Podcast brings you to newsroom

The April 6 publication of The Standard’s expose of the hiring of the Niagara Region chief administrative officer has triggered an independent investigation of the municipality and generated a lot of reader response.

As political events continue to unfold in Niagara, readers are asking the same question: “How did you get that story.”

Niagara’s daily newspapers has launched a new podcast series called Inside the Newsroom, to give you a close up look at how journalists from The Standard, The Niagara Falls Review and The Welland Tribune do their work.

Reporters Grant LaFleche, Bill Sawchuk and Karena Walter look back at some of their investigations — including LaFleche’s regional CAO story, Sawchuk’s investigative profile of Robert Megna and Walter’s series of stories on the All Canadian’s Kitchen scam — and talk about investigative journalism.

In Episode 1, the trio talks about how each of their investigations got started and the challenges of navigating the legal issues of investigative journalism. LaFleche also talks about how encrypted email systems have been a powerful tool for modern journalists to get access to sources and information.

Listen to Episode 1 on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/st-catharinesstandard/inside-the-newsroom-episode-1getting-an-investigation-started.