Reflections from the first day

Participants of the investigative internet training have made postings on what we did on Wednesday.

Here’s a summary by Amina Mollel, TV news reporter and presenter at Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation TBC, and here’s another reflection by Bilham Kimati, senior reporter at the government newspaper Daily News.

Interestingly, they both take up the lively discussion that we had in the class about whether you can give a small bribe to someone who will bring you a very necessary part of information for your investigative story.

In Tanzania, circumstances may be such that for many it can be understandable to support the poor messenger of information with a little kitu kidogo. One male observer of social life who took part in the debate actually called it facilitation, comparing it to buying drinks or food to a woman you want to have sex with.

Here’s again a link to the first day posting by Noor Shija, foreign news editor of Uhuru, the newspaper of the ruling CCM party. Noor Shija gives two great examples of how a reporter can make use of the internet in his or her reporting.

First, one can send a short message to a discussion forum, such as the popular Tanzanian Jamii Forums, to ask for other people to share their experiences of corruption in the health sector.

Some people will tell you how difficult it can be to get treatment in the hospital without corruption, and how corruption made someone else to receive VIP treatment, even though they didn’t deserve that status.

Another good example of making use of the internet would be to visit the government website, where you will find a lot of government promises of construction of roads, bridges, classrooms, hospitals and other projects.

So, a journalist would have to check the allocation of funds in the budget speech of each ministry, time of implementing the project, and if there was supposed to be any participation of the local people in the area of the project. Then he can go to the field and investigate whether the funds allocated to the projects were all used to that purpose, or if there were any signs of embezzlement or corruption. A journalist can also make a follow-up if the implementation is going well and in time.