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 tricks for data journalism. We explore his career advice and his personal website’s archive of data journalism resources. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosted the episode. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 guests: Contest Committee Chair and Emmy-winner Walter Smith Randolph (executive producer of investigations at CBS New York) and Paroma Soni (IRE Board member and Politico data and graphics reporter). Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosted the episode. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 developments that showed a pattern of certain staffing and outsourcing firms exploiting the U.S. H-1B visa lottery system. Along with Fan and Mider, Bloomberg journalists Denise Lu and Marie Patino co-authored the project. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosted the episode. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

“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 Bureau, shedding light on the systemic failures and deliberate actions that prevented land redistribution to Black Americans.In this episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, Reveal producer Nadia Hamdan and The Center for Public Integrity’s April Simpson discuss their investigation and its significance. “40 Acres a Lie” was runner-up for the 2024 Phil Meyer Award. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosted the episode. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 in the journalism industry, and how we, as journalists, can continue to strive for inclusion in these confusing times. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosted the episode. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 titled, “Supporting journalists with disabilities and improving disability coverage.”  In this episode of IRE Radio, you will hear excerpts from the panel featuring:  • Pauline Arrillaga, executive director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism at ASU and former writer and editor for AP News • Samantha Hernandez, an education reporter at the Des Moines Register  • Denise-Marie Ordway, managing editor for The Journalist's Resource at Harvard University • Wendy Lu, a senior staff editor at The New York Times and a global speaker on disability representation in the media Ordway also contributed an essay based on the panel to the Q4 2024 edition of The IRE Journal. IRE Radio is distributed across several podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcasts. A full text transcript of the episode is available when accessed through the Apple Podcasts mobile app. Please contact editorial@ire.org if you need any assistance. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosts the podcast. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the script. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 discussed how to cover topics like climate change, mass incarceration, and poverty through the lens of disability. In a panel titled, “Disability is part of every beat,” three accomplished journalists joined in discussion. We have excerpted from their panel in this edition of The IRE Radio Podcast. The panelists are Jen Deerinwater, founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism; Lygia Navarro, award-winning disabled freelance journalist and editor for NAHJ’s multimedia platform, palabra; and Cara Reedy, former CNN documentarian and founder and director of the Disabled Journalists Association. IRE Radio is distributed across several podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcasts. A full text transcript of the episode is available when accessed through the Apple Podcasts mobile app. Please contact editorial@ire.org if you need any assistance. Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosts the podcast. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the script. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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, source lists and other helpful tools to answer questions about candidates’ backgrounds, policies, election trends and more. “Any newsroom that can hear my voice please come to us and use our resources to do incredible election coverage," Klein said of the one-stop destination to prepare for Election Day coverage. Resources: • Visit the Knight Election Hub at: https://accounts.muckrock.com/election-hub/ • Read more in The IRE Journal's 2024 elections issue: https://www.ire.org/product/ire-journal-q3-2024/ Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter reported and hosted the episodes. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 Constitution, explains her colleagues’ struggle to cover the government agency despite heavily redacted incident reports, suppressed news of worker arrests linked to contraband, undisclosed prisoner escapes, withheld video footage and more! Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

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 truth about matters of public importance.” Victim to a police raid in August 2023, the newsroom of the Marion County Record received the 2024 Don Bolles Medal for refusing to be silenced. Just a mile down the road in the small Kansas town, the home of Meyer and his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, was raided at the same time as the newsroom. His mother died the day after the raid. Meyer and Carter unpack what happened with the raid, the importance of support from fellow journalists, and how he and his newsroom persevered. You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you. Music credit: "Thoughtfulness," De Wolfe Music

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 social sciences methods to newsrooms. His groundbreaking book, “Precision Journalism,” turned 50 years old in 2023. He died on Nov. 4, 2023, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease This episode also includes excerpts from an interview with Meyer by Charles Lewis from a decade prior. Nakylah Carter reported this episode and is our host. IRE Editorial Director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri. You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you. Music credit: "Thoughtfulness," De Wolfe Music

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 for the community. The ABC News Investigative Unit, lead by Cindy Galli, decided it was time to stay. Uvalde: 365 was a yearlong project where the ABC News team stayed in Uvalde for more than a year to report the aftermath of this tragedy. You can watch the ABC News team’s new documentary, “21: Loyal and True,” streaming on ESPN+ and Hulu. Members of the Uvalde 365 team also have a new book coming out, “One Year in Uvalde,” a story of hope and resilience that will be released in May 2024. Nakylah Carter reported this episode and is our host. IRE Editorial Director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri. You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you. Music credit: "Thoughtfulness," De Wolfe Music

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 Globe’s “Great Divide” education team, which examines inequities in education. Prior to coming to the Globe in 2021, Taboada was a reporter and editor for 20 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she led the paper’s education coverage. Taboada taught a "Reporting on Education" course in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, her alma mater. Chastity Pratt is the education bureau chief responsible for leading The Wall Street Journal's coverage of pre-kindergarten through higher education, including managing education reporters based in bureaus across the country. She previously covered education at Bridge Magazine, the Detroit Free Press, Newsday and The Oregonian. Nakylah Carter reported this episode and is our host. IRE Editorial Director Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri. You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We’d love to hear from you. Music credit: "Thoughtfulness," De Wolfe Music

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, Stacy breaks down how she discovered unreliable breath tests and the consequences they pose for real people. EPISODE NOTES: https://www.ire.org/archives/40664

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 Post tracked inaction in Congress and visited a small town in rural Massachusetts to witness the consequences firsthand. EPISODE NOTES: ire.org/archives/40144

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 found tapes Bolles recorded before he was killed. On this special episode, we’re sharing the first installment of the their new podcast “Rediscovering: Don Bolles, A Murdered Journalist.” We hope you love it as much as we do. EPISODE NOTES: ire.org/archives/39877

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 limited series called “Unbelievable". EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2PXWzLW

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 reliant on fines. He found a trend that’s destabilizing governments in low-income communities across the country. EPISODE NOTES: www.ire.org/archives/39170

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 reporting to learn how they tallied police shootings, identified sources, and used data and documents to show the true scope of the problem. EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2ms5dFy

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 police weren’t solving as many rape cases as they claimed. EPISODE NOTES: www.ire.org/archives/38358