Australia's foremost conservative journal Quadrant has been provoking debate with contentious articles since the 1960s. So when it put a story on the cover of its January issue extolling the possibilities for genetically engineering plants and animals with the ability to fight human diseases like cancer and malaria, the journal's editor, Keith Windshuttle, looked forward to sparking some spirited debate.
The story, written by a self-described "Brisbane-based New York biotechnologist" with the byline Sharon Gould, featured heavily footnoted scientific references, and, by touting GMO's potential benefits, was aimed at environmentalists who have made genetically modified food a hotly debated topic in Austrailia. Until recently, the government had a moratorium on importing any genetically modified organisms into the country, and the disputes over its safety and whether to permit its spread into Australian agriculture continues to be a hot topic.
Windshuttle, the editor, certainly got a debate, one that went far beyond his intended audience. Sharon Gould's assertions—that scientists had imbedded wheat with cancer-fighting genes and mosquitoes with anti-malarial antibodies—were a hoax. "Gould" turned out to be Katherine Wilson, an activist and former editor who kept a running blog of the entire incident.
Her motive was apparently to puncture the scientific pretensions behind many of Quadrant's more controversial positions. The publication has a history of skepticism on some of Australia's biggest debates. While populists leapt aboard Al Gore's Prius bandwagon to decry manmade climate change, Quadrant questioned the science behind global warming. As Australia began to tangle with its own grim historical treatment of aborigines, Windshuttle's Quadrant was on the frontlines disputing allegations that indigenous and mixed-race children had been removed from their families and "adopted" by white settlers or shipped to religious orphanages.
Windschuttle is famous for combing academic footnotes for errors, a proponent of the kind of unsentimental skepticism and empirical rigor that he promoted to bolster Quadrant's credibility. The magazine was one of former Prime Minister John Howard's favorites.
Preferring to call her experiment "culture jamming" rather than a hoax, Wilson's premise was that Windschuttle would not be so vigorous in his fact-checking if the article suited his ideology. The footnotes she included were false, though the publications she cited were real.
In her own words, the sting was to "employ some of Quadrant's sleight-of-hand reasoning devices to argue something ludicrous."
After the hoax was revealed Windschuttle posted on the Quadrant website that "Gould" had "tricked" Quadrant into publishing the article. But even after the hoax was irrefutable, Windschuttle stood by the article. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that he had investigated the piece and satisfied himself that it was "only 10 to 15 percent invented. When I discovered that my gloom and embarrassment changed completely."
Many, including Wilson herself, drew parallels with Australia's biggest literary hoax. In the 1940s two young men invented a poet, "Ern Malley," to undermine the modernist literary journal Angry Penguins. Malley became a sensation among the avant-garde until it was revealed that his creators, the young poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart, developed his oeuvre in a single afternoon. It was the stuff of hoax legend, and just the kind of perversely elaborate irreverence Australians love to mythologize. The Australian writer Peter Carey drew upon the story for his 2005 novel, My Life as a Fake.
The Quadrant affair became yet another ideological battleground for Australia's bloggers and commentators. Was it a cheap pissing contest for intellectuals or a legitimate revelation of hypocrisy? After all, most publications of Quadrant's size have little to no fact-checking budget; but then it seems Windschuttle didn't so much as Google his new contributor. Ultimately, Wilson succeeded in undermining Windschuttle's puffery and raised debate about the nature of science reporting. She can also take credit for prompting a nationwide spike in Quadrant's newsstand sales.
It was a clamor to make fake poet "Ern Malley" proud. And there is no small irony in the fact that after he "created" the erstwhile poet, James McAuley went on to found a literary and political journal in the early 1960s—called Quadrant.
Clare Fletcher is a former intern at CIR and currently an assistant editor at the bi-monthly Australian media publication, The Walkley Magazine: Inside the Australian Media.
Top-notch investigative journalism, and discussion on the reporter's craft, from our colleagues around the world:
Investigative showcase: Out of Africa
The Forum of African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) has launched a dossier of resources from its 2008 Pan-African investigative summit. The dossier collates documents, case studies and lectures showcasing the best investigative reporting from Africa. Read fascinating stories from reporters on the ground. Topics include environmental reporting across borders, "How to topple a government," and the benefits and ethical questions involved in working undercover. You can download the dossier in PDF form here.
FAIR also highlights an investigation from South Africa, published in the Mail & Guardian. Supported with links to documents, the investigation shows a former prison boss was treated to flights and luxury hotels by facilities management group Bosasa.
Highway to corruption in Philippines
The Philippines Center for Investigative Journalism reports massive corruption in the World Bank-funded National Road Improvement and Management Project (NRIMP-1). The Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), the World Bank's anti-corruption unit, concluded that a cartel of contractors and bureaucrats had corrupted NRIMP-1 with the support of the highest levels of Philippine government. The INT said $30-45 million of the $150 million loan was at risk or lost in bribes and kickbacks. Witnesses alleged that media and non-government groups were bribed, as well. The INT's investigation eventually implicated 16 individuals and 17 companies after 60 witness interviews and hundreds of documents.
Baby steps for democracy in Balkans
One year from its declaration of independence, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)'s BalkanInsight.com news service has put together a special collection of news and analysis on Kosovo. The first anniversary of independence was celebrated in the streets, but still half the population lives near or below the poverty line. Amid the public celebrations, journalist Krenar Gashi blogged "How come that since independence, my colleagues have been receiving more and more threats and facing more and more direct censorship?"
While 90 percent of Kosovans are Albanian, the Serb minority still rejects the secession and looks to Serbia as its administrative capital. There are still some countries who don't recognize the secession and Balkan Insight reports Serbia, with Russia as its ally, continues to block Kosovo's entry to the United Nations, and lingering ethnic tensions have done little to secure investor confidence. Balkan Insight's package includes a telling piece on Kosovo's school history books—where nationalism and hate speech are being toned down but "'objectivity' remains a matter of perception".
News was a "casualty of war" in Gaza
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres, or RSF) has released a report on the media situation in the Gaza Strip. The report says the "news was another casualty of this war" in Gaza. RSF criticized both the Israeli authorities and Hamas for press freedom violations, asserting that throughout the world in times of war control of the news has become a military objective. According to RSF, six journalists have been killed during the conflict, and 15 wounded. RSF argues that closing the Gaza Strip to the press constitutes a serious violation of press freedom. They called for an end to the targeting of media facilities and for media equipment (cameras, tapes, editing equipment, generators)—currently in short supply—to be sent to the Gaza Strip.
While journalists around the world contend with the prospects of job cuts and outlet closures, some face much more serious dangers: persecution, imprisonment, threats, violence, and death.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom was created as a refuge for such journalists, who risk their life or their freedom in the line of duty.
That may mean literal shelter or refuge for journalists on the run from threats. The Doha Centre also provides day-to-day assistance in the form of financial assistance for medical care, legal costs, and support for threatened media outlets, journalists and their families. The Doha Centre also attempts to address the causes of threats to journalists by advocating for peace and understanding of diversity, promoting dialogue, and providing resources for education.
In just the past week, The Doha Centre has:
• Provided support to Iraqi journalist Omar al-Ibadi, who fled Iraq with his family after receiving death threats.
• Condemned an Israeli official’s announcement that al-Jazeera employees would not have their visas renewed and their access to press conferences would be restricted.
• Given a grant to the family of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was arrested after throwing a shoe at George W Bush. The family had been receiving threats. Meanwhile, al-Zaidi’s lawyer says his physical and mental state is at risk after more than 40 days in jail. No date is set for al-Zaidi’s trial, but if convicted of assault he faces a jail term of five to fifteen years.
• Called for the release of hunger-striking Fabio Prieto Llorente, one of 21 journalists imprisoned in Cuba. There are fears for Prieto Llorente’s health. In January he wrote to president Raul Castro about the conditions for prisoners at El Guayabo, including cramped cells, “rotten burnt animal food” and forced labor.
• Assisted with the defense fund for Boussada Ben Ali, editor of Niger’s independent newspaper L’Action. Ben Ali was arrested in late January, accused of publishing false information Niger’s finance minister and embezzlement from an oil contract between Niger and China.
The organization was created in December 2007 by a decree of Qatar’s emir, H.H Sheikh Hamad vin Kalifa al-Thani. Its board is led by Sheikh Hamad bin Thalmer al-Thani, chairman of al-Jazeera.
Similar organizations:
Committee to Protect Journalists
This non-profit head-quartered in New York keeps a running tally of journalists killed, threatened and imprisoned.
International Federation of Journalists
Brussels-based organization promotes journalists’ safety, professional and industrial rights.
Reporters Sans Frontiers
Issues the Worldwise Press Freedom Index each October, ranking the degree of freedom journalists have in over 160 countries.
From Uganda to Brazil and Bosnia, journalists around the world are linking up to produce great investigative reporting. The topics vary but their commitment to exposing the truth—be it injustice, corruption, or a surprising trend—is universal. Here's a look at what some of our colleagues around the world are investigating:
MIDDLE EAST
In the southern part of the Gaza Strip, a network of cross-border tunnels provide a lifeline for Palestinians, allowing an influx of consumer goods from northern Egypt. The Israelis argue Hamas are using the tunnels to smuggle in weapons, and targeted them in warplane attacks. Al Jazeera reporter Jeremy Young has posted this behind-the-scenes diary on how he and his crew accessed and filmed from the bomb-ravaged tunnels. You can also watch Al Jazeera’s report on the tunnels.
AFRICA
The Federation of African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) focused their comprehensive 2008 report on human trafficking across Africa, but its latest investigation concerns the trade of fish. Wambi Michael reported for the Mail & Guardian on how unsustainable practices on Lake Victoria are causing fish shortages in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Massive exports of illegally traded unprocessed Nile perch, largely to the European Union—overtaking cash crops like coffee and cotton in exports earnings—are driving up local prices and threatening the livelihoods of millions of East Africans. Nile perch, a species introduced to Lake Victoria in the 1950s, had already killed off many indigenous species of fish.
CHINA
Each year, China’s spring festival marks a massive tide of human movement. Up to 130 million migrant workers, the fuel of China’s economic engine, head home from cities and factory towns to celebrate with their families. But this year the January 26 festival was marked by widespread anxiety, with millions of workers forced out of work months earlier and stranded in their hometowns by unemployment. As overseas demand falters, production cuts and factory closures are on the rise—but so are the numbers of migrant workers seeking employment. Leading Chinese investigative magazine Caijing has a detailed report into the changes underway for the migrant labour phenomena.
BOSNIA
The Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo (CIN) has taken an in-depth look into the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional court. As the country’s highest judiciary authority and the nexus between law and politics, some experts worry that the court’s independence is compromised by the appointment of judges based on their political affiliations. CIN have compiled many interviews and documents with their findings.
In December, the group also published a series of stories on corruption in Bosnia’s underperforming football scene.
BRAZIL
The Association of Brazilian Investigative Journalism has put together a project with “Mapping the Media in the Americas”. Maps created to help reporters show correlation between geographic areas of Brazil and levels of education, media coverage, political affiliations and election outcomes. View the Brazilian project here.