The Fund for Investigative Journalism

Sara Fritz, a groundbreaking journalist, leader of journalism professional organizations, and friend, has died. She suffered complications following surgery, and died October 16 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC. Fritz served as president of the Fund for Investigative Journalism and served on its board for six years. Her professional accomplishments and personal advocacy for suicide prevention in honor of her son are reported in an obituary published in The Washington Post. Fritz was 68 years old.

Fritz is remembered by her colleagues on the Fund’s board for her “immense dedication and passion for the Fund and for journalism,” said Brant Houston, board president. “She was a terrific reporter and a great human being. She will be deeply missed.”

A service to celebrate Sara’s life will be held Tuesday, November 19, at 1 p.m. at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 201 Independence Ave SE  Washington, D.C., immediately followed by a reception in the North Hall of Eastern Market at 225 7th St SE until 4 p.m.

From Trey Kay, radio documentary producer, “The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom,” a documentary premiering on KUT Radio, Austin, Texas that explores the culture wars over classroom curriculum in Texas. From the release announcing the premiere:

“Long Game focuses on the fundamentally different mindsets that are pitted against one another when deciding how to educate the next generation. The culture war differences in Texas are not that different from those in other states.  Long Game suggests that based on the differences among Texans— those who advocate for a values-neutral classroom and those who see the mission of educating tomorrow’s generation as an epic religious struggle— the prospect of common ground for national Common Core standards may be bleak.”

Photo courtesy of Kate McGee, KUT News

(Washington) The Fund for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce it has received $18,000 in support from the Gannett Foundation to further the Fund’s grant-making and mentoring programs.

This grant marks the third year the Gannett Foundation has provided funding for the Fund’s grants for independent investigative reporters and for its mentoring program in partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors.

“The Gannett Foundation has played a crucial role in improving the quality of the work of our grantees and in giving them the opportunity to get feedback and advice from veteran investigative journalists,” said Brant Houston, president of the Fund’s board of directors. “We deeply appreciate that Gannett continues to support our work and that of our grantees.”

The Gannett Foundation is a corporate foundation supported by the Gannett Co., Inc. – whose portfolio of media and marketing companies includes USA TODAY.  The Foundation supports many journalism education, training, and diversity programs with the goal of “investing in the future of the media industry.”

For more than forty years the Fund has paid reporting expenses of reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism but lack the resources to complete their projects.

In addition to support from The Gannett Foundation, the Fund receives foundation support from The Ethics And Excellence in Journalism Foundation, The Reva & David Logan Foundation, The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation, The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation,  The Herb Block Foundation, The Green Park Foundation, The Park Foundation, The Nara Fund, from private family foundations, and from individuals.

The John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the Journalism Department in the College of Media at the University of Illinois also supports the Fund. Pro bono legal services are provided by Dykema. Pro bono business advisory services are provided by Leigh Riddick, Associate Professor of Finance at The American University’s Kogod School of Business.

The Fund has been endorsed by the Catalogue for Philanthropy of Greater Washington as being cost-effective while advancing crucial investigative projects in the US and around the globe.

Donations to the Fund can be made online, www.fij.org, or by mail to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, 529 14th Street NW – 13th floor, Washington D.C. 20045.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism is currently accepting proposals for investigations in the United States and abroad. The deadline for applications is Monday, October 21 at 5pm Eastern time. Check for instructions and apply online: www.fij.org.

From Ken Silverstein for The Nation, an investigation of dirty foreign money, the luxury Miami real estate it buys, and the political fight to keep the money flowing to Florida.

“…Florida’s political leaders have been spearheading the fight against a new Treasury Department rule mandating that foreign banks tell the IRS about accounts held by US taxpayers—and which would, reciprocally, require US banks to share the same information with foreign governments. Not surprisingly, Florida banks and realtors don’t like the idea of more sunlight on their lucrative dealings with foreigners. “There is a huge amount of dirty money flowing into Miami that’s disguised as investment,” said Jack Blum, a former congressional investigator and Washington attorney specializing in money-laundering cases. “The local business community sees any threat to that as a threat to the city’s
lifeblood.”

From Amy Lieberman for Women’s Enews, the final part in her series on the hazards faced by transgender women locked up while awaiting immigration and asylum hearings. For example: “[Attorney Sarah] Vidal’s client lives in a dorm with about 20 men and has filed formal complaints alleging an attempted rape, as well as ongoing harassing comments by detainees and guards. ‘I am not sure why she was placed in an all-male facility,’ Vidal said in a phone interview. ‘She alleges that when she asked about it they told her that because she is a man they are putting her in a male facility.’”

The photo to the left, taken by Lieberman, is an example of hotel housing managed by charitable groups that are trying to accommodate transgender people seeking asylum in the U.S.

Read the full series:  Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.

(Washington) – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce that The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation has awarded $25,000 to support the Fund’s grant-making program for independent investigative reporters.

Started by a family that owned newspapers in the Northeast and on the West Coast, The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation supports education, journalism, community arts, public health, and environmental projects.

The Foundation’s journalism program seeks to “improve the quality of journalism in all of its forms and to defend freedom of the press anywhere in the world.”

To that end, the Foundation has also awarded grants to Investigative Reporters and Editors, to state and local investigative reporting websites such as the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and the Voice of San Diego, and to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The support from the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation will underwrite Fund for Investigative Journalism grants for reporters working for U. S. media, including those undertaking investigations abroad.

“We are deeply grateful for this support and recognition from the Foundation,” said Brant Houston, president of the Fund’s board of directors. “The grant will allow us to help fill the increasing need to aid investigative reporters, especially those pursuing stories overseas.”

For more than forty years the Fund has paid reporting expenses of reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism but lack the resources to complete their projects.

In addition to support from The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation, the Fund receives foundation support from The Reva & David Logan Foundation, The Gannett Foundation, The Ethics And Excellence in Journalism Foundation, The Herb Block Foundation, The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation, The Green Park Foundation, The Park Foundation, The Nara Fund, from private family foundations, and from individuals.

One of the Fund for Investigative Journalism’s board members, David Ottaway, also serves on the board of the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation.

The John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the Journalism Department in the College of Media at the University of Illinois also supports the Fund. Pro bono legal services are provided by Dykema. Pro bono business advisory services are provided by Leigh Riddick, Associate Professor of Finance at The American University’s Kogod School of Business.

Donations to the Fund can be made online, www.fij.org, or by mail to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, 529 14th Street NW – 13th floor, Washington D.C. 20045.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism is currently accepting proposals for investigations in the United States and abroad. The deadline for applications is Monday, October 21 at 5pm Eastern time. Check for instructions and apply online: www.fij.org.

From Cathryn Jakobson Ramin for MORE Magazine, a report on “bioidentical” hormones that are NOT what the doctor ordered. Lab testing of compounded hormones was financed in part by the Fund for Investigative Journalism: “[T]he ingredients of each capsule were analyzed using a process called high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection mass spectrometry, meant to evaluate the specific pharmaceutical content of the product.”

For the San Jose Mercury News, New America Media, and Viet Bao Daily News, Ngoc Nguyen reports on Vietnamese Americans who have suffered in silence, victims of Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War.

“As a soldier in the South Vietnamese army, Trai [Nguyen] gathered intelligence that helped American soldiers. He fought alongside the Americans and was exposed to the defoliants that are known to have injured them. But he’s excluded from the compensation and health care afforded to U.S. veterans for the same service-connected disabilities.

Vietnam War veterans in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea receive Agent Orange disability benefits through their governments. Canada has compensated citizens who were exposed to herbicides during prewar testing of the chemicals. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has paid billions in disability benefits related to herbicide exposure to eligible American veterans.

In contrast, Vietnamese Americans who were exposed and are now sick — a group that includes both veterans and civilians — haven’t received a dime.” One reason: “For the most part, Vietnamese Americans, especially former South Vietnamese veterans, have not demanded redress for harm caused by herbicides. A strong anti-Communist streak in the community causes some of its most outspoken members to view the dangers of Agent Orange as a Communist hoax.”

Photo Credit: Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group

From Todd Melby for Prairie Public, a series of stories on the rising number of workplace deaths and injuries in North Dakota, where there has been an oil boom. North Dakota is now the most dangerous state in the US for workers, according to a labor union study, worse than Alaska - also an oil producing state.

Melby investigates in detail how and why a young oil worker, Dustin Bergsing, died, and the legal battle that produced evidence of ”internal warnings about unsafe working conditions.”

For more information on the “Black Gold Boom,” visit Melby’s project website. The public is listening, and commenting.

Photo of a natural gas flare, courtesy of Ben Garvin.

From Amy Lieberman for Women’s eNews, the story of transgender immigrants who are detained in US facilities as they seek asylum or resolution of other cases. In the latest part of her series, Lieberman describes a jail in California where conditions have improved by creating a unit where gay, bi-sexual, and transgender individuals are housed together. But it is the only official federal immigration facility with a special unit for transgender detainees. In other facilities, complaints of abuse by guards or other detainees have been filed by 169 detainees in the past five years. Few of the complaints are investigated, Women’s eNews found. Lieberman’s investigation also reveals that some transgender detainees are held in solitary confinement – either because they reported abuse, or simply because they are transgender.

Links to the series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

Photo credit: Amy Lieberman