Op-Ed: New Journo and the IRS


It's not just the Tea Party: Some 60 to 90 journalism operations, emerging to fill the void left by the collapse of the newspaper industry, are in limbo. Faced with an influx of applications, the IRS now takes 24 to 30 months to review requests for nonprofit status from journalism startups, up from 3 months in 2007. The victim in both instances: the First Amendment. Op-Ed in today's Washington Post by Sunlight Foundation's Kathy Kiely and Diana Jean Schemo of 100Reporters.

Transparency's Small Win


A United States Appeals Court has declined to hear a challenge to a new rule that requires companies in the extractive industries to disclose their payments to foreign governments. Led by the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the companies had argued that the law violates a right to free speech, by compelling them to disclose information that could be considered politically charged in the countries where they do business. The Securities and Exchange Commission had countered that companies must disclose financial information all the time, and this new rule, set to take effect next year, is no different. The case proceeds at a lower court. By Chad Bouchard for 100Reporters.

Left Out


In the world of international corruption, researchers and watchdogs are wrestling with an awkward truth: only a smidgen of the billions of dollars in stolen assets that are recovered through government investigation and prosecution ends up back in the countries from which they were taken. In many cases, settlements are negotiated without the knowledge of countries where the crimes took place. A 100Reporters exclusive by Chad Bouchard.

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Rough Justice in Indian Child Welfare

by Stephanie Woodard / Published December 26, 2012 in Native Americans | 16 Comments


 
In a basement interrogation room in South Dakota, agents of the state’s Department of Criminal Investigation were on the firing line. A group of Native American children were claiming sexual and physical abuse by their white adoptive parents, whose home they first entered as foster children.

South Dakota was already under Congressional scrutiny for the high number of Native children it takes from their homes and tribes and then places, for the most part, with white foster families or in white-run group homes—seemingly to claim a higher share of federal foster care funding.  Though Native children make up about 13 percent of South Dakota’s child population, they are typically more than 50 percent of those in care, according to federal figures.

The state’s response to the Native children’s accusations against their white parents offers a rare look into South Dakota’s foster care system, which places 9 in 10 Native children in state foster care with white families or white-run group homes. The state’s actions also raise questions about the commitment of officials to protect Native children taken from their natural families, particularly when homes that are presented as safe havens turn into places of abuse.

[Full Article]

100Voices: Marcus Hardtke

by Chad Bouchard / Published December 21, 2012 in 100 Voices on Corruption, Corruption | Leave a comment

Marcus Hardtke from 100Reporters on Vimeo.

“Sometimes, you have to use some guerrilla tactics,” said forest campaigner Marcus Hardtke.

Hardtke is the project coordinator in Cambodia for the Rainforest and Wildlife and Conservation Association, known by its German acronym, ARA. His group helps villagers in rural areas, who are often ignored or exploited by the government, to organize, demand their rights, and to resist illegal logging in forests that they depend on for food, clothing and shelter. Their tactics can be risky. They patrol forests for signs of illegal clearing or logging and occupy logging camps.

On April 26th 2012, Hardtke’s friend and ally, Chut Wutty, was shot and killed while escorting two journalists to report on a logging operation. A security officer was also killed in the incident. Wutty was the founder and director Cambodia-based Natural Resource Protection Group. Critics say the government investigation into the incident, which was closed without any charges filed, was a sham. The commission offered implausible explanations, including a proposal that Wutty had committed suicide out of remorse after shooting the guard. A rash of similar incidents led to the UN calling for Cambodia to stop using firearms against human rights activists.

In this 100Voices video, Hardtke recalls details of the incident from his perspective, and explains why he thinks people who live in timberlands must protect their own resources.

He spoke at Transparency International’s 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Brasilia last month. He was interviewed by 100Reporters’ Chad Bouchard.

“Clean” Countries Do Dirty Business

by Chad Bouchard / Published December 6, 2012 in Transparency | Leave a comment

Huguette Labelle, chair of the board of Transparency International. / Photos by Chad Bouchard

Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, the United States and the United Kingdom are seen as the 20 least corrupt nations on earth, according to an annual ranking of impressions about the integrity of nations released in Washington today.

But those same nations also top a separate and less savory ranking–of countries whose corporate and bank secrecy laws make them havens for tax evasion and money laundering by criminals, corporations and kleptocrats alike.

The conflicting snapshots highlight the involvement of wealthy nations in laundering and sheltering the fruits of graft from less developed parts of the world, where corruption consigns millions to poverty. [Full Article]

100Voices: Jiwo Damar Arnakie and Friends

by Chad Bouchard / Published December 5, 2012 in 100 Voices on Corruption | Leave a comment

Jiwo Damar Anarkie and Friends from 100Reporters on Vimeo.

What could a frog and a teddy bear possibly have to do with petty bribery? The puppets are characters in a larger play underway in Indonesia to train children from the youngest ages to recognize and reject corruption.

Jiwo Damar Anarkie is the founder and director of Future Anti-Corruption Leaders, a new Jakarta-based nonprofit that teaches children “joyfully” about fair play, honesty and bribery through songs, story telling and, yes, puppet shows.  The group trains members and volunteers, and is active in 10 provinces throughout Indonesia.

Jiwo spoke at Transparency International’s 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Brasília last month. He was interviewed by 100Reporters’ Chad Bouchard.

Book Review: The Dark Side of Foreign Aid

by Douglas Gillison / Published November 19, 2012 in Commentary | Leave a comment

U.S. President Barack Obama toasts with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen at the East Asia Summit dinner in Phnom Penh, November 19, 2012. REUTERS / Jason Reed

 

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy
By Sophal Ear
October, 2012
Cloth, 208 pages, B&W Photos: 1, , Graphs: 4, , Figures: 3,
ISBN: 978-0-231-16112-1
$50.00 / £34.50

As United States President Barack Obama made history in Phnom Penh today, becoming the first sitting American president to visit Cambodia, his motorcade was escorted by Cambodian police–a force trained by the U.S.–whose violence has made the capital a place where public demonstrations are seldom if ever tolerated.

After two decades of U.S. aid, he will enter a city where the illegal evictions of about 20,000 people from prime real estate has nearly been completed by a close friend of Prime Minister Hun Sen — who held direct bi-lateral talks with the president. Obama shook hands and touched glasses with Hun Sen, despite a reportedly “tense” hallway discussion of human rights.

The State Department has promised that U.S. officials will use Obama’s attendance at a summit of East Asian leaders in Phnom Penh as the occasion to scold the Cambodian government for human rights violations.

But it remains to be seen whether American officials will confine their displeasure to unofficial press briefings, or if they will dare express their concerns within earshot of the Cambodian public.   Presumably at U.S. urging, Phnom Penh may have delayed plans ahead of the meeting to evict almost 400 more families for an airport expansion. Eight residents were held by police for 12 hours for writing ‘SOS’ on their roofs and displaying Obama’s image to draw the president’s attention. [Full Article]

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