The Listening Post

In this special edition of The Listening Post from New York City we explore how a lack of regulation and absence of a strong public broadcaster in America has impacted the coverage of US politics. As the 2016 presidential election campaign heads into the home stretch, many Americans are accusing their news outlets, particularly on the broadcast side, of not just reporting on the race for the White House - but actually affecting the outcome, through their commercial agendas, prioritising ratings and revenues over journalism and responsible reporting. So how did we get here? Measuring the totality of media coverage over the entire presidential campaign - the content, the tone, the ideology - is near impossible. But what we can do is examine structural issues in the broadcasting landscape that are unique to the US. First, America's regulatory requirement for editorial fairness is almost non existent. Broadcasters in the US can be editorially and ideologically biased whether Fox News on the right, MSNBC on the left. The second thing that sets the US media apart is that unlike every other advanced country in the world, America does not have a publicly-owned broadcaster provided with the resources - the budgets - to actually compete with privately-owned media outlets. So broadcasting in the US is almost entirely corporate-controlled. We examine the corporate domination of the American airwaves, the ratings and profit imperative related to that and the effect that that has on media coverage and public discourse. Talking us through the story are: Dan Rather, former anchor, CBS Evening News; Cenk Uygur, host, The Young Turks; Amy Goodman, host, Democracy Now! ; Nicholas Lemann, Dean Emeritus, Columbia Journalism School; Robert McChesney, communications professor, Illinois University; Janine Jackson, programme director, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting; Daniel McCarthy, editor, The American Conservative; and Patricia Diaz Dennis, former federal communications commissioner. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: How are new media outlets challenging Hong Kong's establishment media? Plus, the untold stories of the Amazon. Hong Kong: upstart outlets vs legacy media Hong Kong's election last week saw a record turnout of voters. We look at how a new generation of journalists are challenging an establishment media increasingly influenced by Beijing and creating new public forums for young politicians to make their mark. Talking us through the story: Kris Cheng, editorial director, Hong Kong Free Press; Yuen-Ying Chan, director and professor, HKU Journalism and Media Studies Centre; Robert Chow, HKG Pao; Wai-wa Yau, managing editor, Post 852. On our radar: Police raid the offices of one of the Maldives' leading news websites, after the broadcast of an Al Jazeera documentary accusing the president of corruption. The people of Gabon are living in a news and information vacuum following a disputed presidential election. A Ukrainian television channel is attacked and blockaded by protesters who accuse it of serving pro-Russian interests. Fox News is accused of hacking the phone records of a reporter at media watchdog, Media Matters. Untold stories: Covering the Brazilian Amazon We travel to the Brazilian Amazon to take a closer look at the stories the country's mainstream media ignore and talk to the local journalists about the challenges they face. The Listening Post's Paolo Ganino reports from Manaus. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: With Zimbabwe experiencing its biggest protests in years, we look at the role of social media. Plus, the hold on journalism in Yemen. Zimbabwe: Online activists or cyber terrorism? Zimbabwe is seeing the biggest anti-government protests in years, with social media a major driving force. While the government of President Robert Mugabe has labelled online opposition as 'cyber terrorism', online activists are pushing to get their message out to as many Zimbabweans as possible. The question is how far will the government go to control the on (and off) line media narrative? On our radar: Yet more journalists are imprisoned in Turkey following July's military coup. Major changes to the TV landscape in Greece after a number of private channels are cut. Kosovo's state broadcaster has come under attack over coverage of a border dispute with Montenegro. Prosecutors in Paraguay open an investigation into allegations that the military may have spied on a journalist. Yemen's media battleground With peace talks bogged down, nearly 3 million people displaced and a desperate need for humanitarian aid, Yemen is a story that needs to be told. But with takeovers, kidnappings, threats and attacks, Yemeni journalists - and the media narrative - are often caught in a crossfire. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: Why do some war images resonate more than others? We look at the picture of the Syrian boy that went viral. Plus, revisiting Ecuador's media law. Images of the powerless There is no shortage of disturbing images from the war in Syria. But relatively few of them reach you - because editors often deem them too graphic to publish or broadcast. Last week, images of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh travelled around the world and sparked outrage. But to what end? And for how long? This week, we analyse the power and the limits of war imagery. Talking us through the story are: Mahmoud Raslan, media activist/photographer; Susie Linfield, author of The Cruel Radiance, Photography and Political Violence; Oksana Boyko, RT; Patrick Baz, Middle East and North Africa photo editor, Agence France-Presse; and Craig Allen, journalist, The New York Times. On our radar: One Mexican journalist was wounded in a shooting and another forced to flee the state of Veracruz - what has become one of the most lethal places on earth for journalism? Members of Pakistan's MQM party have stormed the office of the ARY News channel in protest of what they say is the outlet's failure to cover the party's activities. The whistleblowing site WikiLeaks has come under criticism for failing to redact sensitive information in recent leaks that has revealed personal data belonging to hundreds of ordinary citizens. Ecuador's media law: Populism and politics Three years after the Ecuadorian government passed a controversial media law aimed at dismantling the power of private media conglomerates, we travel to Quito to see what impact the legislation has had on levelling the media's uneven playing field. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: Why is Facebook on warring terms with ad blockers? And how will this evolving relationship manifest for the user? Plus, an inside look at Brazil's media giant Globo. Facebook vs ad blockers: It's all about the money Facebook has declared war against ad blockers and says protecting revenues for media outlets was a key motivating factor. We take a look at what the Facebook vs ad blocker battle means for users, publishers and for Facebook's own business model. Talking us through the story are: Ben Williams, PR manager, Adblock Plus; Justin Schlosberg, lecturer in journalism and media at Birkbeck University; Lara O'Reilly, senior editor at Business Insider; Raghav Bahl, founder of Quintillion Media. On our radar: The media story in Turkey just keeps getting bigger. This past week, another newspaper was shut down, one of the country's best-known editors resigned and numerous Twitter accounts have been blocked. Journalists in India, who recently published an expose on a political group with close ties to the country's ruling party, have found themselves exposed and are now under investigation. Gawker, the New York-based news site known for its click-bait journalism and its scandal sheet style, is being shut down by its new owner. Globo: Brazil's media behemoth Rede Globo isn't just dominant in Brazil, it's Latin America's biggest media network. We profile the media giant's history, politics and power to influence the national agenda. The Listening Post's Paolo Ganino reports. Talking us through the story are: Paulo Henrique Amorim, journalist (formerly Globo); David Miranda, The Intercept; Silvio Caccia Bava, editor-in-chief, Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil; Gregorio Duvivier, actor and writer. YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: covering political unrest amidst violent outbreaks & polarised media narratives in Kashmir. Plus, the fight to report on Sudan’s forgotten war. Kashmir: Tortured politics, fractured media Indian-administered Kashmir is seeing the worst outbreak of violence in 6 years. Media divisions are rife in this story - not just between Indian and Pakistani media, but between Kashmiri local media and self-appointed nationalist Indian media. This is a political battle that has lasted nearly 70 years and the media narratives are more fractured than ever. Talking us through the story are: Peerzada Ashiq, Kashmir Correspondent, The Hindu; Syeda Afshana, Media Academic, University of Kashmir; Hilal Mir, Editor, Kashmir Reader; Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor in Chief, Zee News. On our radar: More than 30 online media outlets in Bangladesh have been suspended by the government, plus three journalists were arrested following allegations of spreading false rumours of the death of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed-Joy. One of the world's largest media companies - Facebook - has announced it too is joining the fight against ad-blocking software. Personal details, including passport information, telephone numbers and email addresses of more than 5000 Ukrainian and international journalists covering the Ukrainian story have been made public by a pro-Kiev website. The fight to cover Sudan's forgotten war The conflict in Sudan's Nuba Mountains has been described as the "worst atrocity you've never heard of". Since 2011, the government in Khartoum has been at war with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North and the conflict is taking a heavy toll on the civilian population in a near news blackout. But a fightback is underway with a team of local reporters determined to get their story out. The Listening Post's Nic Muirhead investigates. Contributors: Joseph Nyetu, Reporter, Ayin; Abdalla Rezig, Journalist, Al Mighar Alsyase; Hajooj Kuka, Independent filmmaker; Hussain Hamdi, Government Official; Maowad Rasheed - Editor, Sudan Vision. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: following Turkey’s failed coup, we cover the continuing crackdown on the media. Plus, we talk with Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer about 'Spotlight'. Turkey: From failed coup to media purge Last month, news offices were stormed and journalists threatened by soldiers during Turkey's attempted coup. This month, news outlets are being shut down and journalists are being arrested by a government determined to wrest back control. We look at what the role and fate of Turkey's media could be in the months to come. Talking us through the story are: Gulnur Aybet, Professor of International Relations at Bahçeşehir University; Mahir Zeynalov, Journalist; Ismail Saymaz, Investigative journalist, Radikal; Harun Armagan, AK Party; Bulent Mumay, Journalist and Columnist, International News Media Association. On our radar: Israel points its finger at Facebook in its battle against online incitement. The UK's Guardian newspaper is cutting jobs after record losses. Journalists in Tajikistan will have to keep it simple or risk being fined for being "incomprehensible to readers". In conversation with 'Spotlight' screenwriter Josh Singer Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer's best known films, 'Spotlight' and 'The Fifth Estate', tell compelling stories about modern journalism. We spoke with Singer in New York City and asked him how he sees the role and the story of the US media in this election cycle. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: Did the UK media do their job before the EU vote? Has the tone of the coverage shifted since? Plus, the coverage of solitary confinement in US. Did British media show Brexit bias? It has been more than a week since the UK voted to leave the European Union and the story continues to dominate the headlines. But did the British media do their job before the vote? Were the facts sufficiently covered and were broadcasters as impartial as they are required to be? And has the tone shifted now that Brexit is a reality? Talking us through the story are: Justin Lewis, a professor of Communications, Cardiff University; Natalie Fenton, vice chair of Hacked Off and professor of Communications, Goldsmiths University; Toby Young, a journalist for Spectator; and Craig Murray, author and blogger. On our radar In South Africa, the state-owned broadcaster has replaced its CEO for the 10th time since President Jacob Zuma took power seven years ago. Liliane Daoud - one of Egypt's few remaining critical broadcasters - has been taken off the air, arrested and deported. Arrests at Algeria's KBC TV after two satirical shows were taken off the air by the authorities. Letters from the inside: Reporting on solitary confinement in the US It's been called one of the biggest human rights issues Americans have never heard of. More than 80,000 people in the US are held in solitary confinement on any given day and media rarely get access. Popular culture demonises them but some journalists are bringing their stories to light. Talking us through the story are: James Ridgeway, co-founder, Solitary Watch; Johnny Perez, Urban Justice Centre; Ricky Jones, radio host, 'UNLOCKED'; and David Fathi, National Prison Project, ACLU. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: After an EU referendum campaign replete with racism and fear, we examine the UK media's impact on the result. Plus, war and peace: Colombia's unreconciled narratives The referendum, the rhetoric and the result British voters went to the polls this week to decide whether to remain, or leave, the European Union (EU). With a media market awash with polarised narratives, how much did the fearmongering and falsehoods really influence Britain's decision to vote out? Talking us through the media battle are: Anoosh Chakelian, deputy web editor, The New Statesman; Martin Fletcher, former journalist, The Times UK; Andrew Pierce, reporter, The Daily Mail; Henry Mance, political correspondent, The Financial Times; and Emma Hogan, European correspondent, The Economist. On our radar Facebook appoints a new head of communications in Israel - plucked straight out of the ranks of the Netanyahu government. Two journalists are among three arrested in Turkey for guest-editing the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem. An Australian TV crew became the first to enter the country's offshore detention camp on the island of Nauru but their findings seem out of step with what whistleblowers have been revealing. War and peace: Colombia's unreconciled narratives After 60 years of fighting between the Colombian government and the leftist guerrilla group FARC - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - an historic peace has finally been struck. But as the FARC edge towards the mainstream, are the mainstream news media willing to move with them? Talking us through the story are: Hassan Nassar, director, LA FM, RCN; Marta Ruiz, journalist, La Semana; Maria Jimena Duzan, presenter, Semana En Vivo; Boris Guevara, presenter, New Colombia News; and Yadira Suarez, presenter, New Colombia News. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: We analyse the coverage of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Plus, cartoonist Gado on the state of Kenya's media. Orlando: Media narratives of mass shootings When 49 people were killed in a mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, the US media went into overdrive. We analyse the fragmented facts, the familiar narratives of terror and the rhetoric of blame driving the coverage of this story. Talking us through the story are: Joe Concha, TV columnist, Mediaite; Zaid Jilani, reporter, The Intercept; Mike Signorile, editor at large, Huffpostqueer; and Sophia Tesfaye, deputy politics editor, Salon. On our radar Ahmet Abd Al-Qadar, an exiled Syrian journalists, has survived not one, but two assassination attempts by the Islamic State in the Turkish city of Urfa. The state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation has come under cyber-attack, reportedly for being biased towards President Jacob Zuma's ANC government. Gossipy American media outlet Gawker has filed for bankruptcy after losing its legal battle with former wrestler Hulk Hogan - a lawsuit bankrolled by vengeful tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Gado: Caricaturing Kenya's media For the last two decades, political cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa - better known as Gado - worked for Kenya's leading newspaper, the Daily Nation. He used satire to hold power to account in the country and across the region. But that all ended three months ago, when he was fired. We talk to Gado about his story and what it says about the state of the media in Kenya. In addition to Godfrey Mwampembewa, the other speakers in this story are: Robi Ochieng, lecturer, USIU; John-Allan Namu, investigative journalist; Tom Mshindi, dditor-in-chief, Nation Media Group; and Dennis Itumbi, government spokesman. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

On The Listening Post this week: As Britain's EU future hangs in the balance, are the media helping or hindering voters? Plus, the challenges of covering the dark side of Australia's refugee policy. Brexit or Bremain? Covering the EU referendum story As Britain prepares for a referendum on June 23 to decide on whether it should leave or remain in the European Union (EU), voters are facing an information - and opinion - overload from the country's partisan press. Talking us through the story are: Andrew Pierce, Reporter at Daily Mail, Zoe Williams, columnist at The Guardian UK, Anand Menon professor of Politics and Foreign affairs at King's College London, Ian Burrell, Media Editor, The Drum On our radar Buzzfeed pulls out of a $1.3m ad deal with the Republican National Committee over the republican candidate Donald Trump. ICIJ, the organisation behind some of the biggest financial stories including the Panama Papers, is cutting jobs as it faces a financial crunch. The coverage of a bomb blast in Istanbul by the Turkish press has exposed a growing rift between Turkey and Germany. Offshore and off limits: Reporting Australia's refugee policy Australia's offshore 'processing centres' for asylum seekers on the islands of Manus and Nauru are shrouded in secrecy and are completely off limits to the media. That doesn't mean news doesn't trickle out, but the penalties for the whistleblowers feeding stories to journalists are stiff. Talking us through the story are: Mark Davis, investigative reporter; Paul Farrell, reporter for The Guardian Australia; Paul Murphy, CEO Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance; Madeline Gleeson, refugee lawyer and author of Offshore: behind the wire on Manus and Nauru. More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost

After months of breathless build-up, anticipation and analysis, the race for the White House officially began with the Iowa caucuses last week. The results told us as much about the media as they did about the politics. Donald Trump, a candidate whose soundbites dominated the pre-caucus coverage, came second after leading almost every opinion poll and trouncing his Republican opponents when it came to media exposure. Bernie Sanders forced a photo finish with Hillary Clinton despite long-accepted assumptions among many in the media that the former first lady is the Democratic heir apparent. What does this say about how journalists have covered the campaign and the candidates so far? We spoke to: James Warren, the chief media correspondent at Poynter Institute; Zaid Jilani, a reporter at The Intercept; Hadas Gold, a media reporter at Politico; and Associate Professor at Penn State College of Communications, Russell Frank. Other stories on our radar this week: An official report by the United Nations panel rules that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been 'arbitrarily detained' and should be freed immediately, as well as compensated; in Afghanistan, another journalist has been killed by unknown assailants in the eastern province of Nangarhar; and in Moscow, a magazine critical of the Kremlin is facing severe fines after publishing a story on the private life and wealth of Vladimir Putin's daughter. Stop the press: Venezuela's media battle How can a newspaper cover stories without paper? That's a dilemma faced by newspapers in Venezuela - at least those who are opposed to the government of Nicolas Maduro. Government control of paper imports means that it is the state who can judge what news is fit to print. The opposition calls it a form of media censorship. The Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro takes a look at the politics of paper and populism in the Venezuelan news media. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/

Five years on from the January 25 revolution that represented the high watermark of the Arab Spring, Egypt's authorities and broadcast media in the country have been spreading a clear message: do not take to the streets. Last week, Egypt's authorities arrested five people who ran Facebook pages marking the anniversary of the revolution. According to press freedom groups, the number of journalists in Egyptian jails is at an all-time high. The bulk of the mainstream news media in Egypt aligned itself with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi when he took power from the Muslim Brotherhood, but there are signs now that their wholesale acceptance of his rule is wavering. TV and print outlets are re-discovering their critical faculties on matters of governance, corruption and economic policy. However, there are limits to how far the government will allow dissent and those who cross the line risk much more than their jobs. Other stories on Our Radar this week: At least seven media workers in Afghanistan have been killed in a Taliban bombing in Kabul; in Yemen, a freelance reporter has been killed and a three-man crew from Al Jazeera Arabic has gone missing; Washington Post Iran correspondent Jason Rezaian has been freed after a year-and-a-half in a Tehran jail; and the veil is slowly being lifted on the mysterious story of five missing Hong Kong publishers. The 'Snoopers' Charter': Surveillance in the UK In the UK, the government is in the midst of rewriting the country's laws on surveillance and national security through a piece of legislation called the Investigatory Powers Bill, or IPB - and journalists will be watching this story closely. Referred to by its critics as the "Snoopers' Charter", the bill is designed to pull together all laws regulating how the government, police and intelligence services can surveil its citizens, including journalists. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips reports on the relationship between the security state in the UK and the journalists who dare to challenge it. Returning to Egypt, five years ago, one of the anthems of the January 25 revolution was Ramy Essam's "Bread, Freedom and Social Justice". Since then, both he and his country have moved on; Essam has relocated to Sweden and Egypt now has another former military man in charge. Last year, Essam released "Beans are caviar", its message being that Egyptians, in their enthusiasm for the Sisi government, are mistaking a basic food staple for something of gourmet value. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/

More than 20 years ago, a psychology student doing his training at one of Argentina's oldest psychiatric wards kept being asked by his family and friends what it was like to work in there. So he came up with an idea: to let the patients explain in their own words. The first radio station to broadcast from inside a mental hospital was born. Radio La Colifata - slang for loon, or crazy person, has been on air from Hospital Jose Borda in Buenos Aires every Saturday afternoon for 23 years - to confront the stigma around mental illness, breaking through the wall in AM, FM and now online. In-patients produce and present the shows that range from politics to sports - and over the years, millions of Argentinians have been tuning in. Today, the radio frequencies have reached further, with around fifty stations based on the Radio Colifata model in Latin America, Europe and Asia - and soon, it will be setting up outside the asylum, hosted by former patients. The radio was never intended as a serious journalistic enterprise per se. But the voices it includes, the things that are said, the way the stories are told - are enough to make anyone in the mainstream world of journalism stop, listen and think about how their own voices are repressed, censored and sedated - and how truth lies beyond what has been prescribed. This week, we hear what the Colifatos have to say in a special collaboration between The Listening Post and Radio La Colifata. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/

Concerns are growing that the UK's Conservative government is trying to reshape and influence Britain's media landscape as it continues to befriend media mogul Rupert Murdoch's empire. Shortly after David Cameron's outright election victory in May, his government announced a review of finances at the BBC, an organisation some Conservatives had denounced for harboring a liberal agenda, slashing one fifth of the publicly-owned broadcaster's annual budget. Just weeks prior to making that announcement, Rupert Murdoch - a long-time critic of the BBC and owner of News Corp, which includes pro-Tory newspapers The Sun and The Times as well as SKY TV - met with senior members of the government twice. Murdoch's UK newspapers have a long history of lending support to the Conservatives, and in recent months have joined ranks in deriding Labour's popular leader Jeremy Corbyn. And in the past week, Trevor Kavanagh, a former political editor at The Sun, who had dismissed the phone hacking scandal while at the paper, has been appointed to the board of a new press regulator - the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Despite talk from a few years ago of the need for greater press regulation, the appointment of a Murdoch loyalist to IPSO has had critics talking of foxes in the hen house. Talking us through the story are: Natalie Fenton, a director for the campaign group Hacked Off; Tim Fenton, a blogger at Zelo Street; Matt Tee, the CEO of IPSO; and Charlie Beckett, a professor at the London School of Economics. Other stories on our radar this week: It's never been easy for journalists to get access to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay and the Pentagon has just changed the rules to make it even harder; Al-Tayaar, a Sudanese newspaper was shut down after running an editorial critical of the government's policies; and the mystery surrounding just who owns the biggest-selling newspaper in Las Vegas has finally been solved. Bribes and brown envelopes: Nigeria's corrupt journalists. Nigerian journalists are among some of the worst paid reporters in Africa, seldom given money to cover travel or other expenses, let alone paid their salaries on time. This has affected the way stories are reported with some of the country's most pressing events either underreported or ignored altogether. Amid this climate where investigative journalism is severely stifled, corrupt and illicit practices have begun to flourish. Reporters are often seen waiting for cash handouts from politicians and government officials at press conferences before rarely questioning them or fact-checking. The Listening Post's Nic Muirhead travelled to Lagos, Nigeria's media capital, to report on 'brown envelope journalism.' Finally, this is the time of the year when news organisations summarise the stories that dominated headlines in 2015. Google does it too, but the search engine also provides users with a bit more data - such as how many times a certain story was searched, which countries were most interested in it and what were the most frequently asked questions. The information provides a good insight into how news consumers felt about that story and the issues that were important to them. We leave you with some of the most searched news stories of 2015 and a few of the questions they brought to mind. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/