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21 Feb, 6 tweets, 3 min read
How do we know we’re on to something good when investigating a company like @BATplc? One of our journalists is offered a bribe of course...

thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-0…
“What is your price?” our reporter was asked via text - by an employee of an agency, @Engage_BCW, working for BAT in Kenya. He wanted our man to hand over everything we had on the tobacco company ImageImage
“Often when you try to expose a scandal of a government officer here they will send a public relations person...to see if you can drop the story or cut a deal,” the reporter said. “It is normally expected that an agency representing a multinational will be more professional"
For @rorytadonaldson from @TransparencyUK, “offering a bribe to a journalist isn’t just an attempt to undermine honest reporting and journalistic integrity, the very offer of a bribe is a crime in most jurisdictions”
This offer of a bribe was made in relation to handing over details of our investigation - by an @Engage_BCW employee when digging into BAT’s activities in Kenya for us

thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-0…
We contacted @BATplc about this - the @Engage_BCW employee was suspended and the agency was sacked

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More from @TBIJ

The Bureau Profile picture
21 Feb
New products, old tricks…

Our latest investigation reveals how marketing tactics used by @BATplc have attracted a new generation - including non-smokers - to highly addictive nicotine and tobacco products

thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-0…
Despite claiming their products are aimed at adults who already smoke, there are clear signs the business also wants to attract new customers... Image
“The only rationale for putting this amount of effort into the design is to create a new generation that is addicted to nicotine” said @martinmckee from @LSHTM Image
Read 4 tweets
The Bureau Profile picture
21 Dec 20
2020 is a year many people around the world will be glad to see the back of. Here @TBIJ we can’t deny it’s been tough - but we’ve also felt the urgent need for public interest journalism on global, systemic issues. Over coming days we'll be looking back at a very busy 12 months…
We launched a global health investigative team in March - they sure had their work cut out. We've investigated systemic issues that #coronavirus threw into sharp relief, starting with the world's opaque and fragile drug supply chains: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2043… Image
Our investigation into Europe’s chaotic response to the early days of the pandemic led to a strong response from the EU Health Commissioner, and helped prompt an official inquiry
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2020-0…
Read 12 tweets
The Bureau Profile picture
8 Dec 20
EXCLUSIVE: Mark Zuckerberg’s secret discussions with @MattHancock

After a two-year battle, today we can finally reveal what was said at a behind-closed-doors meeting between the @Facebook CEO and former head of @DCMS

thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2020-1…
Kicking it off, Zuckerberg apparently threatening to pull Facebook’s investment from the UK, which Hancock responded to with an olive branch: shifting from “threatening regulation” to offering Facebook a chance to collaborate on “proportionate and innovation-friendly” legislation
Determined for "a new beginning" for the government's relationship with social media platforms, Hancock made clear he sought “increased dialogue” with Zuckerberg, in order to show he has support from Facebook at “the highest level”
Read 8 tweets
The Bureau Profile picture
4 Sep 20
Momentous week here as we say goodbye to our longest-running investigative project. Here’s a look back at 10 years of revelations behind ‘Shadow Wars’, and how we exposed the failings and wrongdoing of the world’s most powerful military and security forces
thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2020-09-0…
When we first started, there was a complete lack of official data on when and where US war on terror air strikes were being carried out, and who was being killed in them. So, it became clear we would have to build our own datasets of strikes and casualties from scratch
And soon, we were the go-to place for information. Our datasets were visited hundreds of thousands of times and we were cited thousands of times in publications by Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, UN special rapporteurs, etc.
Read 13 tweets
The Bureau Profile picture
21 Jul 20
The #RussiaReport, which we tried to get released before the election, is out. It says Russian influence is the "new normal." UK 'enablers' (lawyers, bankers and PR agents) who make this happen are key.

Here's a thread on what it says and how we are digging into this.
Russia's wealthy elite has poured money into the UK and we welcomed this with open arms, the report says. But there is little scrutiny, illicit funds multiplied and London is now described as a 'laundromat.'
Russian money has fuelled a boom in professional enablers, who lobby for Russian interests, many of them connected directly to President Vladimir Putin.
Read 6 tweets
The Bureau Profile picture
24 Feb 20
THREAD: One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies @InsidePMI claims it wants to end smoking and switch people to “reduced risk” products. It has hired expensive PR, advertising and lobbying firms to help it “Unsmoke The World” #SmokeScreen #Dispatches
@InsidePMI Tonight we show the “Unsmoke” campaign is in fact a marketing drive for its new heated tobacco product Iqos and a blatant attempt to detoxify its brand so it can influence policy and regulation #Dispatches #SmokeScreen
@InsidePMI Iqos releases fewer cancer-causing chemicals than cigarettes but does have health risks. Experts fear glossy advertising and glamorous launch events will entice non-smokers to start using it too, addicting them to nicotine #SmokeScreen #Dispatches
Read 13 tweets

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