Public Watchdogs Research Articles

Peran Jurnalis Investigatif dalam Mengungkap Kasus Narkoba: Analisis Tantangan dan Hambatan Investigasi Jurnalisme

This study analyzes the role of investigative journalists in exposing drug cases through investigative journalism. Investigative journalism has the potential to uncover hidden drug trafficking practices, highlight the roles of relevant actors, and provide a better understanding of drug flows and their impact on society. Using a qualitative analysis method, this research examines cases of journalism investigations that have succeeded in uncovering drug trafficking practices. Data is collected through investigative journalism articles, investigative reports, and interviews with investigative journalists. This study analyzes the strategies, techniques and approaches used by journalists in exposing drug cases. The results of this study reveal that journalists act as public watchdogs who raise drug issues, increase public awareness, and compel the government to take action. The main roles of journalists include gathering evidence, interviewing sources, conducting analysis and research, uncovering facts, and reporting and communicating their findings. This research provides a better understanding of the important role of investigative journalists in exposing drug trafficking practices and contributes to improving efforts to prevent and deal with drugs globally.

Framing Analysis of ChatGPT in Malaysian English Newspaper

Ever since the release of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven text tool named ChatGPT, society has started a wildfire of discussion regarding its pros and cons. However, ChatGPT has been given wide attention due to its availability and accessibility. People can easily assess the tool from their smartphones or computers. Thus, this research explores how newspapers frame ChatGPT. It is important as newspaper portrayals are responsible for shaping public opinion. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher used framing analysis to analyse data collected from a Malaysian daily English Newspaper, The Star. The newspaper articles were collected for a period of three months starting February 1st to April 30th, 2023. The rationale behind the period was that ChatGPT Plus was made available in Malaysia in February. A total of 69 articles were found. However, only 17 articles were written locally while the rest were taken from international news agencies. Thus, the study will only include the local articles to see how they were written in a local context. The study found three major recurring themes which are responsibility, consequence, and human-interest frames. The newspapers urged society to embrace AI, especially in the education and business sectors. More emphasis was put on practitioners in their respective industries to set up policies to guide the usage of ChatGPT. Meanwhile, consequence frames were highlighted when the newspapers covered the low side of ChatGPT such as the dangers of fraud, phishing as well as plagiarism. Finally, the human-interest frame could be found when the newspaper shed light on some human conditions such as celebrities' and students’ opinions on ChatGPT. With that, the findings suggest that Malaysian newspapers should give more diverse coverage on the topic itself. It is evident that the newspaper should look at their roles as public watchdogs to serve the public's interest.

Nexus Between Tax Havens and Illicit Financial Flow of Funds(IFFs) from Africa: A Theoretical Review

This paper examined the nexus between tax havens and illicit financial flow of funds with particular reference to capital flows out of the African continent. Qualitative content analysis method supported with empirical data obtained from multilateral agencies was used for the study. The dataset covered forty-four (44) African countries for the period 2005-2014 respectively. Results revealed that the absence of political will, weak institutional framework, poor regulatory oversight and the unbridled scramble for the continent’s mineral resources are some of the key factors responsible for the continued rise in IFFs from Africa. The study also found that the absence of global consensus on the proper treatment of tax havens remains a challenge to fostering the needed international collaboration to fight the scourge. It therefore recommended that critical stakeholders like the press and civil society groups in their roles as public watchdogs need to do more to track and report incidences of IFFs timeously. Also, on the international front, efforts must be made to ensure that the proposed new minimum, global corporate tax rate of 15% is adhered to as a needed first step to discourage funds flow to tax havens. Keywords: Tax Havens, Illicit financial flow of funds, Tax Evasion, Africa, Economic Development JEL Classification: B22, E63, H26 DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/13-2-06 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

Question design and the construction of populist stances in political news interviews

This paper focuses on the relationship between journalism and right wing populist discourses in the context of broadcast news interviews. We analyse a specific feature of question design in which the public is invoked as a source of opinionated positions in adversarial interviewing. Analysing data from a range of socio-political contexts, we identify a shift in adversarial questioning along a scale of ‘soft’ populism, that is the attribution of views and concerns to a generic public ‘in crisis’, to ‘hard’ populism, where interviewers construct hypothetical scenarios in which populist positions are attributed to ‘some people’. We argue that the democratic role of journalists as public watchdogs, holding politicians and public figures accountable on behalf of the public, is challenged by this normalisation of populist moral order discourses in a routine journalistic practice, both drawing on and contributing to the propagation of populist agendas and anti-democratic populist rhetoric.

The Platform for the Protection of Journalists: A Mechanism for Cooperation between Non-Governmental Organisations and the Council of Europe

The decrease in journalist safety and media freedom has a negative impact on the rule of law because journalists cannot act as public watchdogs. Its deterioration in Europe during the last decade is a worrying trend for society as a whole. The Council of Europe has tried to fight against it through the creation of a public Internet-based Platform for the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists. The Platform receives alerts from non-governmental organisations such as journalist associations and this serves as an early warning mechanism for the Council of Europe. Non-governmental organisations act as partners of this International Organisation and in that way they protect the rule of law from below. A simple search of the Platform permits to see the many threats journalists face in Europe every day. This paper assesses how the Platform works. It is a positive initiative to co-operate with civil society that still has to improve its results mainly through a more effective engagement of the Member States of the Council of Europe.

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures for Knowledge

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures for Knowledge

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures for Knowledge

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures for Knowledge

Are Journalists to be Punished for Doing their Job?

The article analyses the current position of journalists’ criminal responsibility regarding criminal offences perpetrated during their job. The standpoint is taken at the principle of freedom of expression and the bedrock principle of the free press and emphasises the importance of these principles in a democratic society. At the same time the right to privacy is pointed out. A distinction is made between criminal law provisions that by their nature constitute a limitation of freedom of expression and criminal law provisions where this is not the case. Different types of journalistic working methods and conduct are analysed and it is concluded that even though journalists have a special status as public watchdogs – that must be taken into account in every single case – journalists are, in principle, not released from their duty to obey the ordinary criminal law. This is due to the principle of the rule of law and applies in particular if the concrete criminal law provision does not by its nature constitute a limitation of freedom of expression. The analyses have their legal basis in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Court’s case law and will further be illustrated by means of Danish case law.

Cooperative or competitive? Private regulators and public supervisors in the post-crisis European financial services landscape

This article explores the interplay between private regulators and public supervisors within principles-based regulation and meta-regulation in the post-crisis European retail financial services landscape. It shows that the way in which the compliance with such regulatory frameworks is supervised and enforced may determine the type of relationship between private regulators and public supervisors – cooperative or competitive – that prevails at a specific moment in time. While there is evidence of both cooperation and competition between the two in the post-crisis era, a predominantly competitive relationship between private regulators and public watchdogs may severely undermine the practical importance of co-governance arrangements. A significant degree of cooperation between private regulators and public supervisors is key to ensuring their effectiveness. Public supervision and enforcement must therefore be responsive to the peculiarities of co-governance arrangements.

Book Review: Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication 2nd Ed by Chris Roush

Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication. 2nd Ed. Chris Roush. New York and London: Routledge, 2011. 392 pp. $69.95 pbk.Chris Roush's Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication is designed as a textbook for schools of journalism and business schools, offering conceptual guidance and practical examples to students and even to professional journalists on how to write on business and economics for modern mass media. It is a timely contribution in the current environment of academic criticism of the role of investigative and analytical journalism in missing the warning signs of the global financial crisis and serious misconduct by Western financial institutions.This criticism has amplified as the public in the United States and the United Kingdom continue to learn about the unhealthy and sometimes outright dirty business practices of some major Wall Street players. The book is written in classic journalist style with a number of real-life and short case studies to keep the readers intrigued and illustrate the work of business journalists in various professional situations.Roush is a Walter E. Hussmann Sr. Distinguished Scholar in business journalism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a founding director of the Carolina Business News initiative. He is a veteran journalist with experience working with influential media outlets from St. Petersburg Times and Business Week to Bloomberg News, and with a goodly number of other assignments under his professional belt. The main goal of his book is to fill the gap in professional business reporting and business journalism as, he writes, ...higher education and mass communication have failed miserably in effectively training journalists for careers in business reporting.The issues of business writing and examples of high-profile case studies of large corporate deals, spectacular failures and particularly the global financial crisis have been well covered since the beginning of the global economic downturn in 2008 (Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz, 2009; Ken Davis, 2010; Harvard Business School Press, 2011; Mark W. Tatge, 2010; Terri Thompson, 2000). Yet the author believes that his book can offer some additional insights and valuable suggestions to help to prepare the next generation of students to be better equipped for dealing with economic issues and nailing those Wall Street sharks who disregard business ethics and the interests of society.The sixteen chapters of this book can be subdivided into three sections. Chapters 1-4 cover some general issues and ethics of business journalism. The author highlights how at certain points in journalism history, U.S. reporters ignored major developments in the business world or became too cozy with it. Therefore, they were unprepared to fulfill the role of public watchdogs in difficult economic times by conducting deep economic research and producing comprehensive high-quality analytical materials. In fact, according to his data, 92 percent of executives and 72 percent of journalists and journalism academics were concerned about a reporter's knowledge of the businesses they were covering. Besides raising concerns about the need for better business writing education, the author introduces some ideas about mining for stories in different business sectors from banking and manufacturing to technology, new media, and investments. …

The Law Society and the Bar: can they be trade unions, brand managers and public watchdogs at the same time?

The author reflects on the way lawyers are regulated and considers whether it is in the public interest for the present system of regulation by professional bodies to be continued in its present form. Article based on a lecture delivered at the IALS on 14 March 2002 by David Lock. Published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London

Public Watchdogs or Imperial Pitbulls: An Evaluation of Special Prosecutor Investigations of Executive Branch Misconduct

The independent counsel investigation process was created to provide a politically neutral and independent avenue for investigating executive misconduct. Twenty investigations of high-ranking department and White House officials occurred during the independent counsel era. During this time, the process was criticized for a lack of accountability, for politicization, and for ineffectiveness in terms of investigatory outcomes. This research provides an empirical evaluation of the primary criticisms of the investigatory process by utilizing data concerning the investigations conducted during the independent counsel era (1978–1999), as well as information from more recent investigations conducted by special counsels appointed directly by the attorney general (1999 to the present). Specifically, I analyze the charge of lack of accountability by measuring the cost, duration, and expansion of jurisdiction for each independent and special counsel investigation. To analyze politicization of the process, I evaluated the impact of divided government and congressional involvement in the investigatory process. Last, the article provides a brief evaluation of the effectiveness of the investigations under review.

Innovation corrupted: the origins and legacy of Enron's collapse

* Introduction Part I: The Origins Of Enron's Collapse * From Innovation to Reckless Gambling * The Impact of Perverse Incentives * The Evolving Culture of Deceit * Ethical Drift * The Directors' Failure * Collusion of Financial Intermediaries * Enron and the Public Watchdogs Part II: Enron's Legacy * Strengthening Board Oversight * Avoiding Perverse Financial Incentives * Instilling Ethical Discipline * Afterword * Appendixes * Notes * Bibliography * Index

Neglecting the elderly?

England's health-care system is failing the country's elderly population, according to a report by three public sector watchdogs.

The Public's Watch Dogs continued from page 172

The Public's Watch Dogs continued from page 172