Article

OSCARS 2021: Quality journalism can make it on the red carpet and on Mongolian TV screens

May 5th, 2021

Oyunchimeg Demchig
@Oyunchimeg.D

2651 1

7 min

Oyunchimeg Demchig,

CEO of The Mongolian Public Media Content Foundation

We live in an era where mainstream journalism is continuously discredited by rogue politicians, businessmen and head of states. In our era, the general public is very ill prepared to discern between quality information and junk content tailored to generate likes and shares. In our era, those voted by us and who are in charge of introducing laws to safeguard the public’s well being, they mimic serving our interests. In our era, those who are in charge of implementing the existing legislation and ensuring the public’s well being, they channel their energy to ensure their re-election. In our era, those who are in charge of ensuring there is justice for all, no matter of the social and economic background, they ensure that they please those who nominated them for the job.

For the best documentary feature category, the 2021 Oscars received a record number of submissions: 238. Only five made to the final: Time (Country United States; Directed by Garrett Bradley) - a documentary about one woman's fight to have her husband released early from an unfair prison sentence. The Mole Agent (Countries: Chile, United States, Germany, Netherlands, Spain; Directed by Maite Alberdi; Language: Spanish) - a charming film exploring the realities of growing old. Crip Camp (Country: United States; Directed by Nicole Newnham, James Lebrecht) - a Michele and Obama (yes the ex US president) executive produced a documentary about the disability revolution in the US. “A documentary that proves we can tell human stories about disabled people and our lives” as one review stated. My octopus teacher (Country: South Africa, Directed by Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed) - an unusual story about a long term relationship between a human and a mollusk.

And my favorite: Collective (Countries: Romania, Luxembourg; Directed by Alexander Nanau) - a compelling story of a group of investigative journalists uncovering chronic corruption in the health system in a former comunist bloc country, Romania. In a post-transition to democracy society, the majority of the media in Romania is controlled by business and political interests. The journalists became complicit to betraying the public’s interest. In this context, a sports newspaper nurtures and pursues an unusual genre for them: investigative journalism. The Sports Gazette (Gazeta Sporturilor) was founded in 1924, and some statistics say that, at that time, only Hungary and Italy were publishing daily sports newspapers. According to Catalin Tolontan, the former Editor-in-Chief and the protagonist of the Collective film, The Sports Gazette investigations led to several indictments of businessmen and public officials, including ministers. The main investigation featured in Collective is about a major private supplier to public hospitals. Hexi Pharma was awarded tens of millions of Euros in government contracts to supply disinfectants to hospitals. Following a fire in a nightclub in Bucharest, victims keep dying even weeks after the incident. But their deaths were not caused by the burns, but because of nosocomial infections. A nosocomial infection is contracted because of an infection or toxin that exists in a certain location, such as a hospital. Tolontan’s team pursues the story and uncovers that the disinfectants provided by Hexi Pharma are diluted, sometimes even ten times over the required concentration. The same disinfectants were used in the hospitals treating the Collective nightclub fire victims. The majority of the profits obtained by diluting the disinfectants are washed through offshore companies and are used to pay the health officials that helped rig the public procurements. I stop here, as I want you to watch the movie. Every time I watch it, I discover new information, new meanings and...I cry. That’s not only due to the powerful, credible and even very relevant to my own life storylines, but also thanks to the director’s touch. Alexandru Nanau films and edits Collective in a vérité style. As a documentary maker myself, I wonder how Nanau achieved all that narrative with so little or no intervention. I can say for certain that it is talent and perseverance.

The Collective was also nominated in the "International Feature Film" category. The Mongolian Public Media Content Foundation is proud to have been able to bring this film to Mongolia with support from the Canadian Embassy and the British Embassy. The film premiered in Mongolia on TV, on January 16, two days before the fall of the Khurelsukh’s government. Ironically, his resignation came after a scandal in the public health sector, the mistreatment by medical staff of a COVID-19 diagnosed new mother and her baby. The pictures filmed and broadcast by Eagle TV sparked public outrage and political turmoil. The Mongolian National Broadcaster (MNB) re-run the film on Sunday, April 25, together with an interview with Catalin Tolontan. The reactions of the Mongolian audiences confirmed what one of the reviews in the prestigious Variety magazine headlined: “Exposé of Romanian Corruption Has Universal Resonance”. And it did with Mongolian people as well.

Film pundits and the betting agencies predicted that “My octopus teacher” would win the Oscars 2021 in the “Documentary Feature'' category and the Danish produced film “Another Round” in the “International Feature'' category. And they were right. But the fact that a film like Collective, a story about good old fashion journalism made it on the red carpet on this year’s Oscars night, it's a celebration of our job. A triumph that every good journalist from around the world should enjoy. And a reminder that despite all the odds and obstacles that we face, there can still be light at the end of the tunnel for the Mongolian journalism.

Journalist Oyunchimeg Demchig interviewing Catalin Tolontan, the protagonist of the Oscar nominated film Collective, for the “Why Social Talk” TV/Online program