As recognized by the international organization Transparency International, well informed policy makers and continuous public pressure are needed to tackle the problem of corruption. Investigative journalism therefore is crucial in fighting corruption: on the one hand, it raises awareness among the public and policy-makers; on the other hand, it can be an out-and-out deterrent, drawing attention to systemic risks and corruption trends.

Far from being solitaries and reluctant to share information and sources, as in the past, journalists are now “open” and inclined to share their methods and skills to break stories. Open data, for instance, allow journalists to elaborate huge amounts of information so that people can easily have access to stories at an international level, too. Hence, thanks to technologies, investigative journalism is definitely reviving and inspiring a great change in the way we fight corruption.

In this perspective, in early summer, to seize the opportunity to fill the gap of the lack of anti-corruption measures at the EU level, Transparency International will launch the European Corruption Observatory (ECO), in collaboration with JournalismFund.eu. As a platform for exchange media reports on corruption and related topics, ECO will create a network of journalists, hackers, civil society, corruption experts, policy makers and law enforcement agencies across all of the 28 EU member states in order to encouraging further and enduring institutional and private collaboration, just starting from the enhancement of investigative journalism means against corruption.