In a report for The Nation, a weekly magazine known for its leftist perspectives, investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill says the Blackwater private security company is operating secret operations from a U.S. base in Pakistan, which include planning assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives. Citing an anonymous source working within U.S. read more »

The BBC and Editor & Publisher (E&P) report on the work of Jerry Mitchell of the Clarion-Ledger in read more »

A team of journalism students from The University of British Columbia (UBC) investigating e-waste in three countries for an international reporting course uncovered a previously unknown U.S. security breach in Ghana, the university reports. read more »

Britain's The Guardian is conducting a massive experiment in crowdsourcing, Michele McLellan writes for the Online Journalism Review. The Guardian asked its readers to help comb through nearly a half million pages of documents and expense reports submitted by members of Parliament. read more »

David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, allegedly attacked Church employees dozens of times, the St. Petersburg Times reports in a three-part series. In addition, Church members allegedly covered up how they botched the care of a Scientologist who died after they held her in isolation for 17 days, Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin report for the paper. read more »

Almost 37 years after the Watergate break-in, which forced President Nixon’s resignation and turned two Washington Post reporters into national heroes, two former New York Times journalists say they had the story almost within its grasp before the Post did, but they let it slip, The Times reports. read more »

U.S. reporters have played a big role in exonerating wrongly accused prisoners, but as newsrooms shrink, fewer reporters are spending time pursuing cases of prisoners on death row, Tim Arango reports for The New York Times. read more »

Editors from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia and the Dominican Republic have until May 3, 2009, to apply for the workshop "Investigating Executive Power in Latin America," organized by the New Ibero-American Journalism Foundation (FNPI). The workshop will be conducted in Panama City, May 12-16. read more »

The popular Huffington Post Web site says it will finance a group of investigative reporters, assigning them initially to examine stories about the nation’s economy, the Associated Press reports. read more »

The Knight Center is accepting applications for its popular online course, "Digital Tools for Investigative Journalism," taught by Argentine instructor Sandra Crucianelli. The five-week class course will last from March 30 to May 3. Applications will be accepted online until March 19. read more »

The Washington Post’s Len Downie was involved in Pulitzer-winning investigations of major institutions, such as Watergate and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. But he says that investigative reporting comes from local beats and targets everyone “who has power and influence over the rest of us”—like government agencies, charities, and sports teams, and museums. read more »

Walt Bogdanich, an investigative editor at The New York Times, told reporters at the conference of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) where he finds his great stories: "In the newspaper," writes Steve Myers of Poynteronline. read more »

Jesús Lemus Barajas, editor of the newspaper El Tiempo, in La Piedad, in the state of Michoacán, was arrested and jailed in the neighboring state of Guanajuato while investigating drug trafficking routes, EFE reports, citing Reporters Without Borders. read more »