"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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"Advocates for media freedom have consistently argued that corruption goes down when journalists operating in a free media environment are able to expose the excesses of governmental leaders. An evolving body of research finds evidence to support this assertion. Measurement of corruption is a compli
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cated undertaking, and it has received little attention in this literature. This paper focuses on perceptual measures of corruption based on public opinion surveys. It attempts to replicate the finding of a negative relationship between media freedom and corruption using multiple measures of media freedom. The findings challenge the general argument that media freedom unambiguously is associated with lower levels of corruption." (Abstract)
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"In developing countries, the media is often confronted by a combination of factors that create fertile grounds for corruption, such as lack of training and technical skills, low professional standards, limited financial resources, opaque or government controlled ownership structures, inadequate and
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undemocratic legal frameworks. Types of corruption in the media vary from bribery in the form of cash for news, staged or fake news, gift giving, concealed advertisement to nepotism and capture by vested private or political interests. Fighting corruption in the media can involve a wide range of approaches, varying from raising awareness of ethical standards, strengthening the freedom of the press, introducing adequate media policies and legislation, promoting media accountability as well as supporting investigative journalism through technical training." (Summary)
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"This Tool is not a true how-to manual, although it offers detailed suggestions from leading journalists on innovative ways to use a vast and growing trove of public records and independent media networks. The flood of information in today’s inter-connected world creates an opportunity for journal
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ists focused on corruption, and this document provides advice for extracting that information and explaining what it means to the public. It also places great emphasis on the need for ethics, accountability and accuracy that distinguish professional investigative reporting from an increasing number of online and social media sites that often publish information without the depth and context such efforts require. Most of the measures outlined have been long practiced and taught by respected journalists and academics. This document also takes a step further, introducing innovative suggestions, such as standardizing computer records across nations, enlisting lawyers to work pro-bono with journalists, and increasing the use of cross-border journalism networks and evidence-based activism." (Page 8)
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"It is clear that corruption is considered an important issue by South Africans. It is frequently cited as a critical issue facing the country, and many people believe that there are high levels of corruption in various parts of government. At the same time however, the incidence of bribery appears
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to be relatively low when compared to the perceived corruption figures. This may be because people are reluctant to admit to paying bribes and therefore the incidence of bribery may be under-reported. In addition, people may think of nepotism, procurement fraud, and other misuse of state resources when asked about corruption, rather than considering only petty bribery. This is a second potential explanation for the differences between perceptions and reality appearing from the survey results. Finally, in the fight against corruption, opinions on the performance of government appear to have remained fairly constant over the past ten years, whereas the role of the media is considered more important now than it was a few years ago." (Conclusion, page 7)
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"GISWatch 2012 explores how the internet is being used to ensure transparency and accountability, the challenges that civil society activists face in fighting corruption, and when the internet fails as an enabler of a transparent and fair society. The eight thematic reports and 48 country reports pu
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blished ask provocative questions such as: Is a surveillance society necessarily a bad thing if it fights corruption? And how successful have e-government programmes been in fighting corruption? They explore options for activism by youth and musicians online, as well as the art of using visual evidence to expose delusions of power. By focusing on individual cases or stories of corruption, the country reports take a practical look at the role of the internet in combating corruption at all levels." (Back cover)
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"Bangladeshi media have undergone significant changes since the 1990s. Despite a boom in the media industry, journalists are reluctant to uncover the misdeeds of politicians because of threats and torture. The media has been politicised in Bangladesh as media supporting the incumbent party in power
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work towards exposing the perceived misdeeds of the opposition. However, the empirical data show that there is a third category beyond this paradigm, which uncovers the political misdeeds across the parties to the wider populace." (Abstract)
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"Governments and donor agencies are under increasing pressure to show hard evidence that their interventions are effective and good value for money. Anti-corruption is a challenging field in this regard, with few evidence-based models to draw upon, so both the design and the evaluation of programmes
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need to be supported by good analytical frameworks. The theory of change (ToC) approach focuses on how and why an initiative works. Constructing a ToC enables government and donor staff to identify the logic underpinning their programmes and clarify how interventions are expected to lead to the intended results. The paper presents a user-friendly five-step methodology for building a theory of change for a programme or project. It highlights the importance of preconditions, factors that must be in place for the intervention to work as intended, distinguishing between those preconditions that can be addressed by the programme design and those that cannot. Finally, the paper provides general and sector-specific guidance based on case studies of programms in three areas: anti-corruption authorities, civil society work, and public sector reforms." (Abstract)
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"Bribery for news coverage has a negative impact on the credibility of media; it also restricts the free flow of information and violates the public's right to know. Further, research showed that there exists considerable inequality among countries in terms of the extent to which bribery for news co
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verage exists in media system. This study provides the first quantitative cross-national assessment of a set of predictors of the likelihood that bribery for news coverage exists in a country's media system and tested competing arguments derived from the literature. Data of this study are drawn from 66 nation states. The analysis shows that 5 groups of political, economic, cultural, educational, and technological variables have direct or indirect impacts on a country's media bribery level. The interactions between these variables are also analyzed. The study concludes by discussing how analyses of the nature of the international media bribery problem contribute to finding multiple approaches to solutions to this problem." (Abstract)
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"Este informe examina las razones por las cuales la joven democracia mexicana no ha podido enfrentar las fuentes de su corrupción interna y la larga cultura de evasión e inacción. Vamos también a analizar las fallas del estado a proteger los periodistas de la extrema violencia que ellos enfrenta
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n, por parte de organizaciones de narcotráfico y agentes estatales corruptos, quienes cometen los mas visibles ataques a la libertad de expresión, gozando de una impunidad casi absoluta. Este informe concluye que México esta violando una cantidad de obligaciones de derecho internacional de los derechos humanos, incluyendo el derecho a la vida y a la libertad de expresión." (Resumen ejecutivo, página 6)
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"The starting point of PPTRP has been that real and lasting transparency and accountability are best built from the ground up piece by piece and by ordinary people taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously. It is one of the reasons we subtitled the project and website “Pera Natin ‘to!
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(It’s Our Money!). We wanted to help build public ownership in the issue. Our concern was – and remains still today – that changes introduced at the top by one administration – can so easily be taken away by another unless that change is deeply rooted in the ground and in its people. So we believed- and still believe – that real sustainable change in governance comes only from active and continual participation of citizens. It needs action and engagement at both the national and local level. It needs groups, sectors and communities finding new ways of coming and working together to develop new ideas and build new constituencies and avenues for change. It needs to involve and energise all those hundreds of thousands of honest and professional civil servants across the country who for way too long have quietly despaired going to work each day given the failure of leadership in their own departments and agencies.
All this required and still requires a combined response that uses new thinking and approaches. It required first and foremost the start of a public literacy campaign around public finances since citizens cannot ever hope to adequately monitor or engage in things that they don’t understand. So it was that we built our project equally around information, education, training, capacity building, networking, advocacy and campaigns. So it was that we worked with people’s organizations, civil society groups, media and ordinary members of the public at one and the same time. We figured that everybody had a role to play in building and securing transparency and accountability – and so everybody should get involved.
We started work on a website full of the basics – (www.transparencyreporting.net) accessible and easy to understand information about all aspects of public finance. We assumed little – partly because we knew little ourselves and were learning on the job as we went. We wrote, commissioned and edited material designed to give readers a sense of understanding about how public finances, systems and cycles worked and what kind of issues and problems there were. We tried to identify how and where money was raised and how it was allocated and spent and why and by whom. Invariably it comes down to money. If you can follow the money, you can find the problems and perhaps even help suggest some solutions.
We developed training modules too – modules aimed equally at journalists and activists and ordinary members of the public. And we toured around the Philippines going north and as far south as Tawi-Tawi where we were told few groups ever venture. We encouraged people to report allegations of corruption – but equally we sought out instances of where government was working well and deserved highlighting. It is easy to be negative – but far better to be critically constructive. We received many more allegations than we could investigate – in large part because sources were scared even to follow up and meet with us in confidence. Protection for whistle-blowers remains very much a pressing issue today that needs sorting ...
While all projects must by necessity always remain above the political fray, we were naturally delighted that as things turned out, the new incoming administration made improving transparency and accountability a primary goal. When an initiative finds itself working in support of government policy, it is always easier. So we were delighted to see the issue of political abuse of public projects taken up as were the appointment of some leading proponents of open government to key positions in the administration. We were very fortunate also for the chance to work closely with officials in several key departments and on various initiatives linked to the national budget.
[...] Perhaps one key achievement we might be remembered for, alongside the website which will remain as hopefully a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about public sector finances -- is having set up four local citizen watchdog groups that demonstrate how easy and important it is for ordinary people to get involved and play their part. We hope more groups can follow their lead. People power needs to be much more than a slogan and become a way of life." (Introduction, page 16-19)
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"Based on CommGAP’s interactions with the global anticorruption community as well as earlier research, we were able to collate 18 representative instances (case studies) from around the world, with real-life examples of citizens coming together to speak up against corruption and social norms vis-
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-vis corruption or to change public services affected by corrupt practices. This report is a “one-step-up” analysis of the collated case studies, which is intended to shed light on practical approaches, tools, and techniques that have been successful in bringing citizens together to stand against the daunting phenomenon of corruption." (Page 1)
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"We construct measures of the extent to which the four main newspapers in Argentina report government corruption on their front page during the period 1998–2007 and correlate them with government advertising. The correlation is negative. The size is considerable—a one standard deviation increase
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in monthly government advertising is associated with a reduction in the coverage of the government’s corruption scandals of 0.23 of a front page per month, or 18 percent of a standard deviation in coverage. The results are robust to the inclusion of newspaper, month, newspaper × president and individualcorruption scandal fixed effects, as well as newspaper × president specific time trends." (Abstract)
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"This paper provides a practical overview of how an agency may work with the media to win the support of the public in the fight against corruption. The first part explains why anti-corruption agencies need to take the media particularly seriously, how the media communicate, and what effects they ha
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ve on the public. Case studies illustrate all of these points—showing, for instance, how the media can distort the reality of corruption by following their own preformed perceptions of a corruption case. Government agencies can set things straight only by providing sufficient and clear information, and by working closely with the media to ensure the message is accurate.
The second part of the paper focuses on the role of public opinion in the fight against corruption. Public opinion can be a powerful tool in promoting an agency’s work—or in bringing about its downfall. If citizens misunderstand the issue, they are unlikely to support the fight against corruption. But if public opinion is in favor of an anti-corruption agency the people are able to change their country’s culture. The media can shape public opinion and, most of all, change norms about corruption. Here is an example: Communication campaigns can show that it not only is illegal to pay bribes to public officials, but also is immoral and does real harm to the community. This message can encourage the public to change the expectation of bribes and to resist demands for them—one more step in the fight against corruption. In India, for instance, anti-corruption efforts led to the printing of the “zero-rupee” note with a picture of Gandhi on its face. These notes were given to bribe seekers to shame them.
In the context of public opinion, it also is important that anti-corruption agencies understand the role of journalism and the conditions under which journalists work. Their reporting directly influences the perceptions and opinions of the public. Because of economic and other pressures, journalists often tend to simplify or dramatize stories—and that can produce the wrong perceptions among their audiences. Again, this paper provides real-world stories that show the impact of journalism on public opinion." (Introduction, pages 1-3)
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"With all the organized efforts to support media development and defend press freedom around the world, there has been remarkably little done in any concerted way to reduce the problem of corrupt journalism", states this report. Ristow proposes that international journalism organizations should issu
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e regular reports documenting instances in which journalists have received, or extorted, payment for news as a clear sign of acknowledging this "dark side" of the profession and take the lead in documenting, and publicizing, the pay levels of journalists around the world. Media development organizations should sharpen their focus on ethics training and support the creation and nurture of media accountability systems such as ombudsmen. News media owners, managers, and editors should adopt, publicize, and then stick to 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 -, review pay policies and take the initiative in creating accountability systems on their own." (commbox)
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