How movies may fight corruption
A Nigerian feature film "Water of Gold" -- along with a text message campaign -- made viewers significantly more likely to report corruption, according to a study which shows how such media can shift social norms.
"Water of Gold" is Nigerian film commissioned for the purposes of an innovative experiment to investigate whether films can help combat corruption.
The movie, set in the Niger Delta, is a story about two brothers. One brother, Natufe, is a poor fisherman.
However, Natufe's brother, Priye, leaves the Niger Delta, gets rich in business, returns home, and becomes a corrupt politician -- to the dismay of Natufe, who becomes outspoken about endemic local corruption.
In one version of "Water of Gold," Natufe and another local activist set up a number for corruption reporting via text message and report instances of it, in scenes lasting five minutes.
The other version did not contain those scenes. As the researchers discovered, "Water of Gold" boosted corruption reporting among ...