How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history
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0:01 - 0:03What do you do if you had
to figure out the information -
0:03 - 0:06behind 11.5 million documents,
-
0:06 - 0:08verify it and make sense of it?
-
0:08 - 0:09That was a challenge
-
0:09 - 0:12that a group of journalists
had to face late last year. -
0:13 - 0:16An anonymous person
calling himself John Doe -
0:16 - 0:19had somehow managed to copy
nearly 40 years of records -
0:19 - 0:23of the Panamanian law firm
Mossack Fonseca. -
0:23 - 0:26This is one of many firms around the world
-
0:26 - 0:30that specialize in setting up accounts
in offshore tax havens -
0:30 - 0:32like the British Virgin Islands,
-
0:32 - 0:35for rich and powerful people
who like to keep secrets. -
0:36 - 0:40John Doe had managed to copy
every spreadsheet from this firm, -
0:40 - 0:41every client file,
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0:41 - 0:43every email,
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0:43 - 0:46from 1977 to the present day.
-
0:47 - 0:49It represented the biggest cache
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0:49 - 0:52of inside information
into the tax haven system -
0:52 - 0:54that anyone had ever seen.
-
0:54 - 0:59But it also presented a gigantic challenge
to investigative journalism. -
1:00 - 1:04Think about it:
11.5 million documents, -
1:04 - 1:08containing the secrets of people
from more than 200 different countries. -
1:08 - 1:11Where do you start
with such a vast resource? -
1:11 - 1:13Where do you even begin to tell a story
-
1:13 - 1:16that can trail off
into every corner of the globe, -
1:16 - 1:19and that can affect almost
any person in any language, -
1:19 - 1:22sometimes in ways
they don't even know yet. -
1:23 - 1:25John Doe had given the information
to two journalists -
1:25 - 1:28at the German newspaper
Süddeutsche Zeitung. -
1:29 - 1:32He said he was motivated
by -- and I quote -- -
1:32 - 1:35"The scale of the injustice
that the documents would reveal." -
1:36 - 1:38But one user alone can never make sense
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1:38 - 1:40of such a vast amount of information.
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1:40 - 1:42So the Süddeutsche Zeitung reached out
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1:42 - 1:45to my organization in Washington, DC,
-
1:45 - 1:48The International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists. -
1:50 - 1:52We decided to do something
that was the very opposite -
1:53 - 1:55of everything we'd been taught
to do as journalists: -
1:55 - 1:56share.
-
1:56 - 1:58(Laughter)
-
1:58 - 2:02By nature, investigative
reporters are lone wolves. -
2:02 - 2:04We fiercely guard our secrets,
-
2:04 - 2:05at times even from our editors,
-
2:05 - 2:08because we know that the moment
we tell them what we have, -
2:08 - 2:10they'll want that story right away.
-
2:11 - 2:12And to be frank,
-
2:13 - 2:14when you get a good story,
-
2:14 - 2:16you like to keep the glory to yourself.
-
2:18 - 2:20But there's no doubt
that we live in a shrinking world, -
2:20 - 2:24and that the media has largely
been slow to wake up to this. -
2:24 - 2:27The issues we report on
are more and more transnational. -
2:27 - 2:30Giant corporations operate
on a global level. -
2:30 - 2:34Environmental and health
crises are global. -
2:34 - 2:37So, too, are financial flows
and financial crises. -
2:37 - 2:40So it seems staggering
that journalism has been so late -
2:41 - 2:43to cover stories in a truly global way.
-
2:44 - 2:47And it also seems staggering
that journalism has been so slow -
2:47 - 2:50to wake up to the possibilities
that technology brings, -
2:50 - 2:52rather than being frightened of it.
-
2:54 - 2:57The reason journalists
are scared of technology is this: -
2:57 - 3:01the profession's largest institutions
are going through tough times -
3:01 - 3:04because of the changing way
that people are consuming news. -
3:05 - 3:09The advertising business models
that have sustained reporting are broken. -
3:10 - 3:13And this has plunged
journalism into crisis, -
3:13 - 3:17forcing those institutions
to reexamine how they function. -
3:18 - 3:20But where there is crisis,
-
3:20 - 3:21there is also opportunity.
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3:22 - 3:23The first challenge presented
-
3:23 - 3:26by what would eventually become
known as the Panama Papers -
3:26 - 3:29was to make the documents
searchable and readable. -
3:29 - 3:32There were nearly five million emails,
-
3:32 - 3:35two million PDFs that needed
to be scanned and indexed, -
3:35 - 3:38and millions more files
and other kinds of documents. -
3:38 - 3:41They all needed to be housed
in a safe and secure location -
3:41 - 3:42in the cloud.
-
3:43 - 3:46We next invited reporters
to have a look at the documents. -
3:46 - 3:50In all, reporters from more
than 100 media organizations -
3:50 - 3:52in 76 countries --
-
3:52 - 3:54from the BBC in Britain
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3:55 - 3:57to Le Monde newspaper in France
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3:57 - 3:59to the Asahi Shimbun in Japan.
-
4:00 - 4:04"Native eyes on native names,"
we called it, the idea being, -
4:04 - 4:08who best to tell you
who was important to Nigeria -
4:08 - 4:09than a Nigerian journalist?
-
4:10 - 4:12Who best in Canada than a Canadian?
-
4:12 - 4:15There were only two rules
for everyone who was invited: -
4:15 - 4:20we all agreed to share everything
that we found with everybody else, -
4:20 - 4:23and we all agreed to publish
together on the same day. -
4:24 - 4:26We chose our media partners based on trust
-
4:26 - 4:29that had been built up through
previous smaller collaborations -
4:29 - 4:32and also from leads
that jumped out from the documents. -
4:33 - 4:34Over the next few months,
-
4:34 - 4:37my small nonprofit organization
of less than 20 people -
4:37 - 4:41was joined by more than 350 other
reporters from 25 language groups. -
4:42 - 4:44The biggest information leak in history
-
4:44 - 4:47had now spawned the biggest
journalism collaboration in history: -
4:48 - 4:54376 sets of native eyes doing
what journalists normally never do, -
4:54 - 4:56working shoulder to shoulder,
-
4:56 - 4:57sharing information,
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4:57 - 4:59but telling no one.
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5:00 - 5:02For it became clear at this point
-
5:02 - 5:04that in order to make
the biggest kind of noise, -
5:04 - 5:07we first needed
the biggest kind of silence. -
5:08 - 5:11To manage the project
over the many months it would take, -
5:11 - 5:13we built a secure virtual newsroom.
-
5:13 - 5:16We used encrypted communication systems,
-
5:16 - 5:19and we built a specially
designed search engine. -
5:19 - 5:20Inside the virtual newsroom,
-
5:21 - 5:23the reporters could gather
around the themes -
5:23 - 5:25that were emerging from the documents.
-
5:25 - 5:30Those interested in blood diamonds
or exotic art, for instance, -
5:30 - 5:33could share information about how
the offshore world was being used -
5:33 - 5:35to hide the trade in both
of those commodities. -
5:35 - 5:38Those interested in sport
could share information -
5:38 - 5:41about how famous sports stars
were putting their image rights -
5:41 - 5:43into offshore companies,
-
5:43 - 5:45thereby likely avoiding taxes
-
5:45 - 5:47in the countries
where they plied their trade. -
5:48 - 5:50But perhaps most exciting of all
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5:50 - 5:53were the number of world leaders
and elect politicians -
5:53 - 5:55that were emerging from the documents --
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5:57 - 6:00figures like Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine,
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6:01 - 6:04close associates
of Vladimir Putin in Russia -
6:06 - 6:09and the British Prime Minister,
David Cameron, who is linked -
6:09 - 6:11through his late father, Ian Cameron.
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6:13 - 6:16Buried in the documents
were secret offshore entities, -
6:16 - 6:18such as Wintris Inc.,
-
6:18 - 6:20a company in the British Virgin Islands
-
6:20 - 6:24that had actually belonged
to the sitting Icelandic prime minister. -
6:24 - 6:27I like to refer to Johannes Kristjansson,
-
6:27 - 6:30the Icelandic reporter
we invited to join the project, -
6:30 - 6:32as the loneliest man in the world.
-
6:32 - 6:35For nine months, he refused paid work
-
6:35 - 6:37and lived off the earnings of his wife.
-
6:37 - 6:39He pasted tarps
over the windows of his home -
6:39 - 6:43to prevent prying eyes
during the long Icelandic winter. -
6:44 - 6:47And he soon ran out of excuses
to explain his many absences, -
6:47 - 6:49as he worked red-eyed,
-
6:49 - 6:50night after night,
-
6:50 - 6:51month after month.
-
6:52 - 6:54In all that time, he sat on information
-
6:54 - 6:58that would eventually bring down
the leader of his country. -
6:58 - 7:02Now, when you're an investigative reporter
and you make an amazing discovery, -
7:02 - 7:06such as your prime minster can be linked
to a secret offshore company, -
7:06 - 7:10that that company has a financial
interest in Icelandic banks -- -
7:10 - 7:12the very issue he's been elected on --
-
7:12 - 7:15well, your instinct
is to scream out very loud. -
7:16 - 7:19Instead, as one of the few people
that he could speak to, -
7:19 - 7:22Johannes and I shared
a kind of gallows humor. -
7:22 - 7:24"Wintris is coming," he used to say.
-
7:24 - 7:26(Laughter)
-
7:26 - 7:28(Applause)
-
7:29 - 7:32We were big fans of "Game of Thrones."
-
7:33 - 7:36When reporters like Johannes
wanted to scream, -
7:36 - 7:39they did so inside the virtual newsroom,
-
7:39 - 7:41and then they turned
those screams into stories -
7:41 - 7:44by going outside the documents
to court records, -
7:44 - 7:46official company registers,
-
7:46 - 7:50and by eventually putting questions
to those that we intended to name. -
7:51 - 7:55Panama Papers actually allowed
the reporters to look at the world -
7:55 - 7:58through a different lens
from everybody else. -
7:58 - 8:00As we were researching the story,
-
8:00 - 8:01unconnected to us,
-
8:01 - 8:04a major political bribery scandal
happened in Brazil. -
8:05 - 8:08A new leader was elected in Argentina.
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8:09 - 8:12The FBI began to indict officials at FIFA,
-
8:13 - 8:16the organization that controls
the world of professional soccer. -
8:17 - 8:19The Panama Papers
actually had unique insights -
8:19 - 8:22into each one of these unfolding events.
-
8:22 - 8:25So you can imagine the pressure
and the ego dramas -
8:25 - 8:28that could have ruined
what we were trying to do. -
8:28 - 8:29Any of one of these journalists,
-
8:29 - 8:31they could have broken the pact.
-
8:31 - 8:32But they didn't.
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8:32 - 8:34And on April 3 this year,
-
8:34 - 8:36at exactly 8pm German time,
-
8:36 - 8:40we published simultaneously
in 76 countries. -
8:40 - 8:47(Applause)
-
8:52 - 8:55The Panama Papers quickly became
one of the biggest stories of the year. -
8:55 - 8:58This is the scene in Iceland
the day after we published. -
8:59 - 9:01It was the first of many protests.
-
9:01 - 9:03The Icelandic prime minister
had to resign. -
9:03 - 9:06It was a first of many resignations.
-
9:06 - 9:10We spotlighted many famous people
such as Lionel Messi, -
9:10 - 9:12the most famous
soccer player in the world. -
9:13 - 9:15And there were some
unintended consequences. -
9:15 - 9:19These alleged members
of a Mexican drug cartel were arrested -
9:19 - 9:22after we published details
about their hideout. -
9:23 - 9:25They'd been using the address
-
9:25 - 9:27to register their offshore company.
-
9:27 - 9:29(Laughter)
-
9:31 - 9:34There's a kind of irony
in what we've been able to do. -
9:34 - 9:37The technology -- the Internet --
that has broken the business model -
9:37 - 9:40is allowing us to reinvent
journalism itself. -
9:41 - 9:42And this dynamic is producing
-
9:42 - 9:45unprecedented levels
of transparency and impact. -
9:46 - 9:49We showed how a group of journalists
can effect change across the world -
9:49 - 9:53by applying new methods
and old-fashioned journalism techniques -
9:53 - 9:56to vast amounts of leaked information.
-
9:56 - 10:01We put all-important context
around what was given to us by John Doe. -
10:01 - 10:03And by sharing resources,
-
10:03 - 10:05we were able to dig deep --
-
10:05 - 10:09much deeper and longer than most
media organizations allow these days, -
10:09 - 10:11because of financial concerns.
-
10:12 - 10:13Now, it was a big risk,
-
10:13 - 10:15and it wouldn't work for every story,
-
10:15 - 10:17but we showed with the Panama Papers
-
10:17 - 10:20that you can write about any country
from just about anywhere, -
10:20 - 10:24and then choose your preferred
battleground to defend your work. -
10:24 - 10:26Try obtaining a court injunction
-
10:26 - 10:30that would prevent the telling
of a story in 76 different countries. -
10:30 - 10:32Try stopping the inevitable.
-
10:33 - 10:37Shortly after we published,
I got a three-word text from Johannes: -
10:38 - 10:40"Wintris has arrived."
-
10:40 - 10:41(Laughter)
-
10:41 - 10:45It had arrived and so, too, perhaps
has a new era for journalism. -
10:46 - 10:47Thank you.
-
10:47 - 10:54(Applause)
-
10:58 - 10:59Bruno Giussani: Gerard, thank you.
-
10:59 - 11:02I guess you're going to send
that applause to the 350 journalists -
11:02 - 11:04who worked with you, right?
-
11:04 - 11:06Now, a couple of questions
I would like to ask. -
11:06 - 11:07The first one is,
-
11:07 - 11:10you'd been working
in secrecy for over a year -
11:10 - 11:14with 350-something colleagues
from all over the world -- -
11:14 - 11:17was there ever a moment when you thought
-
11:17 - 11:19that the leak may be leaked,
-
11:19 - 11:22that the collaboration may just be broken
-
11:22 - 11:24by somebody publishing a story?
-
11:24 - 11:26Or somebody not in the group
releasing some information -
11:26 - 11:28that they got to know?
-
11:28 - 11:31Gerard Ryle: We had a series
of crises along the way, -
11:31 - 11:34including when something major
was happening in the world, -
11:34 - 11:37the journalists from that country
wanted to publish right away. -
11:37 - 11:38We had to calm them down.
-
11:38 - 11:41Probably the biggest crisis we had
was a week before publication. -
11:41 - 11:45We'd sent a series of questions
to the associates of Vladimir Putin, -
11:45 - 11:47but instead of responding,
-
11:47 - 11:50the Kremlin actually held
a press conference and denounced us, -
11:50 - 11:53and denounced the whole thing
as being, I guess, a plot from the West. -
11:53 - 11:56At that point, Putin thought
it was just about him. -
11:56 - 11:59And, of course, a lot of editors
around the world -
11:59 - 12:00were very nervous about this.
-
12:00 - 12:02They thought the story
was going to get out. -
12:02 - 12:05You can imagine the amount
of time they'd spent, -
12:05 - 12:07the amount of resources,
money spent on this. -
12:07 - 12:10So I had to basically spend
the last week calming everyone down, -
12:10 - 12:13a bit like a general,
where you're holding your troops back: -
12:13 - 12:14"Calm, remain calm."
-
12:14 - 12:16And then eventually,
of course, they all did. -
12:17 - 12:20BG: And then a couple weeks ago or so,
-
12:20 - 12:24you released a lot of the documents
as an open database -
12:24 - 12:27for everybody to search
via keyword, essentially. -
12:27 - 12:28GR: We very much believe
-
12:28 - 12:31that the basic information
about the offshore world -
12:31 - 12:32should be made public.
-
12:32 - 12:35Now, we didn't publish
the underlying documents -
12:35 - 12:37of the journalists we're working with.
-
12:37 - 12:39But the basic information
such as the name of a person, -
12:39 - 12:42what their offshore company was
and the name of that company, -
12:42 - 12:44is now all available online.
-
12:44 - 12:48In fact, the biggest resource
of its kind basically is out there now -
12:48 - 12:50BG: Gerard, thank you for the work you do.
-
12:50 - 12:51GR: Thank you.
-
12:51 - 12:55(Applause)
- Title:
- How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history
- Speaker:
- Gerard Ryle
- Description:
-
Gerard Ryle led the international team that divulged the Panama Papers, the 11.5 million leaked documents from 40 years of activity of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that have offered an unprecedented glimpse into the scope and methods of the secretive world of offshore finance. Hear the story behind the biggest collaborative journalism project in history.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:08
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history | ||
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Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history |