Four current and former IJB journalists were among a small group of Canadian reporters attending the largest gathering of investigative journalists on the continent last week. Investigative Reporters and Editors, a U.S.-based organization that trains and supports investigative reporting, was held in New Orleans. Conspicuous among a small group of Canadian journalists were IJB reporters Masih Khalatbari and Rachel Parent, former IJB reporter Naama Weingarten and IJB founder/director Rob Cribb.
Khalatbari says it’s an honour to represent Canadian journalists at the IRE conference.
“The IJB’s presence at IRE signals our commitment to collaborative, vigorous and potent journalism, cementing our status as a real player in the global landscape of this industry,” he says. “The conference is awe-inspiringly rich in content and attendance, so it’s a privilege to make connections that deepen our reporting network, learn from journalists and stories from around the world and bring that new knowledge into play at our newsroom in Toronto.”
Cribb is the IRE’s first-ever non-U.S. board member and chair of the IRE’s Golden Padlock committee, which hands out an award annually honouring the most secretive government agency in the U.S. This year’s Golden Padlock winner: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Cribb has been organizing investigative journalism conferences with the IRE since he first joined the organization’s board.
“The missions of the IJB and IRE are deeply intertwined — training journalists in investigative techniques that produce powerful revelations changing the world for the better. Our work together goes back a decade and has become a core partnership for the IJB. It is a perfect fit for cross-border training and projects that elevate the skills and strategies of journalists across Canada. Equally valuable, this relationship is helping develop the kinds of collaborative partnerships across borders that are behind some of the most powerful reporting happening today.”
In September 2024, the IJB and IRE hosted a cross-border investigative journalism conference at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University. The conference assembled investigative journalists at all stages of their careers to learn together and build cross-border connections — strengthening public interest journalism across Canada, North America and beyond.
The Investigative Journalism Bureau is a non-profit, impact-driven newsroom telling deeply-reported stories in the public interest.