Press Call Happening Now

UPDATE: The Global Integrity Report 2010 is now available online.

Good news, Global Integrity groupies — the Global Integrity Report: 2010 is less than two weeks away from being published. Want to be on the call to hear the headlines as they break? Full details are below for our conference call on May 4.

Save the Date: The Global Integrity Report: 2010 — tracking corruption vulnerabilities in countries around the world, with emphasis on the Middle East and North Africa, and Eastern and Central Europe this year — will be released at 5:00 am Eastern Daily Time, Wednesday May 4, 2011. A 20-minute press teleconference followed by Q&A will be held the same day at 11:00 am EDT.

Dial-in information and notes on how journalists use this major investigative study are included below. Individual country reports may be requested early. Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization, tracks governance and corruption trends globally.

Of the 36 countries and territories* assessed this past year, among the most telling findings are those from the Middle East and North Africa, and Eastern and Central Europe (Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, West Bank, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania). The Report covers developed countries such as Canada and Italy as well as dozens of the world’s emerging markets and developing nations, from Albania to Cameroon to Tanzania. Please let us know if you plan to join the call by emailing Carol Miller and dial in that day to:

Toll-Free (US & Canada): (888) 428-7458
International Dial-In (Toll): +(201) 604-5177

All reporting and fieldwork for the Report is conducted by teams of in-country journalists and researchers, not outsiders. The last Report released was recently quoted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the first U.S.-Islamic World Forum held in America, noting how Global Integrity’s data confirmed how countries in the Middle East and North Africa, almost without exception, have some of the weakest anti-corruption systems in the world.

Best/Worst lists will outline the top gainers and backsliders in the 2010 Report, based on key indicators answering questions such as

Can citizens freely use the internet?
Can the media freely report on corruption issues?
Can the public request government information?
Can citizens expect fair treatment from bureaucrats, without paying bribes from?

Rather than measure perceptions of corruption, the report assesses the accountability mechanisms and transparency measures in place (or not) to prevent corruption through more than 300 “Integrity Indicators” as well as journalistic reporting of corruption. Gaps in those safeguards suggest where corruption is more likely to occur.

*Countries and Territories assessed in 2010

Albania, Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, West Bank, Yemen

How do journalists use the Global Integrity Report?

The country assessments that make up the Global Integrity Report are important tools for journalists to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a country’s anti-corruption and public integrity system. There are thousands of potential story leads buried in the vast amount of data and information we gather ranging from investigations of conflict-of-interest regulations, the health and vitality of civil society institutions, and law enforcement accountability. Why do countries suffer from certain governance challenges but not others? What are the key preconditions for anti-corruption mechanisms that successfully function in a given country? The country assessments can help journalists begin to answer these questions and raise awareness amongst the public.

About the Report

The Report is locally reported, transparently sourced, comprising 100 percent original data—a bottom-up assessment of anti-corruption worldwide. The country assessments in the Report offer among the most detailed, evidence-based evaluations of anti-corruption mechanisms available anywhere in the world. They provide policymakers, investors and citizens alike with the information to understand the governance challenges unique to each country and to take action.

The Global Integrity Report is the product of months of on-the-ground reporting and data gathering by a team of more than 150 in-country journalists and researchers who prepared close to a million words of text and more than 10,000 data points for their respective countries.

Please contact Carol Miller directly if you would like to be provided advance access to country-specific data and findings.