Voice of OC newsroom journalists stood out at the nation’s most prestigious investigative reporting conference this year in Anaheim, with over 1,500 journalists from across the country gathering to improve their investigative skills and network with other journalists.
The conference is sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors – a nonprofit organization with a mission to assist journalists with improving their investigative reporting. IRE is intended to act as a forum through which journalists across the world can exchange story ideas, discuss news sources and improve news gathering techniques.
IRE hosts workshops, boot camps and conferences across the county.
Acknowledged nationally for the newsroom’s investigative coverage of the failed effort to sell off Anaheim’s Angel Stadium, Voice of OC staff led the panel “Covering public stadium boondoggles” joined by by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times and Arlene Martínez, Deputy Executive Director of Good Jobs First.
[Read: Questions Continue to Mount on Angel Stadium Land Sale Proposal]
[Read: Anaheim Announces $150 Million Angel Stadium & Land Sale, Taxpayers Subsidize Housing and Park]
Custodio and Santana fielded numerous questions from national reporters for critical tips on looking at proposed stadium deals across the nation.
[Read: Anaheim Calls on State to Back Off on Angel Stadium Land Sale]
“It was great to see the press corps genuinely interested and curious about how these things actually work,” Custodio said of the stadium panel. “Because there’s only a handful of people that really write about it critically.”
[Read: OC Judge Halts Angel Stadium Sale Amidst FBI Corruption Probe of Anaheim Mayor]
[Read: Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu Resigns After FBI Reveals Anaheim Corruption Probe]
“We got lots of great support and feedback from national journalists – not only for the coverage – but for offering tips on how to be relevant as a newsroom during such negotiations, putting public interests first,” Santana said about the stadium panel.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Cans Angel Stadium Deal After FBI Corruption Probe Into City Hall] May 25, 2022
[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges]
Santana also led two other panels throughout the conference.
“Vetting investigations to reduce legal risk,” featured Santana – a nationally recognized expert on legal bulletproofing of investigative writing – discussing the importance of pre-publication review in protecting reporters and the newsroom from frivolous attacks.
Santana was joined on the panel by CalMatters Investigative Editor Andy Donohue, renowned media lawyer Karlene Goller of Jassy Vick Carolan (who works with both Voice of OC and CalMatters among other news organizations) and Katie Townsend who serves as legal director for the longtime advocacy group, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Panelists provided an overview of vetting principles that can assess and reduce legal risk within reporting.
Working with longtime Latino investigative legends Yvette Cabrera, Mc Nelly Torres, and Mercedes Vigon, Santana also led the panel, “Why do U.S. newsrooms hire so few investigative reporters of color?
These journalists led a three-year study by a National Association of Hispanic Journalists task force measuring hiring at major news organizations, interviewing news leaders, ultimately developing tips for newsrooms looking to diversify.
The study found that most investigative news teams at major American news organizations don’t include reporters of color, and that newsrooms generally avoid the conversation around why.
Cabrera – outgoing president of the NAHJ – is a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, Torres is a former editor at the Center for Public Integrity and Mercedes Vigón, Ph.D., is an associate professor and associate director, teaching investigative journalism in Latin America and the US.
Santana was recognized in 2022 as a national leader on diversity and inclusion by the News Leader Association with the prestigious Robert L. MacGruder award.
Audio recordings of the panels will be available in the next 2-3 weeks on the IRE24 Tipsheets and Audio page.
