N Ieman Reports

2011 G N i R P s 1 No. 65 o v l. y T i s R ve i N u d R a v – Stefan Candea, co-founder of the Romanian Center for for Center of the Romanian co-founder Candea, – Stefan Romania Journalism in Bucharest, Investigative R a h T lism a a N R Jou R “In every newsroom, censorship and reporters’ self-censorship was widespread—and it was aimed squarely at the work of investigative reporters. So common was this expectation that we came to anticipate the first question we would bewhenever asked we talked with targets of our investigation: ‘Who is paying you (or your boss) to attack me?’ The next we words would hear was a promise from them that our wouldnewspaper not publish our story. That is when the pressure pointswould be tapped, and the most effective ones involved politi- cians and their partners in business.” o F N o i T a d N Fou N Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption Reveal Barriers to Shattering The Niema N ieman Reports ieman N Niema N RePoRTs v ol. 65 No. 1 sPRiNG 2011 shaTTeRiNG BaRRieRs To Reveal CoRRuPTioN The NiemaN FouNdaTioN aT haRvaRd uNiveRsiTy Nieman Reports Avenue One Francis Massachusetts 02138 Cambridge, End Note ‘to promote and elevate the standards of journalism’ Agnes Wahl Nieman the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation vol. 65 No. 1 spring 2011 Nieman Reports The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University Campesinos return home after a fiesta in Chiquipata, on the shores of Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca. Bob Giles | Publisher melissa ludtke | Editor Pablo Corral Vega, a 2011 Nieman Jan Gardner | Assistant Editor Fellow, is an Ecuadorian photo- Jonathan seitz | Editorial Assistant journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic and The diane Novetsky | Design Editor New York Times Magazine. He has published six books of photography, including “Andes,” for which he traveled the length of the mountain Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial range and took many of these in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 photos. He is founder and director of by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-mail Address: Nuestra Mirada (www.nuestra One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected] mirada.org), a network of Latin Subscriptions/Business Internet Address: American photojournalists, and Telephone: 617-496-6299 www.niemanreports.org organizer of Pictures of the Year E-mail Address: Latin America Visual Journalism [email protected] Copyright 2011 by the President and Contest. This essay was translated Fellows of Harvard College. from Spanish by Ted O’Callahan, a Subscription $25 a year, $40 for two years; add $10 freelance writer and translator as per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $7.50. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, well as an editor for the Yale School Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Massachusetts and additional entries. of Management’s Qn magazine. Please address all subscription correspondence to Postmaster: Music and dance fill the streets during Carnival in Barranquilla, Colombia. One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951 ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108 Photos by Pablo Corral Vega. Nieman Reports | Spring 2011 81 Nieman Reports The NiemaN FouNdaTioN FoR Journalism aT haRvaRd UniveRsiTy vol. 65 No. 1 sPRiNG 2011 4 Shattering Barriers to Reveal Corruption Post-Communist Realities: The Perils of investigative Reporting 5 Abandoning a Broken Model of Journalism | By Stefan Candea 6 Establishing the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism | By Stefan Candea 8 Sorin Ovidiu Vintu: Buying Propaganda as News | By Stefan Candea 11 Russian Journalists Need Help in Exposing Corruption | By Alexei Navalny and Maxim Trudolyubov 12 Costs That Investors Seem Willing to Ignore | By Alexei Navalny and Maxim Trudolyubov 14 The Challenge: Investigating ‘Russian’ Mafias in a Time of Twitter | By Alain Lallemand 16 In Poland, Pressures Plague Investigative Reporting | By Beata Biel 19 Libel Laws Pose Obstacles to Ukraine’s Investigative Journalists | By Vlad Lavrov 21 British Libel Law: Its Ripple Effect on Journalists Worldwide | By Jonathan Seitz 22 Enduring Pressures: It Goes With the Job in Armenia | By Edik Baghdasaryan 25 The Stark Contrast of Words and Deeds | By Seda Muradyan 28 Independence Buys Freedom But Also Fewer Viewers | By Nino Zuriashvili 30 Hungarian Politics: Present in the Journalistic Mix | By Tamás Bodoky Engaging the Next Generation 33 Out of Tragedy in Turkey Emerges a Journalistic Mission | By Özge Mumcu 35 A Bulgarian Reporter’s Journey Traces a Nation’s Progress | By Stanimir Vaglenov 38 Questioning the Western Approach to Training | By James Miller 40 Media Assistance on the Global Stage | By James Miller 41 Where Western Perceptions Clash With Eastern European Realities | By Drew Sullivan 43 An Idea Born Out of Necessity—And It Works! | By Henrik Kaufholz 45 The Challenge of Cross-Border Reporting in Europe | By Brigitte Alfter 48 Investigating Farm Subsidies on a Global Stage | By Nils Mulvad Government Pushback—in south africa and China 50 Arriving at a Sadly Familiar Crossroads | By Rob Rose 52 The Shady Dash for World Cup Cash | By Rob Rose Cover Design: Diane Novetsky | Nova Design 53 Chinese Journalists Circumvent Government’s Tight Restrictions | By Ying Chan 54 China’s Propaganda Department: New Restrictions on the Press 56 Investigative Reporting in China: Progress, Setbacks and Surprises | By Jan Gardner Press danger and Freedom: Presidents, drug Traffickers, and Sheriffs 58 Exposing Corruption When Illegal Activity Is Business as Usual | By Fernando Berguido 59 Freedom of Information Laws in Latin America | By Fernando Berguido 61 Intimidation, Exile and the Exhilaration of an Investigative Story Being Published | By Gustavo Gorriti 64 The Mexican Press: At the Crossroads of Violence | By Elia Baltazar and Daniela Pastrana 66 Asking Questions in Small-Town America Can Be Dangerous | By Samantha Swindler 3 Curator’s Corner: The Value of the Nieman Fellows’ Experience | By Bob Giles 68 Nieman Notes | Compiled by Jan Gardner 68 A Journalist’s Letter From Academia | By Jon Palfreman 70 Class Notes 78 End Note: An Abundance of Images: Is It Leading to a ‘Trivialization of Photography’? | Words and Photographs by Pablo Corral Vega Nieman Reports’s Redesigned Website: Check out our New look With this issue of Nieman Reports, we are jobs changed. In an area reserved for Professor’s launching the redesign of our website. Its Corner, we will highlight offerings for j-school location stays the same—www.niemanreports. teachers and students. org—but what you will encounter there will Our table of contents will be just a click be quite different. Instead of arriving at our away, as is our magazine’s archive that opens table of contents, the Nieman Reports home- a gateway to past issues. The search box is page will welcome you visually into our digital on our homepage for use in finding Nieman space by featuring a revolving potpourri of Reports stories. stories. Some are from Nieman Reports; with Bookmark www.niemanreports.org, and others, we will spotlight exceptional reporting, visit us often. And give us feedback. We have photography and multimedia work done by made these changes to our website so we can members of our global community of fellows; provide a global audience of journalists with and still more content will relate to topics of a steady stream of new and unique content. enduring interest to journalists. Have ideas about how we can do this better? In our Nieman Notes section, we will share Please send them to [email protected]. updated news about fellows—books published, n—Melissa Ludtke 2 Nieman Reports | Spring 2011 Curator’s Corner The value of the Nieman Fellows’ experience The 50th year celebration of South African Niemans offers a vivid reminder that their work served as ‘a powerful force in the struggle to end apartheid,’ and their ‘authoritative voices continue to be heard.’ By BoB Giles ifty years ago, two journalists from South Africa were the Nieman experience has meant to the generations of in the final weeks of their Nieman fellowship year. The South African Nieman Fellows. It was inspiring to meet two—Aubrey Sussens, the white editor of The Rand journalists whose reporting and commentary became a FDaily Mail, and Lewis Nkosi, from a young generation of powerful force in the struggle to end apartheid and whose black writers giving voice to the yearning for freedom—were authoritative voices continue to be heard. the first South African journalists in the Nieman program. Joe Thloloe, NF ’89, was a labor reporter who refused Their journey to Cambridge in the fall of 1960 began to compromise his principles and was banned by the white a remarkable tradition that has linked journalists in the government. He is now press ombudsman for the Press United States and South Africa ever since. This partner- Council of South Africa. It is a critical role as the press ship was celebrated recently during a festive dinner at tries to roll back an effort by the ruling party to limit the the elegant Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. It was an freedom of expression so admirably guaranteed in the evening for reminiscences and an opportunity for me to new Constitution. offer a toast celebrating our common purpose in fostering Allister Sparks, NF ’63, was editor of The Rand Daily journalistic excellence and anticipating another 50 years Mail when it disclosed secret government plans to fund a of South African Nieman Fellows. propaganda campaign in support of apartheid. Later on, This cooperative undertaking began to form in 1958 the owners who wanted to make the paper appeal more through the United States-South African Leader Exchange to affluent whites and less to poorer blacks fired him.

Load more