PFC’s mandate is to promote and facilitate enhanced media investigations and reports of corruption in Latin America; expose and take actions against legislation, court rulings, and other government initiatives which inhibit or undermine them; and advocate on behalf of and generate greater understanding and support of journalists and media who suffer reprisals because of their coverage of corruption.

Journalists Against Corruption or PFC (Spanish initials) emerged in August 2000 to strengthen Latin America’s new democracies that have been increasingly debilitated by corruption’s devastating contribution to poverty, economic and social inequality and stagnation, human rights violations, violence, and political instability.

PFC was designed to respond to the reluctance of the Latin America press to cover corruption, to the lack of quality watchdog journalism in that region, and to the unfortunate fact that other anti-corruption initiatives have not had the desired impact. PFC provides:

a journalist network and investigative assistance to motivate, upgrade, and facilitate press coverage of corruption and cross border collaborations;

free press monitoring and defense with a focus on journalists and media that investigate corruption; and

outreach and advisory services, including a voluminous online clearinghouse, that promote conditions conducive to media's improved and continued watchdog role.

PFC’s strategic use of Internet not only facilitates the myriad activities associated with these three thematic components, but also makes PFC’s services and their products and results accessible to Latin American journalists throughout the region and world. Additionally, PFC uses Internet resources both to inform international organizations about reprisals, legislative proposals, court rulings and other actions that undermine press freedom in Latin America, and to prompt their interventions.

Another unique characteristic of PFC is the amount of participation and collaboration it has engendered. Like their counterparts in other parts of the world, Latin America journalists typically work very long hours and monopolize the information and resources they possess or find so that they can publish the first scoop on a story. In some countries, like El Salvador, printed media journalists are actually prohibited by their job contracts to discuss their investigations or to even interact with journalists from other media who may be covering the same story. However, many journalists in the PFC network have made time to contribute ideas, information, materials, and labor hours to enrich PFC’s services, and to promptly and enthusiastically respond to requests from colleagues for investigative contacts and information.

While it is difficult to measure exactly how many media reports have benefited from PFC, it is an undeniable fact that reports of corruption in the Latin American media have consistently and significantly increased since PFC began in August 2000. Too, media reports are revealing relationships between corrupt governments and between government officials and drug cartels, and frequently detail money laundering activities of officials outside their home country, all topics which were rarely covered before because of the lack of cross border networks and investigations.

The thematic content of media reports about corruption have become progressively more diverse, and many PFC journalists have attributed this to their review of PFC’s daily clipping service of corruption articles from almost 100 major Latin American news sources. As an example, media reports exposing irregularities in campaign financing in Mexico have motivated similar investigations in other countries that have exposed leaders who are involved in this and other kinds of corruption. Other media reports linking prostitution and the illegal trafficking of drug, arms, and people to bribes of government officials, influence peddling, and impunity, have contributed to new definitions of corruption and more understanding about its complexity. By being abreast of what their counterparts are covering in other countries, and how they investigate and present their stories, journalists are not only investigating new activities, relationships, and forms of corruption, but are also learning skills to do so.

Among other ways PFC has contributed to increased and improved media investigations of corruption, is providing moral support and encouragement. Journalists often say that it’s important to know that there’s a Latin American based initiative that understands them and vocalizes their concerns, and will advocate on their behalf against physical and verbal aggressions and legislative proposals and other adverse government actions that deny them access to information or threaten them with legal action for revealing corruption.

Unfortunately, the number of attacks against Latin American journalists has risen. Other than Colombia, where journalists are victimized by the war, most aggressions suffered by journalists are related to their exposing corruption. In Panama, 90 of its 200 active journalists are or recently have faced defamation suits, almost a half of them filed by government officials implicated in corruption. In 2001, PFC identified 114 journalists or media institutions that suffered cuts in publicity, death threats, violence or other attacks related to their investigations and reports on corruption; during the first 10 1/2 months of 2002, it has registered 112 cases involving more than 160 journalists and media institutions.

In Latin America endangered journalists and media almost never receive support from local citizen or human rights groups and more rare are government offices that defend them or investigate perpetrators. One reason for this is the lingering Latin America perception that journalists are merely pawns of media owners tied to unpopular political parties and economic elites involved in corruption. Another problem is that among the few local organizations that have free expression components, some lack credibility because they are suspected of having a hidden agenda or otherwise have failed to demonstrate a consistent commitment to the cause. Other factors include the polarization and distrust between media and civil society, ignorance about the important anti-corruption role of journalists and media, archaic defamation laws, and impunity enjoyed by the corrupt and those who attack journalists. Additionally, the absence or limitations of local free press activities are directly related to the lack of funding by international donors that prefer to channel what little support they offer to free expression through media owner associations or organizations based outside of Latin America.

It is no wonder then that half of PFC’s activities are related to free press monitoring, disseminating information about and mobilizing efforts on behalf of journalists and media institutions that have been attacked and against government initiatives that block media investigations or threaten them with prosecution, fines, and imprisonment. Many in the media world of Latin America turn to PFC when they have problems because they are unaware of or have no local option. When the source of an aggression is not related to investigations or reports of corruption, PFC channels the case to a local or international organization.

In a very short time PFC has become the regional authority on how and what kind of corruption is handled by the press, on access to information, freedom of expression and other free press issues related to investigative journalism, as well as a valued service provider to Latin American journalists and media interested in exposing corruption and pressuring government to investigate, sanction and control it. Latin American journalist associations, civil society organizations, universities, and university students turn to PFC for resources and contacts about investigative journalism’s anti-corruption role for use in their research, discussion groups or advocacy activities. International and local organizations seek out PFC to obtain advisory services on "training best practices," potential trainers and trainees, or for design advice for web pages oriented to journalists. PFC also receives denouncements of corruption from Latin American citizens, which are channeled to journalists for investigation, and requests from their legislators and public officials who consult PFC on free press legislation or request resources for proposals.

PFC’s efforts have resulted in keeping media reports of corruption alive and contributed to media’s watchdog role in pressuring governments to implement transparency reforms and other anti-corruption legislation, and eventually in forcing legislative and judicial bodies to take action against the corrupt. Equally important, PFC’s promotion of media reports about corruption responds to a frequently overlooked but critical anti-corruption objective: by pointing out unethical and corrupt practices, media reports raise awareness and teach new social values and behavioral patterns for Latin America that can engender democratic mindsets, principles of accountability and justice, and citizen participation.

What PFC is and has accomplished, and the amount of interest and demand in its services, are apparent from a perusal of its web site and other parts of this annual report, and too, from the numbers complied below.

May 2002 29,050
June 2002 25,055
July 2002 24,454
August 2002 25,544
September 2002 31,637
October 2002 37,519

The average number of monthly users of the PFC web site up through August 2002 was around 25,000. There has been a considerable and steady increase since. These numbers are from the Indicator of Web Server Traffic used on the PFC web site.

Response to requests 564

Membership in the PFC Journalist Network 632

Interventions in favor of journalists and media that suffered reprisals due to their investigations or reports about corruption. 77

Requests for assistance from journalists/media which were channeled elsewhere because the nature of the problem reported fell outside of the scope of PFC (loss of job; low wages; an attack not related to media coverage of corruption) 124

Number of cases of attacked journalists/media tracked in the PFC registry of "Persecuted Journalists" 2001 114

Number of cases of attacked journalists/media tracked in the PFC registry of "Persecuted Journalists" 2002 >160

Number of adverse laws and other government actions tracked in the PFC registry "Legislation" (not including laws and court rulings against community radio) 45

Interventions against legislative proposals and court rulings that block media access to information or violate free expression 31

Organization of workshops, conferences and other public events on access to information 7

Participation in access to information events organized outside of El Salvador 4

Detailed reports on the state of press freedom in Latin America (annual report 2001, semi-annual report 2002) 2

Detailed report on the state of press freedom in El Salvador (2001) 1

Detailed report on the state of press freedom in Nicaragua (2002) 1

Detailed report on the state of press freedom in Honduras (2002) 1

Presentations before the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (March 2002, case of Panama) 1

Free press or journalist trainings, conference presentations, seminars and other activities offered by PFC or PROBIDAD but not organized by them. 23

Invitations to participate in free press or journalist trainings and public events that were not accepted because of lack of funds or limited human resources. 11

Free press or journalist trainings and conference presentations organized by PFC/PROBIDAD, and guest spots during hour long televised interviews, all in El Salvador. 13

Training/conference designs provided upon request to government and non-government institutions organizing events for journalists 19

Responses to requests for information (codes of ethics, access to information, analysis of access to information or anti-corruption proposals, etc.) 431

Responses to requests from university professors and students, international organizations, and others who are not journalists 490

PFC’s success has profited from:

• being a Latin American-based project;

• its independence from political parties, ideology and media owners;

• being managed by an anti-corruption organization whose expertise, resources, and contacts enrich PFC’s development and services;

• the flexibility of its administrators to allow the realities Latin American journalists live and the needs exposed by them to shape PFC’s services and activities,

• and from its networks and the participation it has generated to meet demands.

PFC has also demonstrated an undeniable commitment to anti-corruption and press freedom vis-à-vis the incomparable volunteer labor invested in it. The funding PFC received from August 2000 through May 31, 2002 was matched by donations of labor from its administrator PROBIDAD; and volunteers, especially from PROBIDAD, have performed all PFC’s activities for the past eight months.
However, PFC’s volunteer staff and correspondents cannot continue much longer without funding. Fundraising has been out of the question since the growing popularity of PFC and its limited human resources have made it virtually impossible to make the necessary time to identify potential donors and prepare project proposals. PFC hopes that this annual report will attract potential collaborators and partners who can respond to its fundraising needs.

With funding PROBIDAD will be able to provide and improve existing PFC services that are well known, sought out, and not offered elsewhere, and that have become respected throughout the region and by international organizations that promote anti-corruption and free press issues in Latin America. These activities will continue to encourage enhanced media reports about corruption, maintain corruption in the public agenda, and provide an important education tool to shape more democratic values. They will also keep the anti-corruption cause alive and will provide civil society, honest legislators and public officials, and other key anti-corruption actors with valuable references.

For over a year, media reports about corruption have incited citizen actions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina. They will surely continue to pressure government investigations and sanctions of corruption and perhaps even the implementation of institutional changes that facilitate transparency and accountability, minimize corruption, and result in improved governance.

Once PFC’s ongoing activities are funded, PFC can consider offers by previous and new donors to assume new tasks, like training and developing programs for journalists and for government and non-government institutions that are interested, or should be interested, in providing investigative or free press services to them.

PFC is a regional project administered by PROBIDAD, a non-profit civil society organization based in El Salvador that has been involved in anti-corruption efforts in that country for eight years, and since 1999 has managed two other region-wide anti-corruption projects in Spanish speaking Latin America, the journal Revista Probidad and the Monitoring, Resource and Advisory Center. [For additional English information on PROBIDAD, visit http://www.probidad.org/english . For those who can read Spanish, its home page can be accessed at http://www.probidad.org .]

In addition to its regional work, PFC has local free expression initiatives in El Salvador and Panama and facilitates efforts of the new C-Libre (Committee for Free Expression) group in Honduras. In September 2002, PFC became a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a network of over 60 organizations, 7 of them from Latin America. [http://www.ifex.org] IFEX funding has facilitated computer equipment and Internet service for PFC’s activities in Panama and Honduras.

Financing from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and matching volunteer labor by PROBIDAD’s most active members, facilitated PFC’s activities from August 2000 through March 31, 2002. From April 1, 2002 to the present, volunteers have performed all PFC’s activities.

During the past year, short-term financial support to provide training and speeches and other activities outside of El Salvador have been provided by the Konrad Adenhauer Foundation, and most recently by the Colombian Fundación para un Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, and Article 19. Funding for computer equipment and Internet services for PFC’s free press activities in Panama and Honduras was donated by IFEX. An important component of PFC’s work is promoting access to information, and together with its parent organization, PROBIDAD, PFC has organized conferences and other events on the subject with financial support from the Salvadoran offices of CREA International and USAID. In August 2002, a regional event on access to information was held in El Salvador and co-organized with the Mexican Universidad Iberoamericana with funds from the Konrad Adenhauer Foundation.

The goal of Journalists Against Corruption (PFC) is to strengthen Latin American democratization processes that have been weakened and jeopardized since their birth because of systemic corruption. PFC promotes, facilitates, and supports watchdog journalism, a crucial deterrent to corruption, and in doing so contributes to public awareness and new values that do not tolerate it.
Through its support of journalists and media that investigate and report on corruption and its use of their reports, PFC aims to catalyze broad media and public opposition against corruption by generating greater understanding of the phenomenon, of its essence and workings, and of its costs and consequences for individuals and society as a whole. Such intolerance can result in enhanced public demands for institutional change guaranteeing government transparency, accountability and responsiveness, as well as in new moral standards in other sectors of society.

PFC’s objectives address these goals by responding to problems faced by Latin American watchdog journalism. They include:

To encourage and facilitate enhanced media coverage of corruption and anti-corruption initiatives in Latin America by providing them investigative assistance.

To increase local and cross border investigative cooperation, contact and networking among Latin American journalists who report on corruption.

To demonstrate by example the resourcefulness of Internet technology in sidestepping or overcoming obstacles that journalists confront when trying to investigate or report on corruption.

To advocate on behalf of increased training and other skill enhancement activities for journalists who investigate corruption and to provide advisory services to individuals and organizations interested in funding or organizing them.

With few exceptions, media reports of corruption have had the most impact in exposing corruption in Latin America and keeping it alive on the public agenda. But they are now in jeopardy because of the growing economic crisis and violence in this region that monopolize citizen attention, and too, because of increasing verbal and physical attacks and adverse legislative and judicial actions against journalists and media that cover corruption. Thus, PFC’s objectives also include:

To offer the only regional service managed by Latin Americans that monitors legislative proposals, laws, judicial sentences, reprisals and other actions that obstruct or facilitate journalistic investigations.

To enhance the defense of free press issues and advocacy on behalf of journalists and media that are targets of reprisals.

To stimulate more awareness among anti-corruption, legal, human rights and other civil society organizations about the media’s role in fighting corruption, and increased citizen support of journalists and media that expose corruption.

To augment awareness of international freedom of expression organizations about free press issues and reprisals suffered by Latin American journalists and thus improve their efforts and defense and protection services for them.

PFC has met its objectives through its principal activities briefly described in the following section. For English language details about them, visit the activity reports on: http://www.portal-pfc.org/english .

It is important to reiterate that Journalists Against Corruption (PFC) is a regional project. To maximize both its target population (journalists and media that cover corruption) and services, most of PFC’s activities are operated by email mechanisms, web searches, web sites, and other Internet technology. While less than 5% of the region’s population has web access, studies by eMarketer and Cisco Systems have revealed that the fastest growing use of Internet is in Latin America, about 40% annually between 2000 and 2004, compared with the slower 14.3% rate in the U.S.

The studies also indicate that 91% of the region’s journalists regularly use the Net, but the journalists interviewed hailed from the countries with the highest GDP. The majority of the 632 Latin American journalists who are "members" of PFC have stated that they spend about 60 minutes a day on Internet and have little or no Internet access at their offices. Few can afford home computers and expensive residential Internet service that can cost up to $75-$125 a month. So many use cyber cafes or the Internet service of colleagues and friends, and when they do, most of their time is dedicated to receiving or sending emails and not surfing the web.

PFC activities have been designed and reshaped with these trends and practices in mind, resulting both in its popularity among busy Latin American journalists and in their increased interest and use of Internet.

Many investigations of corruption are too difficult or time consuming if performed by a single journalist or media organization with little access to Internet resources and no investigative support, which is the norm in Latin America. Too, corruption investigations commonly disclose that actors have associates and activities in various Latin American countries. This underlines the importance and utility of the following PFC’s investigative assistance and advisory services which are not provided anywhere else in the region, except by PROBIDAD (Probity, in English), the Salvadoran organization that administers PFC.

Monitoring Program. PFC’s corruption and anti-corruption monitoring activities, in coordination with its administrator PROBIDAD, keep PFC staff abreast of Latin American corruption and what journalists are investigating it, and strengthen PFC’s competency in providing the investigative assistance described below. PFC’s monitoring activities include the revision of major Latin American news sources, reports submitted by media sources that do not have web sites, and information provided by journalists, civil society organizations, and others.

One of the many by-products of the Monitoring Program is a clipping service. All journalists in the PFC network and more than 1,000 subscribers receive an email Monday through Friday consisting of the corruption headlines of the day along with an Internet address where the media report can be read. The headlines also appear in a scroll on the PFC and PROBIDAD web sites. By being abreast of what their counterparts are covering in other countries, and how they investigate and present their stories, journalists are not only investigating new activities, relationships, and forms of corruption, but are also learning skills to do so.

Another Monitoring Program result was the collaborative effort of 16 PFC journalists who worked together on a first of a kind yearly report that highlighted the corruption cases most covered by the Latin America media during 2001. To consult the Spanish language report published by PROBIDAD in February 2002, visit: http://probidad.org/regional/memorias/2001 .

Journalist Network. In mid-November 2002, membership in the PFC-listserv included 632 Latin American journalists, a few of whom are in the Czech Republic, Israel, Canada, and the U.S. Most investigate or report on corruption.

As mentioned in the Executive Summary, members of the PFC network frequently help each other, sharing contacts, resources or even performing some research themselves in order to assist a fellow journalist. PFC facilitates this support system by providing a trustworthy environment and strict confidentiality when needed.

Response to requests. When asked, PFC provides and makes contacts, develops tailored network systems, conducts Internet searches, and encourages mutual cooperation between Latin American journalists who require information for their investigations of corruption.

During the past 26 months, PFC has responded to 632 requests for investigative assistance. Almost 60% of the requests in 2002 required cross border contacts. The most recent involved money-laundering activities of two Central American presidents; associations of police, military and other government officials with drug cartels and armed groups; and hunting down government officials who fled their countries after being charged with corruption.

Other topics have ranged from corruption in Moonie sects to the misuse and embezzlement of international donations and illegal campaign financing by a Bank in Spain.

During the past year, journalists from 10 of the 17 Latin American countries served by PFC used its investigative services. Those who used it the most hail from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.

Receiving and channeling denouncements of corruption. Many Latin Americans don’t know where to turn to report corruption or are distrustful of local options. So PFC receives such reports and after exchanging emails with the source to establish their credibility, carefully channels the charges to trusted journalists residing in the country involved, encouraging them to investigate the charges.

During 2002, PFC has processed 31 denouncements of government corruption. A fourth of them related to corrupt practices in public hospitals and clinics. Over 50% originated from Argentina, some 25% were related to Venezuela.

Proposing investigative topics and strategies. PFC operates a listserv, a monitored email mechanism that facilitates the exchange of opinions, announcements, contacts and resources between journalists. When messages are received, a moderator approves their distribution, redirects specific information to those most interested in it, or rejects those that do not relate to the issues at hand. The PFC-listserv provides anonymity to those journalists who request it to protect them from recrimination. When they are not sensitive, the messages are registered on the PFC web site for reference by the general public.

PFC has used the listserv to suggest topics for investigations --- secret slush funds, public official income and property statements, etc. --- pointing out why they are important and how they occur. The presentations are accompanied by related supportive online references in its own virtual library or elsewhere and contacts that can be interviewed via email. They also contain detailed media articles on the topic to generate ideas on how to develop such a story.

Promoting enhanced coverage of anti-corruption. PFC frequently responds to requests for analysis and opinions from journalists, legislators and others who are interested in anti-corruption initiatives (legislation, codes of ethics, government offices and civil society organizations) and in local, regional and international norms that address access to information and freedom of expression. It also coordinates the assistance of other anti-corruption experts. This support is used by journalists to improve their analysis of an anti-corruption initiative, to include comparative information about other countries or inputs from experts in their reports, or in other ways to make their reports on anti-corruption more informative and interesting.

Online investigative references and contacts. PFC operates a virtual library with Latin American bibliography. One section offers studies, essays and techniques about investigative journalism, another contains similar references on corruption. The library also has a compendium of Latin American legislation about access to information, news source confidentiality, anti-corruption, and other legislative issues important to journalists who investigate corruption. Each of these is organized by thematic focus and provides links to online publications or web sites that offer even more bibliography. The library also announces new books on corruption or journalism published by Latin American journalists, many who are members of PFC. When possible, PFC makes on line versions of the books available. Most recently, it published "Investigative Journalism in South America: Obstacles and Proposals," by a Chilean journalist whose book was facilitated by support from Transparency International and its local chapter in Chile. See http://www.portal-pfc.org/bibliografia/periodismo/2002/019.html .

The PFC virtual library also maintains directories of Latin American journalists, highlighting those who investigate corruption, and directories of journalist associations and of the region’s printed, broadcast and electronic media; and compendiums about anti-corruption actors, organized by sector (government, civil society, business, international), and about organizations that promote investigative journalism in the region.

As previously mentioned, limited access to information, restricted freedom of expression, and reprisals against journalists and media that investigate and report on corruption are commonplace and increasing in Latin America. Thus, PFC provides free press monitoring, advocacy, and support services that include:

Free Press Monitoring. Through its revision of almost 100 major Latin American new sources and virtual networking and physical encounters with journalists, PFC identifies and monitors both conditions, norms and practices that impede or enhance the quality of journalistic investigations and reports, and journalists and media institutions that have been attacked.

PFC compiles newspaper articles, receives denouncements and other information, and shares this news in the form of a clipping service. Monday through Friday, an email announcement is sent out to almost 200 subscribers --- organizations and individuals --- to advise them of the web page where the clippings of the day are posted. The clippings can also be directly accessed from the PFC web site. Much of the information compiled is registered in one of the sections of the PFC web site for public reference and to substantiate pronouncements and appeals generated by PFC and others.

The Monitoring Program provides PFC with a rare regional knowledge of free press issues and the ability to react quickly to adverse situations. The no cost clipping service keeps international free press and human rights organizations aware of what’s going on in Latin America and spawns or enhances their protest or solidarity. It has also contributed to greater local awareness and mobilization.
Defense of journalists. PFC receives alerts about journalists or media that are suffering or have recently suffered reprisals due to their coverage of corruption, or becomes aware of them during its daily monitoring activities. It collects data necessary to validate cases and develops a file for each in the "Persecuted Journalists" registry in PFC’s online Free Press Center.

In 2001, PFC identified 114 journalists or media institutions that suffered cuts in publicity, death threats, violence or other attacks related to their investigations and reports on corruption; during the first 10 months of 2002, it has registered 108 cases involving 134 journalists and media institutions. Five journalists were killed in 2001 for the same reason; so far, five others have fallen in 2002. See http://www.portal-pfc.org/perseguidos/index.html .

In many of these cases, apart from notifying international and local human rights organizations and asking them to intervene, PFC contacts the authorities of the country or province where the abuse is occurring to request an investigation, protection, or pardon. If the reprisals come from the authorities themselves, PFC requests an immediate halt to the situation. Since September 2000, PFC has issued 77 alerts or pronouncements on behalf of journalists/media that have suffered attacks. PFC is the only organization in the world whose alerts include a web page address for the case file it has developed.

Since September 2000, PFC has received 124 requests for assistance from journalists or media institutions that were channeled elsewhere because the nature of the problem reported fell outside of the scope of PFC (loss of job; low wages; an attack not related to media coverage of corruption).

Free Press Support. PFC monitors bills, legislation, judicial sentences and other actions that facilitate or impede investigations of corruption. It provides congressmen, international organizations and others with information and advisory services that facilitate their promotion of legislation in favor of access to public information, freedom of expression and other free press issues in Latin America.
Since September 2000, 45 adverse laws and other government actions --- not including those against community radio --- have been filed and tracked in the PFC registry "Legislation." See http://www.portal-pfc.org/legislacion/index.html .

When necessary, PFC takes actions to expose legislative and judicial violations of access to information and freedom of expression as defined by the InterAmerican Convention of Human Rights and international declarations and law. Since September 2000, PFC has taken 31 such actions.

Free Press Reports. In January 2002, PFC and PROBIDAD published a comprehensive report about press freedom in El Salvador. See http://probidad.org/local/libexp/docs/2001/006.html . Two months later, PFC published the yearly report: Confronting Corruption in 2001: Obstacles and Reprisals. The report is a one of a kind tally of legislation, court rulings, and other impediments to investigations of corruption, and of reprisals suffered by Latin American journalists who report on corruption. See http://portal-pfc.org/libexp/informes/2001.html . In September, C-Libre and Probidad published a report that included an overview of obstacles to press freedom in Honduras. http://probidad.org/honduras/libexp/2002/002.html The following month PFC issued its report on press freedom in Nicaragua. See http://portal-pfc.org/libexp/docs/2002/092.html .

Free Press Advocacy Center. Among other tasks, PFC maintains the "Free Press Advocacy Center" on its web site that contains reports, along with the products and results of PFC’s monitoring and support of access to information and freedom of expression activities. As previously mentioned, among these sections is a registry of cases of journalists and media that have suffered reprisals because of their investigations of corruption. There is also a compendium of bills and laws that "regulate" the Latin American press. Legislators, journalist associations, international organizations and others rely on it to disseminate or prepare legislation for the region. Most references contain a copy of the law as well as editorials and articles about it. Additionally, there are a directory of organizations that promote freedom of the press in Latin America, and sections that make available regional and local annual reports about the state of the press and offer an online reference service of newspaper articles and editorials on free press issues. See http://www.portal-pfc.org/libexp .

PFC receives around 100 emails a day that request PFC expertise, resources and contacts, or express an interest in being apart of its activities. Since September 2000, 564 of them have required investigative assistance. PFC has responded to another 431 requests, not related to specific investigations of corruption, from Latin American journalists who use and contribute to PFC’s services or want to become members of its network. Some journalists have also sought recommendations for codes of ethics or developing a professional association, and others have made inquiries about funding for independent journalism projects or investigations that focus on corruption.

PFC has also responded to almost 200 requests from journalists that involved a reprisal or poor working conditions and to an additional 490 requests from university professors and students, international organizations, and others who are not journalists. The latter are Latin American media or journalism initiatives that want to know more about PFC or want it to know about their work and to share it with journalists. Or they are from Latin American civil society organizations, universities, and university students that consult PFC for resources and contacts that they use in research, discussion groups or activities on behalf of journalists or about media’s watchdog role.

PFC is often consulted by and initiates and maintains contacts with Latin American and international organizations to motivate their support of journalists who investigate and report on corruption and to provide them advisory services that promote conditions conducive to media's improved and continued watchdog role. Since PFC emerged two years ago, it has prepared 19 training/conference designs for government and non-government institutions organizing events for journalists and has been invited to provide a speech or lead training on 34 occasions.

During the same period in El Salvador, where the office of PFC is located, PFC or its administrator PROBIDAD has organized 10 access to information or other free press or journalist related encounters, and 3 times has been the guest for hour long televised interviews.
The following summarizes PFC’s main outreach and advisory services, some of which overlap with the access to information or other free press activities of its Salvadoran administrator PROBIDAD.

The PFC Clearinghouse. There are dozens of international and regional organizations, and a few local ones, that maintain web sites that address one or more issues of interest for PFC journalists. Some provide bibliography or announcements about training events, and others advocate on behalf of local journalists who have been attacked. Most Latin American journalists do not know about or use these resources nor are they aware of anti-corruption web sites.

The PFC Clearinghouse or web site both identifies and supplements Internet resources useful to journalists investigating and/or reporting on corruption. It is Internet's only anti-corruption resource tailored for busy Latin American journalists who do not have time to navigate from site to site. Equally important, it exemplifies the difference between a common web page that is no more than an Internet version of a printed document, and a dynamic virtual project that relies on Internet technologies to promote and facilitate interaction, collaboration and networking; to disseminate information and advocate on behalf of anti-corruption and free press issues; and to provide investigative, advisory and support services to Latin American journalists and those who support them. It clearly demonstrates how Internet can be used as a cost-effective tool for education and awareness, organizing, advocacy and social change.

The PFC Clearinghouse is updated several times a day from information complied in PFC’s monitoring programs and follow up networking and from materials developed for other PFC activities. Other resources hail from Internet searches conducted in response to requests for information and contacts, and materials provided by journalists and organizations promoting investigative journalism. In addition to being a valuable resource for journalists, the Clearinghouse has also been a useful reference for international organizations interested in anti-corruption and free press issues in Latin America, and for local organizations and government officials, professors and university students, that research or are involved in these crucial development and social justice causes.

The average number of monthly users of the Clearinghouse through August 2002 was around 25,000. This number has increased three times during the past six months, in May (29,050), September (31,637), and October (37,519).

In November 2001, PFC was one seven finalists, among 160 nominations, for the Betinho Prize. This international award, sponsored by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), with support from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), recognizes initiatives that have successfully used information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote social justice and change. See http://www.apc.org/english/betinho/index.htm .

To view an English language map of the Clearinghouse, visit:
http://www.portal-pfc.org/english/sitemap.html

Training. As Latin American journalists have pointed out, the design and implementation of anti-corruption activities (conferences, seminars, training, etc.) usually give the impression that (a) their organizers have very little knowledge of journalists' needs and (b) that these activities are more of a public relations opportunity for organizers and speakers, than an attempt to provide journalists with much needed investigative skills and resources to enhance their investigations of corruption.

For these reasons, PFC promotes training best practices and offers consulting services to guarantee that the topics, organizers and audiences for training activities lead to impact. PFC is aware of how trainers, facilitators and speakers without hands on experience, knowledge of local realities and/or credibility (among journalists) can easily undermine the success of any training activity. This is why PFC recommends a very careful selection of qualified and respected local speakers, training implementers and trainees, and advocates on behalf of other training "best practices".

For example, the government accounting office of Mexico (SECODAM) turned to PFC about an anti-corruption event in April 2002. After consulting six top investigative journalists in Mexico, PFC responded with both extensive feedback on the SECODAM proposal for anti-corruption training for journalists and with recommendations for topics, trainers and trainees. While PFC’s regional coordinator was listed as a prospective key speaker, PFC suggested Mexican alternatives since the country is rich in local knowledge and expertise. Among other requests during the past year, PFC recommended participants for a Central American "Journalism and Democracy" workshop coordinated by a journalist from Canal 12 in Nicaragua. Previously in 2000 and 2001, PFC provided the Trust for the Americas, the World Bank Institute, the Bolivian National Association of the Press (media owners) and other Latin American organizations with training designs or ideas.

During the past year, PFC or its administrator PROBIDAD have also organized training encounters for journalists in El Salvador and Honduras, and have been trainers in similar events in Guatemala, Colombia, and Mexico. It has a solid relationship with Periodistas de Investigation (Mexico) and the Fundación de Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (Colombia), which it considers as the region’s best training organizations for journalists, and is exploring partnerships with both.

As described in previous sections, the PFC clipping service on corruption, its online Clearinghouse, and other services constitute training activities by providing information and tools for self-instruction and improved investigations of corruption. PFC also regularly identifies and circulates announcements about training, grants, and other opportunities that enhance journalists’ professional skills, and facilitates direct contacts with training organizers or supports applications of deserving journalists.

Access to Information. The right to information is guaranteed in international law, including Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. But access to information about the operations of government, political parties, the private sector, and non-profits is almost non-existent in many Latin American countries.

Among PFC’s free press activities in El Salvador, since October 2001 PROBIDAD has organized 6 conferences or workshops about access to information at the national and municipal level. While most of the events have relied on local expertise, Raúl Monte Domecq, president of the Paraguayan non-profit "Gestión Local" and municipal transparency consultant for the World Bank and USAID, was the principal speaker at a November 2001 panel-forum "Information and Transparency in Municipalities," which had an attendance of well over 160. During his presentation, Monte Domecq described techniques and strategies that are being used in other countries to promote access to information and to monitor and evaluate municipal use of public funds. Other public events have averaged over 100 participants from government, civil society, and the media. Linkages between information and corruption were emphasized during all these activities to stress the importance of the right to public information and the destructive costs of secrecy.

Also in El Salvador, PROBIDAD collaborated with the U.S. consulting firms CREA International and Research Triangle Institute in offering two workshops for municipal officials and community leaders from San Salvador, El Carmen and Olocuilta, held on November 28 and December 5. During the activities, PROBIDAD helped participants to draft an access to information ordinance along with procedures to implement it. The three city councils agreed to adopt these recommendations. In August 2002, PROBIDAD co-organized a regional access to information conference in San Salvador with the Universidad Iberoamericana (México), thanks to funding from the Konrad Adenhauer Foundation and the Salvadoran offices of CREA International and USAID. Over 100 persons attended the event, including 20 from countries outside of El Salvador, to profit from the exchange of experiences, a critical analysis of new legislative proposals and laws, and from recommendations made by a panel of experts from five countries.

Most recently, PFC participated "Journalism and the Right to Information," organized by Periodistas de Investigación. The seminar, held in Mexico, focused on the country’s new freedom of information law and how journalists should involve themselves in its implementation. Also in November 2002, PFC participated in a regional encounter, again in Mexico, sponsored by Article 19 (England). Its purpose was to discuss what freedom of information exists in Latin America, what tendencies have evolved --- like the lack of implementation of new legislation --- and to identify mechanisms of cooperation between civil society organizations advocating on its behalf.

The products from PFC’s monitoring activities related to access of public information --- directories of Latin American organizations promoting it, texts of proposals and laws, and newspaper reports and other bibliography --- are organized in its Clearinghouse at:
http://probidad.org/regional/bibliografia/infopub.html

Encounters with Journalists. PFC or PROBIDAD often participate in free press and/or anti-corruption events outside of El Salvador. When these activities are not free press related, PROBIDAD makes an effort to discuss PFC’s work. Before, during and after each event, PFC/PROBIDAD conduct individual and group meetings with journalists to build PFC’s journalist network, strengthen its contacts and knowledge, and explore collaborations.

For example, during two trips to Honduras in 2002, PFC met with the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre) and with other Honduran journalists to discuss strategies for disseminating information about obstacles to investigative journalism and how to improve it. These meetings resulted in a free press partnership between both projects that has since been supported by an equipment and Internet service grant from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).

Free Press Activities in El Salvador. PFC’s activities sometimes overlap with other PROBIDAD projects. For example, in El Salvador its administrator PROBIDAD monitors access to information and freedom of expression and vis-a-vis diverse actions, defends journalists and media that suffer reprisals because of their coverage of corruption.

For example, PROBIDAD issued a public condemnation of an attack by the National Civilian Police in San Miguel against journalists from the newspaper El Diario de Hoy. Probidad received an apology from the police and a promise that it would investigate and prosecute agents who participated in the attack (November 2001). A month later, a journalist from the same newspaper Hoy had problems interviewing an official at the Zoological Park and after the report was published, citing corruption in the Park's administration, authorities accused the journalist of fabricating the investigation with ill will. PROBIDAD condemned these actions and requested that the government's Office of Human Rights (Procurador de Derechos Humanos) investigate the case. Earlier in the year PROBIDAD disseminated information regionally and internationally about reprisals suffered by television channel 12 (TVdoce) due to its reports of corruption in the distribution of humanitarian assistance earmarked for earthquake victims. At PROBIDAD's request, a representative from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) met with channel 12 during a March 2002 visit to El Salvador.

Since August 2002, PROBIDAD has lobbied against, and PFC has issued international alerts about three government initiatives that undermine the watchdog role of the Salvadoran press: reforms of the Court of Accounts law (September) and of a law that regulates the health system (October), both which contain articles that restrict access to public information, and a portion of the new National Security Law (August) that forces journalists to reveal their sources.

In addition to the aforementioned access to information activities organized by PROBIDAD in El Salvador, during the past year PROBIDAD has been the guest of two, hour long televised news interviews focusing on problems confronting the Salvadoran media, has offered two workshops for journalists, and in July 2002 participated in another organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

The PFC office in El Salvador provides Salvadoran journalists with investigative assistance and offers them the use of its computers and Internet service. During the past nine months, it provided lodging and facilitated contacts for a Panamanian journalist; oriented and provided ideas for technical assistance and contacts to a New York journalist from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ); and suggested and helped organize meetings with journalists for a representative from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) who came to El Salvador in March 2002 to discuss PFC's regional free press work.

The yearly "Report on Freedom of Expression in El Salvador" (January 2002), published by PROBIDAD, summarizes events that reveal how violations of free press rights are related to corruption. The report is available on this page at: http://probidad.org/libexp/docs/2001/006.html

Whenever possible, alerts, pronouncements, events and other local free press activities are coordinated with the rule of law non-profit FESPAD (Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho) and with the local association of journalists (Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador, APES). Information about PFC/PROBIDAD's free expression initiatives in El Salvador are filed in a web page containing media reports, scholarly essays, and reports about Salvadoran journalism, the media, and intimidation suffered by journalists. http://probidad.org/local/libexp/index.html

Free Press Activities in Panama. When people think about free press issues and extreme case scenarios in Latin America, Colombia pops in mind. While Colombia is undoubtedly the most physically dangerous for journalists, no other country in Latin America comes close to the persecution suffered by Panamanian journalists from laws that criminalize criticism of public officials and permit prior censorship. Of the country’s 200 active journalists, 90 have been sued for defamation and insult; a half of these have been initiated by government officials tied to corruption. The government regularly tries to pass legislation to muzzle the press and has not implemented provisions of a national access to information law signed in January 2002. Verbal insults of the media by the country’s president and cabinet members have also been common.

Panama has no local organization that monitors and defends journalists. As a result, PFC has taken a special interest in Panama and has frequently advocated against laws that intend to regulate the press and in favor of journalists and media that have confronted criminal defamation charges. Too, in March 2002 PFC accompanied three Panamanian journalists, the Center for Justice and International Law, in an audience before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) to request the support of this body against free expression violations by the Panamanian government.

In May 2002, funding from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) facilitated the purchase of a computer and printer and Internet service for PFC’s work in Panama. The respected Panamanian investigative journalist Michelle Lescure has donated her time to acting as PFC’s local representative. In addition to monitoring activities, she counsels journalists who face reprisals and advises PFC of these and legislative actions so that it can take action.

While a lack of resources have made it impossible to organize the information, PFC/Panama does maintain a web page at: http://portal-pfc.org/panama/index.html It includes an August report of activities on PFC’s activities in Panama; in January 2003, it will contain a similar report for the period September through December 2002.

Free Press Activities in Honduras. The Honduran press suffers from a monopolization of the ownership by persons tied to political parties. It exercises much self-censorship and demonstrates little commitment or investigative skills to expose corruption. The only newspaper that has been more critical, El Heraldo, has profited from lucrative contracts with the government and has maintained an editorial line to not put them in jeopardy. Indeed, due to government pressure in 2001, it dismissed or forced the resignation of several of the country’s better journalists. One of them, Thelma Mejia, is a member of the new Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre).

With the election of a president from a different party than the Liberal Party that has traditionally influenced or controlled the Honduran media, PFC decided it was a good time to strengthen its efforts in Honduras. In May 2002, funding from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), facilitated the purchase of a computer and printer and Internet service for PFC’s work in Honduras with the help of Thelma Mejia and C-Libre. To date, C-Libre has kept PFC abreast of its own local and international activities and of actions that threaten journalists, and joined PFC in actions on behalf of a well-known investigative journalist from radio who faced criminal charges for divulging a recording of government officials (May 2002) and to support journalists who were attacked by police and protesters while covering a protest (October 2002).

Information on PFC and C-Libre activities and on the state of the press in Honduras are located on: http://probidad.org/honduras/libexp/index.html