The 1961 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

BIOGRAPHY of Amitabha Chowdhury

AMITABHA CHOWDHURY was born on November 11, 1927 at Calcutta, India. The only child of Sisir K. Chowdhury, who died when his son was four months old, and Priti Rani Chowdhury, he attended elementary classes at Chandranath High School and matriculated in 1944 from Dutta High School in Netrokona, Mymensingh, East Bengal. His undergraduate work was taken in Calcutta in succession at A. M. College, St. Xaviers College and Ashutosh College, where he received, in 1948, a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (Honors), Economics and Mathematics. Married in 1959, his wife, Neepa, is an accomplished painter.

Soon after college Mr. CHOWDHURY joined Jugantar, the influential Bengali-language daily with a circulation of over 72,000 and the sister paper of the English-language Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta. Continuing his graduate studies at Calcutta University while working as a staff reporter, he received, in 1952, a Master of Arts degree in Modern Indian Languages. Meanwhile, his vivid feature stories telling with insight and compassion the human tragedy of the mass migration of refugees following partition of India and Pakistan were setting the pattern for a new reportorial style in the Bengali press.

Later given charge of parliamentary reporting after a period as art critic, his simple and popular presentation of complicated legislative business was also followed by his colleagues and is now a common feature of modern Bengali journalism.

Since his promotion in 1956 to Assistant Editor of Jugantar—when he became the youngest to hold this position on any major newspaper in Calcutta—a major contribution to Indian journalism has been his exemplary weekly column entitled Nepathya Darshan (Scenes Behind the Curtain). Styling himself as Sri Nirapeksha (Mr. Impartial), he has authored a type of penetrating investigative reporting novel to India.

In demonstration of their confidence in his ability and integrity, his publishers accepted his condition that he would receive no additional pay for the column and have given him unfailing support through the many attacks and court actions it has engendered. Free to write on subjects of his choice and to discontinue the column if it seems advisable, he customarily researches each item meticulously over a period of several months, writes only about cases he can prove with irrefutable evidence and carefully checks the final proofs for the smallest typographical errors. Thus able to meet every lawsuit with equanimity, he has earned for his newspaper and himself increasing respect and readership.

Midst a full-scale Parliamentary debate following one of the fiercest language riots in India, his articles on the subject were considered valuable enough to be translated and published in booklet form for distribution to Members of Parliament. Performing as a one-man inquiry commission into the underlying causes and reasons for the administration's failure to quell the outbreak, his column became for the terrorized two million who comprise the Bengali-speaking minority of Assam their advocate.

A series in 1957 on the Damodar Valley Corporation directed against maladministration of the largest of India's river valley projects prompted a parliamentary discussion and inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister, which resulted in an amendment to the Statute of Incorporation, retirement of the Chairman and reorganization of the Board.

Not neglecting the humble man, his moving story of a locomotive fireman who died of heatstroke while on duty, leaving a widow and baby with no compensation because his four-year service was not by permanent appointment, caused the General Manager of the Railway to arrange a payment for the widow and the Railway Welfare Staff to offer her a small job. For the family of an Excise Inspector killed while raiding an illicit brewery, the readership of Jugantar responded with contributions. The inspector's case also reached the attention of the State Legislature after Sri Nirapeksha's, or CHOWDHURY’s, elaborate research into his service career and savings showed him to be a notably honest and brave employee, and a pension was assured for his widow as well as an education allowance for the children.

In 1958, Mr. CHOWDHURY participated in a seminar for Asian journalists held by the American Press Institute and was one of the instructors at the first two Asian seminars conducted by the International Press Institute in Delhi in November 1960, and in Lahore in March 1961. His paper on investigative reporting delivered at these seminars roused thoughtful discussion and won practitioners among his Indian and Pakistani confreres. A detailed description of this reporting technique, it also expresses Mr. CHOWDHURY’s personal view of a journalist's responsibility to his profession and society. Excerpts from the text follow:

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
by
Amitabha Chowdhury
Assistant Editor, the Jugantar, Calcutta

Investigative reporting has one distinctive and unmistakable quality . . . social purposefulness . . .

There can be another criterion to distinguish investigative reporting, although not so sharply and distinctively, from other kinds of routine news coverage. In this reporting, we investigate for a much longer period—in some cases . . . two to six months or more—to uncover a particular happening in all its aspects and in the utmost detail. One of the main purposes of an investigative report is to fix blame for the wrong committed against the community, and not merely to reproduce charges, allegations or the difficulties of the suffering community. Of necessity, therefore, it has to be clear about its findings and also decisive about its recommendations . . .

. . . One day two middle-aged gentlemen walked into my office. They looked typical middle class clerks, shy, unassertive, but honest, educated people . . . it did not take more than a few minutes to realise that they were frustrated people, angry but weak. They spoke against their boss—the Director of the Statistical Department of West Bengal Government. Their allegations were simple, and, to many in India, might not seem startling: the boss was high-handed in the office; he was thoroughly given to a policy of nepotism; the usual rules and regulations about promotions were utterly neglected; . . . and, to crown it all, he accepted bribes . . . After . . . questioning, I found that the charges were all vague. They were unable to provide . . . supporting evidence or fact. But they left me with one important impression. Both of them, as I came to know in our interview, were qualified statisticians. They showed me how the Director manipulated facts and supplied pleasing statistical reports to serve the interest of the ruling group . . . in crucial matters, [as in] . . . the fairness of the increased tramway fare in Calcutta . . . The Government supported the demand for higher fares made by the Tramway Co. of Calcutta, while the public . . . [after suffering a] . . . ghastly bloodbath in the streets for more than a week, ultimately accepted the Government's compromise offer to refer the issue to a Judicial Commission. Before this Commission, one valuable document in favor of the Tramway claim and of the Government stand was a statistical report which proved that (1) the passenger-public had the capacity to pay more for their fares, (2) most were willing to do so, and (3) improvement of the tramways was impossible if the increase was not sustained.

You can imagine the difficulties of proving a particular statistical calculation to be incorrect or a deliberate misstatement, although you may personally feel convinced that it is so . . .

I directed my investigation not towards challenging the veracity of the Statistical Report . . . submitted to the Commission. This, of course, was vaguely done from political platforms, and the whole issue, with the memory of the dead and of the few days of lawlessness in the city, was still agitating . . . the Calcutta public . . . It took 10 weeks or slightly more than that from the time I first met my two informants to arrive at the following findings:

The Director gave employment to at least 21 of his relatives in the Department, most of whom were either disqualified or underqualified for their jobs.

He had three nephews on Inspector's list, one grandson of his brother's as Puncher, the wife of one of his nephews as Supervisor, a niece in a similar post, a son-in-law also as Supervisor, one of his sisters' sons, a sister and also her husband among the employees of his Department, and thus altogether 21 close relatives apart from friends and their relations. Excepting one or two, none had any University degree, no one entered the Department through competitive examination, and the Director exploited to the full the system of hiring temporary staff without inviting candidates through the Public Service Commission . . . The father [of one employee] had a house in Darjeeling which could be offered to the Director who was a lover of the Himalayas! And this employee with an Intermediate Diploma in Commerce as his only academic qualification rose to the position of Class II officer . . .

The office car at five o'clock in the afternoon every day was to be found in front of a commercial house because the Director's son worked there, and after office hours the car belonged to him, including, of course, the service of the office driver and an unlimited supply of gasoline. The logbook of the car revealed the worst type of fraud. His own traveling allowance bills were always heavily padded, and the stores of the Department were in a sorry mess.

Now I was satisfied that I had tracked down an officer who was extremely designing and greedy, to whom personal interest was more important than his official obligations, who hired his own hacks with Government money, and who . . . was unworthy of his post. When I convinced myself on this, there was nothing that should deter me from being partisan against him, forthright and trenchant in my criticism, and from asking for his removal from office. In this, as also in all my reports, it would seem I violated one of the guiding principles of journalism . . . that a journalist should not be partisan . . . Even though he may be convinced that a person is dishonest and has enough evidence to prove it, he is required to be "balanced, objective, non-partisan." . . . I wanted to be sure, decisive, correct and fair till I came to my own verdict . . . But once I had reached the conclusion, found some one dishonest, corrupt, or irresponsible and had enough evidence of an incriminating nature . . . there should be nothing to prevent me from being righteously indignant with him. For positive journalism there is no half way, no role of a neutralist, no scope for timidity in the name of so-called objectivity and no reason to indulge in nameless generalization. It is the duty of a journalist to take sides between good and evil, between the sufferer and the one inflicting the suffering . . .

ORIGIN

. . . You are aware of the fact that most of the newspapers of America are community papers. Each serves a particular community and has in most cases not more than one formidable rival. This generally encourages an intensive coverage of the local news field, and compels newspapers to be more or less an organic part of the community. Every little difficulty or discomfort of the community has to be and is always taken into account by the editors . . . This vigilance in local affairs and keen interest in almost every activity or omission of local self government is undoubtedly the product of an objective situation which is very different from ours. But this community awareness, which perhaps in the ultimate analysis is motivated by simple commercial interest and by the principles of struggle for survival, had, during the past half a century, established a tradition, a code and a picture of idealism. To many editors, reporters or newsroom boys in America, community awareness is now a matter of conscience . . . Investigative reporting . . . made its appearance in American newspapers as a natural outcome.

The amount of interest that [these newspapers] take in the management and conduct of every school, municipality, municipal court and civic function is simply amazing. I have seen newspapers checking or trying to check every important item in a municipal budget against its performance, trying to produce an evaluation report the like of which is being done here by the evaluating committees appointed by the Planning Commission . . . Particularly known and respected in the U.S.A. for their crusading character . . . [are] the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Milwaukee Daily Journal, or to a lesser extent the Denver Post.

I had the opportunity of seeing the Milwaukee Daily Journal Managing Editor work. This is a paper whose shares largely belong to the workers of the paper. It serves a predominantly heavy engineering industrial area and has, if my memory serves me right, more than 300,000 circulation. It has become an institution of the community—not merely a news selling shop. The long and fearless campaign it conducted against Senator McCarthy and the series of investigative reports it brought out in spite of the fear of suppression and even of physical attack is a glorious story . . . But uncovering the whole background of McCarthy involved, apart from the dangers of being prosecuted before the Un-American Activities Committee, a long and arduous search into the military records, into every kind of public office record where there might be some incriminating evidence against McCarthy as a civilian, and also involved interviewing more than 100 people who knew McCarthy as boy, a young man, and a soldier.

METHOD OF WORK

. . . A sample checklist for a personnel probe, which enables an investigative reporter to bring out exhaustive information regarding the personal background of a suspected man [includes]:

Birth Records at the Bureau of Vital statistics. Authentic records of birth are a necessary starting point. The names of father and mother can be used to run mortgage records on their economic status, and for examination of probate records if they are deceased.

Marriage Records at the office of the clerk of court.

Divorce Records at the office of the clerk of court.

Criminal Records in the docket of the municipal court or state court.

Civil Court Disputes in the office of municipal court or state court.

War Veterans Discharge in the office of the county recorder.

Former Work Records, if available.

Personal Property Mortgages in the office of the county recorder.

Real Estate Mortgages in the office of the county recorder.

Tax Liens in the office of the county recorder.

Bankruptcy Action in the office of the clerk of the federal court.

Federal Tax Disputes of a civil nature in the federal court or the tax court.

Automobile Registration and Driver Licenses in the office of the county treasurer.

Property Assessments in the office of the county treasurer with more details in the office of the county assessor.

Corporation Records in the office of the secretary of state or the office of the county recorder . . .

All information [from these sources on McCarthy] was methodically arranged and indexed . . . and this, in turn brought out newer and hitherto unknown clues. The result of the campaign of the Daily Journal, which happens to be Mr. McCarthy's home state newspaper, created a tremendous sensation all over America . . .

COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

. . . Most of the Indian newspapers were born of a crusade against foreign rule, and therefore, had a crusading character. To what crusade should they devote themselves now? . . . Most of our newspapers . . . are not community newspapers . . . They circulate mainly in the city where they are published—excepting the few all-India national papers like Times of India, Hindu, Hindusthan Times and Amrita Bazar Patrika.

My own paper Jugantar—one of the Amrita Bazar Patrika group of publications, has just at the present moment more than 100,000 circulation . . . it is a predominantly metropolitan paper with about 75 per cent of its circulation within the limits of the greater industrial area of Calcutta. What is the harm if this paper makes sincere attempts to be the mouthpiece of the community of greater Calcutta? I should think many of your papers are similarly placed . . .

I would pray you all to ask yourselves these questions:

Are we giving the municipality and its commissioners' meetings the kind of attention that this institution deserves?

Are we treating it like a hopelessly spoiled child, and ignoring it by refusing to criticize it?

Are we looking into its annual budget and [expenditure] as closely as we should?

Do we cover all the committee meetings of the civic body? Or, are we giving any attention to the schools, transport system, the local court and to the municipal court?

My own experiences in the last few years have emphasized to me the inadequacy, nay the gross lack of coverage, of our local government affairs. In West Bengal, out of 85 municipalities more than 60 at one time had to be replaced by the State Government's superseding authority. The Calcutta Corporation itself, one of the biggest institutions in the whole country, is in a filthy, moribund state. Could this deterioration have been possible if the five giant newspapers of Calcutta had given adequate attention to the civic body? . . . Coming to the operations of the State Government, I should say our coverage is incomplete . . .

We do not check the appropriation or [disbursement] pattern.

We do not look into the details which can be brought out from the Auditor General's annual report.

Similarly, Public Service Commission Reports are never analysed, and the irregular cases mentioned are neither followed up nor given . . . publicity by the press.

In one of the reports of the Public Accounts Committee I found last year a very brief reference to closure of a state-run cafeteria . . . The closure caused a loss of more than Rs.30,000 (4.70 rupees equal one U.S. dollar), and also some properties like fans and refrigerators were missing . . . Documents were all there because the State Auditors investigated the matter thoroughly. I scrutinized those reports and found out that the manageress of the cafeteria, who happened also to be the manageress of the adjoining Sales Emporium was thought to be of doubtful integrity by the Auditors. This clue led me into an elaborate investigation of the affairs of the Sales Emporium. Here again, the Accountant General of Bengal's Annual Audit Reports (unpublished and confidential) were on record. After about two months search . . . I found this picture:

She provided . . . one of the most preposterous examples of bill padding in traveling allowances. Bombay to Bandra up and down she charged taxi fare for 125 miles and from Bombay to Andheri 130 miles, whereas actual distances in these cases were seven miles and 11 miles, respectively. She had to call on the same places at Bandra and Andheri on a second occasion only after a week. But what was most intriguing, mileage changed again on this occasion from 125 to 250 and from 130 to 250 miles, respectively. But this was not all that she could do with the geography of India. From Mysore to Bangalore she showed a distance of 400 miles, from Hyderabad to Secundrabad 35 miles.

There was no physical verification of stocks in the stores of the Sales Emporium---goods worth Rs.75,000/- were unaccounted for. Reduction sales for stock clearance were arranged in a dubious way and the auditors found that some of the goods sold in reduction sales stealthily crept into the stores as new purchases. On an average, the Government suffered a loss of 20 to 30 thousand rupees every year on this Emporium. Accounts revealed that in 1958-59 there was a gross income of Rs.25,831/- against an expenditure of Rs.52,941/- . But this expenditure account did not include charges for stationery and sundry expenses, depreciation and interest on the capital. She employed her daughter as a saleswoman at a wage of Rs.300/- per month in one of the branch stalls of the Emporium . . . where the daily sales quantum was Rs.16.87np! On the cafeteria, I calculated the total loss in three years as Rs.73,000/ . . .

ROLE IN A NEW NATION

. . . Investigative reporting can fulfill special needs in a country which on the one hand is in the grip of a tremendous development and on the other also beset with problems of maladministration and corruption . . . this is how, with the benefit of hindsight and with the knowledge of how others do it abroad, I feel the job should be done. To start with, for effective coverage of the local administration and its loopholes there are three objectives . . . to educate the public, the editors and the reporters. Unless you are quite unusual editors, on quite unusual newspapers, serviced by a particularly effective staff of reporters, there is a good chance that your coverage of the administration is in a rut . . . it is necessary that we educate ourselves first and know what news items we want, what has real meaning and value for the correct development of the society, and what kind of a search can bring out the "dark continent of administration" to light.

After we have known our [own] mind, it is our duty to educate the reporters, and then the public . . .

The reading public wants its newspapers to take up against corruption in administration the same crusading spirit which they showed in earlier days against foreign rule.

The amount of public support and enthusiasm which the late Firoze Gandhi found after his disclosures in the Lok Sabha about the L.I.C. (Life Insurance Company) is a significant pointer. What the late Gandhi did in the Lok Sabha and by what he forced the press to print under banner headlines could and ought to have been uncovered by the press itself much earlier . . .

. . . [exposure] of glaring instances of corruption or lapses of administration with evidence and proven facts sometimes tends to fail in its ultimate objective. Where there is large scale corruption, there is inevitably a ring and also a strong power prop. The [ring] will wait patiently till the forgetful public has stopped talking about the "scandal." It will lie low and dodge a full scale inquiry through its prop, which will perhaps readily come out with an assurance of an "investigation into the matter" which will ultimately prove a mere whitewashing. These are known tactics of corrupt rings. Therefore, mere unearthing of a black story is not enough. The editor and the newsroom must continue to hammer on the subject . . .

CHALLENGE

Now I shall come to the difficulties of investigative reporting . . .

1) Political pressure groups with which most of the Indian newspapers are closely associated today.

2) Legal actions—real and intimidatory.

3) Lack of resources, as would obtain in many smaller dailies.

As most of you are aware, administrative corruption can not thrive without powerful patronage. And this powerful patronage, whether in . . . a small civic body or the State Government, or in the . . . Union Government, must come from political parties, or political personalities. It is obvious, therefore, that unless a newspaper has decided to remain out of the political crowd and to operate as a neutral observer, an upholder of the good of the community, it is impossible for the editor to initiate this bold program. But it can so happen, as it has happened in my own case, that the proprietor, although a very active member of a political party, is personally a believer in truth and in doing public good. He is a minister of the State Cabinet. But he is extremely well aware of present day social needs . . . There is and can be another dominating factor in favor of the editor if he is anxious to apply principles of public service reporting to his paper . . . a phenomenal increase in the circulation figure is bound to follow. That is a positive source of strength for the editor and an allurement for the publisher who may be otherwise completely embedded in local politics. In the case of Jugantar, I may cite as an illustration the sizeable increase in circulation by about 30,000.

The dangers of intimidatory legal actions can not be obviated; however you may protect yourself with documents. There are people clever enough who know that they may not win a defamation suit, but would start one to harass the editor and to exasperate him through huge legal expenditures. I have myself faced the hazards of such intimidatory legal actions simultaneously in three cases where no less a powerful man than the I.G.P. (Inspector General of Police) of the State was interested . . . But I should emphasize again one point. Unless you are concrete in your charges and ready to face defamation, and unless you have placed facts and names unhedged there is almost no remedy. You will help breed mutual suspicion and be yourself dubbed a sensationalist . . .

. . . Before you make the indictment you have to satisfy yourself about the veracity of the charge . . . You must also get prepared to argue the case as a prosecution counsel would with all possible documentation. Every sentence of criticism must be well founded on records or almost on forensic evidence. You have also to act yourself as a judge before you reach your own verdict of the case. If you have been meticulous and righteous, there is very little possibility that you will lose the case on a defamation charge . . .

Good knowledge of defamation and libel law is of course a number one prerequisite, as also knowledge of civil laws, financial and audit rules of the Government . . . Fundamentals of the law . . . require the following:

You have to prove yourself (1) correct (2) fair and (3) as acting with a motive of public interest. If these be the requirements of law, they are also the basic requirements of journalistic ethics . . .

About resources there is only one difficulty, the difficulty of being correctly selective when there are so many "cases" coming to hand . . . When there is the slightest lack of evidence, give the benefit of your doubt to the offender. Kill your story heartlessly even though you might have toiled more than a few months chasing it and have also succeeded in proving 70 per cent of it as true

When my reports started coming out in Jugantar there was no dearth of critics; State Government was skeptical, some of the bureaucrats were irritated, and the Police, being the object of my investigative report on several occasions, turned almost wild in anger. But these are only expected reactions. There were others whom I should accept as sincere critics. They were on principle against this type of reporting. They believed that a newspaper's only function was dissemination of news—true and objective . . .

There were other friends who . . . suffered from an inverted sense of moral values. They used to tell me that publication of such reports caused more damage than good because these shook the faith of the people in administration and justice . . .

. . . When immense expansion of Government and semigovernment institutions is taking place, there is bound to be a considerable deterioration in the standard of public service. We are living through a period of terrific change . . . and social pain. Old values were fast disappearing before the new had taken their place. Politics and the party system of Government were almost actively encouraging malpractice. If at this period newspapers failed in their duty as a checking device, if they indulged in a passive role, we would have forsaken our old idealism and tradition as public servants . . . There were many good forces in the country that were ready to help us in bringing about a change of outlook. They only needed a little encouragement and perhaps some guidance, too . . . Generally speaking, public opinion today is more alert against corruption and malpractice . . .

The modern Indian intellectual, whatever may be the superficial signs of his behavior, lives in the midst of his traditional institutions. He is the heir of a profoundly ethical social system and a philosophical culture. Not only is honesty profoundly respected in this society, but any important personality, whether he is in politics or whether he is an official, is basically judged by the traditions of self sacrifice and the urge he shows for sincere public service. It is to this deeply embedded tradition that our new journalism . . . [must] respond . . .

CHECKLIST FOR AN INVESTIGATIVE

REPORTER COVERING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

THE MUNICIPAL OR DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS, COMMISSIONERS OR COUNCILMEN:

1. What is the budget-making process? The members or commissioners compare the budget with tax income and determine whether to grant the requests or cut back. Sometimes budget requests come in lump sums or in several sets of round figures that give no indication of how the money is to be spent. Department heads like to be able to count on a surplus or an overage for an "emergency," or a large contingency fund. This may mean money to hire some political pal of a commissioner—or it could mean actual fraud. Look for corners under which a department head can tuck money away. Make him account for it.

a) What are the checks available on budget requests? Are there public hearings in the case of District Boards and small municipalities? And do citizens ever bother to question or protest expenditure? Is there a taxpayers association at the local level to make an objective study of budget approvals and tax income? Who heads this group? Is he so close to politics that he is no more than a rubber stamp for the politicians or special interest groups? Laws usually provide for a number of checks to be made on the supervisors and department heads. Are these laws being observed?

2. Conflicts of interest: What are the side business interests of the Commissioners or members? What businesses are their friends and relatives in? Are commissioners or department heads using their positions in the institution to give contracts, insurance business, equipment purchases, etc., to businesses in which they or their close friends or relatives have a financial interest?

a) What is the system in the various departments for purchasing equipment and property and awarding contracts and other business? Are sealed tenders required in every department? Is the low bidder too frequently ignored and the contracts made with certain favored business interests? If a few firms have cornered all the business, what are the ties with the commissioners or department heads who are in charge of awarding the business?

b) How about the system for approving bills for purchases made by the various departments? Is there any loophole in the system to allow false billing? Are dozens or hundreds of bills approved by the commissioners or councilmen by voice vote, without a close, or even occasional spot check on what is being paid for? Is it passed in a packed house? Is the responsibility for approving bills clearly established? Is the system for approving bills so tight that a criminal case could be brought against a commissioner or a department head found guilty of false billing? Short of that, can you show negligence in the bill-approving procedures?

3. Liquor and Beer Licenses. What is the system for approving and issuing these licenses in your city? Is a particular councilman or commissioner or Minister given the right to issue licenses for all bars?

a) Who sells insurance to these establishments? Does the approving commissioner have any connection with the firms which get insurance business?

SOME COMMON EVILS FOUND IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

1. Payroll Padding. Are the officials charged with setting your departmental budgets using the budgeting process to get political jobs for relatives, friends, or for political hacks? Check the various departments which submit budget requests. Look closely at their payrolls. Who are they employing? Anybody closely connected with the commissioners or councilmen who will approve the department budget? When there is a substantial budget increase for a department, and it is not explainable, check to see who this particular office recently hired. Does each employee in each office have a function? Are many killing time at taxpayer's expense? Do some have outside jobs which they work at on government time?

2. Personnel: Hiring and Qualifications. Is there a system of competitive examination or a service commission? If there isn't, these employees are nothing more than campaign workers at election time. What is the method of promotion? What is the pay and background of those holding key jobs? Are there too many instances of reemployment after retirement?

3. Vacations, sick leave and work time. Is this centrally supervised and controlled or does each office take care of its own workers without answering to anyone? If there is any possibility that your municipality or city is paying "dummy" or nonexistent employees hired by a department head who is pocketing the money?

4. Property management and inventory control. What special services (such as automobiles) are furnished by the various offices, and what services are bought or paid for? Who gets the business and why? Responsibility for property management should be lodged in the office. Any system for pinning down responsibility for property delivered to various offices can be perverted until it is meaningless, or until it is completely disregarded. This is a weakness which may encourage false billing.

5. False billing. This is a common practice for hiding the misuse of funds in government. Auditing systems won't usually catch it. A false bill accounts for each disbursement so that no shortage shows up in records. The only way to pin this down is for a reporter to make a direct check of all questionable items against declared utilisation or performance.

6. Expenses: Travel per diem, etc. Here is where padding can and does frequently occur.

AUDITOR’S OFFICE:

1. Under most systems, records helpful in uncovering some of the "common evils" mentioned above will be found in this office. For instance, records applying to property management, false billing, travel expense padding and certain personnel records.

2. What is the accounting set up on cash fees paid for shops, signs and dog licenses, automobile inspections, etc.? Is this a mere book entry which can be manipulated or ignored? Or is there a cash receipt book and cash register with numbered licenses or stickers handed out to each person who pays money? Will the system permit an employee to pocket fees occasionally—or frequently at license renewal time—without having it show up in some book-balancing procedure?

3. How are the property assessments done? Is there any system of public hearing?

OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT OR MUNICIPAL COURT:

1. Warrant Handling. Are cases being dismissed in court because warrants are disappearing or because warrants are being made out improperly through ignorance, inefficiency or through intentional mistakes? Are warrants being dismissed in court because the clerk fails to issue properly summons for witnesses; or fails to notify police officers who are prosecuting of the date of trial?

2. Bail Bonds. Check whether there is regular practice of bribery in the issue of bail.

3. Witness Fees. Police officers, deputies and constables may be collecting witness fee money for cases which are settled by defense attorneys without trial by plea of guilt.

4. Civil Suits. Run the docket for any civil disputes. Nearly any kind of a damage suit or other litigation-will include some material of importance. It may contain financial detail that at the time seemed uninteresting. It may include a cross examination of the person in question which will produce some leads.

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM:

1. Building Contracts. Who builds your schools? How are contracts awarded? By sealed bids or by random selection of the board? Is the low bidder frequently overlooked and a favored builder selected? Does the school board give the board member in whose district the school is built the say-so about who builds the school—or about who teaches in the school?

2. Purchasing. Who sells your county its equipment and supplies for the schools? Check out everything from school buses to stationery. Are sealed bids required for such purchasing? Or does the business office of the school system make the decision? If purchasing in the school system is a closed operation, find out why.



THE TAX ASSESSOR:

Check out property owned by officials and influential political figures. Are they getting special consideration in the way of rock bottom assessments?

CHECK LIST FOR AN INVESTIGATIVE

REPORTER COVERING STATE GOVERNMENT

Check Annual Report of the Auditor General and find out usual loopholes for irregular expenditures.

a) A list can be made of the different types of licenses or contracts that the Government issues every year,

b) and how are they done.

Analyse Public Service Commission Report thoroughly—one day discussion in the Assembly on that Report is not enough. There are always important dues for an intelligent reporter.

Public Accounts Committee Report, although somewhat a postmortem record, can give you valuable indications about departments prone to malpractice.

Where there is a rationing system, check the dealers' list of the rationed articles. They often provide clues to the moneybags of the Ministers or the party bosses.

Assets are generally kept hidden through investments in real-estate or through life insurance policies.

Check court reports in detail and if possible keep records whenever an important personality is involved in any civil suits. His submissions in the court may provide significant information regarding his assets and connections.

August 1961 Manila

REFERENCES:

American Press Institute on Asian Journalists. Annual Report, 1959.

Files from Jugantar.

Notes on IPI Seminars in New Delhi, November 1960, and in Lahore, March 1960.

Interviews and correspondence with Indian journalists and publishers, newspapermen in Asia and officials of the International Press Institute.