Journalists in South East and Central Europe are often filling an institutional gap and doing investigations in cases of corruption instead of state authorities, including investigation of corruption inside the police. Instead of state authorities, journalist examine business practices of oligarchs, find people on wanted lists, investigate questionable deals involving family members of politicians in power, compare the reported salaries with the extravagant lifestyles of managers working in public companies, investigating financial and other irregularities in the churches. Journalists are working on these issues closely with civil society organisations, national authorities and financial institutions, and also international anti-corruption groups. Journalists do it in difficult conditions, and sometimes at great personal risk. Good investigative journalists may expose criminality and help bring criminals to justice, but they are not officers of the law.
