Holding Media Accountable: A Critical Need to 'Speak Truth to Power'

[kerrygoddess]

In the quest to hold media accountable, The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative reporting and research organization in Washington , D.C., has named Roberta Baskin as their new executive director. They conduct investigative research and reporting on public policy issues the U.S. and around the world.

Baskin is one of the nation's esteemed investigative journalists. She has “uncovered public corruption, health and safety violations, drug testing inequities and unfair labor conditions by American companies overseas.”

Roberta Baskin “has been honored more than 75 times for her investigative and consumer reporting.” Among her credits, Baskin served as a senior Washington correspondent for NOW With Bill Moyers, on PBS; as a senior producer of 20/20 on ABC, managed the Washington bureau staff of 20/20 and Primetime.

"I'm eager and honored to build on the Center's muckraking tradition and work with such talented journalists. It's not enough to call them dedicated. The staff truly believes what they do can make a difference, and so do I," Baskin said. "As media companies grow and gobble up their competition, their appetite for investigative reporting has diminished. The mission of taking on powerful interests has been all but lost to budget cuts and queasy stomachs. In too many cases, corporate profits trump journalism values. Now more than ever there's a critical need to `speak truth to power.' "

The Center for Public Integrity, was founded by Charles Lewis in 1989. Since 1990, they have "released more than 275 investigative reports and 14 books". Issues they reported on include "corporate crime, arms trafficking, terrorism, U.S. military policy and human rights issues". Their investigative reports have exposed "the failure of accountability by corporate executives, government officials and elected leaders".

The Center's "Windfalls of War," a six-month investigation of U.S. government postwar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan , won the George Polk Award in February 2004, in the online category.

On their website, there is list of Journalistic Ethics, which include: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently and Be Accountable.

See links on Blog post including link to the Windfalls of War report - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=184