So now we know

This week an independent media organisation based in France revealed that the OCCRP, the largest organised network of investigative media in the world, hid the extent of its links with the US government.   

The news story reveals how the US government provides half of the OCCRP budget, has a right to veto its senior staff, and funds investigations focussing on Russia, Venezuela, Malta, and Cyprus. Yes, Malta of all countries. 

Now, before this opinion gets misconstrued and misinterpreted, the work of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, which receives money from the OCCRP, and the work of some journalists also in MediaToday who have uncovered the extent of deceit and corruption in Malta, is needed and commendable. Without that financing, we would not be where we are today.   

But this story shows how funding from the US has been hidden together with the agenda behind the funding. It also unravels the hypocrisy of incessant attacks on the Maltese media especially MediaToday by media platforms such as The Shift.  

This article is not about this in particular.   

This article is about the lack of transparency, consistency and double standards from a media organisation that should know better. 

Mediapart reports that the OCCRP, which has won more than 100 journalism awards, is known for its quality and courage of its reporters. Some have been forced into exile while others have been imprisoned. Drew Sullivan, the founder, has boasted that investigations by the OCCRP have allowed numerous countries to retrieve a total of $10 billion in lost revenue, and have provoked the fall of heads of government in “five or six” countries 

But investigative journalists have told Mediapart: “The OCCRP makes the US seem virtuous and allows them to set the agenda of what is defined as corruption.” 

They have commented that the US government is largely untargeted by OCCRP reporting as it also manages to align the NGO’s focus by providing funds which it has an obligation to use on reports that focus on specific countries. 

In brief, the OCCRP is barred from investigating the US, with funds supplied by Washington.   

A perfect example is when two US companies, tech conglomerate Microsoft and engineering and construction giant Bechtel, were mentioned in alleged corruption scandals in several Balkan countries.  

The stories were not covered by OCCRP reporting, even though they were in its local geographical region and were issues covered by editorial focus. 

It gets more interesting in 2021 - the US government donated $1 million to the OCCRP for a two-year project “to strengthen the capacity of journalists in Malta and Cyprus” to “expose crime and corruption and accelerate the impact of investigative journalism” in the two island-state tax havens which have notably attracted Russian oligarchs.  

The programme was renewed in September 2024, with a grant of another $1.3 million paid to the OCCRP. 

It is as if there was no shame in reflecting US foreign policy. In May 2024, the OCCRP was behind a report for the attention of governments about the best procedures for fighting those professionals who facilitate the dodging of sanctions imposed against Russia.  

The report was produced in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think-tank, and funded by the United Kingdom's Foreign Office. 

Well, one could understand such studies, but what does this have to do with investigative journalism? It is more linked to US foreign policy. 

And perhaps the best example comes from Transparency International. It has called on the US to put an end to the secrecy that clouds its own tax havens (like the state of Delaware) following publication of the ICIJ-led “Pandora Papers” series of revelations, in which one article designated the US as one of the world’s largest offshore havens.    

Interestingly the OCCRP, which took part in the project, was not involved in that article. How strange! 

I will not delve into this any longer. 

The OCCRP can choose to get its funding and orders from the US government. That is their business.  

But I cannot understand what the problem is when Maltese media gets its funding from the Maltese state.   

That is why I am surprised we still have a war of attrition and obsession from media platforms such as The Shift on some holy war against MaltaToday and myself. With numerous Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on what advertising we receive. While others who receive similar - if not more amounts - are never targeted. 

The truth us that we are open and transparent about our funding and we are also very clear that our editorial line is independent.  

We are transparent, audited and open to scrutiny. Others are not. And we have a long history of directing our firepower at everyone. 

We also employ dozens of journalists and media workers, sustain an industry and keep the flame burning. More so, and read this carefully, we pay our taxes and our dues and we do not employ mercenaries. 

Perfect we are not, but neither are we or will be purveyors of double standards.