Reporters, whistleblowers team up

in drive against graft, cronyism
100Reporters
A new web site links "top journalists from around the world to write about corruption."

Diana Jean Schemo and Philip Shenon came up with the idea for the site, 100Reporters, which is "aimed at filling a void in the current media landscape by reporting primarily on corruption and accountability in politics, business and governments," according to a statement.

In the statement, Diana Jean Schemo, the site's executive editor, said: "For the first time, we're bringing together professional reporters and citizens in a new partnership to expose graft and corruption in the United States and around the world. 100Reporters will cover corruption not as an isolated episode, but as an ongoing story with lasting implications. Whether talking about hunger in Somalia or uprisings in the Arab world or the revolving doors of Washington, the most important stories of our day tie into corruption. 100Reporters exists to bring those connections to light."


The group 100Reporters represents a new take on a familiar mission: using the power of the pen to hold government and business leaders accountable. Its primary mission is to cover corruption of all sorts, from the pervasive bribery that raises the cost of ordinary government services, to extortion, to the sweetheart contracts that perpetuate poverty and strangle competition.

According to Schemo, "Our unique perspective focuses on corruption in all its complexity, tracing not only its results, but the roles of parties all along the food chain."

Every year, corrupt leaders and their cronies siphon more than $1.26 trillion from the national economies of developing nations, according to the Global Financial Integrity Project. For every $1 that enters Africa in development aid, some $10 leaves the continent in illegal cash transfers. Said Schemo, "That money could be used to build roads, schools, water treatment plants and hospitals. This is information the public needs to know."

The site is also relying on citizen journalists through its "Whistleblower Alley," a secure portal where users can safely submit information-anonymously, if they choose, about corruption anywhere in the world. Such evidence can include original reporting, documents or photographic evidence of corrupt dealings or corrupt individuals. The goal is to embrace technology's potential to build new forms of journalism around a towering, intractable global issue, and to bring citizen journalists into the reporting of stories wherever possible.

Additionally, 100Reporters has formed partnerships with other news operations, including Global Post.com, the Center for Public Integrity and the Global Financial Integrity Project. Starting in November, stories will be offered for syndication through Thomson Reuters to hundreds of newspapers around the world. Expanding the publication base of 100Reporters will allow the new website's stories to reach the widest possible audience, especially in nations that typically shut down the Internet as a response to serious reporting.

The 100Reporters team includes scores of award-winning journalists from across the globe: Pulitzer winners David Johnston and Joel Brinkley, Richard Behar, Frank Foer, Lucy Komisar, Mike Sager, Lydia Chavez, Ken Silverstein, Micki Maynard, Roberto Guareschi of Argentina, Wanjohi Kabukuru of Kenya, Paul Radu and Stefan Candea of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in Eastern Europe, Andrew Marshall in Singapore, Phil Gunson in Caracas, and many other stars of investigative journalism. The chairman of the 100Reporters Board of Directors, Ron Nixon, is an award-winning investigative correspondent for The New York Times and creator of the Ujima Project.

Limbo comment: Wikileaks may be in trouble, but here we have yet another emulator. Wonder if the national bank card cartel will block 100Reporters from conducting business (no need to worry about that pesky 5th amendment protection covering right to transact business), especially in light of the fact that an aim seems to be the ultra-elite "crony capitalists" who have proved the Occupiers' point with coordinated nationwide crackdowns and a propagandistic CBS News broadcast that could serve as a justification for the crackdowns.