BBC Panorama Reporter Andy Davies:
‘A one million franc bribe … is it not correct that Mr Blatter asked that it be moved to the FIFA official who was named on the payment slip?’
FIFA Director of Communications Markus Siegler:
‘If you do not stop now, then we call the security and we put you out.’
-- FIFA Press conference, Zurich, Tuesday, 11 April 2006
 Here’s that Big Bribe again: December 5, 2003: Have you guessed who got it? [Large] See also: ** Secret World of FIFA & Sepp Blatter: Bribery, Blackmail, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals ** ** Open Letter to FIFA 2010 World Cup Teams: God vs. FIFA: ‘Flying Scotsman’ Anyone? ** |
‘Lying and deception and bad faith are standard operating procedure at FIFA.’
-- Adam C. Silverstein, a lawyer for MasterCard in their successful action against FIFA, New York, December 1, 2006
 |
Caviar, FIFA and Media Corruption
Guy Berger, Mail & Guardian
Nov 25 2009 15:27
 Foul! Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-rigging & Ticket Scandals; by Andrew Jennings [*Amazon**Kalahari*] [Is FIFA Blackmailing RSA Media?] |
VIP views of the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium and fancy foodstuffs were the order of the day at a media accreditation briefing in Port Elizabeth last month.
It's not often that scribes get plied with caviar, but then not every media briefing is on behalf of the World Cup.
The occasion was one of several around the country convened by the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The aim was to get journalists to apply early for accreditation to cover the mega-event.
But behind the scenes, the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) is somewhat edgy about the process getting under way while there are unresolved issues around media rights.
The problem came to light last week at a workshop in Stellenbosch, organised by the German embassy in South Africa.
Draconian conditions
According to veteran editor Raymond Louw who raised the issue, Fifa has yet to revert over long-standing media with the accreditation regime. According to him, the unhappiness is with:
.
- A condition that binds not just the reporter concerned to worrying Fifa restrictions such as limited shelf-life of stories, but also his or her entire media organisation;
- A warning to journalists of de-accreditation in the event of behaviour deemed to negatively affect the public standing of the LOC or Fifa
 Foul! Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-rigging & Ticket Scandals; by Andrew Jennings [*Amazon**Kalahari*] [Is FIFA Blackmailing RSA Media?] |
The editors are cognisant of British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings, who exposed corruption in Fifa and has been banned from its press conferences ever since.
There is also concern as regards registering on Fifa's website media channel, which decrees:
"By accessing, using and continuing to use the Media Channel, you and your organisation explicitly and irrevocably agree to be bound by the T&CS (as may be updated by Fifa from time to time and without further notice) and to fully comply with them."
"All updates shall be legally binding on you and your organisation after being posted on the Media Channel."
It is such potentially draconian conditions that have led to the formation of the South African "Media Interest Group" and the international "News Media Coalition" (NMC).
Advice from the NMC is that before accepting accreditation, journalists should insist on a clause to the effect that: "... nothing in the present terms and conditions is intended to be, or shall be interpreted as, undermining editorial independence or restricting or preventing the exercise of normal journalistic activities including expressions of comments."
Fifa is on record in 2006 as stating that it "has no objection to critical journalism", with the rider "provided that the journalists in question respect the principles of fairness, balance and decency". Whether it will agree to the NMC clause is another issue, however.
Concern over journalists signing away rights
Meanwhile, at the Stellenbosch workshop, German and South African editors expressed deep concern over journalists having to sign away rights in order to get access to Fifa and other sporting events.
The issue is serious, but there's an even larger part of the iceberg that's not immediately visible.
To begin with, there's the cosy and uncritical relationship that evolves as a condition for sports journalists to get close access to the sports story.
More fundamentally, however, is the synergistic business relationship that has evolved between the sports and media industries. Much as there are valid journalistic reasons about editorial freedom to inform the public about sports, much media fuss is also related to its business interest in piggybacking on popular content.
This is why British academic Raymond Boyle assesses sports reporting as becoming "framed by entertainment rather than journalistic values", while his Australian counterpart David Rowe has coined the label: the "Media Sports Cultural Complex".
Sports promotion rather than journalism
Their criticism is that most sports journalism today ends up doing sports promotion, rather than serious reporting, investigation or analysis.
Critics like them point to a study in 2005 of 10 000 sports articles found that although sports is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, only 6% of the articles look at the economic aspects. The bulk of coverage is limited to match reports and previews.
But there are sometimes tensions in the media-sports relationship. The Stellenbosch meeting heard that the South African Rugby Union is taking Die Burger to task. The newspaper had run a wrap-around photospread of rugby, which was underwritten by a company that does not sponsor the Rugby Union.
In response, the paper argues that it does the Rugby Union a favour by providing free publicity with photos that include the association's sponsor banners in the images.
How to keep a distance from these kinds of considerations is one of the biggest challenges for sports journalism. The field seems especially prone to being compromised by commerce or embeddedness with sources, as well as even formal or informal corruption.
Supping with the devil
British sports journalist Steven Downes has asked the question: "What sports journalist has never supped with the devil, or at least had a glass of chilled Chablis provided with some food at an event at the sponsor's expense?"
An ethical code for sports journalists could go some way towards drawing a line that would provide audiences with reports that have independent editorial values and integrity.
A code drawn up by German sports journalists stresses journalistic independence, and takes a strong stand against nationalist, sexist, and racist slander and exclusion in sports. Other issues for which guidelines are needed include the use of anonymous sources, disclosures of sponsored coverage, match betting by staffers, gifts and private payments for ghost writing or media "consultancies".
Last year, Fifa introduced Fair Play code for football stakeholders, setting out various ethical principles that the organisation committed to stand for "regardless of the influences and pressures that may be brought to bear".
South African sports journalists could profitably follow suit -- helping to put relations between media and sports industries on a more equitable, respectful and ethical footing.
» » » » [Mail & Guardian (PDF)]
Media concerned over Fifa's terms
Nov 25 2009 11:19, SAPA
Johannesburg, South Africa
Football governing body Fifa and South African media are locked in a stand-off over restrictive terms and conditions imposed by Fifa on journalists and their publications, Business Day reported on Wednesday.
At issue is a clause in the accreditation agreement that binds publications to the same rules as those that bind their reporters attending matches or official Fifa events.
According to another clause, behaviour harmful to Fifa's and the local organising committee's image can be punished by summary withdrawal of accreditation.
There is also concern over a clause allowing Fifa to revoke the accreditation of a reporter and his or her publication without discussion and without any mechanism to address the "breach" that caused the withdrawal of the accreditation.
The first clause would prohibit normal coverage of a news event at a team hotel, such as a labour strike, while there is concern the second clause would prevent critical reporting of the World Cup and its organisation.
The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) is negotiating with Fifa over the points of conflict in the accreditation agreement. Sanef representative Raymond Louw said some sort of agreement was possible.
This could include the addition of words saying normal editorial practice would prevail in cases of reporting that was potentially critical of Fifa.
It also appears the media will have to sign agreements before they have seen the codes of conduct.
Part of the problem is that media institutions have to sign up to the media channel of Fifa's website. Once this is done they are bound by Fifa's rules even before they have seen the terms and conditions.
Comment was not immediately available from the local organising committee, the publication reported. -- Sapa
» » » » [Mail & Guardian (PDF)]
Blatter & the Serial Murderer
Andrew Jennings
Transparency in Sport
 Blatter Honours Charles Taylor; Monrovia, 23 Nov, 1999  Blatter Honours Charles Taylor; Monrovia, 23 Nov, 1999 | Liberian President Charles Taylor – currently on trial at The Hague for murder, mutilation, torture, human sacrifice, cannibalism, using women and girls as sex slaves, abducting adults and children, forcing them to perform forced labour and go to war . . . and burying a pregnant woman alive in sand. |
Monrovia, 23 November, 1999. FIFA President Sepp Blatter pays respect to Liberian President Charles Taylor – currently on trial at The Hague for human rights abuses.
Taylor is accused of murder, mutilation, torture, human sacrifice, cannibalism, using women and girls as sex slaves, abducting adults and children, forcing them to perform forced labour and fighters . . . and burying a pregnant woman alive in sand.
Taylor was so grateful to be honoured by anybody that he immediately awarded Liberia’s highest honour, The Humane Order of African Redemption to Blatter – who omits this from his ridiculous list of honours.
At the time of President Blatter’s trip to Liberia, President Taylor’s horrific record was well-known. That didn’t worry Blatter; he will take votes from anybody, anywhere.
He visited Monrovia to thank Taylor for his support in FIFA’s elections the previous year – and to beg for Liberia’s vote again at the next election.
Blatter helped soften Taylor’s vile image. The favour was returned when Taylor’ son-in-law Edwin Snowe, boss of Liberian football, campaigned for Blatter to be re-elected in 2002 (see chapter 22 of Foul!)
When Taylor was forced from power Edwin Snowe needed to get out of Liberia in a hurry. Who would pay? FIFA paid. Poverty stricken Liberia had an annual grant from FIFA of $250,000. Edwin was allowed to pocket it, flee to America and pretend to enrol in a Denver college to study Sports Management and Entertainment Events.
Asked how this rip-off of poor people could be justified, Blatter mouthpiece Andreas Herren announced smugly that FIFA was happy to pay for Edwin ‘to further his education.’
» » » » [Transparency in Sport (PDF)]
Liberia's Charles Taylor and the cult of the child soldiers
June 29, 2007
By Laura Lynch at The Hague, the Netherlands
 A Liberian Childsoldier |
Some of them were so young, the guns they gripped were bigger than they were. They had nicknames: Babykiller, Castrator, Ballcrusher and many others. They were children and they were soldiers in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. Now their stories of abuse and anguish are helping to make legal history.
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is on trial for his role in a war known around the world as the conflict that created "blood diamonds." Taylor faces a long list of charges stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels. He is the first African head of state to be tried for war crimes. And he is the highest-ranking leader ever brought to court accused of recruiting child soldiers.
That's largely because the crime itself is so new. It was drafted into law by the International Criminal Court less than a decade ago.
» » » » [CBC News, Canada]
 Girl Child Soldiers |
Girl soldiers: Charles Taylor's legacy
Two young women from Liberia, who were forced to become child soldiers in Charles Taylor's army, recount their harrowing experience of the 14-year civil war
» » » » [Guardian.UK Video (10:00)]
The Prosecutor vs. Charles Ghankay Taylor
The Prosecution opened witness testimony on 7 January 2008. The Prosecution formally closed their case on 27 February 2009 after having presented testimony from 91 witnesses. On 4 May 2009 the Trial Chamber dismissed in its entirety a Motion for Judgment of Acquittal brought by the Defence.
The Defence opened their case on 13 July 2009.
The Indictment
Summary of the Charges
The Taylor trial proceedings are streamed over the internet, and can be watched at Hague Link 1 and Hague Link 2
The Special Court trial of Charles Ghankay Taylor is taking place in Courtroom 2 at the International Criminal Court (ICC) building, The Hague, the Netherlands.
» » » » [Transparency in Sport :: CBC News, Canada :: Guardian.UK Video (10:00) :: Intn'l Criminal Court at The Hague :: The Trial of Charles Taylor :: Child Soldiers :: Child Soldiers Global Report: Liberia (PDF:French) & South Africa: English]
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