This project seeks to contribute to improving the quality of cross border journalism on global financial markets related to illicit financial flows and tax havens.
This project aim to contribute to increasing public understanding concerning financial markets. The functioning of financial markets depends on openness to allow for public debates on legal and ethical issues. Over the last few years, however, several revelations facilitated by cross border investigative journalism such as the so-called Panama-papers, the Swiss Leaks and the Lux Leaks, have made it clear that public understanding of financial markets is hampered by secrecy mechanisms and illicit financial flows.
The project seeks to contribute to improving the quality of such cross border journalism on global financial markets related to illicit financial flows and tax havens in order to facilitate public debate and make public understanding of financial markets possible. The project will do this by analysing journalism on the landmark cases Panama papers, Lux leaks and Swiss Leaks.
The project is a part of the research group Media, War and Conflict.
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More about the research project
We argue that illicit financial flows and tax havens merit increased public understanding and ethical debates based on the size and importance of the phenomenon. For instance, Global Financial Integrity estimate that US$1.1 trillion left developing countries in illicit financial outflows in 2013.
While numbers for obvious reasons are no more than rough estimates, most observers agree that illicit financial flows and tax havens are important development issues. Indeed, UN Sustainable Development Goal 10.5., titled “Reduce inequality within and among countries”, seeks to “Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations”. These issues are of great importance for developing economies as well as so-called advanced economies (World Bank, Brief. Illicit Financial Flows, April 14, 2016).
While cross border investigative journalism has proved important in order to draw public attention to the problems of illegal financial flows and tax havens, the public understanding depends on journalists’ ability to gather, assess and present this complex information in a sound manner. Therefore, the project additionally seeks to understand how the quality of journalism on financial flows and tax havens can be improved.
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Members
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Partners
- University of Oslo
- Norwegian School of Economics
- Publish What You Pay Norway
