The U.S.-led war with Iraq is over but key questions remain unanswered. How long will coalition forces remain in the country? Will troops continue to battle pockets of resistance? Who will profit from rebuilding Iraq? No one has the answers, but you can count on IRE and NICAR to provide the vital information resources and assistance that you'll need for your own wartime news coverage.
For starters, you'll find timely articles and resources for covering the military, terrorism and cross-border issues in this issue of Uplink. Brant Houston, executive director of IRE and NICAR, writes here about the must-have databases. Mark Bixler of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shares how he used Excel and INS data to show how the federal government stepped up deportations of visitors from primarily Muslim countries after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. We'll have even more in the May-June edition, including an in-depth look at reporting about military contractors in your region.
The Annual Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference in Charlotte, N.C., in early March featured a number of panels about using CAR for wartime coverage, everything from obtaining data about the military to the battle over access to information. We'll post any tipsheets from those sessions on the IRE War Resources Web page www.ire.org/resourcecenter/war_resources.html. Check back regularly for updates.
We'll offer even more opportunities to get up to speed on covering those topics at the IRE Annual Conference June 5-8 in Washington, D.C. The conference kicks off with the optional CAR day and includes hands-on classes where you can learn how to analyze data with spreadsheets and database managers.
Looking for a multi-national perspective? You can join journalists from around the world at the second Global Investigative Journalism Conference this May 1-4 in Copenhagen and discuss strategies for covering war, arms smuggling and terrorism. There will also be hands-on CAR classes. You can find more information at www.ire.org/training/globalconference Program organizers include IRE and the Danish Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting.
The IRE and NICAR Database Library has been assisting journalists covering the military and terrorism by providing U.S. government databases regarding federal contracting and immigration. See the IRE War Resources Web page for more.
Contact David Herzog by e-mail at dherzog@nicar.org