From Sierra Leone, Paige McClanahan and Felicity Thompson report for the Christian Science Monitor on the conflict between preserving nature and developing the economy through an environmentally risky gold mining operation. In this impoverished nation, gold wins. “Tax revenue from the export of all of that gold could mean more money for schools, roads, hospitals, and the meager power grid in this infrastructure-poor country…. “But ...
Reporting for Indian Country Today, 100Reporters.com, and NBC.com, Stephanie Woodard begins a series on young Native Americans who commit suicide, and the efforts to prevent those deaths. “Native teens and twenty-somethings are killing themselves at an alarming pace. For those 15 to 24, the rate is 3.5 times that of other Americans and rising, according to the Indian Health Service (IHS). ...
Writing for Mother Jones, and the Dallas Morning News, Ian Shearn and Laird Townsend report on a legal case with broad implications for human rights, involving American companies that conduct business in foreign lands. A Supreme Court ruling could open the door for ExxonMobil and other multi-national companies to face trial on human rights allegations. Shearn and Townsend report: “As the Supreme Court grapples ...
Reporting for Witness LA, Matthew Fleisher investigates campaign fundraisers that seem to influence assignments and upper level promotions in the Sheriff’s Department. “This summer, I received a phone call from a source in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who said he had information about Undersheriff Paul Tanaka’s pay-to-play scheme. “Pay-to-play exists in the LA Sheriff’s Department,” he said. “I know because I paid.” ...
Washington – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is proud to announce that the Ithaca New York-based Park Foundation has awarded $75,000 for the third year running. The grant will help underwrite the Fund’s program to support independent investigative reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism, but need help paying the expenses of reporting. The grants ...
The next deadline for proposals is Monday, December 10, 2012, 5 p.m. Eastern time. The Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) seeks grant proposals for independent investigative projects from journalists who need support for travel and other reporting expenses. FIJ awards grants three or four times each year. FIJ is interested in proposals that break new ground and expose wrongdoing. Projects ...