James Walker takes the good with the bad in Mongolia, and provides a recipe for success
James Walker was an ABC News network correspondent, reporting for 26 years for �World news Tonight,� �Nightline� and various other news �magazine programs. During his career he covered, among other stories, Arab-Israeli wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. He also filled numerous investigative pieces. For his reporting Walker has received the Alfred I, du Pont-Columbia University Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Overseas Press Club Edward R.Murrow Award, the National Press Club�s Edwin M.Hood Award and several Emmys.

Communism came early to Mongolia. The land-locked, desert country declared itself a people�s republic in 1924 and survived nearly seven decades under the rule of the Mongolian People�s Party. With this history, today�s journalists in Mongolia face a striking challenge: ethics.

This Knigt Fellow spent much time explaining the basics: Don not accept money to do a story. Do not accept money not to do a story. Do not accept money from any group or company to pay for your expenses while on a story.

Issues that may be obvious to U.S journalists require repeated explanation to their Mongolian collegues. Why? Mongolian reporters earn about $150 a month, though many less than that. It takes $300 a month to live. You do the math.

It�s also just plain good journalistic practice to maintain ethical standards. A story requires different angles and at least two sources to substantiate any allegations of improper behavior. Again, that knowledge may be taken for granted by American journalists. But it�s breaking news in the Gobi.

Equally important for the print and broadcast media is transparency of ownership. Multy-millionare businessmen promote agendas through reporters and their stories. But in a shadowy world where it�s unclear who owns what, it�s also hard to discern who is doing what to whom.

Investigative journalism is impeded by a legal system lacking protection for the media. Ninety percent of Mongolian journalists claim to practice self-censorship because violating vague disclosure laws can bring fines and up to two years� imprisonment. Libel laws fall under criminal, not civil, statutes, and access �to information laws remain a dream.
So, how did I spend my time dealing with reporters who generally want training but seldom apply it?

From my hospitable, well-equipped base at the Mongolian Foundation for Open Society, I worked the grapevine that seems to exist in all �emerging� democracies. I volunteered my services at five organizations that presented different challenges. For Open Society, I reviewed its weekly hour-long public-affairs program. For the Press Institute I taught a television-journalism class three times a week to nine students. For Channel 1, I consulted with the staff, from top to bottom, almost daily for three months to help them prepare for their April, 2006, on-air debut. And for Eagle TV and MNTV /state television/, I trained on-air reporters.
At times during my six months it the field I thought many of my efforts were going unrewarded. I was wrong. My Press Institute students hit the streets enthusiastically with their cameras, producing a good mixture of wide, medium and tight shots. The Open Forum hourly public-affairs program featured better studio-camera work before, unfortunately, being cancelled. But the skills learned remain.
Some members of the MNTV news staff changed their tone about investigative reporting after I showed �and analyzed frame by frame and word by word �an ABC News story on government waste.
�Hey�, said one producer, �we have the same problem!� The story got their attention and motivated them to learn to build a television news report. But their good efforts continue to be thwarted by senior editors intend on using the news to promote political agendas.
At Channel 1, however, reporters who had never been on air clung to their belief that they had nothing to learn. I admitted defeat after three months and stopped the workshops.
And so we have it. Like, life, a Knigt International Press Fellowship offers a mixture of wonderful challenges.
Mongolia has received $2.4 billion in foreign aid since 1990. The consensus among the NGO community is that the Mongolians themselves now have the tools to ensure good governance and transparency. Sustainable economic development is essentially in their hands.
Much the same can be said for the country�s press, whose contributions should reflect the country�s capabilities. It was a privilege to help committed journalists learn what journalism can be.

Source: Knightline International.