How to Tackle Corruption Effectively and Gradually
In my personal, humble experience
About 17 years ago we had whistleblowers from China. They wanted us to help them expose to the world how truly corrupt and violent the Communist Party of China was - a topic no Western media outlet would conveniently cover (there would be attempts to interfere and intimidate, especially if some participants were or still are "domestic", have relatives in China etc.); I learned a great deal from that experiences and it shaped how I chose to communicate "difficult" subject, i.e. only strong messages and strong evidence, not strong or rude words. Caricatures helped convey messages in a way that appealed to readers and engaged the mind quickly.
Thee other day an American publisher explained: "Seeding hope is a strong drug in journalism. [...] At the “low-profit” Jackson Free Press, as my life partner and JFP Publisher Todd Stauffer called it, with a much smaller reporting team than I have now at the statewide Mississippi Free Press, I just didn’t have the resources to investigate this abomination. [...] This is a major reason that complicated system breakdowns get ignored; they’re not sexy enough for the traditional journalism field. Or, they might offend bosses and board members, their universities (school-spirit journalism is a huge problem in Mississippi that I don’t suffer from), or their funders. Thus, problems that started from bad deeds or questionable decisions or broken systems morph and multiply. [...] I went to the Collaborative Journalism Summit in Philly (not the Mississippi one I’m from) this month looking for ideas and deeper thought about communicating the MFP’s (and JFP’s) rich and deep impact and to help me think about what the nonprofit world calls a “theory of change.” I found inspiration in two sessions: one on impact tracking and another about the “theory of change” concept—which I don’t hear much talk about in journalism circles, frankly. [...] True impact is about something deeper than he-said-he-said word games. It’s about what our journalism leaves behind or forces to be changed. Mayor Frank Melton’s antics, trials and errors were juicy, mesmerized our readers—and he predictably beat the charges. But systemic journalism hits below the surface and pulls at the roots, at its best with riveting storytelling. [...] True journalism impact is listening to the people, then writing stories that teach us about solutions they need; if we’re invested and patient enough, our stories help a tipping point happen. Systemic journalism, done right, never centers power or treats it like our only hope; it teaches the effects that the powerful have on the people—and then what is possible. It fosters efficacy and the people’s sense that something can change. Systemic reporting invests in the belief that people will join in the work if they have enough information. [...]"
Many passages there can certainly resonate with people who spent decades in this "trade" (like the author).
Donna Ladd's message focuses on impact and systemic, continuous journalism. You cannot knock over a corrupt or inherently unjust system in one single push; it takes persistence, which takes time (in corporate media, it means money). Memory-holing is a real problem.
To those who aren't in it for the money the sole currency is time and allocation thereof. █
Image source: B-5906 was flying CA112 (from Hong Kong) at that time.
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