Second season of popular webinar series launches March 28
WASHINGTON, DC; March 18, 2025 – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is launching the second season of its popular series of free webinars featuring reporters sharing how they did groundbreaking investigations – and how other state and local journalists can do similar stories.
Journalists who produced investigations with the Fund’s support will share concrete tips and resources that other journalists can use in their own work. Each of the stories featured in the webinar series is a local investigation that can be done in other communities, and each webinar includes a Tip Sheet with resources for journalists.
The live, hourlong webinars will take place on the last Friday of the month at noon Eastern, starting March 28. Below is the schedule of sessions through June, with links to register for each. Sessions for the second half of the year will be announced in the spring.
- March 28, noon Eastern (register here): Georgia Gee shares how she investigated environmental hazards at a Florida school where the city placed a landfill more than 60 years ago and never conducted proper cleanup. Gee’s reporting uncovered substantial evidence of toxins on the school property, which is in a chronically underfunded and predominately Black part of Gainesville.
- April 25, noon Eastern (register here): A team from Injustice Watch shares how they investigated unfair treatment of thousands of Chicago renters living in unsafe apartments while facing skyrocketing rents and a court system designed to protect landlords. After the series was published, the chief judge in Cook County issued an order allowing people facing eviction quick access to records about their landlords’ building code violations, which has been a critical missing element that tenants need to fight unfair eviction.
- May 30, noon Eastern (register here): Two journalists share how they investigated decades-old civil rights cases. Ben Greenberg shares how he investigated the 1965 case of a police officer who was never charged for shooting a Black man in Louisiana. Greenberg’s reporting uncovered new evidence that the shooting was unprovoked – and his reporting led the former head of the FBI’s civil right division to advocate for reopening the case. Sandra Chapman shares how she investigated the unsolved 1968 murder of a young Black woman, identifying a witness with a new lead in the case.
- June 27, noon Eastern (register here): Katie Thornton shares how she investigated the spread of anti-democracy conspiracy theories and neo-Nazi hate via radio – and how regulators have enabled it. The first season of Thornton’s investigative podcast, broadcast by WNYC’s “On the Media,” received a Peabody Award, and the second season will air shortly before this webinar.
Last year, the first season of the Fund’s “Inside the Investigation” series included six webinars that were attended or viewed by more than 2,000 journalists and students. Those sessions are available on the Fund’s website, along with previous webinars the Fund has produced on topics like how to cover police misconduct, how to cultivate sources and how to cover environmental issues through a racial-equity lens.
The “Inside the Investigation” series is produced and moderated by Ellen Weiss, who serves as Vice President of the Fund’s board of directors. Weiss, a four-time Peabody Award winner, served as Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for Scripps and Senior Vice President for News at National Public Radio.
The Fund for Investigative Journalism, founded in 1969, makes grants directly to freelance journalists or media outlets for the expenses of specific investigative stories, and provides additional editorial and technical support to help grantees boost the quality and impact of their reporting. More than 75% of stories produced with the Fund’s support are state and local investigations. The next deadlines to apply for grants are April 28 and May 9, and details are available on the Fund’s website.
##