Anti-corruption TV news reports go on-line to reach a larger audience in the fight against corruption

Hapur Foundation, IREX Europe’s partner for the Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania project, has launched a website at www.programihapur.com that features investigative TV productions from across the country.

Logging on to the website, visitors can view via YouTube the project’s probing reports,  such as the powerful story of how citizens have come together to fight their local municipality over land rights.

Land rights and property ownership are complex challenges in Albania after the nationalization by the former communist regime. In the featured report, journalist Yilka Kamenica outlines the battle between local authorities who want to use a tract for development and the group of citizens who claim they hold title to the land.

Each month, Hapur Foundation produces investigative television reports on corruption cases and other issues of community concern. These reports are then broadcast through a network of local partner television stations. Links to the television stations’ own sites are also available on the project’s Hapur website.  In addition, the project team conducts televised debates about the reports in collaboration with local partner Ora News Television.

With the addition of the website, IREX Europe, Hapur Foundation and the project team seek to broaden access to the reports, and raise the impact of the project’s investigative journalism. The reports will serve as a resource and inspiration for journalists, aimed at strengthening the Albanian media sector as a key underpinning to the good governance and accountability required for democratic development. The project is supported by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF).

The website also will build an archive of Hapur investigative segments,, making earlier reports available via YouTube. Hapur was launched by IREX Europe’s partner organization, IREX, with support from the US Agency for International Development, and the first stories were produced in 2003.

The project seeks to improve investigative journalism through technical assistance and grants to the  Hapur Foundation to:

• Produce magazine-format television shows on corruption, those who fight it and upcoming parliament election issues.
• Provide workshops and in-station consultations for media outlets and staff on investigative journalism to raise the professionalism and sophistication of the television programming.
• Assist Hapur Foundation in developing as an independent center supplying TV programs and specialized journalism training.

The project also involves strengthening journalistic professionalism through technical assistance and grants to assist the Union of Albanian Journalists to:

• Expand membership, negotiate contracts with media outlets and strengthen organizational structures.
• Monitor threats to media freedom in Albania and produce regular bulletins and alerts.
• Conduct activities that build consensus among journalists on professional standards and ethics code, leading to improved self-regulation.

Related news: UNDEF — News from the Field: New media tackles corruption in Albania

February 2009