Media and the Extractive Sector - Improving our Coverage

7/28/2019 Media and the Extractive Sector - Improving our Coverage

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A N Y A S C H I F F R I N , J U L Y 2 0 1 2

Media and the Extractive

Sector: Improving our coverage


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IPD work in journalism training

We began by doing seminars on economic topics and do two a year.Wego where we are invited and have done short events in Lagos,Johannesburg Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Jakarta.Have also underwritten teaching in one news room over several monthsin Vietnam. Sierra Leone in Feb 2008 at an event on budget reportingand the stock market, Bhutan 2012 on macropolicy and unemployment.

Trying to fill a gap that was not covered by the other organizationsdoing journalism training and also to provide teaching materials.www.journalismtraining.net Many can be downloaded free of charge.

Backgrounders on economic topics Books: Covering Globalization, basic business econ manual, Covering

Oil, Covering Labor, a business reporting textbook in China

Covering oil is available onwww.revenuewatch.org I am also the director of the media program at Columbia Universitys

School of International and Public Affairs.
http://www.journalismtraining.net/http://www.revenuewatch.org/http://www.revenuewatch.org/http://www.journalismtraining.net/


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Media Has a Critical Role to Play

Extractive sector can be transformative Government and citizens have key decisions to make Media role is essential because countries can not make

sound decisions unless the public is informed and involved

Media contributes to marketplace of ideas, framesdiscussion and serves as a watchdog In Africa historic tradition of an advocacy/development

role for the media But the media can not educate the public unless the media

is informed Extra responsibility for the media to be informed and

careful. Need to verify facts, develop sources, Act ethically


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Information Density

Responsibility even bigger in developing countries Less information density. One of the ways in which developed countries are

different from developing countries is the information density: in developedcountries there are a large number of channels through which informationflows between government and the citizens, between markets and consumers,between individuals in one part of the country and those in another. With somany channels underdeveloped or blocked in developing countries, it is all themore important that those channels which work well; that they disseminateinformation which is accurate and unbiased. The absence of think tanks putsadditional burdens on reporters to interpret the information. Thus, reportersneed to get the information that will help them become more informed andthink critically about this information.

There are by now a large number of studies that show the critical importance ofthe media in both corporate and public governance. [1] reference

Sens work[1] shows, for instance, that countries with a free press are less likelyto have famines; other work shows that a free press helps to limit corruptionand ensure individual rights are not abused.[2] Tim Besley at LSE has alsodone work on the media and governance.


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Challenges of Resource Curse

Political and Economic problems can result:

--Economic-(Dutch Disease, inflated asset prices,low job creation, deskilling of labor force, lack of

investment in innovation). Economic volatility resulting from instability of

resource prices.

--Politicalfactionalism increases as people try to

grab the wealth rather than create it. Easier to fightthan to create wealth.

Rent-seeking --corruptionundermines democracy.


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What are we to do?

As a journalist you have a huge responsibility to helpserve as a watchdog

But also to write the kind of stories that will add

value to the discussion. Job of media is always to filter and explain

That means you need to understand what you aretalking about.

Can be done but takes work and time and care.

No one will do it for you. You have to do it. There arepeople who will help you.


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Important Topics

Basics of oil market, energy systems Environmental impact Contracts Royalties Budget reporting

Transparency Mechanisms for accountability Investigating corruption Development and alternatives to extractives Corporate reporting

Job creation CSR initiatives Fiscal and macro policy (Dutch disease, stabilization funds, tax

regimes) Larger climate for commodity prices and global macro trends


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More topics

Job creationdont expect miracles

--budgetary transparency IBP

Learning from other countries

Stabilization funds, norway, alaska Ok to renegotiate

Find foreign sources


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Responsibilities

Inform Explain Accuracy Balanced Well Sourced

Biases explained openly Provide background and context Getting out of the office Make sure you understand what you are writing about Provide definitions Understand use of numbers: check and recheck

Long haul commitment and so need to lay groundwork now. Take theSwiss cheese approach

Plan ahead for what you will cover. This week, next week, next months, sixmonths. Own your beat.


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Challenges: Building expertise

No one said it would be easy

To cover extractives well is hard work and takes a bigcommitment

Developing sourcesLearning from other countries

Develop beats

Specialized training

Keep going back to the same topics, ideas, placesConstantly check on your beat and the latest developments.


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Composition of Stories


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Our Findings

We observed that there was a lack of trained beat reporters coveringthe sector. In many cases we found a variety of bylines attached toarticles, suggesting a lack of in house expertise that could be drawnupon. This can be related to the problem of high turnover inreporting/editing staff and lack of funding so that newspapers areunable to retain reporters who are knowledgeable about the

technical aspects of extractive coverage. When journalists dontunderstand what they are being told they may quote extensivelyfrom experts without paraphrasing or summarizing what they say.Or they write around the subject, that is they leave out criticalinformation because they are unsure of what it means.

In the case of extractive coverage in Ghana and Uganda the oil

findings are relatively recent and so reporters may not have hadtime to build up the expertise needed to effectively cover the beat. In any case we noted: Use of big language and jargon


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Mean Sources Per Article


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Use of Sources

(Sourcing is an interesting subject. Getting multiple sources

in order to present a diversity of views is one of the tenets ofWestern journalism Studies of newspapers in the US in 2005and 2006 found that national newspapers had three or more

sources 90% of the time (2006) and four or more sources 48%of the time (PEJ 2005 and 2006 reports). We have notstudied sourcing in African newspapers but in our reportWatchdog or Lapdog: Limits of African Media Coverage ofthe Extractive Sector (Canonge, Purcell 2010) we noted thatthe mean number of sources used in the newspapers from

Nigeria that we looked at ranged from O-2 depending onwhich newspaper we coded. Certainly sourcing wasemphasized in the Thomson Reuters training).


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By contrast we found that only 21.45% of the African newspaper articles we lookedat had three or more unique sources (See chart below). Furthermore, nearly 50% ofarticles had one unique source or less (see Table 2). By far the most prevalent typesof sources were those from government or business outlets. This characteristic wastrue for reporting across all of papers surveyed. Other types of sources recordedincluded sources from nongovernmental organizations, sources from academia,man-on-the-street sources, anonymous sources and sources from tradeassociations. Articles with low source diversity scores tended to fall more or lessevenly on either side of the neutrality line, where extractive industry bias equalszero (0), exhibiting pro or anti-industry bias irrespective of the number of uniquesource types used to support it. The same was true for articles with medium to highsource diversity scores. It was, therefore, determined that the number of uniquesource types used was not a determinant of an articles perceived bias. In other

words, its not the number of sources in each article but the ratio of one type ofsources to another, for example how many anti-oil activists are quoted compared to

an oil executive in the same story or across several stories on the same subject. Pro business sources correlated with pro-business angle to the story


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Challenges to African Media

Our study uncovered three other critical problems. (a) Lack offunding means that they are often unable to go on reportingtrips and rely on corporate sponsorship to cover travel costs.They often feel compelled to accept payment from theirsources, with the obvious risk of slanting of stories. (b) Lack

of access to information hampers the work of journalists inAfrica (and elsewhere). The lack of adequate access to what inadvanced industrial countries is viewed as information thatshould be publicly available is not the only way that the legalenvironment affects coverage. (c) Libel laws and physicalintimidation may discourage press coverage of key stories,

such as those relating to corruption and environmentaldisasters. Our research suggests that unless these problemsare addressed, the effects of journalism training will continueto be piecemeal.


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Other challenges

You know as well as I do what the constraints are to good coverage ofcomplex topics like the extractive sector..

The lack of government spending in developing countries on educationmeans that reporters are vulnerable.

All business journalists tend to imbue the biases of their sources But where there is a lack of alternatives, journalists have fewer options This lack of knowledge hurts coverage. For one thing, reporters will

turn to the nearest available source and sometimes report their viewsuncritically. Too easy to take the IMF or government WB press releaseand repeat it verbatim.

NGOS offering alternative views are not as well financed or as wellequipped as big businesses/international organizations.


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More challenges

The fact that many journalists are either not paid or receivevery low wages means they take money from their sources.This inevitably compromises coverage.

Newsrooms in Africa often lack basic facilities andequipmenttelephones, internet.

Although in some places there have been changes to thepress laws, making them more favorable to the media, thereis still pressure not to rock the boat or write articles that aretoo critical of the government.

Ownership. Many of the newspapers do not even have the

pretense of objectivity. They are there to further theinterests of their owners.

These are problems in many countries around the world.


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Solutions 1: finding info

Paradox that where there is a lively media environment(Nigeria) press coverage of corruption and misdoing has lessresonance

Amplification and echo effect Make use of foreign papers and wires to form alliances. Get info from those who have to reveal it. Arbitrage sources of information, ngos, Blockages of info, Oxfam and other organizations working on

extractives. Name and shame of multinationals Look outside the local community for information EU/Sweden/Norway Learn from other countries


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Other places to get information

World Bank

Bank Information Center www.bicusa.org

African Development Bank

Local universities and think tanks

Revenuewatch.org International Budget Project

Human Rights Watch

Oxfam

Other journalists

Academics who are overseas (Columbia and other places)

Go to the right person. Find the experts.


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Solutions 2: Good journalism practices

Training

Reuters, bbc, african development bank, world bankinstitute, programs at wits, rhodes

Fact checking, verification Multiple sources

Explainer storiesas you write these you educateyourself


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Solutions 3:Training

If you get the info and dont understand it you wont be able to explain it so training isimportant.

Improved Writing Skills Participants learned how to better structure their writing, be more concise, useless jargon and use numbers more effectively to make their writing more accessible to readers. In fact, our

before and after article analysis revealed that eight of nine grading criteria improved for articles written afterthe training.

Better Sourcing Participants learned to use a greater balance of sources that provides more viewpoints, tonot merely reprint all quotes and press releases verbatim, and to include their own independent analysis.

More Practical Experience Writing exercises and feedback from instructors, as well as field trips,

provided much needed practice and learning by example. Understanding of Economic Concepts Participants' writing seemed to improve more than their

understanding of economic concepts. However, trainees from all locations said they learned a lot from thesessions on covering the stock market.

Increased Confidence and Heightened Professional Status Participants were more confident asjournalists and more sought out by colleagues as experts. Over 30% of participants also reported receiving apromotion at some point after the training.

Expanded Networking Participants said that expanding their network to share ideas and learn fromothers experiences was an important benefit from this training, with all survey respondents reporting thatthey have had at least some contact with fellow participants after training, and 61% saying they have done soregularly.

Training Reach The training also benefited journalists that did not attend the training, with 72% ofparticipants reporting in the survey that they shared skills and techniques with colleagues.


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Training Organizations

ThompsonReuters Foundation

IIJ in Berlin

World Bank Institute

African Development Bank Revenue Watch Institute

Business journalism courses:

Wits, Rhodes, City University in London, newuniversity in Nairobi (must be lots in Portugal too)


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Training

Can get experts to come every couple of weeks for lunchmeetings, work with ngo experts and companies withoutbeing compromised, write stories as you go along

Explainer stories too

Practical and hands on always best. Write a story after youhear a speaker and get multiple sources.

There are many journalism associations that can work onthis. They often lack funding and so are run pro bono by a

few dedicated members. The commitment is tremendous as is the need and

enthusiasm.

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Media and the Extractive Sector - Improving our Coverage

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