The Muckraker

The latest episode of iWitness, a new web series from FRONTLINE/World, spotlights a journalist working to expose human rights abuses in Zimbabwe—where practicing journalism "has become a crime punishable by death." The woman, who is not named and does not appear on camera to protect her identity, talks to series curator Joe Rubin by phone about some of the most striking experiences she has had reporting in Zimbabwe during Mugabe's fight to maintain power—a dangerous time for anyone who publicly criticizes him and his party.

iWitness launched in June 2008 on FRONTLINE/World's website:

The idea for iWitness grew out of a sense that we wanted to expand our network of voices from around the world and to respond more quickly to events, especially dramatic situations.

Reaching people in countries such as Iran or Burma via web cam provides an immediate and powerful storytelling tool. We'll be checking in mid story with our regular reporters, but we will also be connecting directly with activists and artists, doctors and teachers, even avatars reporting from virtual communities, such as Second Life.

>> Visit the FRONTLINE/World iWitness site to watch videos and learn more.

Edward Murrow's spirit lives on in the work of broadcast journalists he inspired, says the Radio-Television News Directors Association, which this week announced its 2008 picks for excellence in electronic reporting. Investigative reporting has its own category of the Edward R. Murrow Awards; this year's national winners are:


ABC News, Brian Ross Investigates | Prescription for Error
Television Network/Syndication Service
Chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross exposed pharmacy errors in America's major drug store chains, and their effects. Watch the original report, "Pharmacy Errors: Unreported Epidemic", or track the follow-up stories on The Blotter's Pharmacy Investigation blog.

NPR | Sexual Abuse of Native American Women
Radio Network/Syndication Service
Reporter Laura Sullivan led a two-part investigation, from South Dakota and Oklahoma, on the ongoing epidemic of sexual violence on Native American reservations. Read the transcript, listen to the original broadcasts, and dig deeper with interactive maps at "Rape Cases on Indian Lands Go Uninvestigated" and "Legal Hurdles Stall Rape Cases on Native Lands". Hear Sullivan discuss the the reporting challenges she faced in this interview with Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center:




KNBC-TV | Contaminated
Television: Large Market
Reporter Joel Grover and his team went undercover for four months to expose contaminated food supplies delivered to Southern California restaurants, and public health officials' failure to protect the public. Explore the project site, Produce Market Investigation, to read the transcript and watch parts one, two and three of Grover's video series.

WLOX-TV | Home Sweet Meth Home
Television: Small Market
In this three-part series, reporter Keli Rabon investigated how former meth labs in Biloxi, Miss. were being rented and sold to unsuspecting people, exposing them to harmful chemicals. See the full reports: "Mississippi Failing To Protect Families From Former Meth Labs", "Meth: It Can't Be Seen, But Could Be In Your Home" and "Innocent Families Discover Meth Still Lurks In Their Homes", and follow-up stories.

WTMJ-AM | Unlawful Restraint?
Radio: Large Market
Reporter Dan O’Donnell investigated the use of restraining devices in a special education classroom in Racine, Wis. Read the transcript and listen to the original report.



Hundreds of other radio and television reports received Edward R. Murrow Awards at the regional level. Explore the full list.

The U.S. State Department has played an integral role in advising oil deals between five major western oil companies and the Iraqi government, reports Andrew E. Kramer for The New York Times. According to Kramer, "the disclosure, on the eve of the contracts’ announcement, is the first confirmation of direct American involvement in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development." The small advising committee of the U.S. State Department, comprised of American government lawyers and private sector consultants told the Times "that their involvement was only to help an understaffed Iraqi ministry with technical and legal details of the contracts and that they in no way helped choose which companies got the deals." However, democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York said that the oil contracts to be awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total, and Chevron could "deepen political tensions in Iraq and endanger American soldiers."

The BBC also reported on the U.S. and other nations’ interests in investing in the six Iraqi oil fields: Rumaila, Kirkuk, Zubair, West Qurna, Bai Hassan and Maysan, and “officials’ hope that the presence of multinational oil firms in Iraq will stimulate more foreign investment.”

>> Read about daily life in Iraq on the Baghdad Bureau blog of The New York Times.

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Top investigations in the Philippines on human rights, the environment and governance and corruption were honored June 26 with the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism for 2007. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a nonprofit promoting and protecting ethical media in the Philippines, administered the awards.

Writers for Newsbreak, an online magazine covering the nation's news and current affairs, took home the two highest honors:

• Glenda Gloria for "Trapped in a Web of Lives," her report on the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, the son of press freedom fighter Joe Burgos. She also received the Marshall McLuhan Prize, a travel study award to Canada. Gloria is managing editor of Newsbreak, the author of several books -- most recently Spin & Sell: How Political Ads Shaped the 2004 Elections -- and teaches investigative reporting at KAF Asian Center for Journalism of the Ateneo de Manila University. Reach her here.

• Roel Landingin for "The Battle for Manila's Gateway," his series of explanatory articles on the controversial opening of Terminal 3 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. He also received the Australian Ambassador's Award, a travel grant to Australia. Landingin is Manila senior correspondent for The Financial Times of London and a fellow with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Earlier this year, his three-part series, "The Perils and Pitfalls of Aid," capped a 6-month PCIJ investigation into official development assistance projects, and "reflected the reluctance by many government agencies to allow public access to documents that involve use of taxpayers’ money."

Newsbreak describes its coverage as "honest, independent, and spunky reportage" that emphasizes "in-depth stories, investigative reports, incisive analysis, as well as insider stuff that give a ringside view of the workings of people, politics, and power." Paid subscribers can access the winning articles by Gloria and Landingin in its archives.

Finally, Prime Sarmiento of the PCIJ received a Plaque of Merit for "What's Swimming in Your Soup?", in which she documents the impact of domestic wastewater pollution on the Philippines' waterways and wildlife. Sarmiento now works for IPS-Asia Pacific; see more of her work on her website.

The JVOAEJ program was established in 1990 by CMFR in the name of Jaime V. Ongpin, secretary of finance during the Aquino administration, who struggled against the Marcos dictatorship and advocated a stronger alternative press. Past winners include The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, Newsbreak, and Philippine Graphic.

See the full list of this year's finalists here.

The pharmaceutical industry spent $168 million lobbying Capitol Hill last year, reports the Center for Public Integrity.

That's a 32 percent increase from 2006, making it Washington's largest lobby. Big Pharma and other health-product manufacturers spent a combined $189 million on lobbying in 2007, nearly three times the $67 million they spent in 1998. Drug interests have spent more than $1 billion on federal lobbying efforts in the past decade.

The spending binge helped fuel some big wins for the pharmaceutical industry, CPI reports. Some of their biggest wins include blocking inexpensive drug imports, patent protection, and securing greater market access in international free trade agreements.

The intense lobbying effort wasn't the only weapon in their arsenal. In the current election cycle, the industry has given more than $14 million to candidates—half to Democrats, half to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The biggest recipients? Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his vanquished opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

Since the 1990 election cycle, the pharmaceutical and health-products industry has contributed more than $154 million to campaign coffers, nearly twice as much to Republicans than Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

About $23 billion may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq, reports the BBC's news magazine show, Panorama.

It's not the first investigative report detailing lost billions in Iraq. Back in February 2006, 60 Minutes reported that the Coalition Provisional Authority couldn't account for nearly $9 billion. And late last month, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing saying much the same thing: billions of American taxpayer funds were not properly accounted for in Iraq.

But $23 billion is a staggering amount, nearly three times the amount the Pentagon's Inspector General reported in last month's House hearing. To put $23 billion in perspective: more than 100 nations produced less than that in 2006, says the World Bank (countries like Kenya, Costa Rica, Iceland, Uruguay and Lebanon all reported lower GDPs in 2006 than the U.S. government has potentially lost in Iraq since the war began in 2003); the U.S. Department of Justice spent about $23 billion in the 2007 fiscal year; and it's a few billion more than Coca-Cola and McDonald's reported in total revenue last year.

The program originally aired across the pond on BBC One on Tuesday. Americans hoping to catch it on BBC America will have to wait; Panorama isn't part of the broadcaster's slate of shows. It will, however, be posted to the BBC's website soon.

Private mercenary company Blackwater USA made headlines last fall after its security forces in Baghdad killed 17 Iraqi civilians in a gunfight. Though the Iraqi Minister of the Interior attempted to ban the company from operating in Iraq, the U.S. State Department recently renewed Blackwater's year-long contract there. Now Blackwater is making headlines again: Jeremy Scahill reports in The Nation that the Pentagon has asked Blackwater to bid on another lucrative international security contract—this time to “fight terrorists with drug-ties” in Mexico, Bolivia and Colombia.

In “Blackwater’s Private Spies,” Scahill investigates how Blackwater and other private security companies are taking advantage of “emerging war and conflict markets," and why Washington is investing $42 billion annually in private intelligence contractors.

Scahill reports on Blackwater's possible expansion into Latin America:

Such an arrangement could find Blackwater operating in an arena with the godfathers of the war industry, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. It could also see Blackwater expanding into Latin America, joining other private security companies well established in the region. The massive US security company DynCorp is already deployed in Colombia, Bolivia and other countries as part of the "war on drugs." In Colombia alone, US military contractors are receiving nearly half the $630 million in annual US military aid for the country. Just south of the US border, the United States has launched Plan Mexico, a $1.5 billion counternarcotics program. This and similar plans could provide lucrative business opportunities for Blackwater and other companies. "Blackwater USA's enlistment in the drug war," observed journalist John Ross, would be "a direct challenge to its stiffest competitor, DynCorp--up until now, the Dallas-based corporation has locked up 94 percent of all private drug war security contracts." The New York Times reported that the contract could be Blackwater's "biggest job ever."

But, Scahill reports, the creator of Blackwater, Erik Prince, has even bigger plans: A move into privatized "CIA-style" intelligence services with a new enterprise called Total Intelligence Solutions. "The company's leadership reads like a Who's Who of the CIA's 'war on terror' operations after 9/11," Schahill writes.

As the United States finds itself in the midst of the most radical privatization agenda in its history, few areas have seen as dramatic a transformation to privatized services as the world of intelligence. "This is the magnet now. Everything is being attracted to these private companies in terms of individuals and expertise and functions that were normally done by the intelligence community," says former CIA division chief and senior analyst Melvin Goodman. "My major concern is the lack of accountability, the lack of responsibility. The entire industry is essentially out of control. It's outrageous."

>> Read “Blackwater’s Private Spies" by Jeremy Scahill in the June 23, 2008 edition of The Nation.

>> Learn more about Blackwater USA in the New York Times special report on the company.

ProPublica, the new investigative journalism outfit based in New York, launched its new website today. Check it out.

From the editors:

Five months ago, ProPublica was an idea, a rudimentary Web site and a nearly empty office in Lower Manhattan. Today, we take our first concrete step in building an investigative publishing platform that will produce original stories focusing on betrayal of the public trust and abuse of power.

Our goal is to do stories that would otherwise escape notice and to follow up on work done by others that demands change or is being overlooked.

This is the beginning of what we see as an experiment and we invite your comments and suggestions on stories, or on how we can make our organization more useful to readers.

We have nearly completed our hiring (more than 20 out of perhaps 27 news staff) and reporters are at work on some promising avenues of inquiry. You will see those results in the months ahead.

In the meantime, we offer what we hope will a thorough, thought-provoking look at investigative stories that are breaking elsewhere.

This week's NOW on PBS episode investigates child prostitution in America, a shocking social epidemic. The Department of Justice says, on any given day, tens of thousands of children across America are involved in prostitution. In Atlanta, the mayor has launched an aggressive campaign to crackdown on paying customers. One new approach is the "John School"—a program to reform "johns" and keep them from paying for sex again.

> Watch the episode "Fighting Child Prostitution" online.

> Watch a video interview with a former stripper now trying to rescue girls from the sex trade and adult entertainment industry.

> ALSO: NOW won the Gracie Allen Award from American Women in Radio and Television for “Outstanding Interactive Website” for its work in revealing the issues and problems of child marriage in Niger, India, and Guatemala in "Child Brides: Stolen Lives." The website contains interviews with underage brides and information about the health consequences and problems associated with the practice.