Conferences & Events
Innovative Ways of Exposing Corruption: The Media and the People
by Victor Hart, Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute
Introduction
The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) welcomes the opportunity to share with this distinguished audience its views on the role of the media and the people in exposing corruption.
For those of you who don’t know Transparency International (TI) and its work, I shall briefly introduce the organisation.
TI is the civil society organisation that has been, since its formation in 1993, the leader of the global coalition of anti-corruption movements. It is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, dedicated to curbing both international and national corruption through increased transparency and accountability.
TTTI is the Trinidad and Tobago National Chapter of Transparency International. TTTI was formed in 1998 and is one of a network of nearly100 national chapters carrying out the TI mission around the world.
TI and its National Chapters work in a non-confrontational way with governments, the private sector, development agencies, NGOs and international organisations to seek a consensus on ways and means to combat corruption mainly through the promotion of good governance.
TI’s vision is of a world in which government, politics, business, civil society and the daily lives of people are free of corruption. Its mission is to work towards a world that is free of corruption.
TTTI’s mission is to work towards a country and region that are free of corruption.
Media and people
The title of this session, ‘Innovative ways of exposing corruption – the media and the people’, underscores the link between ‘the media’ and ‘the people’. Without ‘the people’ to serve, I dare say that there would be no media, as we know it. Without ‘the media’ to serve ‘the people’, I dare say that the world, as we know it today, would be very different indeed and quite unrecognizable.
The title of this session also links the exposing of corruption to ‘the media and the people’ and that also underscores an indisputable fact. In the fight against corruption everywhere, there can be no victory without courageous individuals standing up, speaking out, taking risks, and alerting the wider society that something wrong is taking place. Such courageous individuals are to be found amongst ‘the media’ as well as amongst ‘the people’. Indeed, the relationship between the two groups is symbiotic because they are, in practice, tied one to the other to the advantage of both.
In general, the relationship between the two groups is quite a simple one: the people feed information to the media and the media gives voice to the people. A courageous individual is to be admired when he/she stands up, against the odds, and takes a public position against corruption. However, his/her effectiveness is limited by personal influence over a fairly small group of people over time. A courageous broadcaster, on the other hand, who takes a stand against corruption can use the power of the pen to reach daily thousands through the print media and millions through the electronic media, especially the internet. The communication is instant and, once his/her words are released to ‘the people’, the message cannot be taken back.
Members of civil society should recognise the ally that they have in the media in the fight against corruption and that should give them the confidence to expose corruption wherever it is found. Courageous individuals come from all walks of life. TI in year 2000 inaugurated its annual Integrity Award to honour such people.
In Guatemala, in November 2006, I was present when TI honoured Ana Cecilia Magallanes from Peru with the Integrity Award. She was an attorney-at-law by profession (I say was because she died recently) who worked in Peru’s Attorney General’s Office and exposed corruption that was taking place in President Fujimori’s government. She faced many obstacles, including death threats, but her courageous action, with the help of the media, brought down her boss, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice and other judges, several Army Generals, several ministers of government and President Fujimori himself. Many of those persons are now imprisoned and Fujimori is currently on trial in Peru.
Investigative Journalism
Members of the media have not been forgotten by TI, In 2002, TI inaugurated its Award for Investigative Journalism Against Corruption. This is an initiative of Transparency International’s Latin American Network in cooperation with the Institute for Press and Society in Peru, an organisation that promotes the freedom of information and media independence region wide. The award aims at contributing to:
-raising awareness of the crucial importance of investigative journalism;
-featuring and projecting the work of many investigative journalists; and
-providing a platform for investigative journalists from the region to meet and exchange views about
their work.
TTTI plans to introduce a similar award in Trinidad and Tobago starting this year.
In countries where key state institutions are weak wrongdoers are able to operate with impunity because police investigations result in few arrests and judicial prosecutions result in fewer convictions. History has shown, that even in better organised societies, it is the work of the investigative journalists who exposed the corruption that brought down many powerful but corrupt leaders and businessmen. In America, we had the cases of President Nixon for Watergate and corporations Enron, Arthur Andersen and WorldCom etc. for accounting and stock market fraud. In Latin Ameriaca, we had the downfall of Presidents Bucaram of Ecuador, Andres Perez of Venezuela, Collar de Mello of Brazil and Fujimori of Peru. These are but a few examples. In Europe, Asia and Africa more examples abound.
The world’s anti-corruption movement salutes broadcasters who practice investigative journalism because it is largely through their efforts that we gain access to valuable information that allows us to trace and decipher how corruption works: its mechanisms, channels and complex networks, its apparent everyday practises as well as its clandestine cycles of reproduction.
The practice of investigative journalism, however, comes at a high price. A broadcaster attempting to uncover corruption lays his/her life on the line. Powerful political and business forces, when threatened, often respond with force and violence. Around the world, broadcasters are being threatened, harassed, kidnapped, jailed and terrorised for exposing corruption. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that between January 1 1992 and January 15 2008, 679 journalists were killed worldwide, many of whom were investigating powerful persons for alleged corruption. Full convictions were 6.7%, partial convictions 7,3% and no convictions 86%. Interestingly, of the six journalists who were given the TI Award for Investigative Journalism against Corruption at the Guatemala meeting in 2006 that I attended, five were awarded posthumously.
Typically, investigative journalists do not only face obstacles from vested interests in the public domain. Increasingly, their work is made more difficult even from inside their own media houses. In many parts of the world, we are seeing an alarming tendency of self-censorship which is linked to the fundamental conflict between the economic interests of media houses and their mandate to inform truthfully. This conflict is intensified through the high levels of concentration of media ownership and, as a consequence, many media houses keep reducing their budgets for investigative journalism, leaving many broadcasters with inadequate resources to do their job properly.
Caribbean experience
This conference is being held in the Bahamas, a small state in the Caribbean, a very small part of a very big world. What is the experience in this region of the media and the people working together to expose corruption, visitors in the audience may be wondering? I can only speak for Trinidad and Tobago, another small state located at the southernmost point in the Caribbean Sea. In fact, our nearest neighbour is not another Caribbean island, as you might expect, but Venezuela in South America, just seven miles away, at the nearest point.
In Trinidad and Tobago, our experience of cooperation between the media and the people in exposing corruption has not been extensive because, over the years, broadcasters have not practised investigative journalism to any great extent. Thankfully, there are signs that more broadcasters are venturing into the field and, hopefully, more exposure of corruption and other society ills can be expected in the future.
The future
Across the world, corruption is a scourge that is not going to go away anytime soon. Indeed, in many quarters it is felt that corruption is getting worse. The United Nations estimates that annually US$3 trillion of development funds are diverted from the intended use by corrupt persons. This results mainly in underprivileged people being denied their basic entitlement of food, water, shelter, education, medical services etc. Countries are denied development of their infrastructure and this perpetuates the poverty cycle.
So far, we have looked at what has happened in the past but what of the future? Finding new and innovative ways to expose corruption has to be the long-term goal. However, recognition of the need for improved performance of the basics of the profession by the media must be the first step to ensuring that new innovations will be effectively implemented.
Broadcasters can begin by doing more to raise even further their profile and effectiveness in the eyes of the people and so strengthen the already strong relationship. Broadcasters can start by bringing to their job more professionalism by proper checking of sources to ensure factual, legal and ethical content in their reports. They can show more balance in their reporting by eschewing all personal and political bias.
Broadcasters should expand their areas of interest and do more research in order to do a better job and to be better able to educate the people. I have no doubt that every broadcaster at this conference is committed to exposing the people behind corruption whenever and wherever it raises its head. However, in order to fight corruption in a meaninginful way, a broadcaster needs to be informed and to understand the phenemonon. In that connection, I refer you to the TI website (www.transparency.org) for a wealth of information on the subject.
Owners and managers of media houses can give more support to their broadcasters by providing adequate resources and a work environment free from interference. They must recognize that the media’s role as the voice of the people sometimes become blurred and encourage broadcasters to achieve greater clarity. They must reject the indolence of some broadcasters and editors who accept and publish ‘set pieces’ of news and press releases without searching to find the real story behind the news. Broadcasters must be made to understand that quality and not quantity is what is required. They must be encouraged to ask the hard questions without fear or favour.
Undoubtedly, new ways have to be found to fight the ever changing face of corruption. The corrupt are more powerful today than ever before. Some of them control budgets that are larger than the annual budgets of most developing countries. For many countries, resistance against these forces is a losing battle. Today, corruption is being aided by the speed and flexibility offered by the Internet. National corruption is giving way to trans-national, cross-border international corruption that is difficult to trace, let alone fight.
The challenges notwithstanding, the need to join the battle and to win the fight against corruption is more urgent than it ever was. The search for innovative ways to expose corruption has to be pursued with vigour even though success will take time. In the interim, we should look also at existing proven strategies that could be adopted or adapted to local needs instead of trying to re-invent the wheel. TI has developed many anti-corruption tools that have been in use for many years and most are well known.
A relatively new strategy worth considering is the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres.
Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs)
TI started the first Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres in 2003 on a pilot basis with three TI National Chapters in Eastern Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Romania. Their success has resulted in the establishment of 24 ALACs in 16 different countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. In 2007, ALACs were introduced to Africa (Kenya and Zambia) and to Central America (Guatemala).
ALACs observe strict client confidentiality and provide legal advice and assistance to victims and witnesses of corruption. They help citizens pursue corruption–related complaints by encouraging them to come forward. The sheer diversity of cases and people who use ALACs – from the unemployed to entrepreneurs, from pensioners to business people – demonstrates the pervasive nature of corruption.
Cases range from small bribes to grand corruption involving hundreds of millions of dollars. They involve issues of public procurement, abuse or misuse of public assets, privatisation, environment, protective services, judiciary, health, education, customs, and planning and development inspectors.
TI is of the view that the success of ALACs disproves the notion that people are apathetic in the face of corruption. Further, it demonstrates that people will become involved in the fight against corruption when they are provided with simple, credible and viable mechanisms to do so. More countries should consider introducing ALACs with the help of TI and its National Chapters.
ALACs could be a goldmine of information on new corruption issues and the media should seize the opportunity to work closely with their local ALACs, where available, and keep the people informed.
Conclusion
The partnership between the media and the people in exposing corruption is well established around the world. From time to time, when the relationship becomes strained, there might be need for re-building confidence between the parties and that should be done in a spirit of give and take and mutual trust. Both parties have equally important roles to play in keeping the partnership alive and well. Each party needs the support of the other.
It is a truism that the media plays an important role in preserving a democracy and, generally, members of the media readily recognize that. However, in many countries, particularly developing countries, the people do not recognize their important role in preserving a democracy. Too often they succumb to the notion that they play their part once every five years when they cast a ballot to elect leaders. The people must be made to recognize the power that civil society wields if united in a cause and the media can play an important role in spreading that message. They must not forget, and must frequently remind government leaders, that the people have placed them in power only temporarily as their servants and not as their masters.
The media and the people are an unstoppable force in any country, whatever the stage of its democracy. Their effectiveness in exposing corruption is only one of the many things that they can achieve together. They must believe in their respective strengths, and in their combined partnership strength, and persevere in their efforts to achieve a better world, generally, and especially one that is free of corruption.
I thank you.