Gerard Ryle: How the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history
Gerard Ryle: Comment les journalistes des Panama Papers ont divulgué la plus grosse fuite de l'histoire
As director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Gerard Ryle is one of the key figures behind the Panama Papers. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to figure out the information
si vous deviez trouver les informations
de documents,
a fait face l'année dernière.
had to face late last year.
calling himself John Doe
-- appelons-la John Doe --
près de 40 ans de fichiers
nearly 40 years of records
Mossack Fonseca.
Mossack Fonseca.
à travers le monde
de comptes dans des paradis fiscaux
in offshore tax havens
voulant garder des secrets.
who like to keep secrets.
every spreadsheet from this firm,
toutes les feuilles de calcul de la firme,
sur le système des paradis fiscaux
into the tax haven system
to investigative journalism.
défi pour le journalisme d'investigation.
11.5 million documents,
11,5 millions de documents,
from more than 200 different countries.
venant de plus de 200 pays différents.
avec une ressource aussi vaste ?
with such a vast resource?
n'importe où dans le monde,
into every corner of the globe,
quelle que soit la langue,
any person in any language,
they don't even know yet.
sans en connaître les conséquences ?
to two journalists
à deux journalistes
Süddeutsche Zeitung.
by -- and I quote --
que les documents révéleraient. »
that the documents would reveal."
ne peut pas appréhender
des Journalistes d'Investigation.
of Investigative Journalists.
that was the very opposite
quelque chose s'opposant
en tant que journalistes :
to do as journalists:
reporters are lone wolves.
sont des loups solitaires.
lorsque nous leur en parlerons,
we tell them what we have,
that we live in a shrinking world,
nous vivons dans un monde qui se réduit
been slow to wake up to this.
à s'en rendre compte.
sont de plus en plus transnationaux.
are more and more transnational.
on a global level.
à l'échelle mondiale.
crises are global.
et de santé sont mondiales.
et les crises financiers.
and financial crises.
that journalism has been so late
que le journalisme ait mis tant de temps
d'une façon mondiale.
that journalism has been so slow
que le journalisme ait été si lent
offertes par la technologie,
that technology brings,
are scared of technology is this:
de la technologie pour cette raison :
are going through tough times
traversent des moments difficiles
dans la consommation d'informations.
that people are consuming news.
that have sustained reporting are broken.
ne financent plus les reportages.
journalism into crisis,
dans une crise,
à repenser leur fonctionnement.
to reexamine how they function.
comme les Panama Papers
known as the Panama Papers
consultables et lisibles.
searchable and readable.
millions de courriels,
scannés et indexés,
to be scanned and indexed,
and other kinds of documents.
in a safe and secure location
de façon sûre et sécurisée
to have a look at the documents.
à jeter un œil aux documents.
de 100 organisations
than 100 media organizations
we called it, the idea being,
sur des noms d'autochtones »,
who was important to Nigeria
pouvait vous dire
for everyone who was invited:
pour tous les invités :
toute découverte avec les autres
that we found with everybody else,
together on the same day.
le même jour.
selon la confiance
previous smaller collaborations
des collaborations précédentes
qui surgissaient des documents.
that jumped out from the documents.
of less than 20 people
de moins de 20 personnes
reporters de 25 groupes linguistiques.
reporters from 25 language groups.
journalistique de l'histoire :
journalism collaboration in history:
what journalists normally never do,
faisant du travail de journalistes,
the biggest kind of noise,
du plus grand silence.
the biggest kind of silence.
over the many months it would take,
une salle virtuelle sécurisée,
de communication cryptés
designed search engine.
spécialement conçu.
autour des sujets
around the themes
ou l'art exotique, par exemple,
or exotic art, for instance,
sur l'utilisation du monde offshore
the offshore world was being used
de ces marchandises.
of those commodities.
partageaient des informations
could share information
were putting their image rights
des sportifs célèbres
où ils concluaient leurs affaires.
where they plied their trade.
et de politiciens élus
and elect politicians
Petro Poroshenko en Ukraine,
of Vladimir Putin in Russia
de Vladimir Poutine en Russie
David Cameron, who is linked
David Cameron, qui y est lié
were secret offshore entities,
étaient enfouies dans ces documents,
des Îles Vierges britanniques
to the sitting Icelandic prime minister.
islandais en poste.
à Johannes Kristjansson,
invité à rejoindre le projet,
we invited to join the project,
il a refusé un poste rémunéré
over the windows of his home
tout au long de l'hiver islandais.
during the long Icelandic winter.
to explain his many absences,
pour expliquer ses nombreuses absences,
le dirigeant de son pays.
the leader of his country.
and you make an amazing discovery,
fait une découverte extraordinaire,
est lié à une entreprise offshore secrète,
to a secret offshore company,
financier dans les banques islandaises --
interest in Icelandic banks --
à pleins poumons.
is to scream out very loud.
that he could speak to,
à qui il pouvait parler,
a kind of gallows humor.
wanted to scream,
voulaient hurler,
en histoires
those screams into stories
des dossiers judiciaires,
to court records,
to those that we intended to name.
ceux que nous comptions nommer.
the reporters to look at the world
aux reporters d'observer le monde
from everybody else.
politique a éclaté au Brésil.
happened in Brazil.
a été élu en Argentine.
le monde professionnel du football.
the world of professional soccer.
actually had unique insights
avaient des renseignements
and the ego dramas
ce que nous voulions faire.
what we were trying to do.
dans 76 pays.
in 76 countries.
une des grosses histoires de l'année.
one of the biggest stories of the year.
le lendemain de la publication.
the day after we published.
de nombreuses manifestations.
had to resign.
a dû démissionner.
de nombreuses démissions.
such as Lionel Messi,
dé célébrités, comme Lionel Messi,
le plus célèbre au monde.
soccer player in the world.
unintended consequences.
of a Mexican drug cartel were arrested
de drogue mexicain ont été arrêtés
des détails sur leur repaire.
about their hideout.
in what we've been able to do.
dans ce que nous avons pu faire.
that has broken the business model
qui a détruit le modèle économique
tout le journalisme.
journalism itself.
et d'impact sans précédent.
of transparency and impact.
can effect change across the world
qu'un groupe de journalistes
and old-fashioned journalism techniques
et de vieilles techniques journalistiques
around what was given to us by John Doe.
ce que John Doe nous avait donné.
media organizations allow these days,
le permettent aujourd'hui,
n'importe quel pays depuis n'importe où
from just about anywhere,
battleground to defend your work.
préféré pour défendre son travail.
of a story in 76 different countries.
dans 76 pays différents.
I got a three-word text from Johannes:
Johannes m'a envoyé trois mots par SMS :
[Wintris est arrivé]
une nouvelle ère de journalisme.
has a new era for journalism.
ces applaudissements aux 350 journalistes
that applause to the 350 journalists
quelques questions.
I would like to ask.
pendant plus d'un an
in secrecy for over a year
venant du monde entier --
from all over the world --
releasing some information
révélant des informations
plusieurs crises,
of crises along the way,
d'important se produisait,
was happening in the world,
voulaient publier illico.
wanted to publish right away.
was a week before publication.
aux associés de Vladimir Poutine
to the associates of Vladimir Putin,
et nous a dénoncés,
a press conference and denounced us,
un coup monté de l'Ouest.
as being, I guess, a plot from the West.
être le seul concerné.
it was just about him.
à travers le monde
around the world
was going to get out.
of time they'd spent,
money spent on this.
à calmer tout le monde,
the last week calming everyone down,
where you're holding your troops back:
of course, they all did.
sous forme de base de données libre
as an open database
via keyword, essentially.
sur le monde offshore
about the offshore world
les documents sous-jacents
the underlying documents
comme le nom de la personne,
such as the name of a person,
and the name of that company,
de l'entreprise offshore,
est maintenant en ligne.
of its kind basically is out there now
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gerard Ryle - Investigative journalistAs director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Gerard Ryle is one of the key figures behind the Panama Papers.
Why you should listen
Gerard Ryle is the director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington, DC.
When journalists at the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Germany got hold of the documents from a whistleblower, their volume and complexity pushed them to turn to the ICIJ, which brought together 376 investigative journalists from more than 100 news organizations in 76 countries.
The reporters spent months collaborating in researching and checking the documents, using protected communication channels, bespoke search engines and other specialized tools built by ICIJ, and ICIJ coordinated the release of the information across the world. It was the biggest cross-border collaboration in journalism history. The Panama Papers resulted in resignations or political outcries in Britain, Iceland, Spain, Malta and Pakistan and triggered dozens of official inquires around the world.
Before joining as the ICIJ's first non-American director in September 2011, Ryle spent more than 25 years working as an investigative reporter, author and editor in Australia and in Ireland. He has more than 60 journalism awards from six countries, including honors from the George Polk Awards, Harvard University and the University of Liege. Reporters Without Borders has described his work with ICIJ as "the future of investigative journalism worldwide."
(Photo: Le Monde / Melissa Golden)
Gerard Ryle | Speaker | TED.com