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Conference highlights transparency issues

Participants say media and public must help curb corruption

By Lisa Nuch Venbrux
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 26th, 2007 issue

On Sept. 19–20, about 20 government, business and media experts, along with scores of other participants, descended on the Senate grounds to discuss transparency in the Czech Republic.

Hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Prague and the Senate, the conference “Transparency and Ethics: Toward an Accountable Society” shone a spotlight on problems that have allowed corruption — and public distrust — to thrive here.

“At its core, transparency means that everyone knows what they can expect from their government, and that government is accountable to its society,” U.S. Ambassador Richard Graber said in his opening remarks. “I’ve spoken to a great many Czechs … who are concerned about the state of transparency in this country today.”

Panelists invited to speak at the conference included leaders in public and private sectors from North America, Western Europe and Central Europe. Though they disagreed on specifics, many flagged poor law enforcement, lack of public trust and misguided media as strong barriers to achieving change.

Shadow Justice Minister Marie Benešová of the Social Democrats offered a scathing critique of the legal system.

“The Czech Republic must become a country with a rule of law someday, and not a mere caricature of one,” she said.

In the 1990s, courts were declared independent virtually overnight. According to Benešová, citizens then and now do not trust the legal system, leading to “a deep crisis of the rule of law,” a crisis that is only getting worse.

She also pointed to ineffectual justice ministers, who tend to last less than two years in the post and, she said, rarely implement improvements.

Current Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil of the Civic Democrats responded strongly to her remarks, arguing that the justice system is improving. In the mid-1990s, he said, north Bohemian districts had an average of five judges each. These districts now average 30 judges each, an increase that reduces caseloads, improves the quality of judgments, and speeds up cases.

“There are regions where the justice system is comparable to Germany’s,” he said. Pospíšil admitted the system needs further improvement, but claimed problems run deeper than law books.

“If the society fails to consider corruption unethical and immoral, we cannot successfully fight it,” Pospíšil said.

Petr Štěpánek, a member of Prague City Council and the Green Party who has worked for years to fight corruption, agreed that legislation itself is sufficient. Inadequate enforcement of that legislation, however, has led him to say that curbing corruption is still a long way off.

Transparency is improving slowly, he said. By March 2005, the council had established a code of conduct governing its members, intended to prevent conflicts of interest between public officials’ private dealings and their roles as public servants. Now, paid Council members must disclose their private activities.

Though a step in the right direction, Štěpánek noted that despite evidence of corruption and conflict of interest, “nobody has been prosecuted to this day.”

“Lack of enforcement here is pretty shocking to me,” he said.

Democracy’s watchdogs

While panelists agreed government and business practices need to change, experts also described a media failing to keep watch over the institutions of democracy.

“I believe there is good freedom of press in this country, but we don’t have media good enough to take advantage of it,” said Jan Macháček, a commentator for Hospodářské noviny, Charter 77 signatory and co-creator of the weekly Respekt. “In this country, investigative journalism is dying out and there is no demand for it.”

Macháček said the pace of dailies here tethers most journalists to their desks, while trade unions and guilds do little to improve quality, as they often do in countries such as the United States.

“Trade unions are seen as something leftist, a communist legacy of sorts,” Macháček said.

Erik Tabery, deputy editor-in-chief of Respekt, said a frustrated public, vulnerable journalists and the absence of self-reflection among media practitioners leave local media in a “tragic situation.”

Though many issues involving corruption are addressed by journalists, “the cases are never brought to a successful end,” Tabery said, leading the public to question the veracity of stories.

Meanwhile, politicians do not hesitate to sue. “Here it is very easy to take a journalist to court, and it happens quite often,” Tabery said.

David McCraw, an attorney for The New York Times, agreed that reduced chance of libel suits empowers the press. “The elimination of that fear is very important for us.”

Other elements contributing to an effective U.S. press, according to McCraw, include a commitment to investigative journalism, freedom of information laws, the protection of whistleblowers and ombudsmen to monitor the media.

The conference as a whole painted a dismal picture of media and governance here. Despite this, some panelists offered cautious optimism that transparency is improving.

“All the levels [of society] need to cooperate,” Štěpánek said. “I think we are getting there. But we need another decade.”

Lisa Nuch Venbrux can be reached at lvenbrux@praguepost.com

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