گزارش زیر نمونه جالبی از Investigative Reporting است که نکات آموزشی جالبی دارد. این گزارش با عنوان " سبیلم را چرب کن" به فساد و ارتشا در روسیه اشاره دارد.

Grease my palm

Nov 27th 2008

From The Economist print edition

Bribery and corruption have become endemic

RUSSIA may not have democratic elections or the rule of law, but it does have one long-standing institution that works: corruption. This has penetrated the political, economic, judicial and social systems so thoroughly that is has ceased to be a deviation from the norm and become the norm itself. A corruption index compiled by Transparency International gives Russia 2.1 points out of ten, its worst performance for eight years and on a par with Kenya and Bangladesh. Ordinary Russians are well aware of this, with three-quarters of them describing the level of corruption in their country as “high” or “very high”.

The size of the corruption market is estimated to be close to $300 billion, equivalent to 20% of Russia’s GDP. INDEM, a think-tank that monitors and analyses corruption, says 80% of all Russian businesses pay bribes. In the past eight years the size of the average business bribe has gone up from $10,000 to $130,000, which is enough to buy a small flat in Moscow.

A businessman who was stopped by the traffic police in Moscow recently was shown a piece of paper with “30,000 roubles” written on it. He refused to pay and asked the policeman why he was being asked so much for a minor offence. “The answer was that the policeman had bought a flat for his mother in Bulgaria and he now needed money to do it up,” the businessmen said. Far from being a taboo subject, corruption is discussed openly by politicians, people and even the media—but it makes no difference...