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

A look inside Uvalde: 365

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

The legacy of Philip Meyer

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

Finding stories on the education beat

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

Broken Breath Tests

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.

Broken Breath Tests

IRE Radio

Related tracks