Nieman Reports

Spring 2011

Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption

Barriers to reporting on corruption are numerous. Pushing past them can be risky, especially in countries where powerful interests are entrenched in business, media organizations, and government. Arrest. Legal action. Forced exile. Threats. Murder. Journalists face such dangers where the fear of what reporters might discover creates a climate of censorship and caution in newsrooms. Journalists describe the toll taken to tell stories about the corruption in their own backyards. Those who support their efforts speak to emerging strategies of training and assistance.

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Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption

Spring 2011: Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke• Journalist’s Trade• March 14, 2011

Post-Communsit Realities: The Perils of Investigative Reporting

Abandoning a Broken Model of Journalism

By Stefan Candea• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

In post-Communist countries from Romania to Russia, Armenia to Georgia, Poland to Hungary, investigative reporters face formidable barriers when corruption is the topic. When evidence of illegal activity points to civic or business leaders, journalists encounter personal and professional perils in bringing such information into public view. Their stories open our eyes to what they live with every day—as do those told in Nieman Reports by investigative journalists from other regions of the world. Read more

Establishing the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism

By Stefan Candea• International Journalism• March 11, 2011

Let’s begin by looking at a typical Romanian media experience: A multinational gold mining company, Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, initially established by a controversial Romanian who has had drug convictions, tries for years to start a mining project in Romania … Read more

Sorin Ovidiu Vintu: Buying Propaganda as News

By Stefan Candea• International Journalism• March 11, 2011

Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu has a simple strategy for dealing with journalists: “I don’t want to do any business with them,” he said. “I just want to buy them out.” Photo by … Read more

Costs That Investors Seem Willing to Ignore

By Alexei Navalny and Maxim Trudolyubov• International Journalism• March 11, 2011

In 2001 free speech advocates demonstrated in Germany against Gazprom, a major Russian energy concern, when it took over a Russian TV company. Gazprom is partly owned by a German firm. Photo by … Read more

Kickbacks: The Margin Is Growing

By Alexei Navalny and Maxim Trudolyubov• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

RELATED ARTICLE “Russian Journalists Need Help in Exposing Corruption” – Alexei Navalny and Maxim TrudolyubovThe primary mechanism of big-time corruption is known as raspil, which translated literally means “sawing”—or … Read more

The Challenge: Investigating ‘Russian’ Mafias in a Time of Twitter

By Alain Lallemand• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

Can Western and Eastern European journalists join together to overcome the difficulties the press have in covering these powerful criminal forces? Read more

In Poland, Pressures Plague Investigative Reporting

By Beata Biel• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘Most censorship is of an “inner” nature. Journalists self-censor because they are aware of their employer’s political position and thus do not submit stories in opposition to it.’ Read more

Libel Laws Pose Obstacles to Ukraine’s Investigative Journalists

By Vlad Lavrov• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘If we decide to pursue the story, they [lawyers] guarantee a lawsuit will be filed in London, the libel capital of the world, where the burden of proof is on the defendant—the journalist and his newspaper.’ Read more

British Libel Law: Its Ripple Effect on Journalists Worldwide

By Jonathan Seitz• International Journalism• March 10, 2011

Germany’s Duke of Brunswick was an overweight, autocratic paranoiac who was kicked out of his fiefdom by a peasant uprising. RELATED ARTICLE “Libel Laws Pose Obstacles to Ukraine’s Investigative Journalists” – Vlad LavrovA statement like that … Read more

Enduring Pressures: It Goes With the Job in Armenia

By Edik Baghdasaryan• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘… we have an unwritten understanding in our office not to speak about these pressures if they aren’t life threatening; our problems remain within our office walls.’ Read more

The Stark Contrast of Words and Deeds

By Seda Muradyan• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘In Armenia, the shutdown of A1+ was a valuable lesson to all nonstate-run TV companies in showing what happens to a company that acts in ways considered to be unloyal to the government.’ Read more

Independence Buys Freedom But Also Fewer Viewers

By Nino Zuriashvili• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘Since we left Rustavi 2, Studio Monitor has had a hard time building a wide audience. Getting our stories seen by people remains a major challenge.’ Read more

Hungarian Politics: Present in the Journalistic Mix

By Tamás Bodoky• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘… it is not the journalists but politicians and the media owners with the circles of power behind them who decide the topics that can be covered and which stories can be published.’ Read more

Government Pushback - In South Africa and China

Arriving at a Sadly Familiar Crossroads

By Rob Rose• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘South Africa’s crackdown on press freedom comes at a treacherous time, as numerous countries have regressed, rather than progressed, on this front.’ Read more

The Shady Dash for World Cup Cash

By Rob Rose• International Journalism• March 11, 2011

Questions arose in South Africa about improprieties in a major World Cup soccer contract after it was learned that a black security guard who, on paper, was a 26 percent owner of the … Read more

Chinese Journalists Circumvent Government’s Tight Restrictions

By Ying Chan• International Journalism• April 20, 2011

‘Given how information from Yihuang was spread in China, this story signaled a landmark moment in contemporary Chinese media with the emergence of microblogs … as a valuable distribution tool for journalists.’ Read more

China’s Propaganda Department: New Restrictions on the Press

International Journalism• March 11, 2011

On January 5, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported on the annual meeting of the media propaganda ministers. A few weeks later, China Media Project editor David Bandurski wrote on the project’s website about the significance of the fact … Read more

Investigative Reporting in China: Progress, Setbacks and Surprises

By Jan Gardner• International Journalism• March 11, 2011

In her introduction to a book about investigative journalism in China, Ying Chan traces the progress and setbacks of news reporting under Communist rule, a history that has actually seen some hard-hitting stories published … Read more

Engaging the Next Generation

Out of Tragedy in Turkey Emerges a Journalistic Mission

By Özge Mumcu• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

‘… after my father was murdered, our family founded the Ugur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation … to encourage young people who are concerned about social problems and have ideals of hard work and humanity to enter the field of journalism.’ Read more

A Bulgarian Reporter’s Journey Traces a Nation’s Progress

By Stanimir Vaglenov• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

Once beaten and tried in court for his investigative reporting, Stanimir Vaglenov now teaches young journalists and manages uncensored Internet projects for the nation’s leading news group. Read more

Questioning the Western Approach to Training

By James Miller• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

‘International journalism training can have the feel of a quite rigid, institutionalized sense of what must be done even while operating in an environment of increasing contingency and dynamic change … ’ Read more

Media Assistance on the Global Stage

By James Miller• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

The intertwined, global array of media assistance funders and implementers has become almost too complex to describe. RELATED ARTICLE “Questioning the Western Approach to Training”Money comes from international organizations (e.g., the World Bank, Unesco, … Read more

Where Western Perceptions Clash With Eastern European Realities

By Drew Sullivan• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

‘In the Balkan context, what Westerners call corruption is seen as the customary tool of political organization.’ Read more

An Idea Born Out of Necessity—And It Works!

By Henrik Kaufholz• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

‘Journalists who have promising ideas for investigations but work for news organizations with few resources apply for support.’ Read more

Global Investigative Journalism Conference Kiev, Ukraine, October 2011

By Henrik Kaufholz• Journalist’s Trade• March 10, 2011

RELATED ARTICLE “An Idea Born Out of Necessity—And It Works!” – Henrik KaufholzThe Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC), which now attracts more than 500 journalists from more than 50 … Read more

The Challenge of Cross-Border Reporting in Europe

By Brigitte Alfter• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

‘Through networking, journalists contribute their part in shaping this European public sphere by investigating and illuminating its common issues.’ Read more

Investigating Farm Subsidies on a Global Stage

By Nils Mulvad• Journalist’s Trade• April 20, 2011

Farm subsidies in Europe is a natural topic for journalists. Investigative reporters know what comes from following the money. Since close to half of the European Union’s total budget goes toward subsidizing agriculture, trying to obtain information about these payments … Read more

Nieman Reports

Spring 2011

Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption

Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption

Post-Communsit Realities: The Perils of Investigative Reporting

Government Pushback - In South Africa and China

Engaging the Next Generation

Press Danger and Freedom: Presidents, Drug Traffickers, and Sheriffs

Curator's Corner

By Bob Giles

Nieman Notes

By Jon Palfreman

By Jan Gardner

By Pablo Corral Vega

By Pablo Corral Vega

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