KQED: BAY WINDOW

Production Biographies for Bay Window: GunShots

The Center for Investigative Reporting

The Center for Investigative Reporting is an independent news organization that strengthens democracy by exposing injustice and abuse of power. To achieve this, CIR investigates critical, underreported issues; produces compelling, in-depth stories for print, broadcast and Internet news outlets; provides its reporting to citizens and decision makers so they can take informed action.

Founded in 1977, CIR has produced hundreds of investigations, reaching millions of people in every state and overseas. Today, CIR reporters and editors focus on three main topic areas or "beats": Criminal and Social Justice, Science and Technology, and Environment. CIR's ongoing reporting on gun trafficking and gun violence is a major component of the Justice beat.

You can search through CIR's complete online story database and read more about the organization's work at: http://www.muckraker.org.

theRake
Created to combine the power investigative reporting to the tools of streaming media, theRake has worked on several projects, including the investigation of the Sean Twomey case. theRake hopes to launch their Web site sometime in the future.

For The Center for Investigative Reporting

Doug Hamilton, producer
An Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer, writer and director of nationally broadcast documentaries, Mr. Hamilton produced, wrote and directed the Emmy Award-winning "Hot Guns," a 1997 CIR co-production for PBS and FRONTLINE that examined the illicit market in cheap handguns. In 1997, he produced the 60th Anniversary of Life Magazine documentary for CBS, earning another Emmy Award. In 2000, he was the producer for the Peabody Award-winning series, "Drug Wars," for PBS and FRONTLINE. From 1986 to 1995, he served as a news segment producer for CBS News, producing stories for 60 Minutes, Eye to Eye, and West 57th.

Emily Lundberg, associate producer
Ms. Lundberg is an East Bay print journalist and documentary associate producer. She previously worked as Associate Producer for the KQED production, "Raising a Ruckus."

David Ritsher, editor
Mr. Ritsher is a documentary editor who has worked on numerous award-winning PBS programs, most recently including "Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report" about the chemical industry. He previously edited nationally broadcast programs for PBS FRONTLINE on, among other subjects, the history and politics of Russia.

Josiah Hooper, field producer
Mr. Hooper is a producer and cinematographer from Berkeley. He recently produced and shot the BAY WINDOW program "Raising a Ruckus," a film about the latest wave of street activism targeting the World Trade Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He is also a founding member of theRake media collective, a group of digital documentary filmmakers, journalists and designers on the Web.

Dan Noyes, editorial director
Mr. Noyes is a co-founder of the Center for Investigative Reporting and directs the organization's reporting program. In 2000, he was the executive producer for "The Battle Over School Choice" and "The Future of War," both CIR/FRONTLINE co-productions. He also was executive producer for "Hot Guns," a 1997 CIR/FRONTLINE co-production on cheap handguns that won an Emmy and numerous other journalism and documentary awards. His reports have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, The Nation, Mother Jones, San Francisco, New West, and the German newsweekly Stern.

For KQED Bay Window

Sue Ellen McCann, Bay Window executive producer
Sue Ellen McCann has more than 15 years of production experience. After working on PBS FRONTLINE documentaries at the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), Ms. McCann started her own production company, Studio Miramar, in 1991. She has produced a variety of educational and documentary programs that reflect her interest in technology, community, history, art and social justice. Ms. McCann has also worked in a variety of digital formats including Web sites, CD-ROMs and touch screen kiosks. "Fair Play", one of her more recent documentaries, is part of the Digital Divide series that aired January 2000 on PBS nationwide. Ms. McCann is also the KQED executive in charge for FRONTLINE/World..

What is the CIR?

CIR was founded in 1977 as a home for independent-minded journalists, committed to high-quality reporting in the public interest. Since then, CIR has operated as an independent news organization, strengthening democracy by exposing injustice and abuses of power. CIR investigates critical, underreported issues; produces in-depth, compelling stories for print, broadcast and Internet news outlets; and provides the information to citizens and decision makers so they can take informed action.

CIR investigations have reached millions of people in every state and overseas. News outlets where stories have appeared include ABC World News Tonight, ABC 20/20, CBS Evening News, CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, National Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, PBS FRONTLINE and FRONTLINE/World, The Nation, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Salon.com and Washington Post.

CIR is unique in the universe of nonprofit organizations. Because its staff work as journalists, not advocates, editors and producers accept CIR reporting as they would from any respected peer in the journalism world. Because CIR is not an advocacy organization, its research can have more impact than reports issued by think tanks or lobby groups. Because CIR is independent, its work is free to appear in the media outlets that best fit the story, reach the most people, and have the greatest potential for achieving social impact. CIR reports have sparked Congressional hearings and legislation, U.N. resolutions, public interest lawsuits, and change in corporate policies. Recent examples include:

In 1997, "Hot Guns," a CIR co-production for PBS FRONTLINE, revealed how cheap guns were finding their way onto city streets because of lax security at a manufacturing facility. In 1998, California legislators, citing "Hot Guns," passed a bill to increase security at the state's 42 gun plants. Republican Governor Pete Wilson signed it into law.

In 1999, "Justice for Sale," a CIR co-production for PBS FRONTLINE, told the story of how Louisiana residents fought in the courts the construction of a pollution-producing factory supported by Gov. Mike Foster, only to have the state Supreme Court thwart future legal opposition to chemical plants. Following the broadcast and after learning that CBS News was about to air its own version of the story, Foster stunned business leaders by renouncing his policy of attracting polluting industry to Louisiana's "cancer alley."

In 2002, a groundbreaking CIR report detailing the involvement of multi-national tobacco companies in mass-scale smuggling of cigarettes into Colombia appeared in The Nation and on the PBS television program NOW with Bill Moyers. The investigation directly inspired a new federal bill, the Tobacco Smuggling Eradication Act, to limit such smuggling enterprises in the future.

CIR's ability to place stories in news outlets that result in significant reach and impact has earned the organization the respect of the journalism community and numerous awards, including the Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia University Silver Baton, George Polk Award, Emmy Award, Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and National Magazine Award for Reporting Excellence.

Contact CIR:
Center for Investigative Reporting
131 Steuart Street, Ste. 600
San Francisco, CA 94105
tel: (415) 543-1200
fax: (415) 543-8311
email: center@cironline.org
Web: http://www.muckraker.org