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Investigative reporters have their work cut out for them. Corruption intertwines with the very rich and powerful, who like their secrets kept out of the headlines. Sometimes, somehow, fragments coalesce into powerful stories. Those putting them together are hunted. Praise comes later.
The European Parliament created a special award last year in honor of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Malta investigative reporter assassinated in a car bombing in 2017. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism is meant to recognize outstanding journalism defending core European values. This past week, its first recipient was named: the investigative consortium producing the Pegasus Project, released in July, that uncovered worldwide illegal surveillance.
Accepting the award were French investigative reporting portal Forbidden Stories founder Laurent Richard and chief editor Sandrine Rigaud, who coordinated the reporting. “Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death has brought about a resurgence of investigative journalism by colleagues committed to continuing her work,” said European Parliament president David Sassoli at the Brussels ceremony. “Recent examples, such as the Pandora Papers, have demonstrated the unique power of journalism that is daring and adamant, particularly when carried out in the context of an international consortium.” (See more about investigative reporting here)
Forbidden Stories, which publishes in French and English, was formed by M Richard in 2017 “devoted to completing and publishing the stories of journalists who have been jailed or killed.” His background is in journalism and documentaries. His experience is personal. His documentary company Premières Lignes was located in the same building as French newspaper Charlie Hebdo when extremist assassins murdered 12 of its reporters. “This happened in my environment,” he said at the time. “(It made me) much more aware about the fragility of the free press.”
The team is multinational and equally distinguished. Chief editor Sandrine Rigaud was a documentary producer for French public television before joining in 2019. Board director Edouard Perrin is an investigator with Premières Lignes and had, through the International consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), worked on the Luxembourg Leaks (LuxLeaks) investigation. Further work with ICIJ on the Panama Papers in 2016 led to collaboration with Süddeutsche Zeitung investigative reporter Bastian Obermayer, now board general secretary of Forbidden Stories.
Big trade shows are perfect venues for trend watching. Those attending, traditionally, come ready with a trend or two in the sales pitch. And nobody falls for a sales pitch like a salesperson. We figured this out a generation ago.
The Mipcom television trade fair roared into Cannes this week. It was streamlined, smaller space, fewer participants due to travel restrictions. But there were real people walking the halls, taking meetings, unlike the last two years. All were wearing “sanitary pass” bracelets prescribed by French rules.
“We thought we’d be able to get it to about 5,000 people. We think now (was) closer to 4,500,” said Mipcom spokesperson Lucy Smith to World Screen (October 14). “We wanted to feel they could keep on coming, right up until the last minute. And they could take part however they needed it. It wasn’t about exhibiting; it wasn’t about who has the big stand. It was about bringing the MIPCOM community back together and getting back to an in-person market.”
Obviously, the main talking point was the “global production boom,” noted Hollywood Reporter (October 11). The “obvious” drivers have been the rise and rise of streaming video platforms and direct-to-consumer platforms, noted Fremantle Group chief operating officer Andrea Scrosati, not to forget people all over the world locked down before their screen of choice. “It’s also because traditional pay-TV and free-to-air broadcasters are commissioning more shows because they know they need to create their own slate to make up for the content they’re going to lose, or have already lost, they would have got from the US studios because those guys are going direct to consumer.” There you have it: simple economics.
Independent producer/distributors - like Fremantle - had the run of the place as the big global set opted to participate remotely. This gave Mipcom a very international - at least non-English - flavor. There was clamour around Squid Game, the South Korean action drama series “officially a phenomenon,” according to Deadline (October 15). It was released into international distribution on Netflix just a month ago. In case you missed it, Squid Game is Netflix’ number one show in 90 countries. It features kids games not for kids.
Journalists are regularly called to illuminate, sometimes to explain the most dreadful human acts. One such is taking place around Belarus, a country trapped in misery from dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Sometime in late summer it appears that hundreds of Syrian and Afghani refugees were brought to Belarus specifically to force them across the Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian borders. Those countries quickly closed their borders using guards and razor wire.
Polish authorities, on direction of the xenophobic Law and Justice (PiS) party, took a particularly hard line declaring a state of emergency creating an exclusion zone. Belarusian authorities effectively did the same, effectively trapping the refugees in the swamps. At least five have died of hypothermia. It continues to be a human rights disaster from which the parties involved are unable or unwilling to unravel. (See earlier report here)
Two weeks ago (September 28) French-German TV channel ARTE reporter Ulrike Dässler and news agency AFP reporter Maja Czarnecka were traipsing through wooded swamps near the Polish-Belarusian border in search of the exclusion zone specified by the state of emergency. Border guards they met along the way suggested they leave the area. Armed with mobile phones the intrepid reporters looked for a map app to guide their exit. Alas, no mobile phone service in that remote area.
On eventual exit they were stopped by police. “More and more police came, also in plain clothes,” said Ms Dässler, who has long reported from war zones, to Deutsche Welle (October 6). “After about three hours we - my cameraman, my stringer and I - were loaded into three different cars and taken to the police station. The cameraman was later handcuffed. I didn't know that I had been arrested, or why, or what happened to my colleague.” They were detained for 48 hours, mobile phones and photographic equipment confiscated. (See more about media in Poland here)
This week the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights (RPO) Marcin Wiacek took on the tangled issues. "The provisions on the state of emergency must be taken into account, however, all actions limiting the freedom of speech should be taken in the spirit of the principle of proportionality and with respect for fundamental human rights," said an RPO statement (October 12). "The confiscation of electronic equipment necessary to prepare information materials may constitute a violation of the protection of journalistic confidentiality. The authorities should provide journalists with the opportunity to collect critical materials and refrain from any actions aimed at suppressing press criticism and exerting a 'chilling effect' on journalists.” Border guards and police officers from the area have been asked to explain.
The weight of international investigative reporting consortiums and collectives has grown considerably in the last decade. It’s a matter of supply and demand. With specialized reporting more necessary and newsrooms shrinking publishers and broadcasters have turned to - and participated in - these groupings. Authoritarians have discovered this, too.
In its never ending pressure on investigative reporting the Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation last week added Bellingcat to its list of “foreign media performing the functions of a foreign agent,” ostensibly requiring the organization to reveal operational and financial details and self-identify, reported Russian exile news portal Medusa (October 8). Bellingcat, legally domiciled in the Netherlands, specializes in identifications, often matching names with photographs. It was instrumental in tying a certain Buk missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine to Russian military forces. Bellingcat also identified the Russian operatives responsible for poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal. (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
"I guess this is the Russian Nobel Prize,” said Bellingcat founder Eiiot Higgins, quoted by Reuters (October 8). "What took you so long?" added Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev. (See more about investigative reporting here)
Also added to the list last week were BBC Russian service correspondent Andrei Zakharov, Dozhd TV (Rain TV) employee Daniil Sotnikov and online investigative portal Proekt reporter Elizaveta Surnacheva. Five RFE/RL employees were listed - Current Time freelance reporter Roman Perl, Kiev-based editor Yelizaveta Surnacheva and RFE/RL Russian service reporters Tatyana Volskaya, Yekaterina Klepikovskaya, and Yelena Solovyova. Also making the list were media rights attorney Galina Arapova and environmental activist Yevgeny Simonov. The Justice Ministry listings came hours after independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta chief editor and co-founder Dmitry Muratov was awarded the 2021 Noble Peace Prize along with Philippines news portal Rappler chief executive and co-founder Maria Ressa.
Last month the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) halted Russian operations and offered relocation to Russian employees. "This does not mean we will stop covering the large-scale corruption in this country,” said a statement (September 15). “We simply understand that the government, as it has always done, will sanction their citizens for collaborating with us." After the release of the Pandora Papers earlier this month, which contained many Russian revelations, Russian “patriotic” activist Alexander Ionov asked the State Prosecutor’s Office to declare the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which coordinated release of the massive data leak, an “undesirable organization,” noted news portal Lenizdat (October 4).
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