Online non-profit teams with local TV to show human side of Social Security’s $21 billion overpayment clawback

In this special edition of We Mean Business, Ananya Bhargava interviews KFF Health News’ David Hilzenrath. He is a member of the 2024 Barlett and Steele Gold Award-winning team in the Regional/Local Category. Their investigative series, “Overpayment Outrage,” a collaboration of eight local TV news stations and KFF Health News, helped uncover the immense toll Social Security repayment demands have on some of the nation’s most vulnerable families. Hilzenrath discusses the behind-the-scenes of this investigation, including their biggest challenges and how they overcame them to tell this story and create a roadmap for Congress to make needed program reforms.

Small debts, big losses: The data work and reporting behind uncovering the impact of HOA foreclosures in North Carolina

In this edition of We Mean Business: “How They Did It,” Ananya Bhargava interviews Ames Alexander and David Raynor about their recent award-winning investigative series “Hopes Foreclosed.” This investigation uncovered how often HOAs in North Carolina are foreclosing on homeowners. It revealed not only a troubling trend of HOA foreclosures in the region but how many of those foreclosures were due to debts of less than $2,000. 
Their series won the 2024 Bronze prize in the Barlett and Steele Awards Regional/Local category. Visit The Charlotte Observer to read their investigation or businessjournalism.org/awards to view all the 2024 winners.

Combo of deep beat knowledge and investigative know-how power investigation into medical misconduct

In this special edition of “How They Did It,” Ananya Bhargava interviews Chicago Tribune reporters Lisa Schencker and Emily Hoerner about their recent award-winning investigative series “Medical Misconduct.” The two reporters demonstrate the great investigative work that can be done when an investigative reporter teams up with a beat reporter to dive deeper into their realm of expertise. Schencker, a reporter covering the business of healthcare, spent many years reporting on allegations of abuse by a single doctor but felt there was still more to the story. With the assistance of Hoerner, a long-time investigative reporter, the two reporters were able to uncover repeated mishandling of sexual abuse allegations within multiple well-known Illinois health systems. In this episode, the reporters discuss how they got started on the investigation, the obstacles they faced, and what surprised them most about the process.
Their series won the 2024 Silver prize in the Barlett and Steele Awards Regional/Local category. Visit the Chicago Tribune to read their investigation or businessjournalism.org/awards to view all the 2024 winners.

Social Security overpayment clawbacks spur award-winning investigation – and outrage

In this special edition of We Mean Business, Ananya Bhargava interviews Jodie Fleischer, the managing editor of investigative content and collaboration for Cox Media Group. She is a member of the 2024 Barlett and Steele Gold Award-winning team in the Regional/Local Category. Their investigative series, “Overpayment Outrage,” is a collaboration of eight local TV news stations across seven states. With the assistance of KFF Health News, the team helped uncover the immense toll Social Security repayment demands have on some of the nation’s most vulnerable families. Fleischer discusses the behind-the-scenes of this investigation, including how it began and what it took to make the collaboration happen.
 
Visit KFF Health News to read their written investigative work or businessjournalism.org/awards to view all the 2024 winners.

Cultivating a document state of mind: Tips in investigative journalism with Jim Steele

Jeffrey Timmermans, Director of the Reynolds Center, sits down for an interview with award-winning journalist James B. Steele, half of the namesake for the Barlett and Steele Awards. Steele shares how he got started in business journalism, how his long-term partnership with Donald Barlett began, and the value of having a "document state of mind." He also gives young journalists tips on how to find and write award-winning investigative stories.

Bloomberg reporters gain answers to Cerebal Inc.’s ’Questionable Practices’

Janaé Bradford interviews Bloomberg reporters Caleb Melby and Polly Mosendz, two members of the bronze award-winning team for their investigation 'Questionable Practices.' Their investigation brings the first important revelations about the largest medical mental-health startup, Cerebral, and its effort to bring telemedicine techniques to mental healthcare.
Bloomberg reporters found a lack of delicate consideration assessment from the million-dollar business when prescribing medication to their patients. Listen to what the reporters had to say about what it took to make this investigation happen.

The Los Angeles Times uncovered Oxyconton's 12-hour problem. Here's how they did it.

In this episode, host Jenna Miller speaks with Los Angeles Times reporter Harriet Ryan and editor Matt Lait, to discuss their award-winning investigation, “Oxycontin's 12-hour Problem.” The two reveal how doctors were not only were many doctors being investigated for overprescribing a drug, they were often linked to bad pharmacies that lacked state oversight. The pair share some tips for young journalists and what decisions they made that helped humanize the business story. Their project took home the Bronze Award at the 2016 Barlett and Steele Awards for Investigative Journalism.

Testing a media-darling: How they did it.

Christopher Weaver of the Wall Street Journal spoke with Jenna Miller of the Reynolds Center to discuss his work with the award-winning investigation, “Testing Theranos.” This project took home the Silver Award at the 2016 Barlett and Steele Awards for Investigative Journalism. Weaver explains how the 10-month investigation began and the challenges they faced questioning a company that had become a media-darling. He also explains some of the impact the investigation had not only for the company, but for many of the company’s investors, employees, and clients.

Global teamwork leads to impactful business investigation. Here's how they did it.

Bastian Obermayer of the Munich based paper Süddeutsche Zeitung and Gerard Ryle, Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, spoke with Jenna Miller to discuss their work on the award-winning “Panama Papers.” Their organizations, along with more than 100 other media partners, took home the Gold Award at the 2016 Barlett and Steele Awards for Investigative Journalism. They discuss how the investigation began and what it took for so many journalists across the globe to collaborate on such a large investigation.

Inside the award-winning investigation “Fish Slavery”

In this episode, hosted by Megan Calcote, Katherine Fitzgerald and Eddie Keller interview Robin McDowell and Martha Mendoza of the Associated Press about their 2015 Barlett and Steele Gold award-winning investigation “Fish Slavery.” McDowell and Mendoza explain what sparked this investigation, some of the decisions they had to make to protect their sources before publication, and what it took to conduct award-winning work.