Dhaka, Mar 19 (bdnews24.com)—A free and responsible media has a vital role to play in the fight against corruption, says the editor of a leading daily newspaper.
"Journalism is more than reporting and writing stories," said Moazzem Hossain, editor of The Financial Express, in a keynote address to a conference on 'Role of media in anticorruption reform efforts' on Thursday.
The conference also heard from discussants Hamida Hossain, a prominent human rights lawyer, and journalist Abed Khan. Guests included information minister Abul Kamal Azad, USAID mission director in Bangladesh Denise Rollins and Dhaka University vice-chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique.
Organised by Progati, a US-funded group for promoting governance, accountability and transparency, the programme was held at the Westin Hotel.
Moazzem Hossain's address is reproduced in full below:
Media in the battle against corruption
Combating corruption presents a daunting challenge everywhere in today's world. This is all the more so in developing countries like Bangladesh where corruption is systemic and embedded institutionally.
A democratic polity cannot be promoted and sustained without unrelenting efforts to fight the cancer of corruption. Building an economy and a society that is open, transparent and, ultimately, accountable is impossible if corruption rules the roost. Hence, a strong social commitment, backed by effective institutional devices and actions, is important for achieving the true goals of democracy, ensuring economic stability and promoting steady progress.
Free and responsible media have a vital role to play in the fight against corruption. Journalism is not an end in itself but only the professional means by which reporters and editors serve the public trust. The purpose of journalism, as Professor William F. Woo of Stanford University suggests, is not doing journalism any more than the purpose of surgery is doing surgery that is cutting people open and sewing them back together again. The purpose of surgery is healing. Similarly, the purpose of journalism is more than reporting and writing stories, though as with surgery, skill and competence are essential. Its purpose has to do with something more fundamental which, as Prof. W. F. Woo thinks of, "as serving the public trust".
Corruption is, in essence, the misappropriation of public trust. It breeds the ground for lack of transparency and absence of accountability. It causes dysfunctional governance. Whether it is cronyism among businesses and government decision-makers or low-level bribery of customs or judicial officials, corruption undermines the rule of law, perverts the polity, strangles economic growth, tears at the cohesion and security of life and hurts the poor most severely. Sustained social progress and economic stability cannot take root in an environment subverted by corruption.
Fighting corruption is not an event. It essentially involves a process. Institutional-building and structural changes are much important for combating corruption in countries like Bangladesh. For this, we must recognise the powerful influence of public scrutiny and participation. And this is important because it shines "a light not only on those who are corrupt but also on those who are struggling to bring integrity to public life".
Free and responsible media can have a positive influence in any country on efforts, as part of winning public trust, to uproot and expose sources of corruption. Such media can perform two major roles, being a watchdog over government and educating people about how corruption and other related issues affect their lives.
A functioning free and independent media is considered in this context "a development good", capable of contributing to improved accountability, good governance and efficient economic activities, based on increasing ability of a citizenry to make informed choices and decisions that can better shape their lives. The information the media provide is, thus, just as critical for good political choices as for intelligent economic and personal decisions.
And all of us know that a fundamental axiom of democracy is that citizens must have information and knowledge. Achieving a free and responsible media is a constant, challenging, vital and ongoing activity.
Open and objective reporting preserves the support and trust of the readers, viewers and listeners. A free media also allows the expression of many editorial opinions. Credibility as an accurate source of unbiased information, as far as hard reporting is concerned, is, however, extremely important for the media to be relevant to the needs of the society.
As far as corruption is concerned, free, independent and responsible media can be a strong force, along with other stake-holders, to help build integrity into the rules of governance. By exposing corruption in a wide array of areas, ranging from provision of public services to public procurement and disbursement of local and national government funds and going into business practices, the media can place people first for reducing built-in political, administrative, economic, legal and social power of the strong over the weak. Many of the sources of corruption that can be traced, in part, to shoddy deals, shallow disclosure requirements, cronyism, opaque record-keeping etc., can be exposed in the process.
Bribery or graft or corruption, whatever we call it, feeds on itself, fuelling the growth of excessive and discretionary regulations and practices, leading to a decision-making process that is facilitated behind closed doors or through under-the-table deals. That makes the case stronger for the media personnel, particularly in countries like Bangladesh to unmask such practices.
It must, however, be noted that transparent public institutions or authorities are needed to provide the essential regulatory foundation in areas where the government has to deliver the services thereof. Flaws of, and deficiencies in, related regulatory and service-providing functions merit attention of the media as part of the role in combating corruption. Development spending of the government and the local government bodies are another critical area of focus for the purpose.
Having noted this, this has to be admitted that there are no quick fixes to corruption. No country can get rid of corruption overnight. Even many developed countries of the world have had to struggle against corruption. But the battle has not ended there. It never ends. And in countries where corruption is recognised to be high, it is extremely important to take major decisive steps for attacking the root causes of corruption. Unveiling the cases of corruption is one part of the job here. But strengthening the institutional structures that constitutes the other -- and the harder -- part of it calls for a coherent anti-corruption strategy. It is a difficult, long-term struggle. But it is a winnable fight and must be fought with a strong commitment, followed by determined actions in a well-consistent manner.
While endeavouring to serve the public trust, free and independent media have to be on the forefront of this battle against corruption. Here the dedication of the media practitioners to accuracy, objectivity and truth, as far as the presentation of news is concerned, has to be the same as the sacred trust one has with a doctor or a surgeon. It is a professional obligation to provide the readers, the viewers, the listeners and, thus, the audience they can trust. Professional integrity counts here most. For that matter, the challenge is to present information in an engaging way so that people will want to read, view or hear what they need to know. The media practitioners must not expect others to trust them or to take them into confidence, if they (media personnel) themselves are otherwise suspect of lacking in required skill, integrity and probity.
Journalism, as Joseph Pulitzer whose name is associated today with US journalists' highest award, noted in late 19th country, is more than just a way to make money or provide entertainment. "It serves a public trust". This is worthwhile to keep it in mind by all those involved in the media in order to play a befitting role in the fight against corruption or in any other domain of public interest.
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