SCOOP - investigative reporting in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus
Investigative reporters are the watchdogs of society. In Eastern and south-eastern Europe investigative reporters get support from SCOOP, a network and support structure established by IMS in cooperation with local journalists and FUJ in 2003. Direct support in the form of coaching and financial support enable the journalists to carry out in-depth investigations and bring the results forward to the public. SCOOP extends to numerous countries in the region thereby connecting investigative journalists in the region as well as globally.Archive
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12 journalists - 12 countries investigated
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12 reporters in 12 different countries joined hands to take a global angle on the energy company Gazprom with support from SCOOP
The Russian energy giant Gazprom has been a special object of interest among reporters for a long time. However, up until now the stories published have had a national, mostly Russian, angle. This despite the fact that Gazprom does business in almost all European countries.
An investigative team in Romania, supported by IMS/Scoop decided to take a global angle on the energy giant. A core team of 12 reporters was established with the aim of finding all global actors, stake holders, individuals and groups involved with Gazprom. This turned out to be an enormous task, and when the investigation started, it was thought that it would take about six months to complete, that was one and a half years ago and the final results are yet to be published.
Mountains of problems
The problems facing the team are multifaceted; For one thing, the documents are to be found in a number of countries in a variety of languages. A second issue to solve has been the problem of information sharing; How can this extensive material be shared between the reporters? The material needed to be accessible on line for all reporters involved and a number of software solutions were tried for this purpose.
Another problem was the actual access to information, such as official company records were not easily accessible to the team. A solution for this was to use international databases, such as Lexisnexis, to acquire the facts.
Thirdly, this cross-boarder investigation turned out to be quite demanding financially, as the team has met in various locations throughout the process, Moscow, Bucharest, Prague as examples, and this of course demands funds.
Last but not least is the mere challenge journalisticall that comes with such an extensive material – what is actually the story?
The remedy for this will be to set up a website where all articles relating to Gazprom will be published. The site will be free to access for anyone interested in the subject, which is made possible due to the fact that the investigation has already been funded by Scoop/IMS. This was something that was applauded by the audience in Lillehammer, although an exact date for the publishing of this site is yet to be set.
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