Roles of Media in Reporting Corruption and Necessary Support
Explore the pivotal roles media plays in combating corruption, including monitoring government actions, raising public awareness, and exposing new corruption cases. Learn about the key requirements for media effectiveness and the background of a study analyzing media coverage of corruption over a five-year period. Discover the tentative findings on coverage trends and the variability among selected newspapers in Vietnam.
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Presentation Transcript
Review of Media Reporting of Corruption ACD Roundtable November 14-15, 2011 1
1 - Why roles do the media play? 1. Media can monitor government efforts to control and combat corruption 2. It can raise public awareness and act as a conduit for information exchange between government and members of the public, helping government understand the public s demands 3. The media can expose new cases of corruption 2
2 - What do the media need in order to carry out these roles effectively? 1. Access to information: This is improving in Vietnam. o More spokespeople, with better skills o Access to Information law and whistleblower protection drafted (but must be passed as soon as possible) 2. Editorial freedom: A very mixed record in Vietnam. The data shows that freedoms are very dependent on changes within the political environment, and as such can not be relied upon 3. Freedom from fear and intimidation: Also very mixed. 3
3 Background to this study Seven newspapers selected for study over a 5- year period, from October 2006 to September 2011. Data collected using key search words in the headline or first two paragraphs. Research conducted mostly via online archives, but recourse to hard copy archives where online ones unavailable. The following findings are tentative. They touch upon Quantitative NOT Qualitative issues at this point. 4
4 - Tentative findings Totals by Year Coverage has fallen over the 5- year period, especially after the arrest of two journalists in mid 2008 for misreporting of the PMU 18 case. 2006 and 2011 not included 2500 2000 Total Stories 1500 1000 500 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 year 5
The reduction is not universal Thanh Nien Tuoi Tre Lao Dong 100 150 15 80 Total Stories Total Stories Total Stories 100 10 60 40 50 5 20 0 0 0 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Oct 2006 Oct 2006 Oct 2006 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 VnExpress VietnamNet Saigon Tiep 100 40 20 80 30 Total Stories Total Stories Total Stories 15 60 20 10 40 10 5 20 0 0 0 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Jan 2007 Jan 2008 Jan 2009 Month Jan 2010 Jan 2011 Oct 2006 Oct 2006 Oct 2006 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2007 July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 6
A variety of different factors may influence coverage. Changes in the political landscape? Economic fluctuations? Sustained focus on major corruption cases? Personnel changes? Total number of corruption stories by month 350 300 250 Number of stories 2006 200 2007 2008 150 2009 100 2010 2011 50 0 7
Different newspapers respond to these influences in different ways. Nhan Dan, the CPV newspaper, sometimes bucks the trend exhibited by the other newspapers studied. Nhan Dan corruption stories by month 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 January February March April May June July August September October November December 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 8
Most stories at provincial level, even though the papers are either national papers or target a national audience. Why? Easiest level to access information? Sub-provincial stories considered too parochial? Central level stories too few? (Or too risky?) % of corruption stories by administrative level 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Thanh Nien Tuoi Tre Lao Dong Nhan Dan VnExpress VietnamNet Saigon Tiep Central Provincial Sub-provincial Not given 9
Coverage of different sectors uneven. Of those recognized by the GoV as important (and worthy of discussion during this dialogue), only some are regularly covered. Regular coverage: Land, construction, banking and finance Rare coverage: health, education, extractive industries Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 13 29% 14% 2 12% 3 4% 12 1% 4 10 11% 11 3% 6% 9 5 5% 6 8 7 3% 6% 4% 2% 10
Most coverage is straight news coverage, based on official reports not investigative reporting. 87% = News stories 50% = Trial coverage 34% = Based on official statements Totals News Editorial Letter Other Editorial 10% Other 1% Letter 2% News 87% Sources for corruption stories (all newspapers) Total No Prosecutions Prosecution/Arrest Another news 5% Own journalist 17% In Trial Sentence 5 6 Other 34% Whistleblower (from govt) 2% Whistleblower (citizen) 6% No Prosecutio ns 23% 6 24% 5 3% Sentence 10% Foreign news source 2% Prosecutio n/Arrest 26% Official govt statement 34% In Trial 14% 11
5 Tentative Conclusions Corruption coverage heavily impacted by non- news influences Heavy reliance on official news sources, not investigative reporting Response to external pressure on newspapers differs significantly and appears to be linked to senior personnel 12
