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‘It was just a matter of time’

For years, the EPA and Texas ignored warning signs at a chemical storage site. Then an inferno erupted.

Top News and Investigations

COVID tracking podcast

Podcast reveals early days of COVID tracking

City split in two

A city split in two

Sexual harassment widespread

Sexual harassment widespread in schools

Lung disease

Lung disease strikes countertop cutters

More News | More Investigations

Our Mission

The Investigative Reporting Workshop, an independent, nonprofit newsroom, based at the School of Communication at American University, was founded in 2008 by longtime investigative journalist Chuck Lewis and began publishing stories in 2009. Lewis retired on Dec. 31, 2022.

IRW’s goal is to hold the powerful accountable through original, data-driven investigative reporting produced by experienced journalists working with the next generation of reporters. IRW has partnerships with other newsrooms, including The Washington Post, and has developed free journalistic tools, including The Accountability Project, a groundbreaking resource for public data, and BankTracker, which chronicles the financial health of the nation’s banks and credit unions.

Director Area

Charles Lewis, IRW’s founder and executive editor, is the co-author of more than six books, including, most recently, “935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity.”

Recent Projects by Charles
  • The American nonprofit news milieu
  • Laying the foundation
  • Trumping truth as people die
  • “Why I left 60 Minutes”
  • Investigating Power

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Our Partners

    The Washington Post

  • The Washington Post

    How the NFL blocks Black coaches

  • Frontline

  • Frontline

    The Healthcare Divide

  • Public Health Watch

  • Public Health Watch

    For years, the EPA and Texas ignored warning signs at a chemical storage site. Then an inferno erupted.

Special Projects

     

    The Accountability Project: 1 billion records

  • 1 billion records and counting: The Accountability Project reaches new milestone

    Two years after going live, TAP hits a major milestone.

  •   

    Site showcases powerful stories

  • Site showcases powerful stories and the reporters behind them

    Investigating Power is a history of breakthrough investigations that revealed news and changed the national narrative on many major topics since the 1950s, from war to health to civil rights.

  •   

    Biden’s immigration policy

  • Biden’s immigration policy

    An interactive timeline following President Biden’s actions on immigration.

  •   

    Opiod Epidemic

  • The Opioid Epidemic

    In April 2016, at the height of the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history, Congress effectively stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its most potent weapon against large drug companies suspected of spilling prescription narcotics onto the nation’s streets.

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