MetaFilter posts tagged with corruption and journalism

Merry Christmas, Mayor Daley

Iridic — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:02:30 -0800

Last week, the Chicago Reader laid off four of its best journalists: John Conroy (previously), Harold Henderson, Tori Marlan, and Steve Bogira. The cuts almost certainly mark the beginning of the end of the paper's role in Chicago as an investigative force and a corruption watchdog. The New York Times responds with a salute to Conroy and a defense of muckraking's relevance. Conroy made his name through years of ceaseless investigation into police torture. For the time being, the Reader retains a full online archive of that work. Henderson's Reader blog (which proclaims him "The World's First Blogger") also remains online. Marlan's work includes the post mortems "Death of a Scientologist" and "Killed by a Cop Car." Bogira is the author of the remarkable Courtroom 302, which HBO is developing as a miniseries.

the terms of his employment would be made public in the future

amberglow — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 07:02:34 -0800

Albania to get more corruption, and duct-tape expert-- ... As much as Ridge's security expertise, Berisha wants him to also bring to Albania his "success story" as Governor of Pennsylvania on education, the judiciary, information technology, agriculture and money laundering. ...

Journalistic Ethics

mkultra — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 07:34:14 -0800

"If a scholar or expert gets paid to do some work for the government, should he or she disclose that if he writes a paper, essay or op-ed on the same or similar subject? If this is the ethical standard, it is an entirely new standard." So says syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, defending against revelations and accusations by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post (warning: reg required) that she neglected to disclose that she was paid by the Administration for Children and Families Home Page (part of the Department of Health and Human Services) for consulting work inteded to promote the Administration's "pro-marriage" policies in 2002. Gallagher took a pro-Administration stance repeatedly in her column that same year. Gallagher ultimately cops out with, "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it." After Armstrong Willaims got caught with his pants down, is "honesty" old and busted, and "I don't remember" the new hotness? (via tp)

The Tehelka Phenomenon

hairyeyeball — Wed, 24 Sep 2003 07:33:28 -0800

Tehelka is the Indian journalism Web site that published video of bribe-taking on the Net, launching a Watergate-like corruption scandal at the highest levels of government. Since breaking the story, however, "Tehelka’s staff has gone from 120 people to three; its office has been vacated; its staffers arrested and harassed; and its debts have spiraled." But the site perserveres. And Malaysiakini seems to be following in its footsteps. As Doc Searles says, it's "the duct tape of journalism."