The Center For Investigative Reporting

The following is an analysis of The Center for Investigative Reporting Web site. This site can be viewed at www.centerforinvestigativereporting.com.
The Center for Investigative Reporting is the nation’s oldest nonprofit investigative news organization. It was founded in 1977. The CIR produces multimedia reporting and has a long track record of award-winning print, broadcast and web reporting. CIR states that they are seeking new ways to lead transforming journalism in the 21st century. The mission of this news organization is to ensure that high-quality journalism that is unique and credible will not die but flourish in a time where the role journalism plays in a functioning democracy is at risk. On the home page it states, “Journalism dedicated to revealing injustice since 1977.” CIR has about 10 people on staff, nine staff reporters, three correspondents and numerous people on the advisory board. CIR collaborates with other news organizations, universities, journalists and public policy organizations. The stories, of course, focus on in-depth investigative pieces such as immigration, war, government and even domestic situations like one of the feature stories now about pregnancy.

The Web site looks much like a news organization site, such as CNN. At the top of the site is a slideshow that provides the link to many stories about the subject of the picture. The most recent stories are in the middle of the site, with the blog entries on the left and CIR news, events and other information on the right. They have a blog called "The Muckraker" blog and a reporting series called “California Watch.” The navigation pages include two pages that I found to be interesting. The CIR Investigations page takes you to all stories and there are some that are only in print, some Web exclusives and some videos. The other page is called Reporter Tools, which gives a journalists information on how to write, report and find stories better. This page also offers tutorials on the equipment journalists, especially print reporters, find themselves using on certain stories. The site also gives visitors links to other information on the subjects they report.

One of the feature series I found that could be very useful for journalists in understanding the change in journalism is “The Investigators” web-video series. It shows investigative journalists doing their job. The viewer can see everything the journalist must do, from making calls, asking questions, using the cameras, microphones, blogging, etc. There is even a segment where the journalist is interviewed about the job tasks and reporting tips.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I would say 5. I give this site an excellent rating because of the content it provides citizens, the investigations and in-depth reporting, such as investigating the civil rights cold case crimes, the presentation of the site, the different presentations of the stories, from print to feature trailers, and the resources the news organization provides other journalists to help them become better at finding, covering and reporting relevant news. For a nonprofit news organization, CIR is doing well to hold up to its mission.