The path toward democracy and good governance is often blocked by endemic corruption, which is aided by a political culture that does not value transparency in government. Over the last several years, donors and implementers have increasingly recognized this vital link and developed projects to fight corruption through the promotion of transparency. IREX has begun work on two new projects that recognize the importance of media in this struggle.
In Bangladesh, IREX is working with Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) on the USAID PROGATI program which assists civil society, media, parliament, and government institutions to improve input into and oversight of government by citizens. IREX manages the media component of the project, which will, among its activities, launch a center to provide support to investigative journalism in Bangladeshi media; contribute to reforms that improve media’s ability to access information; and help media play a key role in informing citizens of the actions of their government.
As a partner to the Academy for Educational Development (AED) on the Strengthening Civil Society Monitoring Capacity in Moldova (SCSMCM) program, IREX is helping to improve the media’s ability to monitor corruption and improve investigative journalism skills. In one training on investigative journalism, trainers Alnia Radu and Vitalie Dogaru used a combination of classroom and hands-on approaches to help the participants understand and identify corruption in their society and how to plan and structure investigative reporting pieces on corruption issues. Radu and Dogaru worked with each of the twelve participants individually on planning and writing a story. General consensus from the participants was that they now have a far better grasp on how to identify cases of corruption, how to research and investigate using official sources, how to separate fact from opinion, and how ethics affect their investigations.
