Investigative journalism
We must document and expose the corporate capture of the State, and disseminate this information both strategically and massively. However, the role and importance of investigative journalism in this regard was underappreciated across our interviews and literature review.
The following are someopportunities worth considering:
- More funding for data and investigative journalism, and local journalism that examines subnational topics and jurisdictions.Some examples include Empower Journalism’s own work, such as “Corporate elites co-opt public health in Mexico” and “Vitol still has contracts with Pemex; its former CEO in Mexico is an associate of a deceased financial operator of Los Zetas,” as well as PODER Journalism’s work, including “EE.UU regaña a México por monopolio de Slim, AMLO lo premia con más contratos” and “El millonario y opaco negocio de la salud pública.”
- Support existing investigative journalism networks,such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which broke the Panama Papers stories; Red PALTA in Latin America, which broke the Covid-19 Pandemic medical supplies and vaccination scandals in the region; and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which contributed to breaking the Pandora Papers. According to Elizabeth David-Barrett and Slobodan Tomić, transnational journalism networks enhance cooperation, mitigate the risks associated with taking on the powerful and well-connected, contribute to building the capacity of the profession (by providing new tools and training), and collate data from a variety of sources to facilitate access and triangulate evidence, as well as develop mutual trust among journalists. Moreover, transnational journalism plays a pivotal role in addressing corporate capture by highlighting important cases of corruption and exerting pressure on public officials to initiate prosecutions and sustain legal processes.
- Support documentary films and streaming projects,such as PODER’s documentary series about corporate capture and the climate crisis in Mexico or Barbara Kopple’s documentaries about political pressure against climate activists, for example. Incidentally, Bobby Ramakant from Citizen News Service notes that his introduction to corporate capture was a short documentary from 2000 called “Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction,” produced by Corporate Accountability International.