Center for Investigative Reporting

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) notes that they "practice journalism that cares more about correcting injustice and abuse of power than making a profit." It is a 501(c)(3) group.

Documentary Films
DIRTY BUSINESS: "Clean Coal" and the Battle for Our Energy Future is a 90-minute documentary produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting that investigates the true cost of our dependence on coal for electricity in the age of climate change. Politicians and corporate interests have mounted a formidable public relations campaign promoting "clean coal" as a solution to our energy/climate problem. Despite major concerns on the part of scientists and environmental groups, there has been little public education about this issue, which was a high-profile topic of the 2008 presidential campaigns and is a central element of President Obama’s energy policy.

Can coal ever really be made "clean"? If we were to try to wean ourselves off coal, how would we keep the lights on? Is renewable energy ready for prime time? Guided by Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell, DIRTY BUSINESS seeks answers in a series of stories: citizens fighting to build a solar power plant instead of a new coal plant in Nevada; a Kansas cowboy saving his cattle ranch with wind power; doctors tabulating the true cost of coal pollution in the damaged health of newborns in China, where a new coal plant goes up every week; innovators making a southern Rust Belt factory so energy efficient that it will steal jobs back from China.

America burns more than a billion tons of coal a year—and coal-fired power plants are the single greatest source of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Many of us are not aware that even now, in a world globally connected by the Internet, half our electricity still comes from this dirty, nineteenth century technology. DIRTY BUSINESS investigates the coal lobby's $40 million dollar campaign to convince us that the technology to make coal "clean" already exists. In fact, that technology—called "carbon capture and storage"—is not in full commercial operation anywhere in the world, and experts say that may not happen for 15 years or more, and even then may not be economically viable.

DIRTY BUSINESS is the first major public media project to explain and demystify "clean coal" and to explore the extent to which increased energy efficiency and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar thermal power might make "clean coal" unnecessary and uneconomical.

The film was written, produced and directed by Peter Bull and co-produced by Justin Weinstein, the team that produced the PBS FRONTLINE and CIR co-production, Hot Politics, about the politics of global warming. The narrator and editorial consultant on Dirty Business is Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal, the Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future and contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine (www.jeff-goodell.com). Alex Gibney, producer/director of the 2008 Academy Award winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, is consulting producer on DIRTY BUSINESS.

The project received funding from The 11th Hour Project, Cow Hollow Fund, Deer Creek Foundation, Educational Foundation of America, Fledgling Fund and the Fred Gellert Family Foundation.

View the trailer here.

Staff

 * Allegra Bandy, Operations Manager
 * Janice Sager, Director of Finance and Administration
 * Robert Rosenthal, Executive Director
 * Mark Schapiro, Senior Correspondent
 * Christa Scharfenberg, Managing Director
 * Carrie Ching, Senior Multimedia Producer
 * Cherilyn Parsons, Director of Development (Consultant)
 * Kate Jessup, Development Assistant
 * George W. Schulz, Staff Reporter
 * Andrew Becker, Staff Reporter
 * Robert O’Harrow, Senior Advisor
 * Sarah Terry-Cobo, Associate Reporter
 * Meghann Farnsworth, Distribution and Online Community Manager
 * Suzanne Yada, Web Producer

SourceWatch Resources

 * Pro Publica
 * Building an Investigative News Network Conference
 * Sandra R. Hernandez

Contact

 * Web: http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org