Center sponsors investigative journalism workshop

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is sponsoring a workshop to help the state’s journalists sharpen their investigative skills.

The Better Watchdog Workshop, presented by Investigative Reporters and Editors, will be held in Madison on May 9 and 10.

Print, broadcast, online and student journalists from around the state are being invited.

Participants in daylong sessions on May 9 will learn skills such as interviewing techniques, how to track down and analyze documents, ideas for covering the nation’s economic crisis, how to use the Internet for research and how to manage to find the time for investigative journalism. On May 10, participants in the optional hands-on training will learn computer-assisted reporting skills.

Scheduled speakers include:

• Jaimi Dowdell, national training director of IRE.
• Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative Journalism at the University of Illinois.
• Frederica Freyberg, anchor of Here and Now, a weekly Wisconsin Public Television news program.
• Christa Westerberg, media attorney and vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
• Robert Dreps, media attorney and member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
• Phil Brinkman, interim city editor of the Wisconsin State Journal.
• Andy Hall, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Other local sponsors of the event include the Wisconsin State Journal, Janesville Gazette, The Clarion and Madison Area Technical College.

National sponsors of IRE’s Watchdog program include Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Las Vegas Sun, McCormick Foundation and New America Media.

Originally posted April 13, 2009