Americans love hamburgers — we eat about three burgers a week. But what are the hidden costs? I directed and produced this animated short for the Center for Investigative Reporting. I also did the reporting and research with Sarah Terry-Cobo. The illustration and animation were done by the talented Arthur Jones. This cartoon was the leading feature on YouTube’s new investigative channel, The I Files, on the day it launched. It also appeared as part of CIR’s Food for 9 Billion reporting project, a yearlong look at the challenge of feeding the world at a time of social and environmental change.

“The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers” has also been featured online by Time, PBS NewsHour, Marketplace, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Wired, Grist, GOOD, KQED, and TreeHugger. Within 24 hours of launch it already had close to 10,000 views. It won an award for Explanatory Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California.

See the full transcript with sources.

After Van Ingraham was found with his neck broken at the Fairview Developmental Center, police at the state institution closed the case without answers. But the patient’s heartbroken brother, a former cop, went after evidence that state investigators had missed.

I worked closely with investigative reporter Ryan Gabrielson to produce this multimedia feature for California Watch. See the full investigation.

“Manner of Death: Undetermined” won an award for Feature Storytelling from the Society of Professional Journalists (Northern California) and along with two of other videos won a duPont Silver Baton for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism.

In the heat of the desert, more than 30,000 farmworkers have set up makeshift homes in overcrowded trailer parks – often without access to clean water, electricity and sewage systems. Some, like Ana Sanchez, are demanding basic rights to safe living conditions.

I shot and edited this multimedia profile, part of a series I produced for the Center for Investigative Reporting called California Lost. The video appeared on The Huffington Post, New America Media, KPCC.org, the SF Chronicle’s iPad app, Mun2 (NBCUniversal’s LA network for Latinos), and several blogs. I also produced a Spanish-language version of the video. Read the print feature by Patti Leigh Brown and learn more about the story.

Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova explores the dark underworld of sex trafficking in Eastern Europe in a 2009 multimedia series, a prelude to THE PRICE OF SEX documentary. See more on the multimedia website http://priceofsex.org. This video was produced by Mimi Chakarova and Carrie Ching and edited by Carrie Ching.

What’s the price of gasoline? In the U.S. it’s about $4 a gallon. But some experts say the true price of gas is much higher. What about the costs of pollution, and the global and local problems caused by it? Who pays for those? This animated feature from the Center for Investigative Reporting calculates the carbon footprint and other “external costs” of gasoline use in the U.S.

I produced this animated feature with reporter Sarah Terry-Cobo and illustrator Arthur Jones. The video was a huge success for CIR/California Watch and was featured online by Time, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, Grist, Mother Jones, AlterNet, TreeHugger, Huffington Post, KQED, and many other blogs and publications.

“The Price of Gas” won journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (Northern California) and Best of the West. It was also a finalist for the 2011 Video Journalism award from the Online News Association.

Reported by Sarah Terry-Cobo
Produced by Carrie Ching and Sarah Terry-Cobo
Sound mix and editing by Carrie Ching
Animation and illustration by Arthur Jones