From the Lonely Wolf to the Radical Sharing Model, the Future of Journalism is Cross Border Investigations

What began in 2015 as an investigation into money laundering in a car wash soon led to the discovery of one of the largest political and corporate corruption networks in Brazil’s history: the Lava Jato case (Car Wash). So far, in Brazil, the case has led to the imprisonment of directors of various corporations and politicians, including former President Ignacio Lula da Silva.

But one company drew particular attention due to the extremely organized system of the bribe payment process in Brasil: the company is Odebrecht, a multinational construction company operating in several countries. Its formula for corrupting the system was not exclusive to Brazil but extended to other countries as well, most of them in Latin America. Today, seven years after the Lava Jato investigation was opened, journalists from the Americas are joining efforts and resources to expose Odebrecht’s cross-border bribes, promoting institutional transparency and empowering Latin Americans.

The growing need to do cross-border investigation has never been so clear. After all, not only do Latin Americans speak the same language, but we share the same problems: grand corruption, organized crime, unlawful, unethical corporate practices, and environmental degradation.

We journalists are very much aware of this need. And citizens too.

According to the latest Latinobarómetro 2018 study produced by an NGO that surveyed 20,204 people in the 18 countries of Latin America (with the exception of Cuba), it concludes that “for eight years now, Latin American citizens have complained that there is a deterioration. In the 23 years that Latinobarómetro has measured the region, there has never been this perception of such a big setback.”

Ok, so let’s get to work. It is time to take a step forward and seek to create a center, an organization that unites investigative journalism in Latin America and does not remain with the desire to exists, but rather become a sustainable model over time. Because the sad and harsh reality tells us that there will be more cases like LavaJato and Odebretch and journalists have to be prepared to make them visible.

Now. Without filters. Without geopolitical limits. After all, formulas for corruption such as the one used by Odebrechts did not stop at the brazilian borders.

My goal at the J-Newmark School of Journalism is to, for a period of four months, find a business model for this cross-border research center.

Part of my job is to find answers to questions like:

• How might we most effectively launch the center to collaborate with media organizations and investigative journalists and work together under the same umbrella?
• How should we communicate that the center will not be a competitor for other media outlets and journalists but a partner?
• What is the business model that best suits this project, and how can we have a sustainable center over time?
• Where should we look for the cross-border stories that need to be told and which journalists want to investigate?
• What are the biggest needs that investigative journalists have and how can we help them?

To do this, I must begin by defining the North Star objectives for the center. These are the ones I have so far:

• To empower and help media and journalists in Latin America, to generate greater institutional transparency, fighting corruption and organized crime, through the production and publication of crossborder stories.
• To innovate in narratives to reach citizens and achieve social impact.
• To give more physical, digital and legal protection to investigative journalists.

There are centers for investigative reporting that already exist and do a great job in other regions of the world, such as the ARIJ Network (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism), the CIJ (Center for Investigative Journalism India), the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Center for Investigative Reporting in Africa, ANCIR. And although in some areas of Latin America some projects of cross-border investigations are finally gaining some speed, there is still the need to think bigger and unite all the efforts in one organization in order to create the tools to deeply investigate the stories that the region needs and hold people in power accountable.

Originally published at medium.com on February 20, 2019.