Welcome back!
For many, the Panama Papers were as memorable for the global investigations it produced as it was for the story behind the story.
At the time, it was one of history’s largest data leaks and the largest journalism collaboration the world had ever seen — all stemming from an anonymous source who called themselves “John Doe.”
Last week, we caught up with some of the key people who made Panama Papers happen in a virtual chat with: Bastian Obermayer, a journalist at Süddeutsche Zeitung who received the 11.5 million leaked documents; Rita Vásquez, director of the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa; and ICIJ’s research editor and Latin American coordinator Emilia Díaz-Struck; as well as filmmaker Alex Winter — who chronicled the behind-the-scenes of the investigation and its immediate fallout in the “The Panama Papers” documentary.
“The scab has been ripped off by all the work that you all did,” Alex said. “People now know irrefutably how massive this corruption is and what the cost is to the average citizen, and before they simply didn’t know.”
He and other panelists spoke about the myriad and ongoing findings from the documents that continue to roil politics and governments around the world, inform reforms, and influence the evolution of the offshore financial world itself. They also candidly discussed the considerable risks the journalists who took part in the investigation bravely faced.
“If not because of journalism, people would never know what happens around them. They would not know when there’s corruption, they would not know when a politician steps out of line, they wouldn’t know what happens with the money they pay on taxes ” Rita said. “We’re not enemies. We’re not even frenemies. We’re friends of democracy and transparency.”
ICIJ’s collaborative model continues to be a powerful facilitator of risky investigations and a buffer against growing hostility facing reporters around the world. At our next event, we’ll be talking with journalists on the frontlines of global press freedom battles, and what we can do to combat critical threats to their investigative work.
RSVP to join us on Sunday, May 2, for a virtual conversation on World Press Freedom Day. (The event will fall on May 3 for some time zones.)
ICIJ in 2020
In spite of a year of unprecedented challenges for the world and for journalists, our collaborative network pulled together to publish two groundbreaking investigations: Luanda Leaks and FinCEN Files. Read about how we pulled it off, and the real world impact our work had last year, in our annual report.
BEHIND BARS
The first U.S. taxpayer to face prison time for crimes revealed by the Panama Papers is now behind bars, seven months after being sentenced to four years. We talked to a former U.S. prosecutor who was involved in the ongoing criminal probe sparked by our investigation in this Q&A.
FISCAL JUSTICE
Oxfam Intermón is hosting a webinar to discuss illicit money flows, tax havens and the fifth anniversary of Panama Papers with ICIJ’s Will Fitzgibbon. (This talk will be in Spanish and translated.)
ATTN JOURNALISTS
Several members of the ICIJ family will be speaking at the International Symposium on Online Journalism about collaborative, cross-border investigations. Register for their session taking place on Monday, April 26 — it’s free!
Thanks for reading!
Asraa Mustufa
ICIJ's digital editor
P.S. We're hiring a front-end web developer to join our team! Please spread the word — applications close April 23!
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