IRE Announces Awards For Inducing Ire

The Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) awards were announced today. And it looks like the biggest winners were not from any of the biggest players in national news – The Record of Bergen County, N.J., (disclosure, Bergen County is my motherland) and WJW-Cleveland won the highest honors (the IRE Medal) from the organization.

The Record won for an investigation of massive pollution caused by a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in the state and WJW won for its investigation of the Cleveland Municipal School District's transportation department – which produced 25 stories and led to one official's resignation.

Among large newspapers, the top prize went to The Washington Post's investigation of federal contracts for security projects at the Department of Homeland Security, which "found that [DHS] failed to properly supervise those projects, the costs are climbing far above the original estimates, and some of the systems are not performing as promised."

In television, the top award went to South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System, whose examination of a government report revealed a history of industrial pollution in the East Sea. Check out E&P or the IRE Web site for more on the other winners and finalists.