"This book deploys an original comparative framework, as well as archival and pattern-matching research methodologies, to analyze whistleblowing cases from Peru, South Korea, Thailand and the United States of America and to ascertain factors that make for effective whistleblowing. After examining th
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e cases, the study concludes that external whistleblowing, extensive mass media coverage, and strong evidence are essential components of effective whistleblowing. When there is a lack of proper legal protection, whistleblowers experience brutal retaliation, even though their actions are successful in stopping wrongdoing and promoting change in the public sector." (Publisher description)
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"This study, which covers 121 UNESCO Member States, represents a global benchmarking of journalistic source protection in the Digital Age. It focuses on developments during the period 2007-2015. The legal frameworks that support protection of journalistic sources, at international, regional and coun
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try levels, are under significant strain in 2015. They are increasingly at risk of erosion, restriction and compromise - a development that is seen to represent a direct challenge to the established universal human rights of freedom of expression and privacy, and one that especially may constitute a threat to the sustainability of investigative journalism. In many of the countries examined in this Study, it was found that legal source protection frameworks are being actually or potentially: overridden by national security and anti-terrorism legislation; undercut by surveillance – both mass and targeted; jeopardised by mandatory data retention policies and pressure applied to third party intermediaries - like ISPs, telcos, search engines, social media platforms - to release data which risks exposing sources; outdated when it comes to regulating the collection and use of digital data, such as whether information recorded without consent is admissible in a court case against either a journalist or a source; and whether digitally stored material gathered by journalistic actors is covered by existing source protection laws." (Executive summary)
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"Este documento tiene el objetivo de contribuir, principalmente, con los gobiernos locales que no pueden implementar sus portales de transparencia estándar (PTE), para que cumplan con su obligación de difundir información sobre la gestión pública y promuevan un mayor acceso a ella. Consideramos
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que esta estrategia de difusión favorecerá el fortalecimiento de una ciudadanía informada y vigilante, con mayores posibilidades de participación en la gestión pública. Su implementación a nivel nacional conllevaría un acelerado proceso de democratización y empoderamiento." (Introducción)
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"This manual is for anyone who provides training and capacity-building for investigative journalists in Africa including facilitators, trainers, lecturers and teachers. It has been written to support journalists in Africa to investigate and report stories of land corruption; a subject that remains u
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nder-reported and poorly understood." (Introduction)
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"Los periodistas que leamos esta guía, de principio a fin, encontraremos una ruta rápida para investigar procesos relacionados con la contratación pública y la identificación y construcción de redes de poder; a su vez, se encontrarán elementos para hacer consultas en bases de datos. Todo esto
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desde el punto de vista de un periodismo de investigación." (Página 4)
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"Erdöl, Gas, Kupfer, Coltan - ohne diese und andere Rohstoffe wäre unser Lebensstil nicht denkbar. Einerseits ist die Weltwirtschaft von ihnen abhängig, andererseits spielt ihre Herkunft in der öffentlichen Debatte wohlhabender Länder kaum eine Rolle. Einige der größten Vorräte dieser Bodens
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chätze liegen auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent – und ihr Abbau ist mit weit reichenden politischen, gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Folgen verbunden. Der Investigativjournalist Tom Burgis hat unter anderem in Angola, Nigeria, Südafrika und der Demokratischen Republik Kongo recherchiert. Präzise und faktenbasiert beschreibt er die in höchstem Maße intransparenten Strukturen des Rohstoffhandels und stellt personelle Netzwerke und Verflechtungen dar. Nutznießer, so Burgis, seien oftmals international agierende Konzerne, gut vernetzte Geschäftsmänner, aber auch Kleptokraten, Kriegsherren und Schmuggler. Wenig Nutzen aus dem Rohstoffreichtum ziehen hingegen die lokalen Bevölkerungen. Weil die Gewinne aus dem Rohstoffhandel vielerorts den Großteil der Staatseinnahmen ausmachen, würden Autokraten und ihre Cliquen gestärkt, politische Partizipation unterbunden, Konflikte geschürt und Anreize zu Korruption und Selbstbereicherung geschaffen. Damit sei der aktuelle Umgang mit Afrikas Bodenschätzen in vielen Ländern ein massives Hemmnis für deren ökonomische und demokratische Entwicklung." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"A framework to ensure that whistleblowers are protected by the law and that their public interest reports or disclosures are effectively acted upon will strengthen democratic societies based on human rights and the rule of law. The Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7, adopted by the Comm
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ittee of Ministers on 30 April 2014, offers important policy advice to member states on the content of such a framework and this brief guide gives suggestions on how it might be put in place, drawing on existing international practice." (Back cover)
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"This policy briefing examines the prospects for media being able to play that role, especially in fragile states. It concludes that the evidence supporting the effectiveness of media as an accountability actor continues to mount even when the performance of other anti-corruption measures are called
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into question. It looks at the increasing pressures facing independent media in fragile states, especially those of political co-option and a reduction in media freedom. It suggests that these pressures are intensifying precisely because media is so effective at holding power to account and exposing corruption. It argues that independent media need more attention from international development actors not only financially but also through their strategic focus and influence they can bring to bear to supporting media freedom. Without it, such media are likely to struggle to survive and corruption can be expected to increase." (BBC Media Action website)
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"An independent media is one of the most effective assets we have in efforts to curb corruption and foster accountability. Yet it is deeply imperilled, particularly in fragile states and often poorly understood by the international development sector. This policy working paper argues that unless dev
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elopment strategies begin to prioritise support to independent media, corruption may continue to go unchecked and the accountability of states will diminish." (Website BBC Media Action)
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"This report, which has been produced by a group of distinguished journalists and their supporters, examines the broad scope of the crisis. It covers countries where media are on the frontline of tough political battles, such as Egypt and Turkey. In Ukraine, for instance, the practice of paid-for jo
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urnalism is a tool routinely used by politicians at election time. The same is true in India. In other countries, including Nigeria, Philippines, and Colombia the precarious working conditions of news staff provide fertile conditions for corruption and “brown envelopes” or under-the-table cash payments to reporters and editors which are a routine feature of journalistic work. The struggles facing journalists in settled democracies, such as the United Kingdom and Denmark, are less brazen, but no less challenging and in a range of countries across the Western Balkans with a shared and painful history, media corruption hinders aspirations to break free from the legacy of war, censorship and political control during decades of communist rule. The story is of an uphill struggle. Everywhere there is a crisis of confidence inside newsrooms caused by crumbling levels of commitment to ethics, a lowering of the status of journalistic work and a pervasive lack of transparency over advertising, ownership and corporate and political affiliations. Government control over lucrative state advertising, which is often allocated to media according to their political bias, remains widespread. At the same time, the elimination in most countries of the invisible wall separating editorial and advertising has created a surge of so-called “native advertising,” hidden advertorials and paid-for journalism. It was this conflict of interest that plunged the crisis-prone UK press into a new bout of handwringing in February 2015 when Peter Oborne, a leading political journalist, quit his job at the Daily Telegraph accusing the management of censoring stories about HSBC bank, a leading advertiser caught up in a tax scandal. These reports tell essentially the same story of deep cuts in editorial investment, undue pressure on newsrooms, and media increasingly dependent upon atypical models of ownership in which media have become the trophy possessions of powerful figures and institutions in pursuit of wider corporate and political objectives." (Introduction, page iii-iv)
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"The goal of the seminar “Reporting on Corruption and Investigative Journalism” is a two-day active dialogue between journalists and investigators from the region in order to discuss the following topics: ethics of reporting - cases and practice in Serbia, investigative journalism and corruption
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, as well as the standards of reporting on corruption allegations. The direct intention of the organiser is to encourage the journalists to deal with this topic in their everyday work, as well as to encourage some of them to perfect themselves in the field of investigative journalism and to join specialised teams for investigative journalism. A collection of articles, created in particular for this occasion, is a result of many years of journalism experience in investigation, as well as of academic approach to the ethics of journalism, which is particularly important in investigative journalism and court reporting." (Pages 6-7)
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"Campaigns and movements targeting corruption often face decentralized targets rather than an identifiable dictator or external government, and can be found both in undemocratic and democratic systems. Graft and abuse are manifested in a systemic manner rather than a hodgepodge collection of illicit
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transactions. Consequently, this research brings to light new applications of civil resistance beyond the more commonly known cases against occupations, such as the Indian independence movement, and authoritarian regimes from Chile to Poland. It also expands our understanding about the dynamics of how people collectively wield nonviolent power for the common good. The focus of this research is on citizen agency: what civic actors and regular people—organized together and exerting their collective power—are doing to curb corruption as they define and experience it. Hence, the analytical framework is based on the skills, strategies, objectives, and demands of such initiatives, rather than on the phenomenon of corruption itself, which has been judiciously studied for more than two decades by scholars and practitioners from the anticorruption and development realms. I selected cases that met the following criteria: they were “popular” initiatives. They were civilian-based, involved grassroots participation, and were led and implemented by individuals from the civic realm, rather than governments or external actors, such as donors, development institutions, and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs); they were nonviolent. They did not threaten or use violence to further their aims; they involved some degree of organization and planning, which varied depending on the scope—objectives, geographical range, duration—of the civic initiative; multiple nonviolent actions were employed (thus, instances of one-off demonstrations or spontaneous protests were not considered); objectives and demands were articulated; the civic initiative was sustained over a period of time." (Introduction, pages 2-3)
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"The purpose of the study is to provide baseline data and research-driven recommendations to help inform and later evaluate the impact of ‘Action for Transparency’. Action for Transparency is a three-year, media-for-development programme, managed by Fojo and its partners and funded by the Swedis
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h International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The programme is designed to help tackle corruption and mismanagement of government funds in Zambia and Uganda by putting the power to change in the hands of citizens. Action for Transparency comprises three phases of targeted interventions designed to catalyse a culture of accountability and transparency through a ripple out effect. The three phases include: 1. Training for up to 4,000 journalists, civil society representatives and public sector employees in Zambia and Uganda on how to access, analyse and communicate information on government spending. 2. Development of ICT tools, including an online application (app) which enables users to compare the amount of government money pledged to specific schools and health clinics against their own observations of what appears to have been spent. 3. Public awareness campaign, through which those who took part in the initial training will launch and champion the new ICT tools, nationally, and raise awareness through a range of promotional activities. This study presents baseline data and findings that will inform and later help evaluate the overall3 impact of the three phases on participating journalists and civil society representatives, and their capacity to (a) access (b) analyse and (c) communicate information about government spending." (Introduction, page 4)
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"In 2010 the Open Democracy Advice Centre undertook a comprehensive review of the state of whistleblowing in South Africa, entitled 'The Status of Whistleblowing' (2010). Three years on, the whistleblowing landscape is due another review. Research demonstrates that progress has not merely halted in
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the current context, but that in fact South Africa appears increasingly hostile to whistleblowing activities. It is not just legislative provisions that may require review, but other broader environmental recommendations are also needed in order to properly enable whistleblowing. This publication looks at how to create an environment in South Africa that can encourage whistleblowers to act – this means not looking at law alone, and understanding that interventions are required at multiple points in the whistleblowing process if people are to feel supported enough to disclose." (Introduction)
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