-Pilot reporter Tim Eberly about his three-month investigation into the law. Tim interviewed 41...
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Vouching for Education
President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary caused quite a stir. Betsy DeVos barely passed her senate confirmation hearing, sparking protests from teachers and education advocates across the country. Their biggest complaint? Her support of something called school vouchers or…
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Eviction City
A slow-moving housing crisis has been tearing apart communities in the city of Detroit. Homeowners have been replaced by renters. Mortgage and tax foreclosures have allowed landlords to scoop up potential rental properties on the cheap. On this episode, Detroit News reporter Christine MacDonald...
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BONUS: The Rules of Undercover Reporting
The Society of Professional Journalists advises that reporters should only use undercover methods when absolutely necessary to get information that’s vital to the public. But even if a reporter follows those guidelines, where do they stand in the eyes of the law? Are they still vulnerable to…
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A Workforce at Risk
When you think about temp work, short-term office jobs are likely to come to mind. But across North America, all of that is changing. These days, factories and other industrial companies are using temporary laborers to fill jobs that used to go to employees. The combination of low pay, minimal...
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America’s Lost Mothers
The numbers are striking: Across the country, some 700-900 women die every year from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. The U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world. For more than six months, ProPublica’s Nina Martin and NPR’s Renee Montagne dug into the stories…
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Sheriff Joe
For a local sheriff, Joe Arpaio can’t seem to stay out of the national news. The longtime Maricopa County Sheriff made headlines again this summer when, in the wake of a criminal conviction, he was was pardoned by President Trump. But Arpaio’s story goes back nearly two decades. On this episode...
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The Adjustment Factor
On this week’s episode, former Chicago Tribune reporter Jason Grotto explains why investigating municipal finance isn’t as dry and daunting as you might think. What started with a dig through county property taxes ended with a three-part series delving into how and why Chicago’s broken property…
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Prison to the Pulpit
Investigations often don’t go according to plan. Dead-end data and stubborn sources are just some of the factors that can throw off a months-long reporting project. Other times, breaking news can put your work on the fast track to publication. That’s exactly what happened to the Tampa Bay Times...
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Hate, On the Record
After the 2016 election, reporters across the country began noticing what seemed like a wave of hate crimes, harassment and abuse. But with limited data, they weren’t sure if what they were seeing marked an increase. To solve that problem, more than 100 news organizations united to tell the story...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does IRE Radio have?
IRE Radio currently has 109 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is IRE Radio about?
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques...
How often does IRE Radio release new episodes?
IRE Radio publishes regularly with 109 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to IRE Radio?
You can listen to IRE Radio on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts IRE Radio?
IRE Radio is created and hosted by IRE Radio.
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