FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN THE MEDIA

Types of Corruption

Corruption can occur in various forms in the media landscape. Types of corruption in the media can vary from the abuse of confidence or position when hiring or firing staff or making editorial decisions, inducting editorial content and by doing so influencing media coverage. Although there is limited research available on corruption in the media, there is anecdotal evidence that corruption in the media can manifest itself through various forms:

1. Bribery: There are many examples of journalists, editors and media houses accepting bribes and paid material disguised as news stories, or extorting money either for publishing favourable stories or for not publishing damaging ones. A survey by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) suggests that taking cash for editorial and unethical media practices are common practices especially in Eastern and Southern Europe and in Latin America. In addition the content published in a media outlet might be influenced by giving bribes to get more information on a story or report false information or taking bribes to cover a story or changing the coverage of an event to the advantage or disadvantage of a third party. Such practices undermine the integrity and impartiality of media reporting, resulting in widespread practice of fictional news, biased news or news for sale. There are  different levels in which bribery can take place in the media: 1) at the interpersonal level - where cash is handed directly to the journalist by a news source; 2) at the intra-organisational level, - where the editor tells the journalist what to write or not write, due to some sort of internal pressure such as from advertising; and 3) at the inter-organisational level, for example in countries such as China, Ukraine, or Russia, - where there can be fairly formal arrangements, and even a legal contract under which a company pays a news organization a monthly amount in exchange for having a certain number of articles published about that company.
2. Gifts and Advertisement : Giving gifts and placing advertisements in the media can be alternative ways to influence media reporting in favour of private or political interests. Journalists tend to be especially vulnerable to this form of corruption in developing countries where their salaries are often very low. This type of media corruption often results from the widespread collusion between journalists and public relations and advertising organisations . Placing advertisement in the media, which in some cases are not declared as such, is another way to influence the positive coverage of an issue and pervert the editorial process. For example, some media organisations report on the growing trend of public relations companies using pseudo independent and objective news release to promote their clients’ products. Similarly to such media release, the practice of cash for comment involves presenting paid advertisement as editorial comment or opinion . Hidden advertisement can also occur for political reasons, when a political party or a candidate manages to gain influence over a media outlet.
3. Nepotism: Nepotism when hiring or firing staff or publishing a feature is another form of media corruption which can have a direct influence on the media coverage. In some countries, the government has the right to appoint staff members and can misuse these provisions to give positions to family members, thus securing positive coverage of government actions.
4. Media Capture: As mass media are often the most important source of information on public affairs for citizens, they represent an important means of manipulating public opinion for private or political interests. Media capture is a present or latent risk in most developing countries, with attempt by either private or governmental interests to capture the media for their own benefit. At one extreme level, media capture can involve direct monetary payments (bribes), while at another level, the media owner can exert a more subtle and indirect influence over administrative decisions or a legislative interventions affecting media regulations in her/his favour . In developing countries with deeply entrenched patronage systems, the media may also be affected by clientelism patterns, making it difficult to break free from its political or business constraints.

Fighting Corruption in the Media

Fighting corruption in the media can involve a wide range of approaches, varying from raising awareness of ethical standards, strengthening the independence of the media through adequate media policies, promoting media accountability through increased oversight and controls as well as supporting investigative journalism through technical training.

1. The Legal Framework: The pre-condition for fighting corruption in the media is to ensure that adequate legal frameworks are in place and effectively implemented to guarantee that the right to information and media freedom are ensured. Provisions can also include revising rules and regulations that limit the scope of the right to information such as restrictive libel laws or costly and cumbersome registration and licensing processes, with the view to protecting journalists from political arbitrariness, legal punishment and physical harm. For example, in societies on the road to democracy, it is important to provide constitutional and legal guarantees to make press freedoms enforceable. This can include legal and constitutional provisions that 1) prohibit censorship and protect freedom of expression; 2) guarantee free access to government information and protect journalists from being forced to disclose confidential sources of investigative stories; 3) guarantee the fair and transparent administration of media business such as registration, licensing, ownership disclosure and taxation .
2. Ownership: As neither the government nor private media owners should have control over the media, there is a need to move away from state-controlled media, encourage media pluralism through a variety of competitive media outlets. Countries that have reduced government ownership of the media have experienced rapid improvement in the volume and quality of coverage.  Whether private or state owned, there is a need for media freedom organisation or journalist professional organisations to lobby media owners to recognise principles of editorial independence. Conflict of interest legislation would also need to be enacted to counter the concentration of media ownership and ensures multiple sources of information . According to the International Federation of Journalists, it is important to explore new funding models for traditional media that sustain the values of public interest journalism. To help promote these values and enhance the quality and integrity of journalistic reporting, special attention should be given to raise the professional standards, including principles of transparency both of ownership and political affiliation. In terms of media ownership, there is a need for governments to enforce strict transparency rules concerning the management, funding and ownership of media.
3. Journalists Professional Standards: Training and Salaries: Professional standards of journalism need to be raised in developing countries, by the provision of adequate technical and ethical training. The international community, civil society and governments should step up efforts to build the capacity of journalists to cover corruption issues. This includes training in investigative techniques. As journalists can face considerable obstacles and physical risks when they investigate government or powerful interest groups, training in investigative journalism needs to be context-specific and address risks and security issues. Journalists also need to be made aware of their countries’ media policies and laws. Training them on those policies and regulations will better enable them to exercise their rights.

Tools and Approaches for Fighting Corruption in the Media

1. Raising Ethical Standards: There is a growing awareness of the importance of ethical journalism. Raising the professional standards of the profession involves developing an ethics management system for the media that includes raising journalist’s awareness of the ethical challenges they face in the exercise of their professions through the adoption of a robust code of ethics. This code should meets universal standards at a global level and be implemented at a local level. This is not yet the case in many developing countries. In principle, every accredited journalist should commit to the code of ethics.
2. Media Oversight and Accountability: Regulatory bodies play an important role to monitor the media and ensure that ethical standards are met by the profession. These institutions manage the rights to information and freedom of expression and the media. These bodies should be independent and free from any interference.  Media accountability systems need to be established to ensure that the media and journalists respect the ethical rules set by the profession. Such systems can take various forms across country and media institutions. They can take the form of press councils, which brings together all three major actors of social communication (proprietors, reporters and public), of an internal system of review and correction in each media house, or systematic monitoring and reporting of media activity by civil society organisations.
3. Fighting Corruption through Investigative Journalism: One of the pre-requisites for fighting corruption in the media is that the problem is publicly acknowledged and denounced by the media community through regular reports and stories. Investigative journalism can help in this regard, as a powerful tool to fight corruption and uncover corruption in the media.
4. Training and Fellowship Programmes: A number of organisations have developed training modules for building the capacity of journalists interested in investigating corruption. As in some cases journalists might not have the necessary support of their media outlet or the funding to spend time investigating a case, support through fellowships or crowd funding may help enhancing investigative journalism.
5. Awareness Raising through Conferences: A number of conferences have been organised to raise awareness and set the agenda on investigative journalism, varying from local to global events.
6. Journalists Networks: There are a variety of journalist organisations that aim to ensure quality reporting by cutting themselves off from media outlets and the development of networks. Network members are drawn from both private and public print, online, radio and TV media houses. The aim is to mentor journalists to improve their journalistic writings on transparency and accountability issues and to enhance the watchdog role of the media.

Specific recommendations for ‘cash for news’

International journalism organisations

• Raise awareness on the issue by supporting a summit, including representatives of the public relations industry and experts on how corporations deal with bribery.
• Acknowledge the issue by publishing regular reports documenting instances in which journalists have received–or extorted–payment for news.
• Take the lead in documenting–and publicizing–the pay levels of journalists around the world.

Media-development organisations

• Promote ethics training as an integral part of professional standards of journalism, with specific training on why and how to avoid taking cash for news coverage.
• Support the creation of media accountability systems such as ombudsmen and other complaints mechanisms to increase transparency and accountability of media operations.

News media owners, managers, and editors

•  Adopt, publicise and implement a firm policy of zero tolerance for any form of cash for news coverage–from simple “facilitation” payments to reporters to paid ads masquerading as objective news. This can include reviewing pay policies to remove incentives for journalists to indulge in unethical practices.
• Acknowledge that pay can have an impact on ethics.
• Create accountability systems for establishing more transparent relationship with their audiences.

Public relations professionals and their organisations

• Encourage their members to practice zero tolerance, declining the sometimes too-easy path of paying in hopes of getting the best spin on their clients’ stories, and helping them with strategies to do so without hurting their business.

The European Federation of Journalists (EJN) has called for the adoption of an Eight-Point Action Plan to combat corruption in media :

1. Commitment to transparency inside media of relevant information related to the political and financial interests of owners, managers, editors and all leading journalists and presenters;
2. Adoption of rules to prohibit undue interference in the work of journalists and establish full disclosure of contacts and transactions between media and state officials
3. Agreed standards on the allocation of all forms of public advertising
4. Creation of independent and transparent systems for assessing circulation and ratings of media
5. Introduction of internal systems for disclosing potential conflicts of interests at all levels
6. Providing contracts and employment conditions for journalists that meet international labour standards
7. Agreement on internal rules and procedures to ensure full disclosure of all paid for content and made them clearly distinct from editorial and journalistic work
8. Launch a debate at national and international level on the need for structures to provide public assistance to encourage the provision of pluralist and ethical journalism without infringing editorial independence.

High Risk Countries

1. Albania
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina
3. Colombia
4. Croatia
5. Denmark
6. Egypt
7. India
8. Macedonia
9. Malaysia
10. Mexico
11. Montenegro
12. Philippines
13. Nigeria
14. Serbia
15. Turkey
16. Ukraine
17. United Kingdom