News about the activities of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Journalism's Main Challenge: Holding Politicians Accountable, John Dinges SaysJournalism's Main Challenge: Holding Politicians Accountable, John Dinges Says
By PAUL ALONSO
John Dinges was a North American correspondent in Chile during the Pinochet coup and the dictatorship from 1973-1990. Currently, he is a co-director of Chile's Investigative Journalism Center (CIPER), a non-profit organization based in Santiago. During a visit this week to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, he spoke about challenges facing Latin American colleagues.
A former correspondent for TIME magazine, the Washington Post, and ABC Radio, Dinges was also the co-founder of the Chilean magazine APSI, which fought the authoritarian regime. He has been a professor and radio director in the Journalism School at Columbia University Graduate School since 1996.
In Austin, Dinges spoke of the importance of journalism in the post-dictatorship period that he covered in his book "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents" (The New Press, 2003). The conversation took place in Spanish, and was translated into English by the Knight Center.
They've just sentenced Fujimori, an authoritarian president and violator of Human Rights, who's been compared to Pinochet. What is the role of the press with this type of presidents, who are clearly authoritarian but democratically elected?
This is the most important challenge for journalism today: to monitor democracy, reveal its weaknesses and the violation of rules of the game by the presidents. We have to do this in every country, because in all of them there are abuses of power. In some cases impunity exists more openly and more removed from democratic responsibility. The role of the press is to achieve "accountability," and to hold politicians accountable after they are elected. This is not only the most important function of the press, but of other institutions as well.
This challenge goes beyond the subject of political ideologies, and it applies, for example, to the governments of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but also to Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, who exercise power over the press.
Of course. Both have almost the same phenomenon: a populist concept of power, "I have approval, you elected me, therefore you cannot question me". Chavez and Uribe have different agendas, but their methods are similar.
As the director of CIPER, what do you think is the most viable method for Latin American Journalists to do investigative journalism that questions power and is sustainable?
My proposal is concrete: journalists should continue doing their investigations within the media that exist, without putting all your eggs in one basket. The change will occur when independent entities exist that dedicate themselves only to investigative journalism. I think that a variation of CIPER's model could be tried in other countries. Investigative journalists work independently of media, but in coordination with them. Financial and editorial coordination. I think that's a bet that needs to be made. Since CIPER's inception, there is 10 to 15 times more journalism in Chile.
What is the future of investigative journalism in the new digital environment?
Online journalism has advanced a lot. Costs are cheap, and the impact that one can have with an independent entity is greater. With APSI, for example, we had 2,500 copies during the dark days of the dictatorship. Now, on CIPER's site we have around 50,000 monthly visitors. The problem with online journalism is the source of the money. That's why I emphasized making an alliance with the media. The media should realize that an independent (journalism) center is active. They can invest and receive a product, one that cannot be measured by the extent of its circulation, but rather because it is journalism of the highest quality that you cannot find anywhere else.
Added Apr 10, 15:21, 2009
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