The Importance of Freedom of the Media for Building Corruption-Resilient Institutions and Societies
Five years ago in April, the first news stories broke concerning the now infamous Panama Papers. The Panama Papers comprised some 11.5 million files related to over two hundred-thousand offshore entities set up by a Panamanian law firm. The predominant purpose of many of these offshore entities was to conceal the identity and, in many cases, the illegal financial activities of the powerful individuals behind them.
Starting in April 2016, media organizations and journalists around the globe, collaborating through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), began to publish the first articles exposing the illicit conduct uncovered in their investigation of the Panama Papers. The repercussions were dramatic and continue to reverberate today. For example, the ICIJ reports that since the initial story broke, 140 politicians from over 50 countries, including heads of state, ministers, elected officials, their associates, and family members, have been linked to offshore entities in various tax havens and in many cases were linked to illicit activity. The ICIJ reports that the investigative reporting based on the Panama Papers has led to governments around the world recovering $1.36 billion in unpaid taxes, fines and penalties.
But the leak of the Panama Papers by itself would not have been sufficient either. What it took was the diligent, skilled, and courageous work of hundreds of independent investigative journalists and news organizations around the world who analyzed the papers, investigated the leads, and developed the stories for publication. The fifth-year anniversary of the first Panama Paper stories is therefore an appropriate moment to reflect upon the link between freedom of the media and the fight to build corruption-resilient institutions and societies. That link is clear. Other investigations into corruption, organized crime, and money laundering advanced by the ICIJ and the OCCRP such as the Paradise Papers, FinCen Files, and Laundromats highlight the impact of such collaborative efforts on our understanding of corruption across the OSCE region and worldwide and show us the value of international networks of skilled, co-ordinated, investigative reporting.
As the OECD aptly framed it in its report The Role Of The Media and Investigative Journalism in Combatting Corruption, freedom of the media is a pre-condition to reporting on corruption. It is not a coincidence that, as Transparency International (TI) has reported, “countries with higher rates of corruption, as measured by the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), also tend to have the fewest protections for the media and journalists.” And as UNODC and others have observed, “the extent to which journalists can assist in detecting corruption depends on whether the media is free and independent.”
Yet in recent years, the work of investigative journalists exposing corruption or other abuses of power has grown more dangerous and difficult. This is occurring in the context of what Freedom House has characterized as a downward spiral in media freedom around the world. UNESCO reports that, between 2010 and 2019, close to 900 journalists were killed on the job. While many were killed covering conflicts, a greater number were reporting on corruption, trafficking, political wrongdoing, human rights violations and environmental issues. Other journalists have been targeted in kidnappings, arrests, imprisonments, and harassment. Unfortunately, those who target the media operate, in many cases, with relative impunity. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media continues to make a valuable contribution in our understanding of these threats, including, for example, by calling attention to the particular online harassment faced by female journalists in its resource guide, Safety of Female Journalists Online, and by its diligent work to counter them.
OSCE participating States have explicitly recognized the importance of freedom of the media in the work of building corruption-resilient institutions and societies. For example, in Prevention of Corruption, the States recognized that “that the ability of an independent media to investigate and to publish the results of that investigation, in accordance with national legislation and international commitments, without fear of prosecution, persecution or physical harm is fundamental to preventing and combating corruption at all levels and in all sectors.” In Safety of Journalists, the States reaffirmed “all relevant OSCE commitments on the right to freedom of expression, freedom of the media, and free flow of information,” and that “independent media are essential to a free and open society and accountable systems of government.”
So, on the fifth-year anniversary of the publishing of the Panama Papers, amidst a worsening environment for journalists in many countries, we recognize the importance of freedom of the media in building corruption-resilient institutions and societies. Every step taken to advance that principle is, in fact, a step taken toward achieving that goal.