Uncovering Asia: The First Asian Investigative Journalism Conference, comes to Manila, November 22-24, 2014.
First, the big news: In just over two weeks we’ll convene Uncovering Asia, the region’s first investigative journalism conference. Excitement is building, and we’ve got an extraordinary array of the best journalists from Japan to Pakistan coming our way – heading to Manila for a World’s Fair of muckraking from Nov. 22-24.
Please join us if you can – GIJN has teamed up with two great partners to help give Asian investigative journalism a boost: the Asian Media Programme of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the German foundation; and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. We’ll have journalists from 25 countries talking about setting up networks, collaborating on stories, and sharing tips and data. Coming to Manila? It’s best if you register online, so there’s no wait and no hassle when you arrive. We’ll close online registration on Nov. 15.
Why Asia? Why Now?
So why are we heading to Asia? That’s easy. It’s where most of humanity lives, and the demand for quality investigative reporting is enormous. More than 4.3 billion people call Asia home – that’s 60% of the global population. It has the world’s second and third largest economies, and its share of global GDP is expected to double. But the region is also among the weakest links in an emerging global community of investigative journalists.
Why Asia matters: The region is home to 4.3 billion people, 60% of humanity. Credit: Imgur.
And in Asia? Not so much. No investigative networks. No annual conferences. No fund for investigative journalism. Of GIJN’s 107 members, only 5 are in Asia. All that needs to change.
Well, here’s the good news – it is in fact changing, and quickly. Our colleagues around the region tell us that Uncovering Asia is the right event at the right time. Fueled by the same forces that have made investigative reporting a force to be reckoned with elsewhere – globalization, computing power, mobile phones, and determined journalists — there are signs from Seoul to Islamabad that a new era of muckraking is at hand.
Sure, we’ve got huge challenges. Criminal libel laws are still on the books in many countries. China and Vietnam are among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. Traditional media are driven toward poorly reported scandals and sensation, not careful watchdog reporting. Journalists lack training and resources for in-depth reporting. Owners are too often in cahoots with the very people the media should be investigating. And it’s bloody dangerous out there. Too many of our colleagues from the Philippines to Pakistan have lost their lives simply for reporting the truth.
But history is on our side. A global marketplace means countries need to open up in order to compete. Smart leaders know that if they really want to fight corruption and promote public accountability, they need an investigative news media. Meanwhile, the Internet is bringing tools and techniques to our colleagues everywhere, and connecting journalists in unprecedented ways. Secrets are much harder to keep, while public records are more accessible than ever.
Here Come the Nonprofits
Asian investigative journalism nonprofits: A growth industry?
Major media plays a critical role in spreading investigative journalism around the world. But it is the nonprofits that have served as training centers, incubators, and models of excellence in the rapid growth of muckraking. And for years there was only one IJ nonprofit in Asia – the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, founded in 1989.
This is another reason we are heading to Manila – to mark and celebrate PCIJ’s 25 extraordinary years. In that quarter century, the Philippine Center has published more than 1,000 investigative reports, produced scores of documentaries, and launched some two dozen books. Its staff have run more than 120 seminars for journalists across Asia, and won 150 awards for their dogged work. PCIJ’s investigation in 2000 of then-President Joseph Estrada, which led to his impeachment, is taught in journalism schools as a case study in modern muckraking. Equally impressive, the PCIJ staff showed that an independent nonprofit could not only survive but thrive in a developing country, and its work over the years has served as a model for scores of nonprofit journalism centers around the world. That is worth heralding.
PCIJ helped inspire the Nepal Centre for Investigative Journalism, launched in 1996, which has been rejuvenated and is back doing first-rate work. And now look what has followed:
An unprecedented collaboration this year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in which ICIJ brought to Asia its Secrecy for Sale project on offshore assets – and with it the group’s cross-border team approach.
And planning for a new Southeast Asia Investigative Journalism Network.
A Promising Start
These nonprofits and networks are, of course, in addition to the extraordinary work being done by mainstream media, both local and international. To name but a few: the New York Times work on the corrupt wealth of China’s leadership; Reuters’ projects on mistreatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, and its Connected China data project; the Japanese media’s digging into the Fukushima nuclear disaster; the gutsy reporting by Chinese journalists from Caixin, Southern Weekend, and CCTV, among others; and a growing force of world-class reporters across South Asia, who refuse to accept government press releases and corporate payoffs as real journalism. And don’t forget the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s exposés of pork barrel politics, determined digging by Indonesia’s Tempo magazine and Taiwan’s CommonWealth, and watchdog reporting by Malaysia’s Malaysiakini and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post – these are but a few of the noteworthy efforts in recent years.
Journalism professors are playing a critical role, as well, training a new generation of journalists in how to dig, analyze data, and find documents. We’ve had tremendous response from top “J schools” in the region to Uncovering Asia. Among the schools which will be represented at the conference: the Ateneo de Manila University’s Asian Center for Journalism (Philippines), Asian College of Journalism (India), Chung-Ang University’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication (Korea), Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (U.S.), Hong Kong University’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre (Hong Kong), and Waseda University’s Journalism School (Japan).
So, come join us in Manila if you can, and hear first-hand the reporters involved in charting the future of in-depth journalism. We’ll have more than 30 sessions ranging from tracking assets and dirty money to the latest data tools and how to set up your own investigative team. If you can’t join us, you can follow it all on Twitter at #IJAsia14. And don’t’ worry if you miss much. This isn’t the end of something big – it’s the beginning.
Despite its often dramatic results, investigative journalism receives relatively little funding and is routinely under attack. To bolster support, GIJN has assembled case studies of high-impact reports, video interviews with journalists in 20 countries, infographics, and a resource center. These materials are designed to help in fundraising by our members and investigative journalists worldwide. So we hope our colleagues will make good use of them!
The case studies are particularly noteworthy, and we hope you'll agree it's an extraordinary collection. There are some well known examples, such as the iconic Watergate scandal, which not only led to the resignation of the world's most powerful man, but to convictions against 48 people. And you'll find more recent investigations, such as the brilliant teamwork of ICIJ's Offshore Secrets, which has led to a global crackdown on hidden assets, and YanukovychLeaks, whose rescued documents became the basis for investigations into US$38 billion of Ukraine's looted wealth.
But also included are some extraordinary stories you may not have heard of: the chilling Spirit Child investigation, which stopped the ritual killing of disabled children in Ghana; Secret Diaries, an exposé of corruption so deep it sparked mass protests across one of Brazil's largest states; The BAE Files, The Guardian's seven-year project that led to a new UK Bribery Act; Investigating Estrada, which drove the Philippine president from office; La Nacion's Alcatel exposé, which led to legal action against two former presidents in Costa Rica; Taxation without Representation, which shamed many of Pakistani MPs into paying taxes for the first time; and the appalling Why Frere's Babies Die, which forced reforms after revealing hundreds of needless neo-natal deaths at a city hospital in South Africa.
Big thanks to Google Ideas, which funded this project, and to GIJN's Gabriela Manuli, who served as project director. More credits and thanks can be found here.
This is a "live" project, in the sense that we'll continue to add material to it. We have a final report with additional data and analysis that will be out early next year. So let us know what you think, and make sure we're not missing anything important.
With robust data journalism hands-on training and many presentations focusing on covering mining and oil issues, the 2014 Power Reporting Conference in Johannesburg drew over 350 participants from 19 African countries.
“This was our 10th annual, biggest and probably best conference, mainly because of the range of interesting work being done across Africa,” said Anton Harber, who is the Caxton Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and directs the Journalism Programme at the university.
“What we forget until we all get together in the same venue is now much we have in common around the issues we need to investigate and the challenges we face,” Harber said. “There are few things as interesting as a room full of muckrakers talking about how much muck there is to rake and how to do it.”
The conference included the showing of documentaries and a number of additional events built around the conference. Among the additional events were 55 African and Chinese journalists gathering to share reporting tips on Chinese activities in Africa, a Women in News Summit that brought in 29 African women journalists, and a Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Business Journalism Roundtable with 12 selected journalists.
The sponsors were The Valley Trust, a local SA trust, Open Society Foundations, the French Institute in South Africa, and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
Among the presenters were Tom Burgis of the Financial Times on the way China does business in Africa, professor and researcher Joch McCulloch on gold mining, and Swedish radio journalists Daniel Öhman on a secret weapons deal with Saudi Arabia.
"This was a fantastic conference,’ said journalist and conference organizer Margaret Renn. “To see so many African and South African journalists engaging with each other, learning, sharing, talking, and asking questions of the speakers. We were sorry to see them go when it was all over. Already we are planning for next year."
A major breakthrough at the conference was in data journalism. More than 100 journalists and journalism students came to the first session that gave an overview of the track of hand-on training and demonstrations to be held throughout the conference. Organizers estimated that was four times many attendees as last year.
Most of the following data classes were filled to capacity. The classes included training in spreadsheets, mapping in Google Fusion Tables, Web scraping, more powerful Web searching, the use of Twitter in investigations, and creating a data oriented newsroom.
The data journalism program was led by Izak Minnaar, editor in SABC digital news, Ron Nixon of the New York Times, and Brant Houston of University of Illinois and GIJN. The data team included 13 South African journalists and coders.
Other classes included forensic accountant Raj Bairoliya providing an investigative journalist’s guide to understanding company accounts and Arnaud Dressen, a web documentary maker, doing a hands-on class in creating short documentaries for the web.
The conference closed with a series of lightning talks and a sneak preview of GIJN’s video on the critical role investigative reporting plays around the world and why donors should support investigative reporting.
(Power Reporting -- the African Investigative Journalism Conference will run from November 2-4, 2015.)
Twenty-five years ago, the term “investigative reporting” was little known in Asia. The media landscape was dominated by pliant newspapers, insipid TV news programs, and journalists who saw themselves as mouthpieces of government. Today journalists throughout Asia are using freedom-of-information laws, data analysis, social media, collaborative tools, and the latest in digital technology. They are writing about corruption, human slavery, dirty money, and environmental problems.
Liang Qichao founded the newspaper Shibao in Shanghai in 1904
We’ve come a long way. In 1989, when my colleagues and I formed the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) in a borrowed office with second-hand furniture, we didn’t even have a telephone. It’s hard to imagine this now when mobile phones are so ubiquitous in Asia, but at that time, there was only one telecoms company and it was so inept, it couldn’t provide us with a phone. All we had were second-hand electric typewriters, one DOS-based computer, and a few boxes of floppy disks.
Since the 1980s and ‘90s, new freedoms, new technologies, new markets, and new laws have empowered journalists like never before. Twenty-five years ago, Asia had one investigative reporting center. Today there are centers in Nepal, Korea, Pakistan, India, and two in Thailand, TCIJ and Thai Publica. Investigative units in newspapers and broadcast networks are no longer a novelty. There are investigative magazines – notably Tempo in Indonesia and Caixin in China. In many countries, even in China, there are TV news programs that label themselves investigative.
Presidential Palace, Manila, on the day Marcos fell, 1986.
Throughout this time, we’ve been told that Asians value consensus over exposure. They’re wrong: Speaking truth to power is an Asian value.
In many of our countries, journalists have played an important role in bringing about the democratic transition – there was the “mosquito press” in the Philippines, which reported on the excesses of Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos; underground newspapers in Suharto-era Indonesia; exile media in the bad old days of the badly named SLORC, the acronym of the Burma’s military junta.
In Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Korea, the fall of dictatorships was followed by the promulgation of new constitutions that guaranteed a wide range of freedoms. The controls on the media were loosened, information ministries abolished, and the public demand for real news created a media boom. This was the era in which the PCIJ was born. The fall of Asian strongmen was followed by the explosion of new news organizations that queried officials, investigated malfeasance and reported events with unprecedented vigor to a public thirsty for news and information.
I still remember the early broadcasts on the first independent TV in Thailand in the 1990s: They showed grainy undercover video of truck drivers bribing policemen at checkpoints. You cannot imagine how astonishing that was – before then, Thai TV news looked like ads for Thai Airways: It was all about the monarchy, Buddhist temples and monks and all the charming news in the land of smiles.
In Indonesia, the independent magazine Tempo was banned in 1994,for writing about the purchase by the government of overpriced East German warships. Suharto was enraged that the controversy was made public and so the information ministry revoked the licenses of Tempo and two other magazines.
Tempo was revived after Suharto’s fall. Over the years, it has taken on corrupt politicians, fat-cat businessmen and also the military and the police, which are among the most entrenched and powerful institutions in Indonesia. They have reported on the military’s complicity in murders and human rights abuses.
Through documents and whistleblower testimony, Tempo journalist Metta Dharmasaputra exposed how Sukanto Tanoto, Indonesia’s richest man, had evaded payment of $115 million in taxes. In the course of his investigation, Metta’s phone was tapped, he himself was accused of corruption and Tempo was taken to court. He recounts all this in a recently published book, Key Witness, which is the story of how dogged digging resulted in the Supreme Court imposing a fine of $227 million, the largest ever in Indonesian history, on a corporate empire that had until then operated with impunity.
In other places, China being the notable example, the changes were brought about not by the fall of regimes but the opening of markets. The removal of state subsidies on the media, part of the Deng Xiaoping-era reforms, meant that news organizations had to fund themselves. In order to do so, they had to take on advertisers and build audiences. Exposure was an audience-building and revenue-generating strategy.
Before 1980, there was hardly any negative news in Chinese media. Even news about traffic accidents was censored. But in the past 20 years, newspapers and magazines have been waging a guerrilla war against government censors.
For Chinese muckrakers, and indeed for investigative reporters around the world, the excesses of corrupt officials – houses, cars, watches and jewelry –– are staple fare.
In 2011, Southern Weekend, a newspaper in Guangdong, exposed a secret farm producing organic vegetables for officials of the customs department. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it reported, a customs truck came to the high-walled farm to pick up several thousand kilos of carefully cultivated produce. While most Chinese have to eat unsafe and contaminated food, special farms throughout the country, produce high-quality food for high officials.
Such brazen abuse of power is not uncommon. In 2012, the Center for Investigative Reporting in Pakistan revealed that the President, half the Cabinet and two-thirds of all MPs did not pay their taxes. The report caused such outrage that last year, Pakistan became the fourth country in the world – the other three are in Scandinavia – that make tax records public.
My hobby is collecting photos of the houses of kleptocrats. I’ve collected them in a Pinterest board and they include:
A mansion owned by Chinese general Gu Junshang, who was alleged to have profited from the development of army-owned property. Authorities searched his home and seized a gold boat, a gold wash basin and a gold statue of Mao Zedong.
A 16th-century chateau in Normandy owned by former Pakistani Prime Minister Asi Alif Zardari. He flew there in 2011 during a trip to France and raised a storm of criticism because the visit took place while Pakistan was suffering from a devastating flood. He also purchased an estate worth £4 million in Surrey, the UK, in the 1990s. He is alleged to have spent £300,000 on renovations, including a private polo field and a replica of a local pub.
A fabulous estate in Sydney purchased for $32.4 million in 2008 by Zeng Wei, son of a former vice-president of China.
This is more than just corruption porn. The pictures – like corruption scandals — are titillating. But by exposing such excesses, journalists are signaling to citizens that these are wrong and unacceptable. By forcing thieving officials into the glare of public scrutiny, we are saying that their crimes cannot be kept secret. Journalistic exposure subjects wrongdoers to public disapproval and ridicule. Naming and shaming is what we do.
Asia a Muckraker’s Paradise
In terms of topics, Asia is a muckraker’s paradise. The range of stories is infinite. Let me list some themes of contemporary investigative reporting in Asia:
Food and product safety: whether it’s melamine-tainted powdered milk in China, caustic soda in sweets, fruits and vegetables sprayed with cancer-causing pesticides, carcinogenic artificial ripeners in fruits. In India, rat poison has been found in antibiotics. All around Asia, mercury in seafood, is a problem. Some years ago, in China and elsewhere, scandal over fever and cough medicine adulterated with diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial solvent that is a cheaper sweetener than other syrups.
Conditions of workers in the global economy: workers committing suicide in factories that produce electronic devices; garment workers laboring long hours in unsafe factories; bonded workers, sold and traded like slaves, like in the Thai shrimp industry, where they work 20-hour shifts, are beaten regularly and offered methamphetamines to keep them going.
Human trafficking is a big, global story. It rivals the drug trade as the fastest growing transnational criminal enterprise, with revenues estimated at over $30 billion a year.
The sorry state of public services: everything from the shortage of desks and textbooks in schools, public hospitals where premature babies die because there are no incubators, roads and bridges so shoddily done that they are dangerous. In India and Indochina, orphanages being used as fronts for child trafficking. In China, officials selling HIV-contaminated blood or local family planning officials seizing children from couples who could not pay the fine for having more than one child and then selling them for adoption overseas.
The devastation of the environment: forests being cut to make way for palm oil plantations, rivers made toxic by polluting factories, the poor quality of the air we breathe.
Disaster has been a major area for accountability reporting. But that has not been easy. When blindsided by the magnitude of disaster, the first reflex of governments is to gag journalists.
During and after a disaster, reporters are crucial to exposing the real magnitude of human suffering and the inadequacy of government response; they show who is responsible for the devastation, and inevitably, the corruption and incompetence in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of disaster zones.
Disasters are when inquisitive journalists are most needed, but it’s also when the muzzle is put on the press.
In the coverage of Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and its aftermath, Chinese censors banned stories on citizen protests, the numbers of schoolchildren who died, the fragility of schoolbuildings constructed in violation of building codes, local officials bribing parents so they would not protest and miscarriages by women in temporary housing camps. Some quake survivors said that the miscarriages may have been caused by high levels of formaldehyde in the prefabricated housing.
In Japan in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear plant disaster in Fukushima, officials evaded journalistic inquiries and cracked down on Internet sites accused of spreading false rumors. Last year, the Japanese government approved a secrecy law that would impose up to 10-year jail terms for journalists and whistleblowers who reveal “secrets,” including information on nuclear power plants.
In the last 40 years, according to an Asahi Shimbuninvestigation, Japan’s top utility companies spent 2.4 trillion yen ($27.6 billion) to purchase media advertising to promote nuclear power.
Japanese freelancers have more leeway to report. But in 2012, Minoru Tanaka, a freelance investigative journalist was sued for nearly $900,000 in damages by one of the leading figures of Japan’s nuclear industry. Tanaka had been writing about Japan’s “nuclear industrial complex,” and the links between industry, politics advertising and the bureaucracy.
Not Enough Digging into Financial Dealmaking
Such collusion happens everywhere and the truth is that the booming business press in Asia (like in the US and elsewhere) has been good at celebrating the entrepreneurial triumphs of Asian businessmen, especially in the region’s fastest growing economies. But it has been remiss in exposing the dealmaking taking place in the corridors of finance.
This is a space that independent and investigative journalists should own. It’s not easy, but journalists have been able to do this through international collaborations or through independent publishing.
Journalists in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines took part in a global investigation on offshore companies. Working with the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, they examined how companies and politicians used offshore entities to evade taxes and hide illicit wealth.
Indian and global media have covered the epic rivalry between the billionaire Ambani brothers. Mukesh Ambhani, the richest man India with a net worth of $21 billion, famously built a 27-story home in a posh neighborhood in Mumbai while his brother Anil, the 11th richest in India, bought his wife a luxury yacht and spent $84 million to refurbish the interiors.
What journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta found was that the squabble between the brothers was linked to the ricing of natural gas and the distribution of the profits from this public resource. His book, Oil Wars, is a story of collusion among businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats.
We need more of these.
There is, for example, a noticeable lack of reporting on Chinese companies and how they operate overseas. In almost every country in the region, Chinese companies have been controversial, either in their dealings with politicians or because of their labor, safety and environmental standards.
Investigating Wealth and Poverty in a Growing Asia
All over Asia, there is growing inequity. The Wealth Report, which tracks so-called high net worth individuals, projects a 66% increase in number of Asian billionaires and a 52% increase in centa-millionaires in the next 10 years. While Asia has made great strides in poverty reduction in the past decades, the pendulum is swinging the other way.
We see this in the rise of gated communities in Asia’s big cities – the ghettoes that shield the wealthy from the poverty outside. Real estate and property development is one of the fastest growing businesses in Asia, and it has not been investigated enough. There is not enough reporting on the business and its involvement in the displacement of local communities, in deals with politicians, or in government funds being siphoned off to build roads and other infrastructure for these developments, to the detriment of services for the poor.
We cannot do this alone. We have to work together. We also need to muster the energy of our citizens. There are 4.5 billion people in Asia – that’s 9 billion eyes that can potentially be monitoring wealth and power.
In many of the scandals in the region – the coverups in Sichuan and Fukushima, the exposure of corruption in high places – citizens have provided information, used Geiger counters to measure their exposure to radiation and employed sensors to monitor air pollution. They have also provided leads and taken photos, they have put material online that is censored elsewhere. We have not yet begun to see the power of the 9 billion.
Worldwide, and certainly in Asia, there has been a rollback in many areas of freedom of expression we enjoyed 20 years ago. The great battle of the 21st Century will be one between secrecy and openness. Journalists cannot fight this alone. We need the billions on our side.
We also have not fully utilized the power of technology. Watchdog reporters throughout Asia have been able to do groundbreaking exposés using not just the traditional muckraking tools but also data and drones, sensors and satellite images. The repertoire that is available to investigative journalists is expanding everyday. We have never been so empowered. Even in North Korea, dedicated watchers have used satellite images to show construction in the country’s plutonium production reactor and activists have used Google earth to show where North Korean prison camps are located.
Our Power Comes from Tradition not Technology
But our real power comes not from technology but from something older and deeper. It draws from history, and in explaining ourselves and legitimizing what it is we do, we have not drawn enough from the well of tradition. It’s been said that notions of accountability and the Fourth Estate are uniquely Western and not woven into fabric of our cultures. And yet, throughout all our nations’ histories, there have always been men and women, who exposed the abuse of power and the hypocrisy of those who wielded it. They were the conscience of their societies.
In January 1897, Mohandas Gandhi, then 27 years old, was on a ship sailing back from Bombay in British India to his home in the South African port of Durban. At that time, Gandhi was a lawyer for wealthy Indian merchants but he had by then also earned a reputation as a passionate and effective campaigner for Indian rights in South Africa.
He landed in Durban on a steamship filled with Indian laborers, and there, waiting for him at the port, was a mob of white workers. They claimed Gandhi was organizing an “Asiatic Invasion” and that he had brought with him, not guns or ammunition, but a printing press and 30 typesetters.
None of these charges was true, but the white mob at the port was so spooked by the idea of an invasion equipped with a phantom press that they attacked Gandhi – they kicked him, whipped him with a lash, and threw stale fish and mud at him. They hurt his eye and cut his ear, his clothes were bloodied and his hat was taken off his head. The crowd swelled during the attack, yelling as they followed Gandhi to an Indian’s house where he had sought shelter. Gandhi had to be smuggled out of there, dressed in a police constable’s clothes, and brought to safety to the police station.
The following year, Gandhi did set up a printing press and published a newspaper, Indian Opinion, that was written in four languages and contained news summaries and extracts of essays and literary texts from across the world. In any given issue or almost any given page, wrote Isabel Hofmeyr,one encountered in Indian Opinion an “intersection of empires, races and religions.” Gandhi’s paper was the late 19th-early 20th Century version of Huffington Post, Slate, Quartz, and Wikipedia.
I am telling this story because before all those devices you now hold in your hand or keep in your bags, there were printing presses. And there was a time when the mere idea of one made people tremble.
Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, was declared president of an independent Philippine republic in 1898. After ousting the Spaniards, Aguinaldo had to face the Americans, who had taken over the Philippines from Spain . Aguinaldo’s troops fought valiantly but could not match American firepower.
When fleeing with what remained of his ragtag army, Aguinaldo carried with him a small press, from which was printed the newsletter of the revolution. At one point, he wrote a directive to his troops, instructing them to transport copies of the revolutionary papers on horseback and to make sure the bundles of newspapers were wrapped in banana leaves so they would not get wet.
In 1904, Liang Qichao founded the newspaper Shibao in Shanghai. Throughout Chinese history there have always educated men, members of the literati who spoke for those who were excluded from the upper echelons of the imperial hierarchy. You might call them imperially sanctioned critics, they were the enlightened elite. Qichao himself was a mandarin, a forward-thinking Confucian scholar who used Shibao to propagate the notion that public participation in the political process energized society and propelled social progress.
We are walking on paths that have been well-trod. Speaking truth to power IS an Asian value. In some societies, the watchdog role of the press is appreciated and entrenched in tradition. In others, as a Chinese journalist told me, journalists see themselves not so much as watchdogs but woodpeckers, chipping on the tree of power, but not cutting it down.
To use a metaphor Marcos used for critical journalists, we are mosquitoes – irritants on the skin of power. Or, as the former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said of East Timor, we are the pebble in the shoe of the powerful. Our task is to make power uncomfortable.
We do so armed with facts and evidence, not with polemic and argument. We are the conscience of our societies. We hold up a mirror to power. The work we do is important. It is also dangerous. The astonishing thing is we have been able to do so much despite the constraints. In China, journalists are censored, fired and imprisoned. In the Philippines and Pakistan, they are killed. In many countries, watchdog journalism has to fight for space in competitive media markets ruled by the sensational and superficial.
Whatever metaphor we choose to describe ourselves, our task is to show exactly where the wrongdoing lies and why it needs to be corrected. Ours is a role imbued with symbolic significance. We are the bearers of a proud tradition. Like priests, we perform the culturally sanctioned rituals of exposure and shaming. The gods are on our side. Let no one tell us otherwise.
Sheila Coronel is dean of academic affairs at the Columbia Journalism School, where she founded the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism. She is co-founder and former executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
A workshop on safety: security has become a major issue for Ukrainian journalists. Credit: Ilona Fanta/RPDI
From the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2011 to the groundbreaking YanukovychLeaks project this year, Ukraine has become a key link in international investigative reporting. So it should be no surprise that the annual Ukrainian investigative journalism conference is growing into a regional event.
Journalists from 10 countries -- from Kyrgyzstan to the United States -- gathered in Kiev. Credit: Ilona Fanta/RPDI
The conference, now in its sixth year, has become a core event for Ukraine's vibrant investigative journalism community. "The main goal of the event remains unchanged,” says Kateryna Laba, executive director of the RPDI. “It is to gather investigative journalists for professional communication, discuss issues, present innovative practices and thus promote investigative journalism networks in Ukraine and Europe. But this year we went further and offered something new. Taking into account the challenges, current topics and conditions under which many journalists work, we decided to pay special attention to safety in its various aspects.”
Fred Laurin of Swedish Public Broadcasting spoke on how to structure an investigative project. Credit: Ilona Fanta/RPDI
Some conference sessions focused on digital security, others on physical security for those working in hostile environments. Still other sessions looked at psychological security and post-traumatic stress disorder; those were conducted by Mark Jardina from Internews and Bruce Shapiro from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Journalists Tatiana Rykhtun, Valentyna Samar and Alex Matsuka – from the conflict-torn regions of Crimea and Donbass -- shared their practical experience of working in hostile environments and under threat.
The conference concluded by issuing a joint letter to the Azerbaijan embassy to Ukraine, protesting the imprisonment of colleague Khadija Ismayilova. The letter was signed by 45 journalists.
The just announced 9th Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism is South Africa's highest prize for investigative journalism. The award recognizes "outstanding examples of journalism, that reveal untold stories, hold the powerful to account and question those in public life."
GIJN is pleased to reprint below the awards speech by Wits University Journalism Professor Anton Harber, given March 27 in Johannesburg. In it, Harber talks about the challenging time for South Africa's rich tradition of investigative journalism and gives a recap of the best submissions. The reports cover a wide range of topics, from Ritalin overuse, the conditions in hospitals and schools, university and school initiation abuses, to water and rhinos. Enough to get you inspired! -- The Editors
This year’s winners of the Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism in South Africa, Paddy Harper and Sipho Masonodo of City Press, for a story about how members of the teachers’ union sells jobs.
We gather at a challenging time for journalism and particularly investigative journalism. Under financial strain and political pressure, influenced by media owners who don’t always see the value and importance to their investments of investigative reporting, we often ponder whether we can sustain the time and resources needed to do this work. All the institutions of accountability in our society are taking strain, and we face a state increasingly influenced by securocrats and their powers of surveillance. This makes it more important than ever that we have reporters who probe, question, expose, uncover and rake the muck that flows beneath the surface of our complex and rich society.
Having spent much of the last few weeks consuming the entries to this competition, which represent the best and boldest stories of last year, I can tell you with confidence that we still are fortunate enough to have a cadre of journalists who have the courage, dedication and skills to play their role in holding to account those who wield power and authority. There are old foxes and young terriers, in the biggest newspapers and the smallest radio stations, in the big cities and the small towns, tackling parochial stories and the big national ones, but they are there ensuring that at least no one can say they did not know there was crookery or thievery or dishonesty or malfeasance.
And when we despair that sometimes our political structures seem immune to these exposés, we need to remind ourselves that investigative journalists have in recent years brought down at least one cabinet minister, two police commissioners, the chair of the SABC and SAA and others in the private sector, refused to let the stink of the arms deal and Nkandla be blown away, exposed the attempts to cover up what happened at Marikana and given notice that the nuclear power deal will not happen without due scrutiny. We are here today to thank and honour the investigative reporters who do this, and hopefully strengthen and encourage them.
This year we received more entries than ever before: 58 of them (compared to 35 last year). Twelve came from television, four from radio, 37 from newspapers, one from a magazine, one from an investigative organization, one from a freelance writer, one from a blogger and – for the first time – one from an independent documentary filmmaker.
Two panels assess these entries. The first, which sifted through all the entries and drew up the shortlist, consisted of:
Sarah Carter, of CBS’s 60 Minutes, Margaret Renn, our Taco Kuiper Fellow in Investigative Reporting, and Joe Thloloe, former editor, veteran journalist and current head of the Press Council.
The second panel then focused on the top contenders. It included Margaret Renn and Joe Thloloe again, along with former editor and highly respected political commentator Justice Malala, former Supreme Court of Appeal judge Tom Cloete, and myself, as convener.
They have asked me to make some general remarks on the entries. One of the reasons for the high number of entries was that some entrants found ways around the rule that limits an outlet to two submissions and an individual to one. The rule will be tightly implemented next year to ensure editors choose their best.
A concern, however, was the rise of what I call factional reporting, where different outlets give diametrically different versions of the same story because they have sources from different sides in a dispute who are peddling different agendas. We have five entries on the fighting within SARS, with five different versions of what was happening, which can only leave audiences confused. One can think of other recent examples, such as the Hawks story, which point to a disturbing pattern. We know that all sources have agendas, and many good stories have come from such sources, but journalists have to go beyond their agendas to establish the truth and must be careful of allowing themselves to be used by one side in these disputes.
With only a couple of exceptions, we were disappointed at the general level of radio and television entries. Too many of them offered what one expects from daily reporting and did not go that extra, investigative mile.
Although the political stories usually get the most attention, and there was no shortage of stories about corruption and tenderpreneurialism, the judges noted the wide range of topics, which included sport, Ritalin overuse, the conditions in our hospitals and schools, university and school initiation abuses, water and rhinos. We were also pleased to see a number of new, younger voices alongside the older hands.
In general, the judges noted the sign of more careful editing. There were some stories which could have been told better, but overall this aspect showed more care than we have seen in recent years.
Now let’s get down to the 10 entries which made our shortlist, all of which are examples of excellence in investigative reporting. In no particular order:
1. Graham Coetzer and Susan Comrie of MNet’s Carte Blanche, for Goldfinger
The Carte Blanche team looked at the full chain of illegal gold mining, from those who raid old shafts under extraordinarily dangerous conditions and earn a pittance from it, to those who trade in this contraband and make billions from it. They showed us a school principal who uses his school premises to trade illegally and they revealed a VAT scam at the heart of this trade, which brought home the fact that it is us taxpayers who are being ripped off.
The Daily Dispatch continues to punch above its weight with an exposé of those who took advantage of the Mandela funeral to enrich themselves. We saw many stories of corruption and theft among the politically connected, but this one was particularly repellent because it involved Mandela’s funeral. The Dispatch’s original and thorough work has led to charges being laid against the executive mayor of Buffalo City, her deputy, the Speaker, the ANC regional secretary and local business owners.
This was a most unusual entry and I want to show it to you as one cannot fully appreciate it without the optics. Freelancer Sean Christie spent much time spread over three years getting to know a group of men who live under this Cape Town bridge, and who stowaway on ships to smuggle heroine around the world. He did it without the resources of a newsroom behind him and it involved an adventurous trip through the continental underworld. It is beautifully written, powerfully photographed by Dave Southwood, magnificently designed and full of touching details to make a memorable piece of narrative journalism.
We all know about the problem of cable theft, but Rowan put together a comprehensive take-out over three days which showed how the thieves work, how widespread it is and introduced us to both the perpetrators and the investigators. It was well reported, well written and well displayed.
Familiar faces at this award, the Sunday Times team gave us the missing links in the story of President Jacob Zuma’s implication in the arms deal. The thieves had fallen out with each other and what emerged was the code words and all the sordid details of how arms dealers appear to have bought Zuma.
6. Rehad Desai and Anita Khanna of Uhuru Productions for Miners Shot Down
This powerful documentary is the first feature-length film entered into this competition. Rehad Desai worked long and hard as an independent filmmaker to piece together a view of what happened on that fateful August day, presenting a narrative which challenges the official view and makes for riveting viewing.
Fake CV’s were a theme of 2014. Acting on a tip-off, these journalists used the Promotion of Access to Information Act to show that the SABC chair had faked her credentials. It took a while, but she was forced to resign.
Masondo and Harper started by investigating a local murder and this led them to uncover a national scandal of great importance to our education system, giving a detailed account and examples from all over the country of how members of the teachers’ union sell key positions in schools. There has long been talk of this practice, but City Press blew it open. To her credit Minister Angie Motshekga immediately asked for an inquiry.
9. And two from the Mail & Guardian’s amaBhungane team:
The amaBhungane team is the Debrett’s of the South African kleptocracy. Debrett’s lists British peers, while amaBhungane gives us the equally arcane web of links of power and money between the Guptas, the Zumas and their respective associates. Here - with their regular thoroughness - they did it to show who was secretly benefitting from a massive Transnet tender.
This was an exposé – impressive in its detail - of the shenanigans behind Eskom’s endless delays in issuing the tender for maintenance at the Koeberg Power Station. Perhaps most enjoyable was an Eskom board member’s Facebook celebrations as she was wined and dined by the French bidder, unwittingly showing sensitive documents on the dinner table.
There you have it. Two finalists from City Press, two from the Mail & Guardian, one for the Sunday Times, two from independent freelancers, eight print and two broadcast.
Before I get to the short shortlist, the judges have chosen to make a special mention. Sean Christie’s entry was not investigative journalism strictly speaking, so it was not likely to make our final cut, but it was exceptional narrative and imaginative journalism that did tell us a great deal that we don’t know and need to know. The Valley Trust have generously agreed to a special once-off prize in recognition of this work.
Next step was for the judges to do a short shortlist of the final contenders. It came down to these three, again in no particular order:
The Mandela Funeral Scandal, by Bongani Fuzile and Mphumzi Zuzule of the Daily Dispatch
How Sadtu decimates our education system from City Press’ Paddy Harper and Sipho Masondo
Miners Shot Down by Rehad Desai and Anita Khanna of Uhuru Productions
All are powerful, important pieces and it’s not easy to choose between them. I remind you that what we are choosing is an outstanding exemplar of investigative reporting. This year’s runner up, who takes home R100 000, is:
Rehad Desai and Anita Khanna for Miners Shot Down
And the winner, of the country’s biggest journalism award of R200 000 is:
These two journalists did exactly what we ask for from investigative reporters. We all know the importance of fixing our education system, and they have exposed one of the known – but unspoken – problems at the heart of the system. It was important work, brilliantly executed and carried through to the full. We can only hope that the story and this award help empower the minister to take strong action.
The ninth Global Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held this October 8-11 in Lillehammer, Norway, will again feature an academic research track, highlighting trends, challenges, teaching methodologies, and best practices in investigative journalism. Here is the call for papers that is going out to journalism professors worldwide:
CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS/ABSTRACTS:
Investigative and Computer-Assisted Reporting Pedagogical Skills and Techniques
This is a a call for submission of abstracts byJuly 8, 2015of no more than 300 words for a short paper and panel presentation at Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Oct. 8-11, 2015 in Lillehammer, Norway
Decisions will be made by July 22, 2015. Final papers will be due Sept. 14, 2015.
The papers will be compiled in a digital publication for the conference and accepted proposals and presenters will receive invitations to attend to the conference.
Topics considered although are not limited to:
Trends in computer-assisted reporting and data journalism
Trends in investigative reporting
Challenges depending on country or culture
Successful teaching methods
Adapting investigative journalism to new technologies such as mobile devices, drones and augmented reality
Submission requirements: Proposals should present original research into any aspect of the aforementioned topics. Papers must follow APA style. If abstract is accepted, page length is no more than 15 pages (excluding references, tables and appendices).
Papers should not have been published or presented at a prior conference.
Instructions:
* Paper must be written in English
* Paper must be in the format of Microsoft Word (.doc). No other formats will be accepted.
* If abstract is accepted, paper must be formatted to APA style and no longer than 15 pages (excluding references, tables, appendices)
* Papers should be sent with the title, but papers sent with author's identifying information displayed will automatically be disqualified. Please send a separate title page with the authors' contact information.
DataHarvest, the European Investigative Journalism Conference, opened Friday, May 7, in Brussels with more than 300 participants coming from across Europe, and some from outside, too. There was special emphasis on sharing methods and techniques -- as well as failures -- at the conference.
"We need team players" -- ICIJ's Guevara on cross-border collaboration for muckrakers. Credit: Nils Mulvad.
Earlier, ICIJ would choose journalists with reputations as strong reporters and aggressive interviewers.
"Now we realize that this is only one part of the necessary skills," she told a packed audience Friday morning. "We also need them to be team players. And we need them to have support from their editors, so they get time to investigate and they can share their work with others."
Guevara also answered questions on ICIJ's biggest challenges in its work on the tax scam stories. "In past years we had to rely on others for data analysis," she said. "In Offshore Leaks, we had some challenging moments. Now we have created our own data unit, which represents 50% of the ICIJ staff." She also noted the difficulty of project management involving so many people spread across so many countries. "Project management in such a big project is something to take really care of, and it is a job hard to find people to do."
Dataharvest started in 2008 as a get-together for gathering European farm subsidy data, which reveals how billions of euros in EU aid is distributed across Europe. All EU countries are required to publish data before the 1st of May. Back then, the conference was held in early May to collect these data. The events also featured speeches and story sharing on the use of farm subsidy data.
In 2011, the farm subsidy team transferred responsibility for the conference to Journalismfund.eu, which expanded it with other topics in data journalism, freedom of information, and investigative reporting.
This was the eighth Dataharvest conference. The first three were largely organized by Jack Thurston and the author (Nils Mulvad), and since 2011 largely by Brigitte Alfter and the rest of the team at Journalismfund.eu.
This year the EU has changed the regulation on farm subsidies. For years officials have protected data on subsidies to individuals. But data from this year will now include this -- if the amount of subsidy is 1,250 euros or more. The deadline for release of the data is May 31 this year.
To see Nils Mulvad's work at DataHarvest, see this link at Kaas & Mulvad.
Nils Mulvad is a co-founder and board member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, as well as Investigative Reporting Denmark. He is also editor at Kaas & Mulvad, a data journalism consulting firm. He was CEO for the Danish International Center for Analytical Reporting 2001-2006 and European journalist of the year in 2006.
Here’s your chance to support the global spread of investigative journalism. We need your help to sponsor dozens of journalists from developing and transitioning countries to come to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Norway this October 8-11.
Held once every two years, the GIJC is a giant training and networking event. At over 150 sessions, the world's best journalists teach state-of-the-art investigative techniques, data analysis, cross-border reporting, online research, protecting sources, and more to reporters from some of the toughest media environments in the world.
We know from past conferences that our attendees return home to do groundbreaking investigations into corruption and abuse of power, launch investigative teams and non-profit centers, and help spread investigative reporting to where it is needed most.
We’ve been overwhelmed with requests to attend. GIJN and its co-host, Norway’s SKUP, have received 500 requests from more than 90 countries, and we can’t help them all. Please give what you can.
We will direct 100% of your gift to bring these journalists to GIJC15. Contributors will be publicly thanked (if they desire) on the GIJC15 conference page and social media. (Americans -- your donation is fully tax deductible.)
Just click on the DONATE button, make a contribution, and write GIJC15 in the Special Instructions box. And thank you!
More than 800 journalists have gathered in Hamburg for the annual Netzwerk Recherche conference, one of three major events for muckrakers this weekend.
This is a busy weekend for muckrakers: investigative journalists are now meeting in Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom for seminars, training sessions, and networking. The events, sponsored by GIJN members Abraji, Centre for Investigative Journalism, and Netzwerk Recherche, have brought together more than 1200 journalists from around the world. All three events include a range of practical sessions on investigative techniques, data journalism, and new models of muckraking.
In London, another ten-year anniversary is occurring with the UK Centre for Investigative Journalism's 10th CIJ Summer Conference. The event, with 60 sessions, has posted handouts on such topics as interactive storytelling, undercover filming, and tax havens.
And in Hamburg, Netzwerk Recherche, Germany's investigative journalism association, is holding its annual conference, which has drawn more than 800 people to the two-day event. GIJN's Nils Mulvad reports:
All three conferences emphasize skills and training. Photo: Netzwerk Recherche. Credit: Nils Mulvad.
Netzwerk Recherche is now focused on sharing tools and how to help journalists cooperate on international stories. The conference offered more than 100 sessions. In earlier conferences there was a lot of focus on discussions of ethical and philosophical questions, and less so on data journalism and other practical tools. But that has changed. "Many of the German journalists are now really dedicated to learning how to expand their investigations in other countries and media," says Julia Stein from Norddeutsher Rundfunk. Stein was just elected as chairwoman of Netzwerk Recherche.
Live events have evolved from an added revenue stream for media companies to a whole new style of storytelling.
Just as an article or a gallery of photos can shine a light on an issue for the public, so can these in-person gatherings.
Some media organizations are putting on full-fledged festivals in the same vein as South by Southwest and TED. These gatherings include panels of experts, one-on-one conversations with major newsmakers and presentations that explore ground-breaking topics. In other words, they’re an entirely new way of informing and providing information -- undoubtedly journalistic functions.
And it’s not just established news organizations that are going the live route. Startups and nonprofits that have only been around for a few years are making live content an integral part of their business.
There’s Zocalo Public Square, an affiliate of Arizona State University, which partners with institutions and public agencies to present free public events and conferences in cities across the U.S. Zocalo means “public square” in Spanish and the founders behind the project consider it to be an ideas exchange around such topics as gentrification and transit. A video archive shows the type of thinkers the media organization brings together.
Pop Up Magazine’s bread and butter is live events. Staff host an event around a theme -- sometimes partnering with others -- and speakers take to a stage to talk, act out a scene or get their message across in another format. The experience is described as a magazine coming to life. None of it is recorded because the emphasis is on the storytelling for those physically there. California Sunday, by the same people, is a more traditional, written-down spinoff project.
And StoryTour, based in New York, also refers to itself as an “in-person magazine.” Storytellers, like tour guides, lead groups to hidden parts of the city and then take part in “on-the-scene-storytelling.” Rather than using a stage or more traditional venue they travel to the source.
For these brands, live content is part performance art, part journalism. It’s also a way to get a different sort of audience excited and involved, rather than one that would just sit down to read.
One company that’s been recognized as a leader in the area of live content and events is the Texas Tribune. Events are right up there with data visualizations and other alternative forms of content that staff regularly employ.
John Jordan, editorial administrator, says if there is one part of the Tribune’s business for peers to emulate, it’s the events side of the house.
“It’s such a big part of who we are now,” he says.
Not only does the nonprofit earn steady money from events, but the gatherings also advance the outlet’s editorial mission and increase brand awareness. In this crowded digital marketplace, it’s a way to step out from behind the computer, stand out and add value and intelligent, thoughtful discussion.
Here are seven key takeaways from the Tribune’s focus on events, from Jordan:
1. Hold not one or two, but three different kinds of events.
The “big kahuna,” as Jordan calls it, is the annual Texas Tribune Festival, which is a weekend’s worth of sessions modeled after a long-running festival by The New Yorker. Last year alone 1,000 people came and paid anywhere from US$50 to US$250 apiece to attend.
Besides the festival, the Tribune’s other event types are free for attendees, and there’s a sponsorship model at play. The Tribune has a tiered membership model as well, and, in some cases, upper level donors get reserved seating at special events and schmoozefests.
The other two types of events are day-long symposia on a topic, often done in partnership with a university or academic institution, and one-on-one or one-on-two conversations with a newsmaker at the nearby Austin Club. Generally this involves editor-in-chief and co-founder Evan Smith in the interviewer role talking with a politician or other knowledgeable figure in the evening. Lunchtime discussions also take place, similarly, with newsmakers.
2. Establish a balance of caring about production value but not getting too hung up on it.
Putting on events costs money, and there are many technical details to consider. Jordan says his organization tries to be professional, to hold events in desirable settings and to ensure the sound and production quality are high. At the end of the day, though, the content is the most critical factor, and the audience will forgive occasional technical hiccups.
3. Put on events with regularity to become skilled at executing them.
At this point the Tribune puts on 30 evening one-on-one conversations annually, and the idea festival will be taking place for the fifth time in October. It’s only by doing this all the time has the staff become adept at what it takes to excel, Jordan says. Also the public is used to seeing that the Tribune constantly has live events and realizes how serious it is about it. Consequently, even though live content is centered on state politics, which can be divisive, the nonprofit’s events stay civil without arguments or the type of heckling and outbursts that might happen at campaign gatherings.
4. The hosts and facilitators are key.
Smith, as mentioned, serves as the host for the lion’s share of the Tribune’s regular live events. According to Jordan, the editor-in-chief becomes almost like a talk show host, leading the direction of the conversation and ensuring that it stays on track and newsworthy. He doesn’t try to skewer the guest but to make it a meaty interview, in which revelations are made and the discussion stays on policy and Texas lawmaking. At the annual festival, many of the reporters who regularly cover issue being addressed ask the questions to get the panels going. This adds editorial heft and ensures that what’s talked about constitutes journalistic-style content.
5. Livestreaming an event ensures that the content has legs and can live on.
Jordan said all material is archived to include anyone interested in hearing what transpired. This is especially significant, given that the Tribune purports to cover the entire state and those residents from other parts of Texas might not be able to physically get there. Considering how much content it’s accrued from past events, the nonprofit is also working to turn the insights and footage into a podcast.
6. Above all, live experiences must tie back to the larger journalistic mission.
That way, it’s more than just a one-off moneymaker, but rather a contributing force in the bigger pursuit. Jordan says, for the Tribune, the objective from the start has been to foster a smarter, better Texas. “Regardless of your politics, our philosophy is ‘everyone benefits,’” he says. “They can come to the Tribune for a variety of information and substantive conversation.”
An event, a data visualization, a photo story or a more standard article all seek to achieve this.
7. Don’t underestimate the immense value of putting citizens and lawmakers in the same room.
Jordan shares an example about a female citizen who reached out to him about attending a live event featuring the head of the Housing and Urban Development agency. Even though the event was full, Jordan let the woman come so that she personally could ask her set of questions to Secretary Julian Castro, which were complex enough that it would have been difficult for Jordan or someone else to relay. The woman showed up early enough to get to ask the first question of Castro, along with a cogent follow-up. Then, after the event, she met other citizens and activists as interested in the topic as her.
This is an experience not likely possible without an event like the Tribune’s, Jordan says.
“We’ve managed to create this ecosystem,” he says, of the events. “It’s incredibly valuable for citizens. And it comes down to the access, access, access to lawmakers that we provide.”
Dena Levitz just served as the first journalism fellow for D.C.-based startup hub 1776. In that role, she spent the past six months traveling all over the globe interviewing startup founders and analyzing innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship trends. She is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a staff writer for the Augusta Chronicle and for the Washington Examiner. @thatsledes
This post originally appeared on IJNet.org. IJNet helps professional, citizen and aspiring journalists find training, improve their skills and make connections. IJNet is produced by the International Center for Journalists in seven languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish - with a global team of professional editors. Subscribe to IJNet’s free, weekly newsletter. You can also follow IJNet on Twitter or like IJNet on Facebook.
GIJN member Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) will host its seventh annual forum for Arab investigative journalists in Amman, Jordan, this December. The theme of the three-day conference, which begins on December 5, will be "Arab Media: The Battle for Independence," and will feature more than 30 panels and trainings on topics such as reporters' safety in conflict zones, corruption in sports, and human rights abuses by militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
“Unfortunately, independent media in our region is minimal and lacks financial and professional resources,” says ARIJ Chairman Daoud Kuttab. “The push for democratic, transparent and pluralistic societies in our region will not succeed without nurturing the role of independent media to confront established media institutions owned or supported by governments, royal families and a coterie of businessmen.”
Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who uncovered the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, as well as the torture and abuse of detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison by U.S. soldiers, will be one of three keynote speakers.
Speakers at the other two plenary sessions are: Jordan’s Marwan Muasher, a leading columnist, diplomat, politician, and author of the new book, The Second Arab Awakening and the Battle for Pluralism; and Britain’s award-winning correspondent Tim Sebastian, who moderated BBC World’s interview program “HARDtalk” for seven years before launching televised debate shows across the Arab region and in South Asia.
Based in Amman and established in 2005, ARIJ is the region’s leading nonprofit media organization promoting in-depth reporting and helping journalists working in print, radio, TV, and online media in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Bahrain, Palestine, Yemen, and Tunisia. ARIJ is funded by the Copenhagen-based International Media Support, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
Uncovering Asia: The First Asian Investigative Journalism Conference, comes to Manila, November 22-24, 2014.
First, the big news: In just over two weeks we’ll convene Uncovering Asia, the region’s first investigative journalism conference. Excitement is building, and we’ve got an extraordinary array of the best journalists from Japan to Pakistan coming our way – heading to Manila for a World’s Fair of muckraking from Nov. 22-24.
Please join us if you can – GIJN has teamed up with two great partners to help give Asian investigative journalism a boost: the Asian Media Programme of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the German foundation; and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. We’ll have journalists from 25 countries talking about setting up networks, collaborating on stories, and sharing tips and data. Coming to Manila? It’s best if you register online, so there’s no wait and no hassle when you arrive. We’ll close online registration on Nov. 15.
Why Asia? Why Now?
So why are we heading to Asia? That’s easy. It’s where most of humanity lives, and the demand for quality investigative reporting is enormous. More than 4.3 billion people call Asia home – that’s 60% of the global population. It has the world’s second and third largest economies, and its share of global GDP is expected to double. But the region is also among the weakest links in an emerging global community of investigative journalists.
Why Asia matters: The region is home to 4.3 billion people, 60% of humanity. Credit: Imgur.
And in Asia? Not so much. No investigative networks. No annual conferences. No fund for investigative journalism. Of GIJN’s 107 members, only 5 are in Asia. All that needs to change.
Well, here’s the good news – it is in fact changing, and quickly. Our colleagues around the region tell us that Uncovering Asia is the right event at the right time. Fueled by the same forces that have made investigative reporting a force to be reckoned with elsewhere – globalization, computing power, mobile phones, and determined journalists — there are signs from Seoul to Islamabad that a new era of muckraking is at hand.
Sure, we’ve got huge challenges. Criminal libel laws are still on the books in many countries. China and Vietnam are among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. Traditional media are driven toward poorly reported scandals and sensation, not careful watchdog reporting. Journalists lack training and resources for in-depth reporting. Owners are too often in cahoots with the very people the media should be investigating. And it’s bloody dangerous out there. Too many of our colleagues from the Philippines to Pakistan have lost their lives simply for reporting the truth.
But history is on our side. A global marketplace means countries need to open up in order to compete. Smart leaders know that if they really want to fight corruption and promote public accountability, they need an investigative news media. Meanwhile, the Internet is bringing tools and techniques to our colleagues everywhere, and connecting journalists in unprecedented ways. Secrets are much harder to keep, while public records are more accessible than ever.
Here Come the Nonprofits
Asian investigative journalism nonprofits: A growth industry?
Major media plays a critical role in spreading investigative journalism around the world. But it is the nonprofits that have served as training centers, incubators, and models of excellence in the rapid growth of muckraking. And for years there was only one IJ nonprofit in Asia – the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, founded in 1989.
This is another reason we are heading to Manila – to mark and celebrate PCIJ’s 25 extraordinary years. In that quarter century, the Philippine Center has published more than 1,000 investigative reports, produced scores of documentaries, and launched some two dozen books. Its staff have run more than 120 seminars for journalists across Asia, and won 150 awards for their dogged work. PCIJ’s investigation in 2000 of then-President Joseph Estrada, which led to his impeachment, is taught in journalism schools as a case study in modern muckraking. Equally impressive, the PCIJ staff showed that an independent nonprofit could not only survive but thrive in a developing country, and its work over the years has served as a model for scores of nonprofit journalism centers around the world. That is worth heralding.
PCIJ helped inspire the Nepal Centre for Investigative Journalism, launched in 1996, which has been rejuvenated and is back doing first-rate work. And now look what has followed:
An unprecedented collaboration this year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in which ICIJ brought to Asia its Secrecy for Sale project on offshore assets – and with it the group’s cross-border team approach.
And planning for a new Southeast Asia Investigative Journalism Network.
A Promising Start
These nonprofits and networks are, of course, in addition to the extraordinary work being done by mainstream media, both local and international. To name but a few: the New York Times work on the corrupt wealth of China’s leadership; Reuters’ projects on mistreatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, and its Connected China data project; the Japanese media’s digging into the Fukushima nuclear disaster; the gutsy reporting by Chinese journalists from Caixin, Southern Weekend, and CCTV, among others; and a growing force of world-class reporters across South Asia, who refuse to accept government press releases and corporate payoffs as real journalism. And don’t forget the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s exposés of pork barrel politics, determined digging by Indonesia’s Tempo magazine and Taiwan’s CommonWealth, and watchdog reporting by Malaysia’s Malaysiakini and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post – these are but a few of the noteworthy efforts in recent years.
Journalism professors are playing a critical role, as well, training a new generation of journalists in how to dig, analyze data, and find documents. We’ve had tremendous response from top “J schools” in the region to Uncovering Asia. Among the schools which will be represented at the conference: the Ateneo de Manila University’s Asian Center for Journalism (Philippines), Asian College of Journalism (India), Chung-Ang University’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication (Korea), Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (U.S.), Hong Kong University’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre (Hong Kong), and Waseda University’s Journalism School (Japan).
So, come join us in Manila if you can, and hear first-hand the reporters involved in charting the future of in-depth journalism. We’ll have more than 30 sessions ranging from tracking assets and dirty money to the latest data tools and how to set up your own investigative team. If you can’t join us, you can follow it all on Twitter at #IJAsia14. And don’t’ worry if you miss much. This isn’t the end of something big – it’s the beginning.
More than 800 journalists have gathered in Hamburg for the annual Netzwerk Recherche conference, one of three major events for muckrakers this weekend.
This is a busy weekend for muckrakers: investigative journalists are now meeting in Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom for seminars, training sessions, and networking. The events, sponsored by GIJN members Abraji, Centre for Investigative Journalism, and Netzwerk Recherche, have brought together more than 1200 journalists from around the world. All three events include a range of practical sessions on investigative techniques, data journalism, and new models of muckraking.
In London, another ten-year anniversary is occurring with the UK Centre for Investigative Journalism's 10th CIJ Summer Conference. The event, with 60 sessions, has posted handouts on such topics as interactive storytelling, undercover filming, and tax havens.
And in Hamburg, Netzwerk Recherche, Germany's investigative journalism association, is holding its annual conference, which has drawn more than 800 people to the two-day event. GIJN's Nils Mulvad reports:
All three conferences emphasize skills and training. Photo: Netzwerk Recherche. Credit: Nils Mulvad.
Netzwerk Recherche is now focused on sharing tools and how to help journalists cooperate on international stories. The conference offered more than 100 sessions. In earlier conferences there was a lot of focus on discussions of ethical and philosophical questions, and less so on data journalism and other practical tools. But that has changed. "Many of the German journalists are now really dedicated to learning how to expand their investigations in other countries and media," says Julia Stein from Norddeutsher Rundfunk. Stein was just elected as chairwoman of Netzwerk Recherche.
Live events have evolved from an added revenue stream for media companies to a whole new style of storytelling.
Just as an article or a gallery of photos can shine a light on an issue for the public, so can these in-person gatherings.
Some media organizations are putting on full-fledged festivals in the same vein as South by Southwest and TED. These gatherings include panels of experts, one-on-one conversations with major newsmakers and presentations that explore ground-breaking topics. In other words, they’re an entirely new way of informing and providing information -- undoubtedly journalistic functions.
And it’s not just established news organizations that are going the live route. Startups and nonprofits that have only been around for a few years are making live content an integral part of their business.
There’s Zocalo Public Square, an affiliate of Arizona State University, which partners with institutions and public agencies to present free public events and conferences in cities across the U.S. Zocalo means “public square” in Spanish and the founders behind the project consider it to be an ideas exchange around such topics as gentrification and transit. A video archive shows the type of thinkers the media organization brings together.
Pop Up Magazine’s bread and butter is live events. Staff host an event around a theme -- sometimes partnering with others -- and speakers take to a stage to talk, act out a scene or get their message across in another format. The experience is described as a magazine coming to life. None of it is recorded because the emphasis is on the storytelling for those physically there. California Sunday, by the same people, is a more traditional, written-down spinoff project.
And StoryTour, based in New York, also refers to itself as an “in-person magazine.” Storytellers, like tour guides, lead groups to hidden parts of the city and then take part in “on-the-scene-storytelling.” Rather than using a stage or more traditional venue they travel to the source.
For these brands, live content is part performance art, part journalism. It’s also a way to get a different sort of audience excited and involved, rather than one that would just sit down to read.
One company that’s been recognized as a leader in the area of live content and events is the Texas Tribune. Events are right up there with data visualizations and other alternative forms of content that staff regularly employ.
John Jordan, editorial administrator, says if there is one part of the Tribune’s business for peers to emulate, it’s the events side of the house.
“It’s such a big part of who we are now,” he says.
Not only does the nonprofit earn steady money from events, but the gatherings also advance the outlet’s editorial mission and increase brand awareness. In this crowded digital marketplace, it’s a way to step out from behind the computer, stand out and add value and intelligent, thoughtful discussion.
Here are seven key takeaways from the Tribune’s focus on events, from Jordan:
1. Hold not one or two, but three different kinds of events.
The “big kahuna,” as Jordan calls it, is the annual Texas Tribune Festival, which is a weekend’s worth of sessions modeled after a long-running festival by The New Yorker. Last year alone 1,000 people came and paid anywhere from US$50 to US$250 apiece to attend.
Besides the festival, the Tribune’s other event types are free for attendees, and there’s a sponsorship model at play. The Tribune has a tiered membership model as well, and, in some cases, upper level donors get reserved seating at special events and schmoozefests.
The other two types of events are day-long symposia on a topic, often done in partnership with a university or academic institution, and one-on-one or one-on-two conversations with a newsmaker at the nearby Austin Club. Generally this involves editor-in-chief and co-founder Evan Smith in the interviewer role talking with a politician or other knowledgeable figure in the evening. Lunchtime discussions also take place, similarly, with newsmakers.
2. Establish a balance of caring about production value but not getting too hung up on it.
Putting on events costs money, and there are many technical details to consider. Jordan says his organization tries to be professional, to hold events in desirable settings and to ensure the sound and production quality are high. At the end of the day, though, the content is the most critical factor, and the audience will forgive occasional technical hiccups.
3. Put on events with regularity to become skilled at executing them.
At this point the Tribune puts on 30 evening one-on-one conversations annually, and the idea festival will be taking place for the fifth time in October. It’s only by doing this all the time has the staff become adept at what it takes to excel, Jordan says. Also the public is used to seeing that the Tribune constantly has live events and realizes how serious it is about it. Consequently, even though live content is centered on state politics, which can be divisive, the nonprofit’s events stay civil without arguments or the type of heckling and outbursts that might happen at campaign gatherings.
4. The hosts and facilitators are key.
Smith, as mentioned, serves as the host for the lion’s share of the Tribune’s regular live events. According to Jordan, the editor-in-chief becomes almost like a talk show host, leading the direction of the conversation and ensuring that it stays on track and newsworthy. He doesn’t try to skewer the guest but to make it a meaty interview, in which revelations are made and the discussion stays on policy and Texas lawmaking. At the annual festival, many of the reporters who regularly cover issue being addressed ask the questions to get the panels going. This adds editorial heft and ensures that what’s talked about constitutes journalistic-style content.
5. Livestreaming an event ensures that the content has legs and can live on.
Jordan said all material is archived to include anyone interested in hearing what transpired. This is especially significant, given that the Tribune purports to cover the entire state and those residents from other parts of Texas might not be able to physically get there. Considering how much content it’s accrued from past events, the nonprofit is also working to turn the insights and footage into a podcast.
6. Above all, live experiences must tie back to the larger journalistic mission.
That way, it’s more than just a one-off moneymaker, but rather a contributing force in the bigger pursuit. Jordan says, for the Tribune, the objective from the start has been to foster a smarter, better Texas. “Regardless of your politics, our philosophy is ‘everyone benefits,’” he says. “They can come to the Tribune for a variety of information and substantive conversation.”
An event, a data visualization, a photo story or a more standard article all seek to achieve this.
7. Don’t underestimate the immense value of putting citizens and lawmakers in the same room.
Jordan shares an example about a female citizen who reached out to him about attending a live event featuring the head of the Housing and Urban Development agency. Even though the event was full, Jordan let the woman come so that she personally could ask her set of questions to Secretary Julian Castro, which were complex enough that it would have been difficult for Jordan or someone else to relay. The woman showed up early enough to get to ask the first question of Castro, along with a cogent follow-up. Then, after the event, she met other citizens and activists as interested in the topic as her.
This is an experience not likely possible without an event like the Tribune’s, Jordan says.
“We’ve managed to create this ecosystem,” he says, of the events. “It’s incredibly valuable for citizens. And it comes down to the access, access, access to lawmakers that we provide.”
Dena Levitz just served as the first journalism fellow for D.C.-based startup hub 1776. In that role, she spent the past six months traveling all over the globe interviewing startup founders and analyzing innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship trends. She is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a staff writer for the Augusta Chronicle and for the Washington Examiner. @thatsledes
This post originally appeared on IJNet.org. IJNet helps professional, citizen and aspiring journalists find training, improve their skills and make connections. IJNet is produced by the International Center for Journalists in seven languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish - with a global team of professional editors. Subscribe to IJNet’s free, weekly newsletter. You can also follow IJNet on Twitter or like IJNet on Facebook.
Live events have evolved from an added revenue stream for media companies to a whole new style of storytelling.
Just as an article or a gallery of photos can shine a light on an issue for the public, so can these in-person gatherings.
Some media organizations are putting on full-fledged festivals in the same vein as South by Southwest and TED. These gatherings include panels of experts, one-on-one conversations with major newsmakers and presentations that explore ground-breaking topics. In other words, they’re an entirely new way of informing and providing information — undoubtedly journalistic functions.
And it’s not just established news organizations that are going the live route. Startups and nonprofits that have only been around for a few years are making live content an integral part of their business.
There’s Zocalo Public Square, an affiliate of Arizona State University, which partners with institutions and public agencies to present free public events and conferences in cities across the U.S. Zocalo means “public square” in Spanish and the founders behind the project consider it to be an ideas exchange around such topics as gentrification and transit. A video archive shows the type of thinkers the media organization brings together.
Pop Up Magazine’s bread and butter is live events. Staff host an event around a theme — sometimes partnering with others — and speakers take to a stage to talk, act out a scene or get their message across in another format. The experience is described as a magazine coming to life. None of it is recorded because the emphasis is on the storytelling for those physically there. California Sunday, by the same people, is a more traditional, written-down spinoff project.
And StoryTour, based in New York, also refers to itself as an “in-person magazine.” Storytellers, like tour guides, lead groups to hidden parts of the city and then take part in “on-the-scene-storytelling.” Rather than using a stage or more traditional venue they travel to the source.
For these brands, live content is part performance art, part journalism. It’s also a way to get a different sort of audience excited and involved, rather than one that would just sit down to read.
One company that’s been recognized as a leader in the area of live content and events is the Texas Tribune. Events are right up there with data visualizations and other alternative forms of content that staff regularly employ.
John Jordan, editorial administrator, says if there is one part of the Tribune’s business for peers to emulate, it’s the events side of the house.
“It’s such a big part of who we are now,” he says.
Not only does the nonprofit earn steady money from events, but the gatherings also advance the outlet’s editorial mission and increase brand awareness. In this crowded digital marketplace, it’s a way to step out from behind the computer, stand out and add value and intelligent, thoughtful discussion.
Here are seven key takeaways from the Tribune’s focus on events, from Jordan:
1. Hold not one or two, but three different kinds of events.
The “big kahuna,” as Jordan calls it, is the annual Texas Tribune Festival, which is a weekend’s worth of sessions modeled after a long-running festival by The New Yorker. Last year alone 1,000 people came and paid anywhere from US$50 to US$250 apiece to attend.
Besides the festival, the Tribune’s other event types are free for attendees, and there’s a sponsorship model at play. The Tribune has a tiered membership model as well, and, in some cases, upper level donors get reserved seating at special events and schmoozefests.
The other two types of events are day-long symposia on a topic, often done in partnership with a university or academic institution, and one-on-one or one-on-two conversations with a newsmaker at the nearby Austin Club. Generally this involves editor-in-chief and co-founder Evan Smith in the interviewer role talking with a politician or other knowledgeable figure in the evening. Lunchtime discussions also take place, similarly, with newsmakers.
2. Establish a balance of caring about production value but not getting too hung up on it.
Putting on events costs money, and there are many technical details to consider. Jordan says his organization tries to be professional, to hold events in desirable settings and to ensure the sound and production quality are high. At the end of the day, though, the content is the most critical factor, and the audience will forgive occasional technical hiccups.
3. Put on events with regularity to become skilled at executing them.
At this point the Tribune puts on 30 evening one-on-one conversations annually, and the idea festival will be taking place for the fifth time in October. It’s only by doing this all the time has the staff become adept at what it takes to excel, Jordan says. Also the public is used to seeing that the Tribune constantly has live events and realizes how serious it is about it. Consequently, even though live content is centered on state politics, which can be divisive, the nonprofit’s events stay civil without arguments or the type of heckling and outbursts that might happen at campaign gatherings.
4. The hosts and facilitators are key.
Smith, as mentioned, serves as the host for the lion’s share of the Tribune’s regular live events. According to Jordan, the editor-in-chief becomes almost like a talk show host, leading the direction of the conversation and ensuring that it stays on track and newsworthy. He doesn’t try to skewer the guest but to make it a meaty interview, in which revelations are made and the discussion stays on policy and Texas lawmaking. At the annual festival, many of the reporters who regularly cover issue being addressed ask the questions to get the panels going. This adds editorial heft and ensures that what’s talked about constitutes journalistic-style content.
5. Livestreaming an event ensures that the content has legs and can live on.
Jordan said all material is archived to include anyone interested in hearing what transpired. This is especially significant, given that the Tribune purports to cover the entire state and those residents from other parts of Texas might not be able to physically get there. Considering how much content it’s accrued from past events, the nonprofit is also working to turn the insights and footage into a podcast.
6. Above all, live experiences must tie back to the larger journalistic mission.
That way, it’s more than just a one-off moneymaker, but rather a contributing force in the bigger pursuit. Jordan says, for the Tribune, the objective from the start has been to foster a smarter, better Texas. “Regardless of your politics, our philosophy is ‘everyone benefits,’” he says. “They can come to the Tribune for a variety of information and substantive conversation.”
An event, a data visualization, a photo story or a more standard article all seek to achieve this.
7. Don’t underestimate the immense value of putting citizens and lawmakers in the same room.
Jordan shares an example about a female citizen who reached out to him about attending a live event featuring the head of the Housing and Urban Development agency. Even though the event was full, Jordan let the woman come so that she personally could ask her set of questions to Secretary Julian Castro, which were complex enough that it would have been difficult for Jordan or someone else to relay. The woman showed up early enough to get to ask the first question of Castro, along with a cogent follow-up. Then, after the event, she met other citizens and activists as interested in the topic as her.
This is an experience not likely possible without an event like the Tribune’s, Jordan says.
“We’ve managed to create this ecosystem,” he says, of the events. “It’s incredibly valuable for citizens. And it comes down to the access, access, access to lawmakers that we provide.”
Dena Levitz just served as the first journalism fellow for D.C.-based startup hub 1776. In that role, she spent the past six months traveling all over the globe interviewing startup founders and analyzing innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship trends. She is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a staff writer for the Augusta Chronicle and for the Washington Examiner. @thatsledes
This post originally appeared on IJNet.org. IJNet helps professional, citizen and aspiring journalists find training, improve their skills and make connections. IJNet is produced by the International Center for Journalists in seven languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish – with a global team of professional editors. Subscribe to IJNet’s free, weekly newsletter. You can also follow IJNet on Twitter or like IJNet on Facebook.
Given all the trash, half-truths and outright lies published on digital media, people are placing a higher value on media that verify information and demonstrate high ethical standards.
Paul Steiger, founder and executive chairman of ProPublica, tells of a major donor to his online publication who “absolutely hated” an investigative story that they had published about a group “near and dear to the donor’s heart”. Steiger told the donor that the information was verified, and the story was fair. “We will just have to agree to disagree,” he told the donor.
The donor, who had given $100,000 every year, stopped giving. And that would have been the end of the story, except that a year later, with no explanation, the donor’s annual check arrived again. Steiger’s point was that even people who disagree with you still respect journalism with high standards of accuracy and ethics.
He made his comments to students and faculty of the University of Navarra during a series of public presentations and interviews with various media. He described some of the keys to producing effective investigative journalism even while traditional news media have been cutting back on staff and in-depth reporting. (You can see coverage of his talks, in Spanish, from ABC, Público, El Mundo, and Infolibre, along with a Storify of Tweets in English and Spanish.)
The Way Ahead
ProPublica has been blazing a trail for the future of investigative journalism. Its reporters and editors have made great use of digital tools to get laws changed, halt predatory lending practices, and expose financial fraud on a national scale in the U.S..
They have produced award-winning journalism with a focused team of 50 journalists and a relatively small budget of $12.4 million, which is a drop in the bucket compared to all the media spending in the U.S. The details of how they have accomplished this are in ProPublica’s 17-page 2015 report, “At the Frontiers of the New Data Journalism.” It offers a large-scale model for investigative reporting that could be replicated on a small scale.
Steiger tirelessly answered questions from his Spanish audiences and made several key points again and again:
A small team can multiply its impact by collaboration (see Steal Our Stories). ProPublica has shared its investigative reports under Creative Commons license with more than 100 print, television, and radio media, including the BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting System.
Their stories are increasingly data driven. With just one data journalist they investigated how nurses with severe disciplinary problems in California were able to stay on the job. Now with nine data journalists they have produced stories and searchable databases that revealed: the rate of medical complications for 17,000 surgeons, corporate efforts to reduce benefits to injured workers, abusive debt-collection practices that disproportionately target black consumers, the highest-billing doctors who receive payments to provide services to 49 million Medicare patients, and the popular Dollars for Docs, where users look up any doctor who has received payments from drug or medical device companies for speeches, research, or consulting.
Investigative journalism is social. For their series on surgeons and surgical outcomes, reporters created a forum where patients could share their stories and exchange experiences. ProPublica has 415,000 followers on Twitter,127,000 fans on Facebook, and 69,000 email subscribers, which is a strong indicator of loyal followers. The site has nearly 1 million monthly unique users.
Investigative journalism is expensive and time consuming. Steiger said a ProPublica investigation typically costs from $200,000 to $500,000. The investigation of surgeons took three years because of the need to make the presentation as fair, complete, and bullet-proof as possible.
Accuracy and integrity are fundamental, Steiger said. And that credibility is the publication’s most important asset.
Journalism is a public service but it has to be profitable, Steiger said. You have to have a solid financial base to do this kind of work.
Journalism needs to demand accountability from the powerful in order to be that pillar of a healthy democracy, the Fourth Estate.
Paul Steiger. Photo: Navarra University.
Steiger founded Propublica in 2008 with a donation of $10 million from the Sandler Foundation. Its stated goal was to be an independent, non-profit newsroom that produced investigative journalism in the public interest. Propublica focuses exclusively on what it sees as truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” They aim, in their words, “to shine a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them”.
Steiger had known and respected Herb and Marion Sandler, the couple behind the foundation, for many years. The Sandlers had run what he thought was one of the best managed savings-and-loan institutions in the country.
The Sandlers told him wanted to make a contribution to investigative journalism, which they saw as a big need, given newsroom cutbacks around the country. They asked Steiger’s advice about how to do it. At the time, Steiger was managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, whose team had won 16 Pulitzer Prices on his watch.
So he literally did a “back of the envelope” estimate on one of his wife’s envelopes of what it would take to organize an investigative journalism team. The Sandlers were impressed and asked him if he would launch it. Steiger said yes, if they could wait a year for him to hit mandatory retirement age from the Wall Street Journal. And so it began.
Engaged Students
It was my privilege to introduce Steiger when he gave a master class at the University of Navarra. As I told the students, Steiger and his team at ProPublica have been showing how, despite the crisis that traditional journalism is suffering, there is another way to do high-quality journalism, which is digital, multimedia, collaborative, data driven, agile, and from a business perspective, it is sustainable financially.
The students asked great questions:
What’s more important to be a good journalist, talent or hard work? “You need both,” Steiger said. “But what makes a good journalist, more than anything, is hard work and perseverance.”
How do you transform data into a story? “The data is the starting point. You then have to do the shoe-leather reporting to find the human story in the statistics.”
Many news organizations in Spain don’t pay interns, but we need experience to get a job. What can we do to change this situation?
“I always felt that the only ethical way to treat interns was to pay them. If you don’t, you are creating a pernicious two-tiered system that favors students from well-to-do families who have resources to support them during an unpaid internship. Students from poor families can’t accept an internship without pay and they miss out on experience that would help them get started in their careers.”
This post originally appeared on the blog News Entrepreneurs. It is re-published with the author’s permission.
James Breiner is a consultant and visiting professor at Spain’s University of Navarra. He is former director of the Global Business Journalism program at China’s Tsinghua University and founding director of the University of Guadalajara’s Center for Digital Journalism. He has worked as publisher, editor, and I-team leader. @jamesbreiner
Current Safety Practices and Guidelines, and the Gaps for Journalists’ Safety
Recently, there has been a concerted effort to improve safety for journalists by media professionals across the world. Several media development organizations are dedicated solely to the issue of journalists’ safety. Appendix A includes a consolidated list of organizations working on this issue, although it should be noted that many others are also engaged on this topic. Leading media professionals have collaborated to create guidelines and initiatives. This report does not seek to replicate those guidelines, but to briefly highlight them in order to illustrate what has been and is being done on the issue of journalists’ safety and to shine a spotlight on areas where change is needed.
In addition, some media organizations have come together within national borders to develop safety measures. For example, Pakistani media leaders met in November 2015 to discuss journalists’ safety nationally and produced a list of guidelines, which include having designated emergency contacts inside the newsroom, mandating first aid training for journalists, and holding security briefings before embarking on risky assignments.
What follows is a brief summary of these guidelines and the challenges that remain for implementing them. Media professionals are encouraged to review these guidelines at length and incorporate them into their organizational strategies.
I. Culture of Safety Global Safety Principles and Practices
The Culture of Safety’s Global Safety Principles and Practices were unveiled in February 2015 specifically with freelance journalists in mind; however, aspects of the guidelines are incorporated by some media organizations for all employees. Seventy-seven organizations signed on and committed to practicing these guidelines. The guidelines provide recommendations for both freelance journalists and media organizations. Suggestions for journalists include safety measures such as completing hostile environment and first aid training and conducting thorough and regular risk assessments. It also includes limited guidelines for collaborating with news organizations. Recommendations for news organizations included guidelines for contracting in-country and freelance journalists, which included providing safety training and equipment, factoring into budgets additional costs freelancers may bear, giving freelance and local journalists fair recognition for their work, and taking equal responsibility for a freelance or local journalist’s well-being when publishing their work.
The Culture of Safety group expanded its guidelines in October 2015 to propose additional initiatives related to journalists’ safety. These initiatives included researching the possibility of a freelance insurance pool, sharing security information across media organizations, proposing safety training standards, increasing access to and awareness of security trainings for freelance journalists, and adopting anti-discrimination policies.
II. International Declaration on the Protection of Journalists
The International Declaration on the Protection of Journalists was released in December 2015 as a complement to the Global Safety Principles and Practices. The Declaration focused on the responsibilities of governments and relevant institutions to protect journalists and offered best practices for media organizations that highlight steps they and their staff can take to create safer conditions for media workers.
The Declaration reiterated that responsibilities of governments and relevant institutions should include treating crimes and threats against media professionals as human rights violations. The document emphasized the government’s responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists. In addition, the Declaration detailed the rights of journalists and decried violations of those rights and interference with reporting. The Declaration stressed that nations should take appropriate measures to prevent violence against journalists and hold perpetrators of violence accountable for their crimes.
The Declaration also offered several recommendations for news organizations and journalists, including the recommendations that media organizations should adopt effective safety protocols for journalists; increase access to high-quality safety training, which includes digital safety, trauma, and environmental hazards; develop tools and procedures aimed at ensuring the physical, psychological, and digital safety of journalists; maintain credibility and independence of media and practice ethical journalistic standards; and put the Global Safety Principles and Practices into effect. In turn, journalists should understand international and national laws, as well as international human rights standards and principles. The Declaration also recommended dedicating attention and implementing appropriate measures to gender-specific safety concerns that affect women journalists.
III. Challenges and Barriers to Implementation of Best Practices
Despite strong and well-considered recommendations to improve journalists’ safety, challenges remain. Because all of these guidelines are voluntary, news organizations, media professionals, and other stakeholders must work to encourage and adopt these practices.
As described above, media outlets often fail to apply the above practices in their work with freelance journalists. Media organizations may not know what security training freelancers have completed, so they cannot guarantee use of standard safety procedures and precautions. Organizations may not be willing or able to cover the additional costs for working with freelance journalists according to the practices listed above. In addition, some media organizations fear legal risks and obligations in taking responsibility for freelancer safety. To address these challenges, media organizations may want to consider more formal policies or guidelines when contracting freelancers.
IV. Security Policies and Protocols at News Media Organizations
Most media organizations worldwide do not have an explicit set of policies for security. In many cases where policies exist, journalists are not aware of or have not been involved in either formulating or evaluating them.
However, many news organizations are working to improve their security policies to address a greater range of risks, including digital security threats. Some policies include the following protocols:
• Risk assessments conducted before assignments by regional managers, dedicated security advisors, and directors. These often include emergency communication protocols for when staff are in the field.
• A dedicated editorial safety team. This would be made up of a manager and a security advisor who devise security protocols for journalists who work in high risk environments.
• High-level editorial approval for risky assignments. Some organizations do not allow staff to pursue assignments deemed too dangerous.
• Provision of security equipment. Ensuring that journalists have appropriate tools to conduct their work and respond to emergencies, including satellite phones, medical kits, and body armor.
• Mandatory insurance. This may apply to staff journalists only. Many media development organizations and international task forces on journalists’ safety have pressed for media organizations to not commission work from uninsured freelancers.
• Social media and digital policy. Some organizations may be unwittingly putting their reporters in danger by insisting on an active Twitter or Facebook presence despite the increased vulnerability to harassment online.
• Treatment of stress and trauma. Some of the bigger and better-funded organizations have set up confidential hotlines or provide therapist referrals for staff experiencing emotional stress from their work. These outlets are moving towards creating a newsroom culture that removes the stigma sometimes associated with seeking psychological help. Managers or counselors might debrief staff after difficult assignments and create a system where colleagues look after each other, know how to spot signs of emotion turmoil, and know when to encourage treatment and lend support. NGOs and journalist unions provide these services in some countries, but media owners and leaders must work to ensure the well-being of their staff.
Some news organizations engage in constant monitoring and revision of their safety policies, updating them regularly to address new needs. But many policies fall out of date, or are put on paper but not into practice. Many media organizations do not have policies in place on journalists’ safety at all, or their policies are vague and do not make real commitments. In addition, while some media organizations have security policies that include specific best practices for women journalists, many fail to include risks with unique gendered components.
Organizational policy varies in its treatment of emergency situations and high risks encountered by its staff. Some organizations may temporarily or permanently relocate a journalist, reach out to appropriate groups or authorities to address the threats, or take action to promote public awareness of the problem.
V. Security Training
Training relevant to journalist security includes:
• Hostile environment, often conducted by ex-military personnel. This sometimes includes modules on civil unrest and war.
• Risk analysis and contingency planning.
• Situational awareness.
• Emergency first aid.
• Kidnapping and hostage negotiation.
• Natural disaster preparedness. (Response to earthquakes, epidemics, hurricanes, etc.)
• Digital security, including encryption methods and general cyber hygiene.
• Psychological and emotional self-care.
News organizations vary in the types of training they offer. Some organizations, like Reuters, have in-house hostile environment courses. Some do not offer training at all. Few provide comprehensive training, and even fewer offer refresher courses.
VI. Digital Security
While some news organizations have policies on digital security and offer training to secure communications, many organizations do not. In addition, there is scant legislation on a national or international level that adequately addresses digital harassment. In many cases, law enforcement agencies simply issue a report and take no further action.
Digital harassment is an increasingly frequent occurrence that has forced journalists to abandon stories or even the profession. This type of intimidation is especially acute for women journalists, who often face graphic rape and death threats that include personal details when they publish work online. Some large online companies such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter widely used by journalists have clauses against harassment and cyberbullying in their Terms of Service. For instance, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all advise victims of harassment to block and report the offending users, and report to law enforcement if the situation escalates. These measures are limited in scope, however, and do not contain guarantees that harassers will be punished. If they are removed, harassers may simply create different accounts or use new IP addresses. These measures do not include assistance for journalists encountering other types of online harassment, such as doxxing.
In addition, these policies do nothing to help protect journalists on sites such as Reddit or 4chan, which tolerate hostile postings, especially towards women, or in the comments section of online news sites.
Recommendations and Next Steps
The IWMF offers suggestions of next steps and guidelines for those invested in the issue of journalists’ safety. We hope that this will lead to discussion of creative and concrete solutions during the upcoming conference.
I. Ending Impunity
The top concern cited in this paper is ending impunity for crimes against journalists. Gabriela Manuli of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) stated, “This should be a top priority of civil society, professional organizations, governments, and multilateral institutions worldwide.”
CPJ continues to update its Impunity Index each year, and UNESCO issues annual reports on impunity – alternating between its report on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development, and the Director-General’s report to the International Programme for the Development of Communication. There is consensus in the industry that UN member states should adhere to laws and Security Resolutions that on paper protect freedom of speech, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Security Council Resolution 1738, and Article 79 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions; however, not all UN member states prioritize implementation of these laws.
Governments must make press freedom a priority. One idea circulating in the industry is to “name and shame” offending governments within the United Nations. Otherwise, they will continue to endanger journalists with impunity.
Member states with poor records of implementation should be pressured to create legislation or reforms that improve freedom of expression. Journalists and media development organizations are often limited in their ability to hold accountable governments that silence, threaten, or harass journalists. This may include partnering with unaffiliated legal professionals or media advocacy groups to support journalists who have been unfairly arrested or detained. In this way, the fight for press freedom by journalists is part of the fight for ensuring the conditions for safe journalism.
Professionals interviewed for this report recommended improving the track record and reporting mechanisms for countries reporting on journalists’ safety, pushing for greater transparency in the treatment of and value of the press and focusing on diplomatic and political attention to the issue.
II. Protective Measures, Policies and Resources
News professionals must act to ensure greater responsiveness by states and the international community to the lack of protective measures for journalists and the crisis of impunity. They can cover instances of threats and violence against journalists in greater depth and volume, as well as engage in direct advocacy for raising awareness with those actors who have influence and power to make change.
When considering security protocols and policies and resources made available to journalists, organizations must consider the unique implications of attacks on female journalists. This might include providing medical kits for injuries inflicted during sexual assault, self defense training, and creation of a corporate culture where reporting sexual harassment or violence is encouraged.
III. Training and Access to Medical Resources
Photo: UNESCO/P. Chiang-Joo
There is also a significant demand for digital security training, mental health resources, and access to emergency assistance, both physical and psychological. Media professionals must encourage news organizations to subsidize or cover hostile environment and first aid training for all journalists, including freelancers and local staff. In addition, news organizations must develop and deploy enhanced security protocols for journalists working in hostile environments or covering dangerous topics. Most journalists killed while reporting are local journalists covering crime, corruption, or business practices; media professionals recommend an increase in both physical and digital security training in country.
Media organizations need to do a better job addressing physical trauma on journalists working in dangerous environments and providing them with the support and medical resources they need.
Newsroom leadership should be more proactive in addressing the psychological wellbeing of journalists covering hostile and dangerous environments. Managers should advise staff and freelancers about access to affordable and appropriate counseling should they choose to seek it. Management should create a newsroom culture where colleagues are briefed about the signs of trauma and know how to act.
Newsroom managers should be sensitive to the fact that social and online media use can lead to harassment of journalists. Some journalists may limit their online activity or delete their online accounts to avoid such treatment.
IV. Equipment and Other Resources
Many freelancers and local journalists do not have access to health or equipment insurance or equipment such as body armor, medical supplies, and satellite telephones. News organizations should consider mandating comprehensive insurance for journalists working in dangerous places and make sure they have emergency contacts and protocols.
Organizations should also consider covering costs for protective measures like insurance and training. Organizations should also be encouraged to find creative solutions to promote journalists’ safety. Many media development organizations offer assistance to help news organizations and individual journalists create processes and protocols, tool boxes, and training. Journalism schools should add instruction related to media law and security, especially focused on digital security, if these curricula do not exist already. In addition, journalists should become familiar with international laws and human rights standards, as well as national laws and the cultural, ethnic, religious, historical, and political contexts of the countries or regions in which they are working.
All professionals in the media and media support arena should be actively working to protect journalists. The media industry must take more responsibility for staff safety, especially for contract freelancers and support staff such as fixers, translators, and drivers. Media organizations should not send staff to potentially dangerous environments without proper insurance, equipment, training, and compensation. To ensure the best implementation of journalists’ safety measures, media organizations must collaborate and share resources and best industry practices.
This report was written by Cassie Clark of the International Women’s Media Foundation and edited by Judith Matloff of Columbia University and Alana Barton of the IWMF, with additional input from Elisa Lees Muñoz and Pilar Frank O’Leary of the IWMF. Reprinted with permission from the IWMF.
The court ordered Ismayilova’s release and suspended her sentence, acquitting her of the charges of misappropriation and abuse of power, but upholding the charges of illegal entrepreneurship and tax evasion, for which she still faces 3 years and 6 months. That sentence was commuted to probation.
Surrounded by TV cameras, reporters and admirers as she left prison, she remained defiant.
“There was no crime,” Ismayilova told the press upon her release. “President Aliyev and his clique decided to get rid of any criticism against them. It was part of the oppressive action against human rights activists, journalists and NGO leaders”.
“I will go further to the European Court and I will fight until I am proven [innocent] on all charges and I will hold the Azerbaijani government responsible for keeping me a year and a half in prison, keeping me away from my work, my family and my students. The government will be held responsible for doing all this.”
After the release: Khadija, amid friends and family, holds her mother’s hand. Credit: Azadlik Radiosu.
She was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison last September by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on charges relating to large-scale misappropriation and embezzlement, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion and abuse of power. She has denied the charges against her.
“Khadija’s release corrects a grave injustice that she and the people of Azerbaijan have suffered. We feel very happy for Khadija and her family who have been so strong during this ordeal,” Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) editor Drew Sullivan said. “OCCRP will continue to report on the first family of Azerbaijan and any corruption in that country we find. There is much work to do.”
Ismayilova’s colleagues at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty celebrated her release. “This is a great day for Khadija, and for independent journalists everywhere,” said Nenad Pejic, RFE/RL editor-in-chief. “We are overjoyed for Khadija, for her family, and for her colleagues, and can’t wait for her to get back to work.”
Her lawyers filed the appeal after the Baku Court of Appeal upheld her original sentencing on Nov. 25, 2015. Her lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev said Ismayilova asked to be released from prison in the appeal petition. The panel of judges was chaired by Ali Seyfaliyev, Radio Azadliq reported.
Ismayilova previously said she expected further appeals to be rejected by her final recourse, the country’s Supreme Court, according to Amnesty International. However, the court accepted her petition and ruled for her release.
“It’s the most amazing news we could ever hope for!”, OCCRP regional editor and investigative reporter Miranda Patrucic exclaimed at the news. “We worked really hard in the past year and half on stories that she would be doing and it helped show the government there’s no real point in keeping her in prison anymore.”
Patrucic has been a reporter, editor and one of the coordinators for OCCRP’s Khadija Project. The Khadija Project was started by colleagues and friends of Ismayilova to continue the work she started. Journalists and volunteers from the US and Europe joined with others in Turkey and the Caucasus to carry on her work after she was jailed.
Credit: Azadlik Radiosu.
Emin Milli, managing director at the independent Azerbaijani Meydan TV hailed Ismayilova’s release. “This is a great day for freedom of expression not only in Azerbaijan, but also for the rest of the world,” he said. “Khadija has remained free in spirit during her one and a half years in jail, and during that time she has gained international recognition for her bravery and talent.
“I hope her release means that the Azerbaijani government is beginning to realise the importance of a free and independent civil society.”
Ismayilova was named the recipient of the 2016 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In a speech read by her mother at the awards ceremony, Ismayilova said that “humanity suffers when journalists are silenced.” She urged those present to not laud her work or courage, but to “dedicate yourself to the work each one of you can do on behalf of press freedom and justice,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
She will celebrate her 40th birthday on May 27.
Stella Roque writes for the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a network of independent, investigative media organizations stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. This story originally appeared on the OCCRP website and is reprinted with permission.
Wade Williams and Nanythe Talani are returning home to use their new skills in multimedia and social media. Photo: Louise Lief.
For the image on her new Twitter account, Congolese journalist Nanythe Talani features part of a quote by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “If you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
With Michelle Obama and her daughters recently in Africa to urge more support for girls’ education, it’s a good moment to consider the personal journeys of two African women investigative journalists, Nanythe (Na-NEETH) Talani, and her Liberian colleague, Wade (Wa-DEH) Williams. Their struggles and the challenges that lie ahead personify what the first lady’s trip is about. Obama’s first stop was Liberia.
Both Talani and Williams have just spent a transformative year at the University of Maryland on the U.S. State Department’s Humphrey Fellowships mid-career program, learning how they might improve journalism in their countries, discovering tools and techniques they are now eager to put into practice.
As they contemplate returning to Africa, King’s advice is on their minds. I spoke with both of them recently to hear more about what they learned in the United States, and what their countries need in order to develop a free and independent media.
Both come from small African countries that have suffered from years of war and instability. Liberia is the fourth-poorest country in the world, with a per capita gross national income of $370. Thanks to oil, the French-speaking Republic of Congo (also known as Congo-Brazzaville) is further up the ladder at $2,720, but almost half the population there lives in poverty.
By the time they reached their teens, both women had experienced more trauma than most of us encounter in a lifetime. At age nine, in the midst of civil war, Williams became separated from her family. She managed to board a boat filled with people fleeing to neighboring Sierra Leone. Shortly before the boat arrived in port, it sank. Making it to shore, she spent the next seven years in foster care, returning to Liberia at age 16. She worked her way up from reporter to news desk chief as one of few women in the newsroom at the local paper FrontPageAfrica. In 2013, the government shut down the paper and imprisoned its editor-in-chief.
In 2014, Williams became one of the first journalists to report on Liberia’s raging Ebola epidemic, and continued to cover it non-stop for many Western news outlets, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Time.com, The New York Times and the Daily Beast, until it subsided.
Talani’s youth and education were also punctuated by civil conflict. Close family members were killed. Her father fled the country, and she hasn’t seen him since. The university shut down periodically when the fighting came too close to campus. Earlier this year, the government shut down TerrAfrica, the Paris-based publication she worked for that did investigative stories.
In both Liberia and the Republic of the Congo, the media sector is fragile. Building and sustaining a viable media business is a formidable challenge, as is withstanding government pressures on news coverage.
So, what lessons do these women bring home from their year here?
• The power of online journalism and social media: We take the Internet for granted, but many newsrooms in Liberia, Republic of Congo, and other African countries lack even rudimentary Internet access (and sometimes electricity), depriving journalists of the most basic research tools to get information and fact-check stories. Few people in Liberia or Congo-Brazzaville have smartphones.
In the U.S., Talani and Williams were able to explore everything the Internet, multimedia, and social media have to offer. Williams created an online publication on Liberian politics with WordPress, and experimented with social media strategies to build an audience. Within two months she had attracted 30,000 readers in several countries, marveling at the lively discussions and feedback she got. She now hopes these strategies, seldom used in either Liberia or Republic of Congo, will help her publication gain traction.
“This could help me create a business model,” said Williams, “and help get more people engaged.”
Talani experimented shooting and editing photos and video. She started a Twitter account and learned how to engage her audience with it. She practiced doing radio spots at Voice of America.
• Data, polling, and surveys: “The whole issue of data-driven journalism is something we’ve never seen in Liberia,” says Williams. Data, she said, can help raise people’s awareness and become the jumping-off point for investigations. With Liberian presidential elections scheduled for 2017, she says, “We need to find a way to put data where journalists can find it, or develop it ourselves.”
Global Right to Information Rating
• Transparency, accountability, and Freedom of Information: In both countries, even the most basic government data is frequently unavailable. Liberia has a freedom of information law but few know how to use it, and getting access to public documents is difficult. Their time in the U.S. has heightened both women’s awareness of the value of these laws.
Williams wants to cover topics like industrial pollution in Liberia’s capital Monrovia; the state of the country’s oil and gas industry; and the effects of coastal erosion on communities. She has explored possible mentoring and partnership arrangements with the U.S. Society of Environmental Journalists. Talani is eager to focus on wildlife protection, gender issues, and indigenous rights.
• Training and internships: Neither woman had ever had an internship before coming to the United States. They say their antiquated university media studies programs did not prepare them to work in a newsroom. Both have had to deal with untrained staffers who didn’t know the first thing about reporting. Now they are keen to improve university journalism curricula and establish internship programs to identify and attract better media hires.
• Ethics: Both women want to strengthen local journalistic ethics and independence, a challenge in countries where most journalists are underpaid and have come to expect cash in return for stories.
“People need to be taught the essence of good journalism, and about the whole issue of credibility,” says Williams.
Her time here provided a needed respite from reporting in Liberia. Several of the articles she wrote there raised hackles. When she broke traditional taboos to write about female genital mutilation, she received death threats. When she wrote about Liberia’s gay community, there were protests. After risking infection and death for a year reporting on the front lines of Liberia’s Ebola epidemic, she suffered from post-traumatic stress.
Talani has had her share of obstacles, and has also been threatened for reporting certain stories.
In Western countries, journalists can access various types of assistance to confront these challenges. In Liberia and Republic of Congo, you’re on your own.
Both journalists and their Humphrey Fellow associates at American University’s Washington College of Law had a session last month to prepare them for the culture shock they will face upon returning home.
“You will think things can be done quickly,” they were warned. “And people will think you have money.”
For Williams and Talani, however, more is at stake. Will they be able to practice journalism according to their own high standards and lead others? Will they be physically safe? Talani is worried. Political conflict has resurfaced in Congo Brazzaville, and the government has been arresting journalists.
Energized and apprehensive, they prepare to go home.
Louise Lief is a journalist, educator, media trainer, writer, editor and producer. She has traveled to more than 70 countries, reported from five continents and has worked for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and web-based publications. She is Scholar-in-Residence at the American University School of Communication’s Investigative Reporting Workshop.
Dena Levitz just served as the first journalism fellow for D.C.-based startup hub 1776. In that role, she spent the past six months traveling all over the globe interviewing startup founders and analyzing innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship trends. She is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a staff writer for the Augusta Chronicle and for the Washington Examiner. 
Given all the trash, half-truths and outright lies published on digital media, people are placing a higher value on media that verify information and demonstrate high ethical standards.
Most media organizations worldwide do not have an explicit set of policies for security. In many cases where policies exist, journalists are not aware of or have not been involved in either formulating or evaluating them.
CPJ continues to update its 
Stella Roque writes for the Sarajevo-based 
Louise Lief is a journalist, educator, media trainer, writer, editor and producer. She has traveled to more than 70 countries, reported from five continents and has worked for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and web-based publications. She is Scholar-in-Residence at the American University School of Communication’s Investigative Reporting Workshop.
