Media companies kill investigative journalism

By Hanna Mhlongo

Many people would not be surprised to learn that some politicians in this country have been accepting soft money from the private contributors in exchange for entrenching laws that would favor the rich and famous. But not many, for sure, expect that the media organizations are also part of this pack.

This was revealed by Center for Public Integrity executive director Charles Lewis when he spoke at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls during Spring Semester 2001. Lewis's visit was part of Journalism and Political Science Day, which was held in conjunction with Inauguration Week.

Lewis told an audience of campus academics, students, administrators and visitors how the media has become silent in exposing the politicians for selling the American democracy to those who can give them millions of dollars for their political campaigns.

"Media corporations have taken members of Congress on 315 all-expense-paid trips around the world, and Federal Communication Commission regulators on 1,400 all-expenses-paid trips. And the reason is because they want more power, more TV stations, the digital spectrum, less regulation, tax breaks, and yes, enormous profits," Lewis said.

He said one of the trends in the media is the reluctance to investigate the allegations the Center has been exposing over the years. He believes the reason for this is because there is a lack of resources and investigative reporting requires time and expense.

He cited the oil scandal where the Center revealed that former vice-president Al Gore had sold the Elk Hill, which is one of the valued natural resources in this country. The Center gave the media that story but they didn't investigate it.

"They are only interested if you give them straight numbers, not something where they still have to dig for more information, and that is sad for journalism." Lewis also attributed the reluctance of the media to investigative the big mergers that have resulted in a few media corporations buying all the smaller and medium media.

"This is affecting investigative reporting; as it is, it's not at a level in which it should be. And again this is happening because the big media companies' bottom line is to make money; they are not concerned about journalism." He said what you see now is that the media go for sensational stories like the Monica Lewinsky scandal - a story that has already happened, which would require journalists to just report on the court case.

"If the media was doing its work, there would be no need of organizations like the Center for Public Integrity," he said.

One of the major projects of the CPI is the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which is made up of journalists from around the world. One of the investigations the consortium has completed is the link between tobacco companies and criminal organizations in tobacco smuggling.

Asked whether he (Lewis) and his staff have received threats from those they are investigating beyond the US borders, he said: "My life has not been threatened yet." He said that many journalists who do the investigations have had their lives threatened.

Lewis says there is hope for investigative reporting: "The number of journalists around the world, committed to public service and watchdog journalism, is increasing. The number of nonprofit organizations committed to investigative journalism is also increasing. And the number of ways journalists can exploit the new technologies and gather information beyond nation-state borders is substantially increasing.

"We can use computers, the Internet, encryption, wireless and other technologies to make the world much, much smaller. And we can network with each other like never before," he said.

About job hunting Lewis had this to say to the graduating seniors: "Knock on those doors even if they are closed because you never know they might not be completely closed."