Computer-Assisted Reporting Newsletter, 1990–2007
The Palm Beach Post's investigation into migrant farm labor abuses demonstrates how reporters can access federal and state agency data, records, and reports to uncover stories abou…
The Hartford Courant investigated systemic failures in the military's mental health screening process by analyzing data from pre-deployment health questionnaires.
Journalists use computer-assisted reporting and government databases to investigate workplace issues including employee compensation, occupational safety violations, and retirement…
TRI data was used to investigate mercury pollution from chlor-alkali plants, revealing significant environmental concerns.
Investigation into Maryland ERs revealed significant delays and highlighted a crisis in emergency healthcare.
Investigation into freight train derailments revealed ineffective track inspections and other issues that endangered residents.
A GIS-based investigation discovers large-scale loss of wetlands in Florida, underscoring the failure of federal commitments to protect these critical areas.
A guide to IRE resources and past investigative stories that can help journalists cover issues related to coastal development and environmental vulnerability.
David Herzog provides a roadmap for journalists to use computer-assisted reporting to investigate the long-term impacts of Hurricane Katrina on local communities.
A journalism team in Washington state used GIS data analysis to investigate wildfire risks in their rapidly growing county, discovering that 5,500 residents live in high-risk fire …
IRE and NICAR's Database Library has updated its Toxics Release Inventory data from the EPA through 2003, containing information on chemical releases and waste management from indu…
Journalists investigating EPA enforcement of air pollution laws at oil refineries obtained enforcement data from the EPA's IDEA database system after struggling with initial record…
The article highlights computer-assisted reporting examples from IRE's Extra! Extra! resource, including investigations by the Salt Lake Tribune on excessive residential water cons…
The FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System tracks safety issues with pharmaceuticals and biological products to guide regulatory actions and inform public health reporting. Journalis…
Following an IRE and NICAR Boot Camp, reporter Ron Regan used the National Inventory of Dams database to expose hundreds of unsafe and uninspected high-hazard dams in Ohio.
A look into issues faced by marine mammals in captivity at U.S. marine parks, revealing deaths and inadequate care.
IRE and NICAR's Hazardous Materials Incident Reporting System (HMIRS) database provides journalists with detailed incident reports on hazardous material releases across all transpo…
IRE published a new environmental pollution beat book in collaboration with the Society of Environmental Journalists that provides journalists with tools for quick investigations, …
Journalists investigating environmental issues can now access a cleaned and enhanced EPA hazardous waste database through the IRE and NICAR Database Library, which includes additio…
Three award-winning investigative journalism projects are highlighted, including investigations into lead contamination in Detroit, oyster farm compensation in Louisiana, and gover…
IRE and NICAR's Database Library partnered with WCNC Charlotte to analyze Medicaid data, uncovering that pediatric dentists were performing unnecessary root canals on babies at dis…
A series exposed Florida doctors prescribing large quantities of narcotics to low-income Medicaid users, leading to high financial costs and overdose deaths.
An investigation into varying cardiac arrest survival rates across cities highlighted how some save substantially more victims due to differing emergency response capabilities.
Journalists are using remote sensing combined with GIS to uncover insightful stories. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch utilized satellite images to analyze development on the Upper Miss…
Journalists investigating air pollution trends in California's Central Valley discovered that standard statistical methods like linear regression fail with seasonal data, so they a…
Data analysis revealed that Louisville's air quality poses significant health risks, with toxic chemical concentrations hundreds of times higher than EPA safety standards, identifi…
Detroit-area journalists conducted a seven-month investigation using soil sampling, GIS mapping, and interviews to reveal that lead contamination in soil from old smelters and lead…
Journalists can use environmental data from EPA and state agencies combined with GIS mapping tools to create visualizations of pollution hotspots and contaminated sites for investi…
A look at the health of Puget Sound using various indicators of pollution, exploring sources and impacts on marine life.
An in-depth examination of the state of children in Northeast Ohio using data-driven storytelling to create a report-card approach.
The IRE and NICAR Database Library provides journalists with comprehensive archived federal spending data from 1979-2002, including contracts and assistance awards, enabling them t…
Updates on the Mortality, Multiple Cause-of-Death database, upcoming ArcView GIS mapping training, and available tipsheets from the 2003 CAR conference.
Updates on the Mortality, Multiple Cause-of-Death database, upcoming ArcView GIS mapping training, and available tipsheets from the 2003 CAR conference.
A Hamilton, Ontario newspaper investigation into restaurant safety practices revealed widespread food-handling violations and inadequate health department inspections, while munici…
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram analyzed 5 million hospital discharge records using a federal statistical program to uncover patterns in patient care and hospital quality across North…
Medical errors cause tens of thousands of deaths annually, prompting journalists to use databases like MAUDE and state health records to investigate faulty medical devices, nursing…
Analysis of FDA data reveals issues with medical implants and regulatory system flaws.
Journalists across the country use database reporting and open records requests to investigate poorly regulated assisted living centers and nursing homes, revealing widespread unde…
The IRE and NICAR Database Library has added the Consumer Product Safety Commission Injury and Death database to its collection, offering detailed information about consumer produc…
A Chicago journalist describes obtaining prescription-monitoring data from Illinois to report on ADHD drug use in children, discovering that state records showing where patients li…
This article highlights investigative resources available through IRE and NICAR, including databases on medical device failures, physician malpractice, and vehicle recalls.
The article outlines multiple investigative angles on underground storage tank regulations, including insurance fund depletion, inspection oversight, and equipment failures, while …
Journalists used computer-assisted reporting to uncover that thousands of underground storage tanks continue to leak and pollute water and soil despite federal regulations and bill…
A journalism investigation into secret U.S. government nuclear weapons contractors revealed how over 300 private companies processed radioactive materials in the 1940s-50s while he…
A South Florida newspaper investigated whether the largest water users in drought-stricken Palm Beach County were conserving, facing significant obstacles from fragmented utility s…
The Health Care Financing Administration provides publicly accessible Medicare data through its website that journalists and the public can use to research healthcare providers, co…
Journalists used computer programming and automated data searches through SEC records, patent databases, and other public sources to uncover financial conflicts of interest among r…
Reporters investigated the $500 million body parts industry, uncovering unethical practices between nonprofit tissue banks and for-profit processors through business records analys…
A Georgia news station used computer-assisted reporting to investigate certified nurse aides with criminal records working in nursing homes, discovering that state law allows hirin…
A Chicago Tribune investigation used the FDA's MAUDE database combined with multiple public records sources to uncover how inadequately trained and overwhelmed nurses cause thousan…
Journalists used data analysis and investigative legwork to de-anonymize the National Practitioner Data Bank by cross-referencing malpractice records with public state disciplinary…
A Roanoke journalist used GIS mapping and building permit data to reveal that over a thousand structures, including a new biomedical center, were being built in flood-prone areas d…
Environmental reporters should access state-level databases for more current information than federal sources, prepare for lengthy FOIA requests, and thoroughly study relevant regu…
A collaborative investigation by three small Louisiana newspapers revealed that the state's Department of Environmental Quality failed to resolve long-standing pollution cases and …
The Charlotte Observer investigated deaths in North Carolina mental health facilities by analyzing death certificate data, uncovering a lack of oversight that allowed dangerous tre…
Two major investigative journalism projects: Louisiana newspapers examine environmental regulatory oversight, while Philadelphia Inquirer documents systematic crime classification …
The MAUDE database tracks medical device failures and patient injuries, replacing the older MDR system, and offers journalists opportunities to investigate defective device manufac…
The IRE Resource Center maintains a collection of investigative journalism stories on nursing homes, including reports on the warehousing of mentally ill patients and care quality …
An investigation into Ohio's nursing home system reveals systemic failures in care quality and regulatory enforcement, particularly affecting elderly residents without adequate fin…
Two investigative journalism series examine institutional accountability: one analyzes high school performance using statistical regression and socioeconomic factors, while the oth…
A guide for journalists covering managed care and healthcare reporting, detailing key databases and sources including hospital procedures, disciplined doctors, financial records, a…
Newsday's investigative series revealed that managed-care companies employ doctors who have faced serious disciplinary action, despite promising quality care to patients. The inves…
A New York Daily News investigation used data analysis and computer tools to expose disparities in organ transplants, revealing that African-American and Latino patients in the New…
A journalist investigates racial disparities in death rates from preventable and treatable diseases, finding that Black men die at nearly three times the rate of white men, using C…
The article is based on a personal investigation into the pharmaceutical industry, uncovering the inner workings of the FDA and exposing the dangers of legal drugs.
An investigation into malpractice in cosmetic surgery offices in Florida, with a focus on poorly trained doctors performing lengthy operations and the resulting fatalities.
Journalists at the San Antonio Express-News used GIS mapping and database software to show that 75 percent of buildings destroyed by a major flood were located within recognized fl…
A Los Angeles Times investigation using mapping and data analysis revealed that Los Angeles County politicians allowed developers and campaign contributors to violate growth restri…
Journalists investigating nursing home quality of care encountered resistance from Indiana state officials who claimed electronic census records didn't exist, but persisted using d…
A Newsday investigation revealed significant racial disparities in healthcare outcomes across the New York region, with Black patients receiving less effective treatments and more …
A study reveals that hospital ownership type significantly impacts how often complications are reported, with for-profit hospitals claiming complications more frequently than non-p…
An investigative journalism project analyzed drinking water safety violations across all 50 states and federal agencies, finding that approximately 40,000 water systems violate saf…
The Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News expanded their nursing home investigation beyond the initial exposé, uncovering alarming new findings including a 50% increase in violat…
Chicago Tribune reporter Mike Berens' investigation revealed that Illinois was placing mentally ill patients in nursing homes instead of institutions to save costs, leading to fede…
A Newsday investigation reveals significant racial disparities in healthcare outcomes between Black and white patients in the New York region, with Black patients receiving less ef…
Rural for-profit hospitals in Ohio are allegedly inflating the complexity of elderly patients' illnesses on Medicare claims to receive higher reimbursements, a practice known as up…
A journalism investigation used nursing home inspection data and SEC financial records to compare quality of care at six major publicly traded nursing home companies against other …
USA Today's investigation reveals that thousands of American public water systems violate safe drinking water laws with impunity because enforcement is virtually nonexistent, based…
The Tampa Tribune uncovered that a large nursing-home chain planned to evict more than 50 poor residents in Tampa. This initiated a broader investigation revealing systemic issues …
An investigation into the coal mining industry's negligence of black lung disease laws, revealing routine defiance of mine dust level regulations.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigated deaths of inmates under privatized correctional health care, finding that obtaining information about doctors with disciplinary histories r…
The Society of Environmental Journalists offers a comprehensive web resource hosted on IRE's website, providing journalists with topic-organized environmental links, story idea tip…
Water quality in U.S. streams, rivers, and lakes has declined over the past decade, with agriculture being the leading source of pollution including sediment, nutrients, bacteria, …
A journalist discovers through spreadsheet analysis that Illinois had quietly weakened its emissions testing program, reducing failure rates to one-third before launching an expens…
An overview of how computer-assisted reporting (CAR) is transforming environmental journalism, providing analyses of toxic emissions and hazardous waste locations that would otherw…
The Toxic Release Inventory database from the EPA provides journalists with detailed information about chemical emissions from companies, accessible through the EPA website or the …
A journalist describes how public data access and database analysis revealed the extent of mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia, uncovering violations and complaints th…
A citizen activist group's threat of Clean Water Act lawsuits against Yakima Valley dairies exposed the region's rapid growth as Washington state's dairy capital and revealed wides…
Environmental journalists increasingly rely on computer-assisted reporting (CAR) to analyze large datasets of toxic emissions, hazardous waste locations, and chemical accidents, wi…
Indiana CAR audio tapes and New Orleans IRE conference recordings are available for order, while the Campaign Finance Information Center offers freely downloadable campaign finance…
Wilson highlights resources for accessing toxics information, including the Right-to-Know Network and Environmental Working Group's report on toxics-to-fertilizer practices, while …
An investigative journalist describes how digital distribution via email and the Web amplified her Pulitzer Prize finalist series on toxic waste contamination in fertilizer, allowi…
An investigative series uncovered disturbing levels of neglect and regulatory shortcomings in Indianapolis nursing homes, prompting immediate reforms from state officials.
A journalist recounts the two-and-a-half-year investigation into the death of an infant at a military hospital, using databases and FOIA requests to uncover systemic issues with mi…
New York Times journalists investigate Columbia/HCA Hospital Corp.'s questionable business practices and use computer-assisted analysis of 30 million medical billing records to det…
Health care reporters have access to numerous public data sources including hospital discharge databases, financial records, Medicare reports, insurance payouts, and physician disc…
A guide to online resources and reference materials for journalists covering food inspection and food-borne illness stories, featuring links to FDA databases, university resources,…
Journalists and epidemiologists gathered at the first Risky Behavior conference to share expertise in health care reporting, learning how to use statistical analysis tools and CDC …
KCBS-TV Los Angeles conducted a computer-assisted investigation of restaurant health inspections, discovering that many establishments hadn't been inspected regularly and that low-…
Investigative reporters analyzed USDA inspection data and found that meat and poultry plants repeatedly cited for critical violations are rarely shut down by the agency, with one T…
A North Carolina TV station analyzed restaurant health inspection databases and found significant inconsistencies in grading systems, with restaurants receiving 'A' ratings despite…
A Dayton Daily News investigation reveals serious malpractice and safety issues at military hospitals, where inadequately licensed doctors operate with minimal oversight and legal …
Periodistas de Investigacion has compiled a curated list of over 250 border resource links organized by theme, including environmental archives, government agencies, and health ini…
The Charlotte Observer conducted a data-driven investigation using state databases to reveal widespread child abuse and neglect in North Carolina day cares, finding that over 100 c…
Plain Dealer reporters investigated FDA inspection records spanning two decades and found that more than half of drug experiments lacked adequate informed consent from human subjec…
A journalist describes using databases, mailing lists, and online communities to research fisheries management, discovering that regulatory efforts consistently lagged behind fish …
This column explains three statistical methods—relative risk, odds ratios, and attributable risk—for extracting meaningful insights from crosstab data, using C-section rates among …
An investigation into the global status of fisheries by The Times-Picayune exposed alarming trends and the effects of market pressures on fish populations. This led to the Pulitzer…
An investigation reveals that some hospital transplant programs secretly turned away donor organs matched to waiting patients without disclosing this to patients, who mistakenly be…
This article provides journalists with comprehensive resources for researching health and medical topics, including reference books, internet directories, medical databases, and co…
Journalists investigating emergency medical services should examine whether paramedics are deployed on fire trucks and consult ER doctors and the American Heart Association, while …
Cleveland Plain Dealer reporters discovered that Level II hospitals were illegally accepting severely premature babies to increase profits, resulting in significantly higher death …
A series titled 'Vital Signs' investigates the health of New Jersey hospitals, spurring significant discussion and action within the state's medical establishment.
This article provides a comprehensive guide to online environmental resources and databases, including government agencies like the EPA, nonprofit organizations like CNIE, and spec…
In 1994, Times-Picayune reporters Mark Schleifstein, John McQuaid, and Bob Marshall investigated troubled Gulf of Mexico fisheries using computer-assisted reporting and internet re…
A reference list of chemical compounds known to damage reproductive organs, with their CAS numbers and names, that may not be fully tracked in Toxic Release Inventory data.
This article lists 48 cancer-causing chemicals reported in the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data for Missouri and Kansas in 1994, providing CAS numbers and chemical names for refe…
The EPA's Toxic Release Inventory database provides accessible, detailed information on chemical emissions from companies nationwide, making it an excellent resource for computer-a…
A journalist investigates bird deaths at California wind farms, discovering that nearly 680 birds of prey were killed over three years, with deaths increasing annually despite the …
Robin Rowland recommends a Canadian database that tracks hazardous waste generators, carriers, and receivers across the Canada-U.S. border, noting data quality issues with U.S. ent…
A Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel investigation by reporters Fred Schulte and Jenni Bergal exposed widespread fraud and poor care in Florida Medicaid HMOs, revealing that executives e…
The Orange County Register's investigation into fraudulent egg transfers at UC-Irvine's fertility center required innovative reporting techniques to locate victims and obtain medic…
The (Raleigh) News & Observer's 'Boss Hog' series won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing environmental, economic, and political issues related to hog farming in North Carolina, revealin…
KPNX investigated lead paint hazards in Phoenix by analyzing Census data to identify ZIP codes with the highest percentage of older homes built before 1978, then tested playgrounds…
The National Inventory of Dams reveals critical infrastructure vulnerabilities, with nearly half of flood deaths in Georgia linked to dam failures and a significant portion of U.S.…
A curated directory of online resources for covering health-care insurance and Medicare policy, including government databases, statistical reports, historical documents, and relev…
The United Network for Organ Sharing, a federally funded non-profit organization, maintains a comprehensive online database providing public access to organ transplant data includi…
Journalists in Florida used databases to expose serious problems in Medicare and Medicaid HMOs, including poor access to care and high patient complaint rates, leading to state inv…
Cleveland Plain Dealer reporters used state birth and death certificate databases to uncover failures in Ohio's system for routing high-risk pregnancies and premature infants to ap…
An investigative series by The Hartford Courant explores the state of drinking water in Connecticut, revealing that a significant portion of the population is supplied by systems w…
Investigative journalists at two major newspapers analyzed birth records to expose how hospitals inadequately care for sick and premature newborns, with Ohio hospitals keeping high…
This article provides journalists with a curated list of Internet resources for covering natural disasters, including government agencies, relief organizations, and specialized sit…
A newspaper investigation into pesticide spray incidents revealed systematic regulatory failures by discovering that government agencies were withholding or underreporting violatio…
Environment Canada's Green Lane is a comprehensive online resource offering regional and national environmental information, including weather forecasts, publications, program deta…
Journalists can obtain EPA Toxic Release Inventory databases to analyze industrial pollution patterns in their regions by zip code and facility type using basic database software. …
Environmental reporters can leverage several EPA databases including ERNS, PCS, and AIRS to find enterprise stories about pollution, spills, and industrial compliance, though state…
Environmental reporters can leverage government databases for computer-assisted reporting stories, with examples including investigations into toxic chemical spills and endangered …
This piece discusses a computer-assisted reporting project that investigated restaurant sanitation in metropolitan Detroit. The project identified hundreds of unsanitary establishm…
The article describes several federal databases maintained by the EPA and Department of Health and Human Services that track toxic chemical releases, hazardous waste, asbestos use,…
Science writers are using computer data analysis to investigate complex stories, as demonstrated by California reporters who analyzed toxic chemical releases in the Central Valley …
The EPA is expanding its Seattle-based bulletin board system due to a significant increase in public information requests, with plans to add a new phone line and potentially offer …
FedWorld, a government online database launched in 1993, has become a useful resource for journalists covering the White House and federal issues, while the Internet also offers sp…
An investigation into FDA mishandling of contaminated food from a warehouse fire in Kansas City reveals that officials awarded special citations to the very employees responsible f…
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch uses computer-assisted reporting to analyze restaurant health inspection data, revealing that despite high average scores, critical violations are not u…
Nancy Stancill uncovered numerous instances of Texas teenagers suffering injuries and long work hours under unenforced child labor laws, prompting legislative action.
The National Law Journal's investigative project revealed that the EPA has enforced environmental protection laws unequally, cleaning up toxic waste sites faster in white communiti…
Reporters from The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The National Law Journal won 1992 IRE awards for investigative reporting using computer-assisted research to expose environmental ineq…
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) obtained and transformed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's massive computerized database into an organized knowledge base to…
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's NUDOCS database is an invaluable free resource containing over 2 million records since 1978 that journalists can access to research radiation in…
A Plain Dealer investigation using Freedom of Information Act requests and the NRC's NUDOCS database uncovered over 40 deaths from medical radiation overdoses that the NRC claimed …
Hazardous waste manifests provide detailed tracking of toxic materials that can supplement federal TRI data, with about half of U.S. states offering computerized access to these re…
U.S. News and World Report used computer-assisted reporting to investigate medical devices through FDA data, discovering significant obstacles including duplicate records and unstr…
A technical guide explaining how to extract specific state records from the Toxic Release Inventory tape while preserving the document control number that links related pollution d…
A tutorial on using SQL to categorize continuous data into ranges, demonstrating how creating a range field and grouping by it is more efficient than repeatedly running queries wit…
MICAR has released a Reporters Working Guide to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) that helps journalists download, organize, and analyze EPA pollution data to identify major pollut…
MICAR has released a practical guide helping reporters use the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory database to investigate industrial pollution, with options to purchase the guide alone …
A new Reporter's Working Guide to the Toxic Release Inventory provides step-by-step instructions for journalists to download, organize, and analyze EPA pollution data to create mea…
A four-part series reveals numerous flaws in California's toxic waste monitoring system, including unaccounted waste and regulatory failures.
Investigative reporter Chris Szechenyi won a National Headliner's Award for his series on faulty defibrillators created through FDA data analysis, but was laid off by WRC-TV on the…
Connecticut journalists used the federal Toxic Release Inventory database to investigate unreported toxic emissions by manufacturers and significant gaps in state environmental pro…
The investigative report reveals a significant number of malfunctions in medical devices, particularly defibrillators manufactured by Physio Control Corp., leading to patient death…
MICAR has expanded its data library with three new datasets from federal agencies, including FAA aircraft malfunction reports and FDA medical device incident records, all available…
The Boston Herald's computer-assisted reporting program has produced investigative studies on Massachusetts polluters and defense contractors, including findings that the state ran…
This article discusses pricing and availability options for 1988 and 1987 TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) data, comparing costs between NTIS and the Missouri Institute for Computer-A…
The Toxic Release Inventory reveals hidden dangers like benzene emissions from industrial plants near residential areas, forcing companies to become more transparent about their po…
A journalist discovers how the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reveals hidden industrial pollution like benzene emissions from an Ohio steel plant that residents never knew about, an…