Since the rise of investigative journalism in the 20th century, teams of journalists have brought the general public some of the most important stories surrounding the government and its activities. Not surprisingly, a number of organizations and centers have sprung up in order to support such efforts on a full-time and sustained basis in the past few decades. One of the best is The Center for...

The idea for the Charter for Compassion came from Karen Armstrong, who is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. In 2008 she won the TED Prize, and as part of this prize she wished for help starting the Charter for Compassion. Essentially, the Charter is "a cooperative effort to restore not only compassionate thinking but, more...

Released on October 15, this new annual report from Transparency International (TI, see the September 7, 2000 Scout Report for Business & Economics) reviews the "state of corruption" worldwide, July 2000-June 2001. After the introduction and prefatory material, the report is divided into three main sections: Regional reports, Global issues (such as money laundering and an update from OECD on...