Go behind the story with some of the country’s best journalists on this radio program produced by Investigative Reporters and Editors, a nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. Sit in on conversations with award-winning reporters, editors and producers to hear how they broke some of the biggest stories of the year.

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IRE Radio Podcast

Welcome to the first episode of the IRE Radio Podcast. Here's what's coming up:

- Get caught up on IRE news, including information on the upcoming conference in San Francisco.

- NICAR Database Library Director Liz Lucas talks about her job and explains how NICAR can help journalists.

- Listen to three reporters discuss how they dealt with difficult data. We've got Will Evans (Center for Investigative Reporting), Ryan McNeill (Reuters) and Fredreka Schouten (USA TODAY).

Dealing with Difficult Data

We're back with another episode of the IRE Radio Podcast. This week we're focusing on FOIA. Here's the lineup:

- Kirsten B. Mitchell, a former journalist and current facilitator with The Office of Government Information Services, talks about common FOIA problems and how to fix them.

- Deb Nelson, Michael Ravnitzky, Charles Ornstein, and Jennifer LaFleur share tips on beating FOIA fees, arguing for data, and more.

Looking for links to the stories, resources and events we discussed on this week's podcast? We've collected them for you: http://bit.ly/1oA5s7l

FOIA Frustrations

Welcome to the third episode of the IRE Radio Podcast. We’re taking a cue from reporter Corey Johnson and calling this episode “True Believers.” This week we’ll be talking about how to find crucial sources and, more importantly, how to get them to talk. Here’s the lineup:

- Corey Johnson of the Center for Investigative Reporting talks about how he found "true believers" as he reported on unsafe schools for California Watch.

- Michael Isikoff explains how he got Department of Justice whistleblower Thomas Tamm to talk for his 2008 Newsweek story.

- Shawn Boburg of The Record in northern New Jersey discusses how he sourced his award-winning coverage of the George Washington Bridge scandal.

True Believers

Welcome to another episode of the IRE Radio Podcast. On this week’s episode we’re talking about crime – everything from fact-checking police stats to building databases to track gun violence. Here’s the lineup:

- Michael Berens of The Seattle Times gets things started with a story about an odd beam of light, some dead rabbits and a police chopper.

- Debra Juarez, news director at NBC 5 Chicago, talks about the ethics of naming suspects involved in a prostitution sting.

- Steve Thompson of the Dallas Morning News and Ben Poston of the Los Angeles Times explain how to spot red flags in crime stat data.

- David Fallis of the Washington Post walks through how he combined two data sets to track down the sources of guns used in crimes.

Cracking the Crime Stats

This week we’re talking about investigating veterans issues, past and present. Here’s the lineup:

- Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic discusses how he helped break open the most recent scandal involving falsified wait-time data at the Phoenix VA hospital.

- Aaron Glantz of the Center for Investigative Reporting talks about benefit backlogs at the Veterans Benefits Administration.

- Michael Phillips of the Wall Street Journal walks through his 2013 series “The Lobotomy Files.” Using documents from the National Archive, Phillips was able to document how the U.S. lobotomized approximately 2,000 World War II veterans.

Scandals at the VA

Thomas Hargrove spent decades reporting for the Scripps Howard News Service — until he was abruptly laid off in 2015. Then things got interesting: Court battles, destroyed records, and an algorithm that just might be able to spot serial killers.

EPISODE NOTES: bit.ly/2q5nxSj

One Killer Algorithm

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.