National Integrity System Study Findings Announced, With Low Scores for Media

Birzeit University’s Media Department and the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) held a February 28, 2015 panel discussion launching the findings of the national integrity system study.

The discussion was dedicated to clarifying and promoting the role of public, private and civil institutions in eradicating corruption, and moving from the existing vertical accountability system under authoritarian regimes to a horizontal accountability system based on several regulatory and monitoring bodies that prevent the abuse of authority.

AMAN’s commissioner Azmi Shuaibi gave a detailed explanation of the study and its findings, which included an evaluation of 13 “pillars” of the national integrity system. The Central Elections Commission received the study’s highest marks (73 points), followed by civil society, which obtained 67 points. In contrast, the media pillar was given a very low grade (38 points), due to public and private media institutions’ weak role in the fight against corruption.

Most of the discussion focused on media. Mohammed Abu-Rub argued that media weakness results from the absence of laws and the resulting inefficiency of the legal structure in Palestine, and the intervention of political media organs that obstruct integrity, accountability and transparency.

This activity was held in partnership with Transparency International and funded by the European Union. It was part of a series of AMAN activities carried out in cooperation with Palestinian universities.