N ieman Reports - Nieman Foundation - Harvard University

Shattering Barriers
of corruption, mob rule, imperialism,
reactionary ideology, and terror.
He believed that remaining silent
or indifferent was “the crime of our
age,” and he received many awards
for his willingness to
speak out in defense of
democracy and human
rights. He was killed, it is
believed, by the powerful
interests whose crimes
he exposed.
My father adhered to
one basic principle: “A
murderer is a murderer,
no matter if from the
right or left.” He pressed
for the investigation of
many murders regardless
of the political
affiliation of the victim
or whether a person was
murdered for his convictions
or in an act of terror.
He dug for evidence
about terrorist groups
and their connections
with weapons traffickers
and he examined how
these relationships played out in local
and international politics. And he
shared with the public the results of
his investigations, involving the Kurds,
arms trafficking, corruption, foreign
intelligence services, the mafia, and
the attempted assassination of Pope
John Paul II.
Here are words my father wrote
in May 1992:
… the journalist must write
articles based on news, events,
concepts, documents and information,
which requires the
journalist to be a reliable person.
The journalist has to keep
secrets … know how to keep the
sources of news and information
confidential, and should dare to
dispute with the government and
powers when necessary.
Training Young Journalists
The year after my father was murdered,
our family founded the Ugur Mumcu
Investigative Journalism Foundation
in Ankara, Turkey. The aim of the
foundation is to spread the ideas and
principles my father lived by and to
encourage young people who are
The nameplate in front of Turkish investigative journalist Ugur Mumcu
identified his location as “yolsuzluk masası” (“corruption desk”). Photo
courtesy of Ugur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation.
concerned about social problems and
have ideals of hard work and humanity
to enter the field of journalism. Its
guiding principle is the promotion
of freedom of expression as it carries
forth my father’s understanding of the
role and value of journalism.
Each year the foundation trains
young people, who apply to be fellows,
to become investigative journalists with
a three and a half month course of
study. (The largest number of fellows
we’ve had at one time is nine.) In the
360 hours of intensive courses—taught
by about 50 academics and active
journalists—the fellows learn how to:
• Write a news story, especially one
with investigative elements
• Tell the difference between what
“can claim to be news” and what
is not
• Do investigative reporting.
The last of the how-to lessons is
the most important so it is emphasized
during the training. Other core
lessons involve local politics, climate
change, diplomacy, law, economics,
and the principles of human rights.
In the most recent program we paid
more attention to digital media and
editorial work in TV than we have in
the past. To demonstrate
what has been learned,
each student prepares
a report—covering a
news story with indepth
information and
interviews. After their
coursework is complete,
they must pass an examination
to gain access to
internships at national
newspapers and TV
channels.
While there are a
number of journalism
schools in Turkey, young
people usually learn on
the job and not through
a training program. No
such training is offered
in the private sector due
to the long hours that
employees work and
media owners’ lack of
interest in supporting such efforts.
The gap we are hoping to fill in the
future is finding ways to unite our
young fellows with foreign reporters
so that we can encourage and support
cross-border reporting on the many
investigative stories that now demand
such an effort.
Funding for the foundation comes
from a variety of sources, including
what we earn from giving seminars on
creative writing, philosophy, photography
and political thought as well as
workshops on documentary filmmaking.
We also publish books, primarily
my father’s works, but children’s books
as well, and we teach courses for
children. Some of our money comes
from independent donations.
Our hope is that we instill in
these fellows the courage to write
on forbidden topics and give them
skills so their research and reporting
will be grounded in intellectual argument
and documentation. In Turkey,
maintaining editorial independence
is the key to determining what will
be reported as news. Looking to the
34 Nieman Reports | Spring 2011