Going global

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal, Winter 2009 by Houston, Brant

Despite high hurdles, investigative reporting spreads internationally

U.S. mainstream news organizations are closing the last of the remaining foreign bureaus, eliminating or cutting back investigative teams, and just trying to survive extraordinary and destructive financial pressures.

Internationally, journalists not only endure lack of funds but also physical threats, beatings and killings. Censorship is rampant, as are criminal trials. There is imprisonment and exile. There is a lack of access to some of the most basic local government and business documents. Even information from the Web can be cut off.

Yet international investigative reporting is thriving. The phenomenon is multifaceted, as shown in the stories in this issue of The IRE lournal. The work can be done by the mainstream press or through nonprofit investigative centers or in collaborations between the two.

Although the interest and activity have been heightened in the commercial newsrooms, the increase in nonprofit efforts has been especially dramatic.

Since 2000, the number of investigative centers and associations soared from 1 5 to nearly 40, according to a report done for the Center for International Media Assistance (www.ned.org/cima/ CIMA-Empowering_lndependent_Media.pdf).

"Fueled by globalization, international aid, and the efforts of journalism groups, the worldwide practice of investigative reporting has grown dramatically since the fall of communism began in 1989," the report said. "The field's emphasis on accountability and targeting of crime and corruption has attracted millions of dollars in media development funding from international donors, who see it as an important force in promoting rule of law and democratization."

The report, whose author was journalist David Kaplan (before he joined the Center for Public Integrity), had among its findings:

* Nonprofit investigative reporting centers have proved to be viable organizations that can provide unique training and reporting, while serving as models of excellence that help to professionalize local journalists.

* The centers are part of an expanding global network of training institutes, reporting organizations, journalism associations, grantmaking groups and online networks that have great potential to effect change. Different programs will be appropriate for different regions and markets.

Whether the investigative reporting is from commercial or nonprofit organizations, the Web has played a critical role, of course. Reporters can swiftly ard cheaply set up sites that publish stories inside or outside the countries in which they report. Resources and tips can be shared openly or in encrypted form. Documents can be scanned and e-mailed, and notes can be stored on servers outside the reach of a particular government.

At the same time, journalists can gather information from databases from international or domestic sites to use for stories on one country or several countries. U.S. data, in particular, can be used effectively for reports in any nation. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, foreign lobbyists' reports, airplane tail numbers, court records and trade data are databases that have been used internationally.

Probes of corruption

A quick tour of several continents shows the achievements made since the beginning of the 21 st century.

For example, Sonali Samarasinghe, a reporter in Sri Lanka, received the Global Shining Light Award at an international investigative conference this past year for exposing the brutality and corruption of a top government official who threatened the reporter and the newspaper after the stories were published.

In China, despite censorship, physical and legal threats and imprisonment, investigative journalists continue to find ways to push the boundaries. Yuen-Ying Chan, a longtime journalist and IRE member at Hong Kong University, has spearheaded efforts throughout China to promote investigative reporting.

Although she has written about the limitations, she has been quick to point out their accomplishments.

Through ingenuity and courageous reporting, Chinese journalists have uncovered wrongdoing by government officials, charity scams, an AIDS epidemic caused by illegal blood banks and numerous other business scams and covered-up health issues.

In India, investigative journalism ranges from covering the local scams to child slavery to undercover operations that reveal bribery and extortion.

In Europe, Danish journalists Nils Mulvad and his colleagues have won awards for their continued and relentless cross-border Web reporting on farm subsidies going to politicians and corporations who undercut developing countries' agricultural markets (www.farmsubsidy.org).

Meanwhile, a collaboration of six reporters and two investigative centers won the Global Shining Light Award two years ago for their work into the causes behind an energy crisis that resulted in power outages across Eastern Europe. The "Power Brokers" series exposed questionable deals across the Balkans. The investigation found that power traders profited heavily but citizens suffered exorbitant electricity rates. One of the organizations was the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina (www.cin.ba), in which former IRE staffer Drew Sullivan plays a key role.