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Pandora Papers
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Jigyasa Sahay
6:30
Hello and welcome to our special lecture on 'Pandora Papers' by Harry Davies (Investigative Journalist at The Guardian), hosted by the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.
6:35
Harry Davies commences the session by sharing an anecdote of his first story which turned out to be a big thing. It's now all about politics and white collar crime corruption.
6:39
Talking about the Pandora Papers, Davies says that it was a task to begin amidst the heap of 11.9 million documents. They began by finding stories through data and comprehending how it worked. “We worked on what we found most interesting,” adds Davies.
6:43
“Looking at individuals at what connections they have, where they are investing was one of my major focuses,” says Davies. He further elaborates that it is important to swim around in the data to be able to understand its organisation and structure.
6:48
Giving further insights into the process Davies shares that they had to be very mindful of the fact that they are dealing with sensitive data. “We had a lot of discussion with lawyers to analyse the justification of the information we gathered,” says Davies.
Davies: “One of the things I was doing was drawing diagrams how companies work over different components trying to piece together and work out.”
7:05
Davies says that in some stories they have covered the whole stories on Pandora Papers and he was keen on going back of the story for more sources as to why they developed this interest, the connection, the company and understand the whole picture. Pandora Papers are just one component. He further says that it was quite challenging to seek documents, they were tactically complex and involved legal boundaries. "You can't really go and show the documents and educate yourself on legal terms and conditions," he adds.
7:10
As the conversation moves ahead, Davies talks about the stories he did. “Stories I did include telecommunication deals, big political donor, an individual who made money in Russia. The stories were about allegations of corruption and the Pandora Papers were based on such allegations. You need information and the facts and do the story. I don't worry about the impacts; I do the story and move on to the next.”
7:18
A member from the audience asks an interesting question on how they managed to keep the information confidential. To this, he replies: "We get time to publish and choose on a date negotiation amongst the partners. We stick to that if we want to maintain good relations with ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists)."
7:19
Should tax-havens be abolished?
yes (100% | 1 vote)
 
no (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 1
7:29
In response to another question on maintaining data secrecy, he says that the custodians of the data maintain the security. "They work and maintain to the data being secured. We have our own information security system here. No one really knows about the paper you are working on and when people don't know what you are working on it's safe from legal and other threats. If they come to know that we are looking at legal hurdles, we use encryption," adds Davies.
7:34
Another audience members asks about writing complicated stories. Davies replies that one needs to simplify the data and know to communicate information. One might have to talk to lawyers and understand the legal terms. We also use graphics and diagrams to help readers understand better.
7:36
7:38
As the session comes to an end, Davies shares that the best thing he has learnt is to understand how money trail works. “I found accounting can be your friend,” he adds. He advices the audience to work on what they are interested in and build an area of expertise. “Focus on what you are passionate about and know the subject. You have to know and learn a lot of different skill sets and also work on what you really good at,” adds Davies.
7:39
Thank-you for joining this session. Do follow #ACJLive for more lectures.
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