Corruption is a pervasive fact of life in many developing countries, one that transcends politics and eludes tidy programs and quick fixes. Reducing it requires an intensive and protracted effort that includes an aggressive and unfettered press, says David Pezzullo. Pezzullo has worked as an investigative journalist for Nicaragua's La Prensa daily, which crusaded against corruption under the rightist dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, the leftist Sandinista regime, and the current democratic government. He now designs and leads anti-corruption programs, including journalist training, for the World Bank's Economic Development Institute.

Increasingly, evidence gathered by the World Bank and Transparency International suggests that cronyism, nepotism, bribery -- corruption petty and grand -- sands rather than greases even the strictly economic machinery of society. The costs of corruption for the underlying social and political culture are harder to measure. Yet judging by political stability, social cohesion, and citizen support for the state, the costs are immense, particularly in the developing world.

But where can needed changes in underlying attitude, behavior, and institutions to curb corruption best come from? And what can the world community do to effectively encourage peaceful change?

As corruption moves into the development spotlight, the role of the press in curbing it is coming to the fore. Usually the first line in exposing corrupt acts, the press is often also asked to do more because more is needed. The media are called on to press for reform and lead the effort to prevent corruption. Some argue that this is inherently dangerous, that the media should not be taking on responsibilities reserved for government and the wider society. The press, it is said, does not have the wherewithal to effectively step beyond its traditional role of exposing malfeasance. And it is not sufficiently accountable to lead reform.

In what follows, I briefly address the shifting role of the press with regard to corruption in Nicaragua and East Africa. In Nicaragua, I witnessed firsthand the power of investigative media to expose corruption, as well as the impotence of the media to actually stop it. One solution to this dilemma may lie in the journalist training programs sponsored by the World Bank's Economic Development Institute. These programs have begun to show positive results in challenging corruption in East Africa, and the institute plans to apply lessons learned there to similar programs in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries.

THE EXPERIENCE OF NICARAGUA

The Nicaraguan press, particularly during the Somoza dictatorship, was a sancturary of democratic hopes in a sea of repression and corruption. Since the 1950s, Pedro Chamorro had made the daily La Prensa the voice of opposition to the abuses of the Somoza regime and had become the leader of civil society opposition to the dictatorship. The opposition it fostered was broad based, addressing political, economic, and social issues.

Chamorro's assassination in 1978 sparked a popular insurrection that brought the Sandinista regime to power. The Sandinistas adopted the language of reform, but ruled by force and used their power to become rich, much as Somoza had. Pedro Chamorro's widow, Violeta, became the leader of the peaceful opposition to the Sandinistas, and La Prensa , of which she was one-third owner, again took up the fight against corruption and repression despite severe censorship.

In 1990, Violeta Chamorro became president of Nicaragua in a free election, but democracy did not sweep away the web of old habits of using power for personal gain that had existed for centuries. Efforts funded by international donors to reform institutions and the economy to serve all citizens and curb corruption were dragged down or distorted by patronage, nepotism, and abuse of power.

The government still reflected the underlying colonial arrangement in which the incoming governor would distribute lands and tribute to supporters by taking from non-supporters. In economic terms, this meant that most government contracts were rigged, bidding was typically a farce, and even reform efforts like privatization were distorted to enrich insiders. People of influence enjoyed tax and tariff exemptions, rich contracts, and sweetheart loans, pricing out the small and middle entrepreneurs and passing on the high costs to the mostly impoverished public. The judiciary was too weak to impose the few laws forbidding conflicts of interest and cozy deals. And the parliament was too partial to effectively update legislation. In essence, Nicaragua's chance to build a stable society was being undermined by pervasive corruption.

RESTRAINING THE BEAST

We at La Prensa began producing investigative reports based on solid documentary evidence detailing how, for example, only $20 million worth of hospitals were built on a $40 million loan from Spain. Having built a number of strong cases, we assisted in presenting evidence to the country's auditor general for further scrutiny. Most of these cases were picked up by the international media, multiplying pressure for a full accounting by the government. In the process, we, along with journalists at other media and a number of reformers in and out of government, were able to describe the prevailing mechanism by which generous foreign assistance was either misued or siphoned off.

La Prensa's reporting generated public outrage but little far-reaching reform. We could only insinuate how key political decisions were twisted for personal monetary gain and how the electoral process was undermined by dirty campaign money.

There have been a number of other cases in Latin America where journalists like Roberto Eisenmann in Panama and Jacobo Timmerman in Argentina have resisted arbitrary rule. However, none of these efforts have been able to generate systematic reform efforts.

Several foreign donors -- the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Information Agency among them -- finance journalist training programs principally for the print media. These efforts acquaint hundreds of local journalists with the latest reporting techniques and ethical standards, but interference by owners and editors with political agendas attached to financial backing remains an impediment to faithful reporting. In essence, the conflicts of interest at the top compromise the objectivity of the press. Attempts to modernize the media mirror efforts to modernize the state, a process that is uneven and slow.

But change is on the way. A number of corruption surveys have been published in Nicaragua showing that bribery is perceived to be high in the police, schools, hospitals and clinics, the judiciary, and parliament. The first National Integrity Workshop in Nicaragua is planned for December 1998 to bring together a broad cross-section of stakeholders to design plans of action to curb theft of relief and reconstruction aid following Hurricane Mitch. The training plans for journalists involve teaching about the possibilities for gathering information from the Internet and the need to double-check sources; they will be cautioned not to publish unfounded rumors or press releases without context. Journalists will be encouraged to raise their sense of professionalism above political loyalties and share information with counterparts from competing media. The workshop will organize discussions on outdated press laws that allow authorities extensive powers to silence reporters.

Nicaraguan journalists will be brought together with government and private sector leaders to enhance comfort and access. The process holds the promise of building consensus around a few measures that can make a difference. Upon this base, reforms proposed by a variety of stakeholders are much more likely to take root. And just the experience of government and civil society working as equals to plan policy creates the opportunity for more open government and more active and constructive civil society participation -- making insider deals higher risk and lower benefit during the process of longer-term structural reform toward a more accountable state.

Enhanced confidence and professionalism among journalists is likely to change the newsroom dynamic over time, much as institutional reform and civil service training are likely to gradually modernize government. The Economic Development Institute recently has staged journalist training workshops in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Benin, Mauritius and Cameroon. In addition to Nicaragua, the institute is planning similar workshops in other Latin American countries with the hope of providing ideas to build a responsible and independent media to buttress the transition to fuller democracy.

LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF EAST AFRICA

In Uganda, beginning in the late 1980s, an unelected regime dominated by the military launched an ambitious program to reform the corrupt and dictatorial state after a protracted civil war. In the mid-1990s, the government, helped by the Economic Development Institute, began experimenting with a participatory process called an "Integrity System" to build public and civil society into the process of combating corruption. In Tanzania around the same time, the elected president became a champion of using training and broad-based participatory workshops to build accountability into government.

The Integrity Systems in both countries used surveys to measure public perceptions of corruption, track the prevalence of bribery, and identify problem areas. Focusing on solid survey data, working groups meeting at National Integrity Workshops designed action plans for the various key stakeholder groups -- or "pillars of integrity" -- such as the executive branch, the parliament, the private sector, the police, and the media. The plans of action emerging from the workshops represented blueprints for anti-corruption policy, wherein longer-term institutional reforms were mixed with shorter-term measures such as pledges, communications campaigns, and opening access to government information.

An ambitious journalist training program was launched as part of the Integrity System in the belief that the media were in need of capacity building if they were to effectively, responsibly, and credibly demand accountability of government.

In both Uganda and Tanzania, more than half the print journalists went through training in basic journalism ethics, as well as investigative and reporting techniques. The journalists were trained in legal concepts such as libel and ethical standards that can enhance their credibility and sources. Reporters were taught about the importance of networking with each other so they could pass information across political lines and get key stories published despite opposition from their editors, who often were wedded to political parties and leaders. In the process, case studies were developed, and the effectiveness of local journalist groups such as the Commonwealth Broadcasters Association was enhanced. In Uganda a new newspaper was founded by newly trained journalists.

As political will from the top to seek greater accountability from insiders has waned, the modernizing media have become the central civil society stakeholder demanding better performance from government. In several instances, government officials have been sanctioned by parliament or forced to resign because of media reports of unaccountable wealth accumulated while in office. And the media have become a check on lapses from the ongoing institutional reform programs designed to substantively redesign the state. In Uganda, the implementation of an ambitious decentralization program is being linked to radio journalist training at the district level to encourage the process.

Corruption in both countries remains high according to the Transparency International Index and other measures, yet the debate on corruption is much more concrete and broadly based, and the rules have changed. The press is more aggressive, the citizenry more vigilant, and officials more careful. And while factors such as regional tension are likely to determine where the Integrity Systems will lead in the midterm, the training and action planning to date have built substantial impediments to abuses. At the very least, there is far more capacity in civil society and at the local level to demand probity in government.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Various stakeholders in Nicaragua, particularly those outside the government, have pressed for the adaptation of an integrity-building effort like those adopted in East Africa, precisely because civil society and the press are afforded a central role. Complementing the more strictly technocratic reform measures that much of the public neither understands nor trusts, the Integrity System is attractive because it brings reform programs into the growing public domain. Yet the notion of working together as equals to devise action plans in public view is still foreign to many in government, civil society, and the donor community.

As various stakeholders take on new responsibilities to evaluate and even reform government, they need support in reaching new standards of professionalism themselves. In this regard, media training is likely to be more effective within a broader national process to enhance accountability, such as those being undertaken in East Africa, Nicaragua, and more than a dozen other countries in the developing world. And it can accomplish more by tapping into larger international efforts -- such as those of the Organization of American States and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- to curb corruption. But it is still valid on its own. Whether part of a more holistic effort or free standing, media training in the broadest sense is arguably one of the most effective and justifiable means of curbing corruption in societies in need of fundamental institutional reform.