Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) recently won a $544,000 three-year grant from the Robert T. McCormick Tribune Foundation of Chicago to work with Mexican journalists in launching a Mexican Reporting Institute.
The main objectives will be training Mexican reporters, broadcasters and editors in advanced reporting skills, especially computer-assisted acquisition and analysis of data; developing a cooperative network of journalists, and supporting efforts to improve access to information.
"The Mexican Reporting Institute could not have come at a better time," said Rossana Fuentes-Berain, an IRE member at Reforma in Mexico City. She will serve on the search committee looking for leadership of the Institute and on the Institute Advisory Council.
The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation has assets of more than $700 million. One of the priorities of the foundation's journalism grants program is support of freedom of expression in the Americas.