FREE MEDIA AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT

FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
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Free media are essential for equitable development;
can they exist?
For Natasha, Alice, Theo, Freddie and Polly, may it help them to understand;
and Bren who enabled me to.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
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C o n t e n t s
Summary 3
Acknowledgements 4
Glossary 5
Chapter 1 -- Introduction 6
Chapter 2 -- on why development needs the media 12
Chapter 3 -- on why media fail to support development 20
Chapter 4 -- on whether globalisation brings 'good' media closer 33
Chapter 5 -- original research
part 1 -- the objectives 46
part 2 -- the methodology 49
5.2.1 Jemstone and Jordan 50
5.2.2 Makfax and Macedonia 52
5.2.3 MDLF and the Balkans 52
part 3 -- the case studies 54
5.3.1 Jemstone and Jordan 55
5.3.2 Makfax and Macedonia 57
5.3.3 MDLF and the Balkans 59
Chapter 6 -- Conclusions 64
Bibliography 69
Notes 76
Appendices
1 Some functions of 'good' media 80
2 Maps, Middle East and Balkans 82
3 Verbatim transcript from Round Table 85
4 Makfax Mission Report 88
5 Makfax feedback 101
6 Makfax motivations, questions and answers 103
7 Powerpoint Presentations for MDLF 105
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FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT:
CAN THEY EXIST?
S u m m a r y
This examination of the relationship between media and development begins
with the words of James Wolfensohn of the World Bank that free media are
at the absolute core of equitable development. It asks what this means; both
semantically by defining the terms and more substantively by exploring the
implications.
It concludes that free media are indeed necessary but that media are
progressively less free and the prospects are deteriorating as the forces of
globalisation threaten to dominate and stifle debate. However, in many ways
globalisation is a red herring. The key arena, where power is exercised and
controlled, remains the nation-state.
The case studies look first at how media are neutralised and castrated in a
developing country. In contrast free media emerge amid the chaos and
conflict in some newly independent states. Ideas for enabling and embedding
this process are put forward. The media themselves should be the forum
where national debates take place and values are formed; debates that should
place a high value on maintaining the kind of media that make such debates
possible.
However free media don't survive and thrive by default, they discomfort too
many vested interests. They have to be valued and fought for. Those with
power and plenty don't willingly give them up, if they have control of the
media this protects them from challenge and interrogation.
Free media sit in the middle of these political realities; wise governments
know this. Wiser still, big donors, with immense research resources, might
wish to take account of the importance of 'good' media for real national
participation. And perhaps then choose to concentrate their funds on those
nations that meet a definition of 'good government' with 'good' media at its
absolute core, media operating in the interests of people as a whole.
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Acknowledgements
First of all Brenda de Jager, my partner, colleague, love and best friend. She
knows what I've been through; we have shared this whole project; without
her this would not have been possible. My mother, Margaret, without whom I
would not have been, and who has never stopped believing in me (or at least
not for more than a day or two); my father, Roy, whose life (and journalism)
was such a good example and who introduced me to the ideas of Gandhi; and
my brother, Jonathan, for his parallel track in Canada.
The inspirational Robert Chambers, with his wonderful warning that he
"accepts no responsibility for the damage to the career of any person"
following his path; and the immense Amartya Sen who from a distance sent
his greetings and some invaluable references.
Mike Jennings, my supervisor at CDS, for support, confidence and guidance;
Sandra Kramcha for listening; Gareth Dale who showed me capitalism is not
the only game in town and that it mustn't be; Winkie Williamson for opening
this door; Stewart Helm for opening his; Tim Bowyer for his structure; and
Neil Price for putting it all in context.
David Brewer for being so talented and a great mate, and introducing me to
Patrice and Zoran; Mona Sue-Ho -- what a good friend; and those in the Middle
East and beyond who have given me hope; not least Fayed in Gaza, quoted in
case study one; and the late, deeply missed Abdullah Hassanat.
The irony has not escaped me that I am writing what some may regard as a
call to action in one of the most beautiful, privileged communities on earth; I
need to thank Ziad abu Jabr and all those at Tala Bay on the Red Sea in
Jordan for designing and running such a perfect place for writing a
dissertation.
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Glossary
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
Cold War post-1945 political hostility been the Soviet bloc and the West
CDS Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales, Swansea
CNN Cable News Network
DMA syndrome Dualism, Manicheism, Armageddon
EU European Union
FDI foreign direct investment
FMCG fast-moving consumer goods
GDP gross domestic product
ICT information and communication technology
IMF International Monetary Fund
Jemstone Jordan-based, media and development consultancy
Logframe logical framework, a tool for assisting project implementation
Makfax independent Macedonian news agency
MDGs the UN's Millennium Development Goals
MDLF Media Development Loan Fund
Med Media EU programme in 1990s with MENA media organisations
MENA Middle East and North Africa region
MNCs multi-national corporations
MTV Music Television
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NGOs non-governmental organisations
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
PR public relations
PRS poverty reduction strategy
TNCs transnational corporations
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
US United States
Wall Street financial area in New York
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1
Introduction
The key 'text' for this dissertation, which is a rather grand description of
eleven words, comes from a former President of the World Bank; "A free
press is at the absolute core of equitable development" (1999). It was a
bold, brave and self-evidently true statement, to any over-confident
journalist. But upon what was it based and what are the policy implications if
it is indeed accurate? The seven year search for answers culminates here; or
at least there are now some provisional conclusions to be tested further.
The words were drawn to my attention on 13th November 1999, at the start
of our workshop on investigative journalism. It was funded by the Dutch
Minister for Development and Co-operation, and one of her staff handed me a
cutting from the previous week's International Herald Tribune: "Poor
Countries must have a Free Press" by James D. Wolfensohn:
"A free press is not a luxury. . . if you cannot enfranchise poor people, if they
do not have a right to expression, if there is no searchlight on corruption and
inequitable practices, you cannot build the public consensus to bring about
change" (ibid).
It put on paper the jumbled thoughts I'd been trying to organise for the
previous five years, since becoming involved in the mid 1990s with the
European Union's Med Media programme, working with the media on the
'other side' of the Mediterranean. The EU, as part of its then-fashionable
plans for 'decentralised co-operation' involving 'civil society' had
contentiously lumped media, including state media, into this pot and was
urging us to raise their professional standards and 'create networks'. It was
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an interesting change from being a BBC political journalist, broadcaster and
manager; and a challenge.
We created Jemstone (Journalism in the Euro-Med region, Strategy, Training,
Organisation and NEtworks) and got on with it, beset by more and more
questions about the role of media in development, as we took 'our project',
based by then in Jordan, across the Arab world from Morocco to Yemen and
beyond, into Ethiopia, Malaysia, Macedonia and Iraq. Here, from an
uncontestable source (or so it seemed at the time) were some answers. And
I have carried the Wolfensohn cutting with me ever since and bothered busy
people, like Amartya Sen, to explain it to me and point me to the evidence
upon which it must have been based.
I brought to the quest, as I have only recently discovered, something more or
less unique. Serious experience in both media and development. I have
looked without much success in the bibliographies of the heavyweight
development tomes for names of important media figures; neither are many
development experts quoted by the journalists. But they seem to be yoked
together, at least the 'good' ones, trying to drag the world towards a decent
future. Surely if they talked and understood each other's strengths and
weaknesses a bit more they might get there quicker, to the benefit of us all.
The terms I am going to use need some explanation: 'good' journalism or
journalist or media; and 'good' development. They sound a bit wishy-washy.
As so often, other, more potent words have already been commandeered
and/or colonised, often with the best of intentions but now they mean
something else. Free media and independent media beg more questions than
they answer; free from what and to do what, independent is similar; and
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neither of them need be good media, in any sense. Human development,
sustainable or not, people-centred, equitable, 'development as freedom'; they
are not easy or unambiguous either.
So 'good' it generally is; it has an honourable pedigree, having already been
chosen by one of my development heroes; Robert Chambers talks powerfully
of 'good' change (2005) and we all know what he means. And one of the
most impressive journalistic thinkers, Ian Hargreaves, refers often and
uncomplicatedly to good journalism (2003). I use the term to answer the
question 'in whose interests?' (the people as a whole) and I think it contains
enough 'disinterestedness' to prevent it becoming obsessively, off-puttingly
pro-poor, while not, I hope, losing the passion necessary to achieve change.
The use of quote marks around the 'good' is somewhat inconsistent, for
which I apologise in advance; essentially they are used for emphasis and are
omitted when they seem to get in the way.
There is no direct relationship between media and development, except
perhaps in Sen's constitutive sense; though the first is necessary for the
second, according to chapter two, (if they mean what Wolfensohn intended
them to mean). The link between the two runs through those with power
over development decisions; and the basis on which they take them; what
they are trying to do. Put it simply, whatever their good intentions, without
constant reminding they will not spend development money maximally to
benefit the poor and society as a whole, the temptations and distractions to
do something else are too great. And over time, even if they are reminded
every day by the media, they will start to take more notice of those offering
favours and inducements and trips to Washington, unless there is a real cost
of ignoring the people -- like being voted out of power. Even then, in
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sclerotic societies, the power of entrenched vested interests cannot be
resisted, unless they are rooted out regularly and ruthlessly (Olson 2000).
Chapter three is depressing. The resistance of the media is starting to look
as fragile as a venal politician's. The twin-track approach of weakening the
journalism by demanding too much, too often and too fast and offering too
little reward or support for quality in return, coupled with lashings of junk
news, is sapping the resolve of dedicated hacks, let alone zap-happy viewers
and web-site browsers.
Chapter four is worse. As the journalism deteriorates the globalised media
virtual world takes over from reality. Politics these days is media politics
(Castells 2003:79); negative publicity and character assassination are
effective and the tricks of internet lobbying and campaigning have been
learned by the neo-liberal victims of Seattle (Mayo 2005). If it comes to a
battle for media attention there can only ever be one winner and it's not the
poor or dispossessed. But we have no God-given or any other right to
survive; ask the woolly mammoths (Lovelock 2006). And the watchdogs
have been castrated; no free media, no timely warnings.
Whether it's qualitatively different from anything that's gone before is
examined next. There are comforting precedents for altruism and good sense
(Sachs 2005); the slave-trade was abolished, the national health service
established. And multi-national corporations have been tamed occasionally
by threatening their most valuable possession -- their reputation. Even if
people can't vote they can 'not buy'; global boycotts to restrain global
hooligans.
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The real arena is still the nation-state; there are no global levers of power, all
the big decisions are taken in Washington, or New York or Brussels or London,
etc -- which is where they are influenced too. And that's what good media
should be doing. Where-ever power is wielded, media should be watching and
reporting back to those who should be active participants in the decisions, on
whose behalf they're being taken; and if they can't be present themselves
their interests need to be protected by their journalists.
If media are this important would those enjoying power today willingly hand
over control of them? Or even allow control to be shared? Not in Jordan.
The first case study examines how it is retained. The second looks at
Macedonia, where free media have sprung up, after independence and civil
strife, or perhaps because of them; unlocking the sclerotic structures that
were previously unbreachable (Olson 2000). And some lessons are learned
and codified in a rudimentary way.
The conclusions are brutal. Either free media exist and are sustainable and
valued or the freedom to establish them has to be taken. And we're not
talking about worthy workshops by tired old Western journalists. This is not
for the faint hearted; the battle really matters. It's about core issues. If
trust dies, what's left? What chance good development then, without good
media; who will protect the poor of the fourth world or the margins of the
rich cities if no-one knows they're there and no-one enables their voices to be
heard. What sort of a world is that? Good media are essential.
Good journalism' provides "the information and argument that enables
societies to work through their disagreements and to know their priorities"
(Hargreaves 2003:29). Bad journalism on the other hand is "cowardly,
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corruptly involved with the rich and powerful and ready to smear the weak
and whip up irrational fears" (Marr 2004:64). Similar assessments could be
applied to development itself. Whether it is part of the power structure that
keeps things as they are or whether, without aligning itself in despair with
those who would overturn everything, it aspires to operate in the kind of
Habermasian wonderland where arguments are weighed on their merits rather
than meekly accepted because of "the quackery and puffing" (Mill 1836) of
those advancing them.
This review of the relevant literature cannot skate over the surface either,
taking at face value the claims of those who would comfort us. Images of
wise, caring development professionals with their arms around the shoulders
of newly-enlightened recipients of assistance are a distraction. The reality of
this world is that 30,000 children die every day of preventable diseases
(UNDP 2003:8) while other human beings acquire more in a day than many of
us will be able to consume in a lifetime. Development is about power; who
has it, how they keep hold of it for themselves and those who support them,
and how to prise it from them and share it more equitably.
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2
On why development needs the media
"I am so angry", the words of the 'godfather' of participatory development,
Robert Chambers, incensed at the way the world is "more and more
dominated by power, greed, delusion, denial, ignorance and stupidity"
(Chambers 2005:ix). For decades he has argued for and tried to bring about
the kind of good changes that for him constitute 'development'. He has done
it himself and been prepared to work at the highest levels to persuade,
encourage and show others how to make it happen and enable them to
glimpse the better world the poor aspire to, eg 'The Voices of the Poor'
study (Narayan et al, 2000). But a few years later he was writing that
despite all these 'development' efforts "wealth and power have become more
blatantly unequal and inequitable than ever" (Chambers 2005:198).
There is frustration too from the development economist and adviser to the
UN, Jeffrey Sachs, in his book 'The End of Poverty'. He argues that "the end
of poverty [is] a realistic possibility by the year 2025" (Sachs 2005:3),
shows in great detail how to bring it about, sketches out the arguments in
favour and even precedents for selfless actions (ibid:361). But he is not
over-optimistic. There is simmering indignation in his account of how Ghana's
attempt to take at face value the promises of the MDGs was scaled back by
the donors to 25% of what was needed to achieve these minimal targets
(ibid:272). Rich nation commitment to the MDGs seems to have decreased
not increased since then (UN 2005a, 2005b, 2005c).
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The UNDP Administrator in 2003, when the Human Development Report on
the MDGs was published, Mark Malloch Brown, pointed out in his foreword
that in the previous decade "more than 50 nations grew poorer" and that in
some, life expectancy had plummeted and school enrolment shrunk (UNDP
2003:v). The report goes on to remind everyone that "children cannot wait
for growth to generate resources when they are faced with death from
preventable causes" (UNDP 2003:11).
Other development oracles, equally accomplished at operating smoothly
within the system, have also shown signs of losing patience, including two
winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics. "There can be no human dignity,
no basic rights, when parents see their child die of starvation or their
daughter sold into a life of prostitution" (Stiglitz 2003:153); " . . . the
terrible phenomenon of excess mortality and artificially lower survival rates
for women in many parts of the world" (Sen 1999:104), which has been
headlined as the missing 100 million women of China, India and North Africa.
Identifying, diagnosing and highlighting the wickedness that is part of our
everyday world does not of itself produce solutions or illuminate the causal
processes. In fact it could be argued that many of these leading
development thinkers have demonstrated a reluctance to seek answers at the
core of the very system where they have achieved their recognition. They
are left suggesting that development will be achieved through goodwill,
common-sense and altruism; and putting forward realistic, step-by-step
action plans for a better world, which are praised, then filed away.
Sachs wants the world spontaneously to embrace 'enlightened globalisation'
(2005:366); Sen concludes his seminal book by referring to "the overarching
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concern with the process of enhancing individual freedoms and the social
commitment to help to bring that about" (Sen 1999:298); Stiglitz seems to
rely on self-evidence, "it is clear that there must be a multi-pronged strategy
of reform" (2002:251); the UN's Mallock Brown is optimistic about the
Millennium Development Compact "requiring bold reforms from poor countries
and obliging (sic) donor countries to step forward and support those efforts"
(UNDP 2003:v); and Chambers is misty eyed about 'responsible well-being'
(2005:184).
In the brutal real world, governments and powerful private interests have
been undermining and hi-jacking development efforts. The examples are
legion and perhaps explain the near despair of those who in good faith have
spent a lifetime trying to make the world a better place. We do not live in a
world of equals, all disinterestedly seeking the best and fairest outcome for
all. Nothing will be conceded unless it has to be; not even the basic minimum
standards of the MDGs.
However, according to the rational choice theorist Mancur Olson, over time it
is inevitable that those who are successful will try to institutionalise their
position and protect their narrow interests at the expense of society's
encompassing interest. "I believe that it occurs in all long-stable societies,
whether they are autocratic or democratic" (2000:197). The evidence from
the income and wealth and power disparities that so upset Chambers et al
seems to support him. As does the uninhibited expression of self-interest
occasionally expressed by ultra-capitalists: "few trends could so thoroughly
undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by
corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much
money for their stockholders as possible" (Friedman 1962:133).
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Such candour is rarer these days. Forty years ago, the pioneers of media for
development equated progress with Western-style models of modernity
(Mody 1991:22) and defined the task of the mass media as creating a
climate of modernisation, "to speed and ease the long, slow social
transformation required for economic development" (Schramm 1964:27).
Today we think differently, so the big beneficiaries are more coy, lavishing
billions on anti-aids programmes and moving their manufacturing to thirdworld
sweat-shops while praising themselves for helping the poorest of the
poor onto the first rung of the ladder of development.
They have usurped the language of development for their own ends.
Concepts like human rights and free trade are "conflated, amounting to
restatements of the 'good world' as the powerful see it" (Uvin 2002:6). The
World Bank, with its huge research resources places itself at the centre of the
main debates, ensuring that "the outside world hears a single central
message" (Wade 1996 p31); " . . . over little more than a decade the
vocabulary of development has been hijacked to project capitalism as the
answer to the human aspiration for a better life" (Cammack 2002:178). Not
an easy task as the Bank's own figures have shown a relative decline in GDP
for the poorest two-thirds of countries since 1980 and a rise in the absolute
number of poor (ibid:175). The whole concept of development itself has
come to be regarded by some as a colonising discourse (Leftwich 2000:67).
Another tactic is obfuscation and mystification. Having attracted the best
and brightest recruits, the Bank socialises them into the requisite "dominant
behaviour" and introduces a relentless succession of "new procedures,
mechanisms and requirements" with an alphabet soup of acronyms
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(Chambers 2005:49). This circus of course reinforces the position of the
Bank over national officials who have to spend their time learning the new
jargon (ibid:50) rather than taking ownership of their own PRS; it would be
laughable if it wasn't so damaging and disillusioning. A similar tactic was
uncovered by James Ferguson more than a decade earlier when he found
contentious issues of power being redefined and removed from consideration
in Lesotho. In his perceptive book 'The Anti-Politics Machine' he charted the
way that 'development' was "insistently reposing political questions of land,
resources, jobs or wages as technical 'problems' responsive to technical
'development' intervention" (1990:271); what was later described as "the
technicist illusion" (Leftwich 2000:193).
Perhaps the most disturbing recent instance of development being sabotaged
by the demands of the powerful (and those representing their interests) has
been chronicled in detail by someone who was there and admits that "the IMF
had become part of the countries' problem rather than part of the solution"
(Stiglitz 2002:97). The East Asia crisis was widely regarded, at least by
conspiracy theorists, as "a deliberate attempt to weaken East Asia" and to
bring profits to Wall Street (ibid:129). Stiglitz's counter to this charge is not
convincing and anyway amounts to an acceptance that this is what capitalists
do (ibid:130), even if he believes the IMF itself was incompetent rather than
corrupt. Elsewhere he has agreed that ". . .more open and fuller discussion,
would most likely have led to different policies being pursued, policies that
would at the very least have subjected the poor and vulnerable to less risk"
(Stiglitz 2003:154). He has a similar assessment of the forty years of the
Cold War, where "to preserve democracy and democratic values, we adopted
policies that undermined democratic processes" (ibid:155).
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These realities have led to reappraisals of how the world operates. "What
happens depends on those who are powerful and wealthy" (Chambers
2005:194); "but there is, to my knowledge, no institute devoted to the
study of greed or power" (ibid:195), though he does suggest a practical
antidote to the misuse of power: follow Gandhi, and ask in relation to any
action you are contemplating "whether you have to hide it" (ibid:213). In
fact all the development 'gurus' quoted earlier have come to share similar
insights. Each of them is relying on public scrutiny to drive the kind of
change they advocate; even if they seem to have given little thought to how
it might work. Nevertheless, the lack of development progress in today's
networked world has driven them all to turn their attention, implicitly or
openly, to the media.
Stiglitz goes through the "failures of the culture of secrecy" (2003:155); it
preserves the status quo, discourages participation and "undermines the
ability of the press to provide an effective check against the abuses of
government" (ibid:137); and it leads to inferior decision-making. Sachs
certainly understands the importance of newspaper reports (2005:1), even if
the rational choice of those to whom he showed "the way toward the path of
peace and prosperity" was not to follow him. The reason is summed up as
'rational ignorance' by Olson (2000:93) and it can and indeed does lead to
people failing to be bothered to act in their own best interests. It means that
"minorities so tiny that they have an incentive to ignore the damage they do
to society . . . are able to influence policy" (ibid:198). Nevertheless Olson
himself relies on this band being stopped by publicity "if even the intellectual
elite understands what is going on" (ibid:199).
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Sachs was not naive, 'The End of Poverty' has been influential and many of
his ideas appeared as part of the drive to achieve the MDGs, including
clusters of practical, costed, quick-wins (UNDP 2003:18). But getting them
off the page and into poor communities was never going to happen just by
invoking 'enlightened globalisation'. He understood the need to keep the
media message simple and realistic but on its own it does not force the haves
to give more to the have-nots. Wealth and power are not freely yielded they
have to be taken and, unexpectedly, someone at the time persuaded the UN
to make that clear: "they require popular mobilisation to sustain political will
for achieving them. This popular mobilisation requires open, participatory
political cultures" (UNDP 2003:2).
The link between free media and popular mobilisation had been stated
controversially some years before by Sen, reflecting on his life in India, with
his famous claim that there'd never been a famine in a working multi-party
democracy -- ie a free press won't allow you to starve to death those upon
whom your power depends (1999:178). More recently he has widened his
claims for press freedom, arguing that it is "an integral component" of
development (2001:79) and advancing four reasons: it's a constitutive
element of 'development as freedom'; it can provide vitally important
information to people and governments; it gives a channel for voicing
grievances; and it enables shared values and standards to emerge.
The former President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn has produced a
longer, more practical list of ways in which free media are "at the core of
equitable development" (World Bank 2002:v). This includes: exposing
corruption; spotlighting government actions; building consensus for change;
helping markets work better; transmitting ideas and information. If anyone
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still doubts that free media are essential for equitable development they can
consult Appendix 1, which fairly randomly over 60 functions supportive of
development that this author believes can reasonably be expected of 'good'
media (Jemstone 2003).
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3
On why media fail to support development
A lot of development experts have no idea about the media and journalism;
not unreasonably, considering much of the coverage of development issues.
They have been unimpressed, if not incensed, by incompetent, inaccurate and
sometimes self-serving reporting and behaviour. In Ethiopia during the famine
of the mid 1980s, the media were involved in grubby deals with the Mengistu
regime and what Alex de Waal refers to witheringly as 'humanitarian
international' that "prevented any systematic evaluation" of what was really
going on (1997:124). And Sen, whose version of development depends
centrally on an active, free media, has accused them of propagating
"conceptual rot" through inadequate scrutiny of "underexamined concepts
and unsubstantiated beliefs" thereby failing "to enhance understanding in the
troubled world in which we live" (2002:5 and 12). Others dismiss the media
as beyond salvation (Chomsky 2003:77). And even journalists themselves
are aware that "somewhere along the road, [we] stopped being shabby
heroes, confronting arrogant power, and became sleazy, pig-snouted villains"
(Marr 2005:xxiii).
But, just because some politicians (or even some Parliaments) are corrupt
and useless doesn't make democracy undesirable. Standards need to be high
and enforced (and updated) but it remains probably the best form of
government available to us. The same goes for 'good media'. And the litmus
test for both (and for development interventions) is, in whose interest do
they operate? Are they trying to provide people with the information they
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need to make, or at least influence, decisions about their lives? My
journalistic trainer, the BBC, sets out 360 pages of its key editorial values:
impartiality, accuracy, straight-dealing, integrity and independence -- in short,
strong, decent, honest, interesting journalism (BBC 4th edition). If other
media organisations do something else then rename them 'purveyors of
propaganda' or 'exhibitors of entertainment', rather than risk damaging by
association such a vital part of a well-functioning society as good journalism.
The question is whether the media are able to play the central role in
supporting development that seems essential for it to be successful. Many
media organisations and journalists fall very short. Does this mean that
literally impossible demands are being made of them, or that they need more
training and resources and status to be able to carry out this task? The
answer, as so often in the social sciences, is not clear cut but most of the
evidence suggests they are losing the battle. However high the pay of the
best journalists, public relations and public affairs will offer more, "in order to
build a solid, respected reputation with your key audiences" (Ali 2001:6).
Whatever resources are thrown at covering a big story, important
organisations and governments can afford to devote more; there is so much
at stake for them.
However, 'good' journalists and 'good' media organisations are not willing
victims, easily picked off and digested. And there are many talented women
and men waiting to take over when they've been devoured. It does no harm
here to concentrate on the best because if they are sapped and overwhelmed
there is little chance for others who are less committed, less diligent, less well
supported with resources and research, and perhaps less intelligent1.
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22
It doesn't take a Nobel prize winner for literature to convince those addicted
to journalism that it's "the best profession in the world" (Garcia Marquez
1996:249). And any development professional inclined to regard them as
journeymen writers not good enough to be academics should try to
understand his "unappeasable passion" for the job and "the extraordinary
excitement stirred by news" (ibid:254); or the BBC's former political editor,
Andrew Marr's "irresistible, scratchy need" (Marr 2004:3) for what he calls
his 'trade'; "inquisitive, energetic, honest" (ibid:384), "brave, intelligent,
probing" (ibid:64). These are people who believe in what they're doing, are
proud of it and know its worth.
But what they face is formidable too; the media "are a constant terrain of
struggle" (Chomsky 2003:76) where business seeks "to ensure that private
agencies will control the media and thus be able to restrict thought to
'vested beliefs'" (ibid:77). They have already captured much of that ground;
the opening, overview section of The World Bank's book on the role of mass
media in economic development regards privately owned media as the
preferred model and comes extremely close to equating them with free media
(Islam 2002:8). A more nuanced contribution to the same publication
questions "whether the existing strong pro-market bias of the mainstream
media [in the US] is desirable" (Herman 2002:78) and suggests that to
change things "would take a quasi revolution" (ibid:1979).
It would need to be a global revolution. The social scientist, Manuel Castells,
has studied the power of the American entrepreneurial culture "and its ability
to propel its way of life throughout the whole world" (Castells 2003:115),
exemplified by the energised response of young people any and everywhere
to MTV. The reaction of their parents is instructive too2. The author of 'The
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
23
Politics of World Communication' denies we are entering a global information
society; "a global billboard society" he calls it, where the most important
product of the media around the world is "commercial messages" (Hamelink
1998). If people don't like it, their only response is "civic intervention", if
they can be bothered. The first job of newspapers and television "is to sell
audiences to advertisers" (Seaton 1998:122).
Even at the BBC, as serious-minded, new journalistic recruits in the early
1970s we were made aware that of the three core missions (to inform,
educate and entertain) the third was the most important as without an
audience we don't have a BBC. It was an early lesson in how the world's
leading public service broadcaster pragmatically resolves the tension between
'important' and 'interesting', ie the BBC "should recognise the public mood"
(BBC 4th edition:41). Much more recently a senior BBC news executive,
confirming their ongoing commitment to engage with the complexities of
international conflicts, pointed out that such stories had to compete for
viewers with sport, domestic news and competitors who had moved
"significantly down-market" (Damazer 2002:9).
It's generally believed that modern journalism began in 1896 in Britain, when
Alfred (later Lord) Harmsworth launched the Daily Mail (Marr 2005:78). The
recipe for its runaway success: "news should be interesting, short and told
from a human angle" (ibid). It was as though he had read the thoughts of
Mancur Olson, written almost exactly a hundred years later: "the typical
citizen has no incentive to engage in serious study of public affairs . . . [as
they will] get only a small share of the gain from the more effective policies
and leadership" (2000:93). This 'rationally ignorant' voter is however much
more interested "when the news is, by contrast, largely an alternative to
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
24
other forms of diversion or entertainment for most people [and includes]
intriguing human oddities and human-interest items" (ibid:94). The
calculations of course are very different when matters of personal success
and failure are involved, or life and death, as with Sen's famines. Rational
choices are not the same in these circumstances and anyway reason may not
always prevail when deeper emotions or higher purposes overwhelm us.
In normal, workaday circumstances however human reactions and behaviour
can be predicted if enough time and thought is spent researching them;
that's what audience and readership research and focus groups are all about.
If similar techniques were to be applied to those who have achieved wealth
and power in our societies and the world in general, (the mighty who control
the media and the news operations that the rest of us have to consume),
then it might be possible to predict their likely behaviour too. Perhaps they
might try to ensure that issues that would reflect badly on them were not
covered or only in a way that did not rouse public resentment; perhaps they
might want to present their view of how the world operates, as not one
among many but as a 'vested belief', or in the words of the former British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher "there is no alternative" (to millions of
unemployed, in her case). And perhaps they might manufacture lots of
titillating and engrossing, human-interest trivia that would give us
'consumers' street-cred with other addicts and deflect our attention away
from what's happening behind the scenes. It's a tried and tested, 2,000+
year old technique for the powerful, called 'bread and circuses'.
Influential and concerned observers believe it is gathering pace now as never
before. The demands of the media and the market are moving politics
"towards the ethics and psychology of the Roman arena" (Seaton
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
25
1998:118); discourse has been replaced by spectacle and "where, in the
past, media reading, watching or listening was a way of participating, today it
has become a form of consuming" (ibid:121), accentuating "the importance
of visual news . . . as with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales" (ibid:4) and
"trivialising what matters most to national life" (ibid:1). In a passage on
politics and the media that is ambiguous between description and
prescription, Castells observers/suggests that "the most important tactic is
character assassination and the politics of scandal. . . we know that negative
publicity is five times as effective as positive when it comes to getting people
to switch their votes" (Castells 2003:80), and easier to manipulate for those
for whom the outcome of elections matters most.
The very concept of 'news' can be regarded as "the reformulation of
'information' as a commodity" (Boyd-Barrett and Rantanen 1998:1) and "lies
at the heart of modern capitalism" (ibid). News agencies after all were some
of the world's first multi-national companies, for them globalisation has been
a reality since the 19th century (ibid:16). However, in the last couple of
decades new technologies have enabled the devaluation of 'news' from a
prestige product to the status of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods),
underlined by the location of Rupert Murdoch's UK Sky News, on an industrial
estate in outer London, in contrast to the grandeurs of the BBC's
Broadcasting and Bush Houses. Now news is "literally ambient . . . ubiquitous
and very largely free at the point of consumption" (Hargreaves 2003:3);
however, it means we value it less and "the economics of certain types of
resource-intensive journalism are undermined" (ibid), for example lengthy and
painstaking investigatory reporting.
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26
What's at issue here, remember, is whether the diligent, dedicated journalist
working for an organisation that prides itself on the quality of its news
output, setting and maintaining high standards, can fulfil the mission of
providing "the information and argument that enables societies to work
through their disagreements and know their priorities . . . with style and
impact" (ibid: 29). The response of those who might be damaged by such
public deliberations has been to attack with immense resources and ingenuity
on two fronts; directly by trying to weaken the journalism and indirectly by
trying to drown it out and confuse and bamboozle the recipients into doing
nothing. They've devised a twin-track approach, so that if good journalists
with research skills and organisational support can't untangle the cat's cradle
of complex reality (Lynch 2002:43), then chances for the unengaged,
unmotivated public to understand what is going on are close to zero,
particularly if there's lots of background noise and competing claims for
attention, often manufactured intentionally to perplex. "Too much
information", the universal cry these days as people switch off, or switch on
to something less taxing and more immediately captivating.
Important news can't compete with the soaps and celebs, unless time and
intelligence is used "to find new ways of bringing our audiences into the
stories, getting them interested" (McCullagh 2002:60). But, "the punishing
pace imposed by technology" is dehumanising news production and
undermining the essence of reporting: "the meticulous and accurate
reconstruction of facts" (Garcia Marquez 1996:251). As the demands of
constant deadlines and instant analysis increase, the journalists get younger,
less experienced, under-resourced, over-pressured and swamped in a PR,
rapid-rebuttal deluge, where spin so easily becomes substance. These are
techniques carefully "designed to ensure that the 24-hour news media never
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
27
suffer from the kind of hunger that encourages them to go looking for
inconvenient stories and angles" (Hargreaves 2003:181, 91). And all
delivered in the format and at the time it's most needed to maximise the
temptations for news organisations to use it, ideally unedited, certainly
under-scrutinised. Get out! urges Andrew Marr, not from the profession but
from the office and the easy productivity of recycling second-hand stories
and the "special pleading and salesmanship of the PR machines" (Marr
2005:384). The financial pressures of servicing so much (uninspiring,
undifferentiated) output have squeezed the budgets for proper journalism,
replacing it with the shrinking soundbite, more pictures and less serious
content (Seaton 1998:5).
Real conflict makes it worse. British spin-master in chief and adviser to Prime
Minister Tony Blair, Alasdair Campbell, described the function of public
diplomacy at such times as to "hold the public's interest on our terms . . . the
only battle Nato might lose [in Kosovo] was the battle for hearts and minds"
(Lynch 2002:10). What this meant in practice was sometimes "having to
plan combat missions to match the Alliance media strategy" (ibid). No
matter that the motive was to maintain public support, the means of doing so
was to arrange reality so that the public received a particular message3.
These techniques honed in the heat of battle have a special place in the
affections of those who've been wielding them; and the bad habits acquired
at such times can be difficult to unlearn. Stereo-typed characters and
situations reduce the need for thought and analysis, from either the public or
the journalist. It's a tempting recourse when time and space are under so
many pressures, including "information production growing at about 50% a
year" (Brown and Duguid 2000:xiii). Faced by more and more of the stuff
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
28
coming at us in every multi-media, digital form imaginable, for both the news
'producers' and news consumers "a critical task ahead will be to stop volume
from simply overwhelming value" (ibid) and that involves human skills like
judgement and understanding context which are "embedded in social life"
(ibid:xiv). The problem is that "direct information is just noise, not
knowledge" (Graham 1998:41) and making sense of it requires effort, at the
very least. We rely on others to carry out this task. In an ideal world, where
the public's right to clean and accurate information was being safeguarded, it
would be diligently undertaken by "people whose main responsibility would be
to promote common knowledge and public understanding" (ibid). That is not
happening. Media like other businesses have been deregulated in response to
calls for greater competition, and this is producing an environment that's
"fragmenting talent and resources into too many competing entertainments
and discordant opportunities, and squeezing out serious discussion" (Seaton
1998:1)4.
Particularly sinister and unnerving has been the widespread, misleading and
duplicitous use of claims for the role of the free market within the media;
even though the social limits of markets have been known for decades
(Hirsch 1977). That those involved could embark on such a strategy, of
equating (at least in the public's mind) a free market for media businesses
with free media, is a sign of their over-confidence; no doubt because they
already had control of the value-forming debating chamber itself. They knew
that intelligent people would see immediately that their arguments were false.
In the US, journalists concerned that "independent news will be replaced by
self-interested commercialism posing as news" accused the big media owners
of acting as if the First Amendment guaranteed free economic competition
not free speech (Hargreaves 2003:7). Similar, more political, charges have
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
29
been brought against Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and Rupert Murdoch in Britain.
A leading UK academic has questioned whether the idea of media freedom
has outlived its usefulness; it has enabled media conglomerates to dominate
public discussion, peddle misinformation and shred and magnify reputations.
When the media misleads "the wells of public discourse and public life are
poisoned" (O'Neill, BBC 2002 :11).
Contemplating the content and style of the media in Britain, "it is perfectly
possible for choice to widen in a strictly numerical sense . . . and narrow in a
qualitative one (Seaton 1998:1) and, if the temptations are sufficient this is
what happens when markets anywhere are deregulated. "Market economies
need institutions around them. It has been shown that the US economy was
created by the courts and legal judgements. Without such systems you get a
'wild economy' and the law of the jungle, as happened in Russia (Castells
2003:87). Even on the international stage, even the world's dominant
economic power requires widespread acceptance of international laws and
regulations (Sands 2005:119). "The United States needs international
agreements" (ibid:237). The World Bank's book on mass media has a chapter
on 'the legal environment for news media', arguing that legal rules, principles,
institutions and actors "are necessary to foster and sustain" free and
independent media (Krug and Price 2002:205); though not sufficient. They
also observe that "a number of other factors indicate whether a free and
independent media sector can flourish" (ibid:187) 5.
There is an inevitable tension between the producers and consumers of
media. A study of the British experience of reducing media regulation
concluded that it was necessary to balance the business needs of the media
with "citizens' entitlement to information and communication" (Collins and
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
30
Murroni 1996:182) ie regulation is necessary. "Competition and markets
have a valuable role. . . but they cannot replace regulation" (ibid:183). A
less technocratic, and more recent survey of the same terrain looked at "the
very particular role played by the media in a democratic society" (Graham
1998:30) and concluded that it was nonsense to "put the enhancement of
competition before the provision of information" (ibid:35). The writer, an
economist, lists four logical reasons why the market will fail to give us "the
broadcasting that we all need and want" (ibid). First there are positive
'externalities' that the market can't allow for; second, broadcasting is a 'merit
good'; third, the market cannot value shared activities; and, most
importantly, it will not provide people with the information and means
"without which they cannot participate fully in society," which would make a
sham of claims to be a democracy (ibid:36).
The superficially appealing but specious neo-liberal response in opposition to
regulation is that ideas are like 'things' that can and should be traded in a
neutral market-place; if people like them, they buy them. New ideas emerge
and are taken up or not, so "all opinions will be served and democracy will
flourish" (Seaton 1998:124). All that's required is an open, unrestricted
forum and, of course, a free press. This simplistic, American prescription
underpins the legitimising and enhancing of "opportunities of money-backed
'freedom'" (ibid:126). Such dangers were foreseen nearly 150 years ago by
one of the greatest 'free' thinkers, John Stuart Mill, who warned of "quackery,
and especially of puffing" (1836), which he saw as:
"the inevitable fruits of immense competition; of a state of society
where any voice not pitched in an exaggerated key is lost in the
hubbub. Success in so crowded a field depends not on what a person
is, but what he seems; marketable qualities become the object instead
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
31
of substantial ones; and a man's labour and capital are expended less
in doing anything than in persuading other people that he had done
it."
The strongest advocates and defenders of this pernicious arrangement are
those most accomplished at 'quacking and puffery', the rich and powerful. In
their world the loudest argument must (by their competitive logic) be the
best and those voices that can't be heard, can't be important. Unchallenged,
they shout and bully their way to a position where they write the rules,
reprogramme our way of thinking and establish what may well be a selffulfilling,
self-reinforcing state of horror from which there is no easy escape.
It does not, or did not, have to be like this. Mill himself saw the dangers of
misunderstanding the nature of human 'political' discourse and how to avoid
them; "instead of a Darwinian jungle, he sees the argument-market as a kind
of cauldron, in which ideas of varying strength and merit are adapted and
fuse" (Seaton 1998:127) to the benefit of us all. It is not just about the
right to be heard but about the obligation "to protect a climate in which
genuine argument can flourish" (ibid). Mill explained why subjecting
arguments to public scrutiny was such a good idea:
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is
robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation;
those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it.
If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of
exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great
a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth,
produced by its collision with error." (1859)
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
32
There's a worrying footnote to the current arrogance of those who have
captured the debate. Eighty years ago, the economist John Maynard Keynes
argued persuasively that markets are not self-correcting, at least not in any
realistic time-scale: "in the long run we are all dead" (Keynes 1924). Then he
was contemplating the Great Depression; this time far worse is in prospect
and "no providential forces will inevitably intervene to save us" (Giddens
1990:173). Self evidence is not enough (Wright 2005, Lovelock 2006,
Castells 2003, Diamond 2005)2. Markets are intrinsically incapable of giving
proper weight to that which is not clear, obvious and measurable;
externalities like the future, social impact and the environment, will be
ignored at least until it may be too late. Global warming is described by the
distinguished author of the recent study 'The Economics of Climate Change"
as "the greatest market failure the world has ever seen" (Stern 2006);
enabling commentators again to muse on whether "capitalism really does
contain the seeds of its own destruction" (Keegan 2006).
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33
4
On whether globalisation brings 'good' media closer
Having shown that 'good media' are indeed necessary for 'good development'
and that they are under fearsome attack from the forces whose interests are
threatened by the transforming changes involved, this final chapter before
the case studies, examines 'globalisation'. The key question is what impact it
will have (and is having) on good media, rather than the over-ambitious (in
this context) broad relationship between globalisation and development;
though at times this context will be relevant.
Although it is still a highly contested concept, globalisation is "here to stay",
according to the best known constructive critic of the subject, who puts
forward a useful working definition:
" the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world
which has been brought about by the enormous reduction of costs of
transportation and communication, and the breaking down of artificial
barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and (to a
lesser extent) people across borders." (Stiglitz 2002:9)
It also seems to involve "the emergence of new international actors and
institutions such as the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, transnational
corporations . . ." (Kothari et al 2002:18). It is typified by an unprecedented
"interpenetration of financial markets and cultures" (Hutton 1995). And
although the causal links remain the subject of debate, "one of the most
potent driving forces has been the speed and spread of communications . . ."
(Kothari et al, quoting UNDP 1999, 2002:18). Globalisation describes how
ICTs "have fundamentally transformed both how ideas travel and the nature
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
34
of their final destination" (Gibney 2003:4). So there are plenty of precedents
for looking at the ICT revolution and globalisation as aspects at least of the
same overall phenomenon, without having to pin down the exact nature of
the relationship between them.
Two aspects of globalisation directly affect the media -- ownership and
technology. They have been working together to produce the kind of mass
media lamented in the previous chapter. The prospects are far worse than
the current reality already outlined. Not only is news-of-significance-topeople
being underreported and overshadowed by sport and financial news
and celebrity gossip but the process by which this has happened is not
discussed in the mainstream media, apart from the odd reference to 'dumbing
down'. Certainly nothing that would awake or alert or get through to the
general public. "Journalism was supposed to provide reliable records of the
real. Now, it seems, a stew of journalism, entertainment and infotainment
establishes what is taken to be real" (Dornan 2001). Or as the thoughtful
British journalist John Lloyd put it: "we are constructing the world. We need
to take our power, media power, seriously and we need to unpick what we are
doing to the world" (Lloyd 2002). For some, this is a business opportunity
not a problem: "why change policies when you can change public perceptions
of them?" (Madeley 1999:165).
The virtual, fabricated world is decisive now in crucial spheres of our
existence; "in the network society, politics is media politics". The media are
"the public space where power is played out and decided" (Castells
2003:79). And "in politics, democracy itself is at stake in this world of highspeed,
always-on news", where the "journalist's judgement and honesty" is
being tested "more routinely and at greater speed than ever before"
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
35
(Hargreaves 2003:4). Less frenetically, from deeper inside academe, it's
observed that "the mass media are today an essential part of the climate in
which democracy may languish or flourish" (Seaton 1998:117). So if they
have been compromised and corralled by competition and corporate interests
then the raw material on which informed debate depends may not be
available, leading to decisions that are not necessarily in the wider public
interest. And these may (undoubtedly will) include policies on the media and
media ownership, perhaps limiting even further the possibilities for debate
and change. "The very particular role played by the media in a democratic
society" (Graham 1998:30) is one of the key reasons why the increasing
concentration of media ownership is so undesirable (ibid:33).
Globalisation, or at least the ICT revolution, has brought some benefits to the
media and even the mass media. "Digital technologies have opened exciting
possibilities . . . lower[ing] the costs of entry to the industry, potentially
increasing media diversity and the range of viewpoints. They also enable the
media to become more interactive" (Key sheets 2003). A former journalist
has hopes that "blogging and digital storytelling will acquire even greater
potential as high speed communications networks take shape . . . (and) might
help to fill the gaps in local and community news networks" as the big
corporations have withdrawn from less profitable businesses (Hargreaves
2003:257). And one of the development gurus sees the scope to make a
difference as simply mind-blowing: "small actions can be more significant. . .
international action by citizens and civil society can be coordinated in ways
that were almost unimaginable before the 1990s" (Chambers 2005:203). It
means that "citizens have found ways to have their voices heard and to
influence the decisions and practices of larger institutions that affects their
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
36
lives" (Gaventa 2001). "In this post-information age, little flaps quickly
become big winds" (Beck and Cowan 2005:297).
"Every computer-owner becomes, in effect, a media proprietor" (Seaton
1998:6) and every camera-phone a "primitive television station" (Hargreaves
2003:242). As the internet moves to a 'read-write' medium not just 'readonly',
"media are becoming democratised and a global conversation is
emerging" (Gillmore 2006a), using blogs and wikis and web-mashups and
youtubes and podcasting. It may be true that most blogs have only one
reader (the blogger) (Schmidt 2006) but some, out of war-zones for
example, have been influential and some (Matt Drudge) have threatened to
bring down presidents (Hargreaves 2003:249). ICTs are also creating and
sustaining communities, whether of old school friends, Welsh-language
speakers, bargain-hunters, dog-breeders or academics; the power of
networking can enable "the rediscovery of research and knowledge as a moral
and connecting force" (Duffield 2001:265).
However, as students of social capital understand, these forces are not
always good. A sense of community and identity can be fanned by tubthumping,
hate media. ICTs can impact nationally, as in Rwanda, and locally
too; in the Lozells area of Birmingham in 2005, low-cost pirate radio's
allegations of inter-community rape caused riots (BBC 2005). The new
technology "is both a unifier and a polariser; the truth is much faster on the
internet but falsehoods are too; more globalisation, more tribalism", the
verdict of one of the key players, Eric Schmidt, Head of Google, (Schmidt
2006). Central to these debates is "the need for reasoning and for freedom"
(UNDP 2004:24).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
37
The biggest threat from ICTs to conventional media though, comes from
business, according to the Center for Citizen Media, and this "bodes badly for
the way we've supported journalism over the past century or so" (Gillmor
2006b). Much of it has been funded by advertising and much of that
revenue is now heading for the net (classified ads to eBay and targeted ads
to Google etc) leaving less to pay for the sound journalism that is the
"foundation of an informed citizenry in self-governing nations" (ibid). Even
here the sword has two-edges; the BBC, with its non-market business model,
is making its output more responsive and appealing to its web-uses with
constantly updated lists of most-read and most-emailed stories, to rival the
selections of its trained journalists. It also puts out regular appeals for the
public to "Help us make the news, with your pictures, views and stories" (BBC
2007).
This is the future, as seen by one of the heavyweights of global broadcasting,
Chris Cramer, a former BBC journalist, who's been head of newsgathering at
CNN for a decade. Television news is moving to broadband "harnessing the
power of mobile phones and user-generated content" (Cramer 2007). He
cites the execution of Saddam Hussein to show how this can produce "real
journalism and richer journalism"; but sees an ongoing role for the journalist
and journalism to filter out the crap (ibid). It's the dilemma sketched out
earlier; where unfiltered information is just noise but news is the
reformulation of information as a commodity; Chomsky's "constant terrain of
struggle" (2003:76).
The same battle on new ground. The iconic symbol of globalisation, the net
itself, is under threat, with "libertarian conservative thinkers" assaulting the
"network neutrality" that has opened up communications thanks to "the
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
38
balance between regulation and market forces" (Thompson 2006). And the
colonisation of the new discourse has begun, the ICT revolution "increases
consumer choice and reduces the leverage of governments seeking to control
content for political or cultural reasons" (Owen 2002:185). Apparently, even
CNN has been involved in "the construction of a global public sphere
'platform' . . . [which also supports] political communication for a global civil
society" (Volkmer 1999:5). However, in the absence of effective institutions
of global governance, it is not easy to see the mechanisms through which the
opinions expressed from this platform will shape policies. Similar questions
can perhaps be asked about Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera International. What
are they for?
Global media may even be helping to entrench and extend some negative
trends observed by other authors, charting the "rise in global social
movements"; for example by highlighting, in general, "what political
mechanisms exist to demand the accountability of global actors and in whose
interests is this new global infrastructure working?" (Kothari et al 2002:20).
A leading European expert cautions that "civil society is not made up of
angels" (Hamelink 1998); leaving aside the genocide and crime committed
under the civil society umbrella, he points out more mundanely that "many
NGOs around the world are far more undemocratic than many governments"
(ibid). Sometimes the need to survive and be successful and professional in
the cut and thrust of confrontational media (whether or not they too are part
of civil society), seems to be counter-productive. These 'global citizens'
emerging from newly strengthened civil society and benefiting from
'colonialising' capacity-building programmes move away during this process
from those they were supposed to represent (Mayo 2005:52).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
39
Aping the ways of those they oppose or staying true to who they are, it is
clear now that they are unlikely to win; though for a while they took the
initiative. Foundations were laid in Copenhagen at the 1995 World Summit on
Social Development and eye-catching action started four years later at the
World Trade Organisation's gathering in Seattle, grabbing media headlines,
and organised via the web. Then Prague and Washington and Genoa; these
ordinary citizens, marching in the streets, reported on by the media, "have
put the need for reform on the agenda of the developed world" (Stiglitz
2002:9). On to the success of Jubilee 2000, protesting against global
economic policy and third world debt and the 'stop the MAI campaign'
resisting the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
However, it's not so easy these days; their ways were observed, surprise is
no more and the defences have been erected. The reactions of free-market
advocacy groups have in turn been monitored to reveal that "the counterattack
has begun" (Sassen 2003:201), targeting the influential NGOs.
Another researcher quotes a former OECD official as talking about "more
proactive defence" in future and has noted the activities of the Institute of
Public Affairs in Australia, which, he says, has been liaising with the American
Enterprise Institute about limiting NGOs "growing influence" (Mowbray
2005:203). The way the 'Make Poverty History' campaign in Britain in 2005
was 'neutralised' was not accidental, according to some of those involved.
"A serious occasion was turned into a celebration of celebrities" (Abugre
2005). When it comes to a media competition of 'puffing and quackery'
there's only going to be one winner. And that kind of trivialising of the public
debate on these development issues was inevitable, bearing in mind who
owns, or at least dominates, the debating arena itself.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
40
How much more disenfranchising this whole system must seem for those who
have not been sought out for assertiveness workshops or media relations
training. Who have been left to rot. In a survey of 10,000 of the world's
poorest, two deep frustrations about being poor came up "with amazing
regularity -- insecurity and powerlessness" (Bauman 2001:2). The billions of
human beings who have missed out on 'development', who are part of what
Manuel Castells has dismissed as 'the fourth world', excluded from his 'space
of flows' living instead in a space that is moving from "a structural position of
exploitation to a structural position of irrelevance" (Castells 1993:37). What
do you do? Eek out an existence on one or two dollars a day, watching your
children die or be so disadvantaged by their poverty that they don't stand a
chance. Or does your despair lead to violence (ethnic or genocidal) or take
you into the criminal economy (trading drugs, weapons, people or human
organs) or do you seek your salvation in religion or 'terrorism'. It would not
be surprising if you felt "opposition to an overall model of development that
threatens cultural identity as it expands across the planet" (ibid:39),
particularly if you have no way of expressing your anger and no prospect of it
making much difference if you did.
What's different about this crisis of capitalism is that it extends way beyond
national borders; and that it seems to be self-reinforcing. It has neutralised
the critical and concerned voices both by dominating the public debate and
by ensuring that it has control of the main media where such debates have to
take place if they are to rouse the public sufficiently for those in power to
have to listen, and respond. The watchdogs have been castrated; opposition
is being silenced or left to howl where people can ignore it. The naive
optimists who believe that teaching and enabling the poor to have a voice will
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
41
somehow change the world are underestimating the power and determination
of the media gate-keepers.
In the last twenty years or so, capital has gone global and is rampant;
creating a scalar imperative for the monster to be given a sense of human
direction. Its own herd-instinct certainly can't be trusted. Imagine you are a
woolly mammoth; in the middle of a large group of woolly mammoths,
wandering along, doing whatever you do and minding your own business.
Your companions move a bit faster; you do too, not knowing what is taking
you in this direction; perhaps a little faster still and then, oblivion; and soon
extinction, for all woolly mammoths. What you did not know (and being a
woolly mammoth, probably could not know) was that the driving force that
killed you was human greed and stupidity. Having discovered how to kill one
mammoth (to feed his family), man (sic) worked out how to kill more than
one; then applying himself more diligently to the problem brainstormed his
way to killing hundreds, by driving them over a cliff! Then there were no
more woolly mammoths (Lovelock 2006, Wright 2005). It looks like human
beings have done this kind of things quite often before (ibid). It's a shock for
some of us but probably we do not have a God-given or any other right to
survive7.
All the signs and signals are that newly unchained global capital is polluting
and gobbling its way through non-renewable resources, constitutively too
short-sighted to have any idea where it's heading. "The logic of unfettered
scientific and technological development will have to be confronted if serious
and irreversible harm is to be avoided" (Giddens 1990:170). This means that
people have to take control and provide a sense of sensible direction, which
will require clean information and thoughtful debate and rational decision-
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
42
making, which cannot happen without 'good' media. However, global media
are not, cannot be, free; by definition they're part of global capitalism.
Whether the internet will remain robust enough to enable a new kind of free
global media is pending -- the omens so far are not good.
It is not necessary to argue that some fundamentally malevolent cabal of
arch-capitalists and crazed neo-liberals is meeting weekly to plan the capture
of the world. They don't need to. The invisible, inevitable workings of the
system we have all embraced will do the job for them, unless we choose to
stop it. A careful reading of 'Power and Prosperity', Mancur Olson's insightful
final work, shows why this is likely. He demonstrates that markets are
ubiquitous (2000:173); that they exist where "the gains from making trades
are significant and . . . the trades are self-enforcing" ie both parties will
honour the deal that they have made (ibid:180). When stable institutions
are created that provide such certainty for more complex trading (and
complex production) then societies are able to achieve rapid economic
growth (ibid:194) as Adam Smith's invisible hand also plays its part (1776).
The problem is that on a global level, by Olson's own theory of narrow and
encompassing interests, the gains for the few are massive, the losses, spread
out across the world, for each individual are (or initially seem to be) so small
and perhaps uncertain that it is easy not to bother about them, particularly if
you have enough to eat and some seductive media to entertain and occupy
your thoughts.
To digress slightly, for reasons that should become obvious, a simple Marxist
analysis would suggest that the technological shift powering the ICT
revolution is so fundamental that it must lead to new means of production,
which it is doing, more or less by definition. These are requiring, and will
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43
require, new relationships of production, again this is self-evidently the case
(and is to some extent charted (or forecast) by Castells). The tensions
involved between capital (business) and labour (the people), and between the
old and the new ways of doing things, need to be worked through and that's
what's happening now. If it is indeed true that "history . . . has no teleology"
(Giddens 1990:154) then the direction in which we go is a human decision.
"Technology alone cannot dictate its ultimate route. Social life, social needs,
social aspirations remain critical influences;" even if the claims for the newest
technology can be dazzling? (Brown and Duguid 2000:x)8.
Within the nation state, in many ways that has been the history of the last
century, attaining a balance between the interests of capital and labour
(growth and equity if you like), with a spread of solutions from Sweden to the
United States, each within their own preferences and priorities, reflecting
their shared values. Now, somehow, a kind of global compact is needed to
mirror the national settlements that were achieved after the Second World
War. Only it may be much more urgent. And it is without doubt much more
complicated, involving trade-offs between growth and equity on a global level
(which has not been done before) as well as nationally, where the previous,
country-by-country consensuses have been destabilised by the new-found
power of worldly, footloose capital, able to dominate the debate and enforce
its preferences.
Amartya Sen does see hope for the future in the very workings of capitalism
and market economies, identifying there an ethical substructure without
which capitalism itself could not continue (1999:262), for example trust and
mutually beneficial behaviour. He suggests, as I have pointed out elsewhere
(Lomas 2006b), that as we try to "lead the kind of lives that we have reason
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
44
to value" we can identify "patent injustice" when we encounter it and that,
through open discussion and debate about it, we may reach shared values.
"The freedom to participate in critical evaluations and in the process of value
formation is among the most crucial freedoms of social existence" (Sen
1999:287). Part of the process of development includes "the liberty of
acting as citizens who matter and whose voices count" (ibid:288). "Informed
and unregimented formation of our values requires openness of
communication and arguments, and the freedom of the press cannot but be
crucial to this process" (Sen 2001:80). Interestingly, these arguments are
reminiscent of the mission of 'good journalism' set out many pages ago, to
provide "the information and argument that enables societies to work
through their disagreements and to know their priorities" (Hargreaves
2003:29).
Central as freedom of the press is for the process of development, it won't
just happen; its functions are not "mechanical or automatic" (Sen 2001:81).
"Freedom for the news media has very seldom been conceded by the state
without a fight" (Hargreaves 2003:74). "The most dangerous threat to any
democratic government is . . . people's indifference"; do they care enough to
stop the "pollution of their media environment" (Hamelink 1998). As
explained, this time the forces benefiting from the status quo have taken
control of the means by which the people might be roused from their mediainduced
torpor. Over time, unless crushed, it is normal for special interests to
entrench their positions and plunder societies for their own benefit (Olson
2000:98); he observes that after what he calls 'a catastrophe' such societies
will often grow (and develop?) extraordinarily rapidly (ibid).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
45
The World Bank's manual on 'The Role of the Media in Economic Development'
advises people to "fight for a free press . . . [even] in countries with
nondemocratic and arbitrary governments" (Islam 2002:22); and the UN has
already been quoted as calling, more cautiously, for "popular mobilisation to
sustain the political will for achieving" the MDGs, offering the caveat that this
"requires open, participatory political cultures" (UN 2003:2), ie code for free
media. Otherwise, when they have "no alternatives, no way to express their
concern, to press for change, people riot" (Stiglitz 2002:22); this places their
concerns on the agenda of those with power. Anyway, "conflicts are endemic
in any society and are essential to useful and constructive change" (Lynch
2002:69)9.
The foreword to the Olson book, written after his death, suggests that some
societies have "more locked-in institutional arrangements" than others
(Cadwell 2000:xiv). He advocates that both elites and "popular political
forces" should be told "more creatively" about what they're missing (ibid). It
sounds like a tentative version of the radical awareness-raising
'conscientization" of Paulo Freire in Brazil (Freire 1972); or more recent
insights from Southern Africa, for anyone concerned with development: "the
abuse of power tends to thrive where consciousness is lacking" (Kaplan
1996:116); changing this means laying bare "the unconscious dynamics that
bind us" (ibid p117). If media are excluded from playing their part in
developing their societies, perhaps journalists have to consider trying to
enable themselves to do that. After all, history shows that chaos and
confusion often free up sclerotic structures for reform, making space for free
media at the absolute core of equitable development; (experiences after
World War Two instructive).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
46
5
Original research
5.1 Research objectives
To recap the conclusions from the literature: 'good' media are necessary for
'good' development on anything beyond the very local level5. Good media are
under attack and are fast disappearing; thirdly, globalisation is accelerating
this process and is looking unstoppable. All this at a time when the need for
'good' media, offering clean information and a forum for honest debate has
never seemed more urgent, at least in part because of the economic,
environmental and political impacts of the same processes of globalisation. It
seems like a vicious circle, spiralling ever faster in a direction that no thinking
person would have chosen.
For the reasons implied in the previous chapter, the case studies will
concentrate on media and development in individual countries. Even in a fast
globalising world this represents the best chance of regaining control; it's
where most key decisions are still taken. Anyway, as already shown, 'good'
global media and independent, effective global institutions do not (and
possibly cannot) exist. At the other end of the continuum, leading by
example in human-scale communities can be powerful and effective;
exemplified by Robert Chambers' "primacy of the personal" (2005:213).
However, by definition, such actions are limited in scope and time, when the
need is for more, now. Scaling up beyond the village inevitably means wider
communication and interaction and that is facilitated, if nothing else, by
'good' media, which effectively become part of genuine, nation-wide
participation. So everything seems to converge on countries.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
47
"Nation-states continue to represent key arenas of struggle, especially in
countries that have votes in key international organisations" (Mayo
2005:202). It is here, too that multi-national corporations (MNCs) the
storm-troopers of the capitalist onslaught may be tamed. Apparently, it is
wrong to call them transnational corporations because the policies of their
'home' nation have a profound influence on them, both in terms of where
they make money and their research and development (Carnoy et al
1993:87); "the nation-state is therefore still a crucial actor in the new world
economy" (ibid). Research in the US has shown that MNCs are vulnerable to
media pressure (Dyck and Zingales 2002:107), which has "a major role in
shaping the creation and accumulation of reputation" (ibid:109). It even
operates via the family, friends and professional associates of individual
executives, ie their local, personal community (ibid). Other research has
shown that "countries with a larger newspaper circulation have better
environmental responsiveness" (ibid:110). A dramatic example of public
pressure limiting the activities of corporations is the withdrawal of big oil
companies and others from Myanmar (Pegg 2003:23).
Within the nation-states there are also useful precedents to study and be
inspired by. The most appealing aspects of the Jeffery Sachs' book are his
examples of altruistic actions, often against commercial interests, taken at
the national level, at least initially: the abolition of slavery; the end of
colonialism; the removal of apartheid (Sachs 2005:361). And he might have
added, the introduction of progressive taxation and the welfare state in
Britain after the second World War. This is the touchstone issue for all
nations, "the political defining line" (Castells 2003:85).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
48
So the research that follows focuses on the media in two developing
countries, examining the relationship between media and development and, of
course, power. The first research objective is to illustrate the pressures and
circumstances preventing media from being 'good' (a sort of base-line study);
the second is to analyse what's different when, sometimes, 'good' media do
come into existence; and the third is to try to draw up some guidelines for
the establishment and survival of good media. Listing the tasks like this
implies that somehow media are free-standing and separate from the society
where they operate; the opposite is of course the case11.
The media have at their deeply reflexive core the two key functions of
informing people and providing the open forum for debating issues,
influencing decision-takers and forming values. By focusing on the
'preconditions' for 'good' media, it may be possible to produce some practical
guidelines which would not only enable 'good' media to exist but may be selfreinforcing
in a virtuous way for the society as a whole. That is the ultimate
research objective.
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49
5.2 Research methodology
The three case studies draw on original, unpublished material relating to the
role of the media in two regions, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans
(see Appendix 2 for maps). The first two cover particular events or activities
in which the author was intimately involved. This is both a strength, in
providing a deeper, more vivid and intimate insight, and a potential weakness,
unless a degree of distance and objectivity can be brought to bear. The third
one is more theoretical, being an attempt to generalise some of the ideas
emerging from the first two, into a presentation for senior media figures in
the Balkans.
These case studies do not have a heavy burden to carry. The task of the
first one is to illustrate media attitudes in a developing region where media
reform has not taken root. It will be supported anecdotally from the author's
experiences during the 1990s and more recently. The main evidence comes
from the absence of 'good' media; the case study underlines this and
illustrates how it is explained by those involved. The second case is the other
side of the coin; a burst of media energy and relevance. Its existence is
enough to show that it is possible; the study gives some indications of what
it means and how it might be sustained. This alone is a message of hope and
offers some lessons to be considered. The third example, although set out in
very practical terms, is purely theoretical, in that it takes those lessons and
seeks to construct something replicable.
The research involves what might be regarded as primary sources, but in
some senses the material is weaker than this would suggest. None of it was
set up or designed as a research study. At best it was action research, where
the wider implications and possibilities were being sought during the projects
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50
themselves, but success for the media development projects was also
important. So there are no overt control groups or attempts to select
randomly or representatively. The projects were chosen because they were
interesting and potentially do-able. They offer a privileged glimpse into the
real world of media development, with its frustrations and naiveties, and as
such are interesting and possibly of value. And this 'usefulness' may be
increased by the technique of treating them as research material, to be reexamined
now from a research perspective. As the case studies themselves
are brief, the background and methodologies involved will be kept in
proportion.
5.2.1 Jemstone
This research stretches back more than ten years when the author, at that
time a BBC journalist, became the director of a EU-funded media development
project aimed at increasing contacts and understanding between the media in
Europe and the media in the MENA region. Much of this work dealt directly
with many of the issues covered here but from a practitioner's view point.
However several publications were produced and there are many notes and
relevant reports to draw upon. The research material takes several forms:
published booklets; internal reports for the EU; working documents and notes;
and more informal information obtained from conversations, impressions and
reflection.
The case study will summarise the aims and scope of the EU project which
ran from autumn 1993 until summer 1999. It will offer some general
impressions of what was achieved and learned in the six years and it will draw
on three particular activities, where the views and opinions of those taking
part were freely expressed and recorded.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
51
The first 'activity' came after the project itself had ended, when an EUfunded
evaluation took place. However it was methodologically more
complex than this implies. The underlying aim, and the budget from which
funding was provided, related to the impact of the Med Media project on Arab
and Israeli participants and their attitudes and willingness to do more in
pursuit of peace. In order to question the earlier participants (including
Syrians) without arousing hostility and suspicion (in view of the deteriorating
political situation in the region), the apparent, public remit of the research
was the more general role and importance of the media. It was conducted
rigorously, as has been explained in some detail elsewhere and the detailed
findings are available (Lomas 2006b). The information is used cautiously
here to illustrate attitudes within the media towards the media.
Building on the experience of the Med Media project, Jemstone carried out a
series of investigative journalism workshops, funded by the Dutch
government, in Jordan, Egypt and Yemen. The first of these, in 1999, was
used as a research tool, as well as for training, with sessions identifying the
obstacles in Jordan to 'good journalism'12.
A verbatim transcript was produced at the final project event in November
1998, a three-day Round Table conference on The Impact of the Global
Information Revolution on National Identity and Local Culture. It was
attended by 150 journalists and media specialists, mostly from Europe and
the Middle East. A list of attendees and the detailed programme are available
from the author, as is the full transcript; one excerpt is included as Appendix
3. Much of the debate, while fascinating, is not strictly relevant to the
discussion here but several speakers made powerful contributions on the
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
52
problems facing the media in the Middle East in general and in Jordan, where
the conference was held. The presence of international 'observers' meant
they felt safe enough to be openly critical, though those in authority noted
publicly what was said.
5.2.2 Makfax
Just the existence of the Makfax Independent News Agency, based in Skopje
in Macedonia, goes a long way towards fulfilling the second research
objective. The case study is based around a consultants' visit and report on
'financial sustainability', ie how that existence is maintained. The 23-page
report is included as Appendix 4 and the findings are drawn from that
document, supported by recollections of the author and some subsequent
feedback from the Editor-in-Chief (Appendices 5 and 6)13.
A weakness, similar to the first case study, is that the author is intimately
involved in the research, in this case also beginning to implement the
proposals while they were being finalised, for reasons that are explained in the
report. However the intensity of the experience is also an asset in providing
access far beyond what would be available to a detached observer in five
days. Revisiting the paperwork six month later and as a researcher, should
provide sufficient time and distance to make the best of both worlds14.
5.2.3 Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
The final example makes explicit the unspoken 'how' alluded to in case study
two and tries to unpick it. To conclude that free media can exist is without
much meaning in a world where they are supposed to be essential for
equitable development unless some guidance is given about what this means
in practical terms. However, the research here is purely reflective and
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
53
theoretical. It takes the form of a three-part presentation on the subject for
media leaders in the Balkans but it has not yet been delivered.
The work was commissioned by MDLF, which describes itself as "a non-profit
investment fund providing low-cost financing to independent news media in
emerging democracies" (MDLF 2007). The particular project was a training
workshop on designing a sustainable media-business strategy and
concentrating on organisational aims, taking control of the news agenda and
improving workflows and output.
The presentation is included as Appendix 7 and the case study is a simple
narrative of the content and its relevance to this debate. It not only takes
account of globalisation and the ICT revolution but it is dependent upon them
for most of its operational conclusions. It can almost be regarded as a
logframe in reverse, ie using a temporal logic model as a tool of analysis, as
well as a template for project design and implementation. As a methodology
this makes explicit the assumptions without which it will not work and so
focuses attention on what has to be done to try to enable good media to
exist and to continue to exist.
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54
5.3 Research findings
The first two case studies have a certain symmetry; both focus on a small
country, with 'medium human development' according to UNDP's rankings
and similar per capita GDP of less than $5 a day (UNDP 2003:279). Each of
them, Jordan and Macedonia, is part of a wider region that seems to reflect
and reinforce important aspects of their identity and culture, the Middle East
and the Balkans respectively (see Appendix 2 for maps). The crucial
difference for the purposes of this research is that the power structures in
Jordan have been undisturbed for many decades, whereas they are newly
established and shifting in Macedonia, which exists because the people willed
it into being in a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia a decade and
a half ago.
A more scientific approach might involve establishing indicators for 'good'
media and for 'sclerotic' and 'non-sclerotic' societies (Olson 2000) and
seeking correlations. In a sense the impressionistic approach here may help
to show whether such an intensive undertaking would be worthwhile, and
what other variables might need to be taken into account. At the risk of
underlining again the personal nature of the research, it is worth recording
the different atmosphere, commitment and levels of energy at the Makfax
news agency in Macedonia and at many media organisations in Jordan and the
Middle East. This is well conveyed by the reports and comments that follow.
The third case study, drawing deeply on the wide experience of colleagues in
the Balkans, seeks to produce some general suggestions for establishing and
sustaining 'good' media organisations. The processes involved and the
assumptions underpinning them may also offer an analogy for development
itself, at least in the accommodation of aspirations for both growth and
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
55
equity, making money and still producing something that people find useful
and interesting.
5.3.1 Jemstone and Jordan
The aims of the EU-funded, Med Media project from which Jemstone emerged
were to increase contacts and understanding between the media in Europe
and the media in the MENA region and also to improve technical, managerial
and journalistic skills in the region's media. There were others, less overt,
including facilitating Arab-Israeli contacts, that added further layers of
complexity. Much was accomplished: over 40 training activities in six years,
involving 65 media organisations in 14 'partner' countries and 1,200
journalists and other media professionals. On the other hand, in many ways,
nothing was achieved; even the economic department at the Syrian Arab
News agency, inspired and enabled by Jemstone training, withered away
through lack of use. Individuals learned a lot and moved on; organisations
stayed the same or in some cases got worse.
This is not a systematic evaluation of the whole programme. There is a
rather limited one, produced unusually by Jemstone itself and funded by the
EU, but that is skewed towards the Arab-Israeli dimension of the work,
(Jemstone 2004), as mentioned earlier. The quotes in it that relate more
generally to journalism and the role of the media demonstrate a lot of
confusion about what 'good' journalists should be doing, perhaps not
unreasonably when faced by 'an enemy', Israel, that has invaded every one of
its immediate neighbours and bombed others15. Others are very clear:
"the media can influence public opinion, and if there are true democracies in
the world, then the public opinion should affect politics and decision-makers";
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
56
"The media's role should be first in covering the truth and telling what is
happening; that is the main core of what we can do. We still cannot do this."
Some of the reasons, in Jordan at least, preventing good journalists from
producing this straightforward good journalism were extracted from a group
of would-be investigative reporters at a workshop there in 1999. They
include economic, political, legal and cultural obstacles. The specific
examples give a good sense of what it's like trying to be a journalist in a
country like Jordan: lucrative government advertising only for preferred
publications; limited printing and distribution facilities to maintain control;
arbitrary and changing bureaucratic procedures; a culture of secrecy and
deference; low pay so journalists need two or three jobs to make ends meet
(Jemstone 1999).
This view from the front-line of local journalism is complemented and set in
context by a public critique by the then editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times,
Abdullah Hassanat. The full speech, at a Round Table Conference on global
media, is compelling and is reproduced in Appendix 3;
" . . . In a country of meagre natural resources, where family and clan bonds
are stronger than any other bond, self-interest overshadows all other
interests. Since all civil servants from the prime minister down are appointed
not elected, mostly for reasons other than merit, and while horizontal loyalty
is to the clan, vertical loyalty is to the immediate boss and the system as a
whole. In such an environment, there is a great deal of mistrust.
Functionaries and non-functionaries alike are subjected to surveillance, not to
determine how loyal they are to their mandate, but to ensure their loyalty to
their bosses and to the system. Aware of this, all functionaries keep silent,
and refrain from criticising even basic government policies less they're
branded disloyal, the easiest and most applied tactic to end a person’s
career.
However, nowhere does our pathetic performance manifest itself as it does in
the media; not only are our newspapers carbon copies of each other, their
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57
rhetoric is tiresome . . . Various governments and successive information
ministers have made media bashing their top priority. Newspapers witnessed
over the years, closures, takeovers and as a cynical journalist put it, chief
editors landing on them by parachutes. Good and credible journalists have
either left the country or are about to leave, or abandoned journalism all
together."
The audience was aware of a hint of menace in the response from the
chairman of the conference session, the Head of Jordan's Institute of
Diplomacy, part of course, of that powerful establishment:
"Based on what Mr. Hassanat has said I am surprised that he is still chief
editor of the Jordan Times."
This brave, perceptive and moving account of media realities in Jordan
changed nothing of course. The structures and determination to maintain the
status quo are still in place; drawing attention to them does not remove
them. Just as providing step-by-step blueprints to a fairer world does not
make it happen. That requires people to have the means to demand it and
the power to insist their voice is listened to.
5.3.2 Makfax
The independent Macedonian news agency was established in 1992, the year
after secession from the Yugoslav Federation, and it began operations the
following year. It currently describes itself as "the first and still the only
trust-worthy and nonpartisan news service in Macedonia" (Makfax 2007)16.
The short consultancy visit took place in June 2006, funded by the Swedish
Helsinki Committee, an organisation with the objective of building up
democratic society in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Its main aims are: "the
development of the civilian society, a renewed media structure and finally
improved respect of human rights" (SIDA 2003:9).
The specific brief is set out in the mission's terms of reference (Lomas and
Brewer 2006:15, see Appendix 4) and can be summarised as proposing a
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
58
sustainable strategy for Makfax as an independent news organisation. This
meant that every aspect of the current operation was examined, including the
organisational structure, managerial systems and editorial workflows. Many
of the 20 staff were interviewed and the daily operation was observed and
questioned. A range of proposals was put forward, discussed, tested and in
some cases implemented during the consultancy visit. A progress report was
provided by the Head of Makfax in autumn 2006 (see Appendix 5).
The agency is a working example of a vibrant, independent news organisation,
and so fulfils the minimum requirement of the second research objective. In
addition it gives support to two earlier suggestions: one, that such
organisations appear in what might be termed non-sclerotic societies (Olson
2000:92); and two, that they are powered by visionary, committed and often
charismatic individuals. Macedonia came into existence after a referendum in
favour of leaving Yugoslavia and during its brief existence has been
destabilised by events in neighbouring Kosovo and fighting within Macedonia
itself in 2001.
Throughout this time Risto Popovski led, trained and inspired his respected
team of journalists to produce "high quality, honest, dependable, accurate,
fast news"; 50 to 60 stories a day -- an "indispensable and unique" service
(Lomas and Brewer 2006:18). He explained his motivations in reply to
questions from the author in February 2007 (see Appendix 6):
" There are no big secrets, or some special visions. . . From March 1990 until
the middle of 1992 I worked as a correspondent from Moscow for Tanjug
[the official Yugoslav news agency]. Those were chaotic times of change,
times of nationalistic craziness, wars, killings, revolutions, and disintegration
of states.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
59
. . . During the time I was in Moscow, the first private news agency Interfax
was formed in USSR/Russia. I received and read their news items. I liked the
way they worked, most of all the freedom to state the truth, and to deliver it
quickly. Besides I knew personally the people that ran the agency.
. . . While I was still in Moscow the idea came to me to create an independent
news agency modelled on Interfax. I integrated some of their experience, as
well as the suffix to the name Makfax/Interfax.
. . . The basic idea was to create a professional agency that will deliver
truthfully and professionally . . . Makfax is a media that informs, not supports
and creates political options."
This example proves nothing beyond the minimum mentioned above but it
does give a good impression of what is required to bring it about and the
compromises and commitment needed to maintain it. The mission report
deals with technical issues of introducing new technology, increasing
efficiency, seeking out new markets and maintaining standards, as a route to
sustainability. It offers an insight into the core relationship between a good
news organisation and the public it is serving; and the "creative tensions here
between traditional news values and the news content likely to support
revenue-raising" (ibid:16). This of course draws attention to the public, both
as consumers and as citizens in need of information and poses questions
about the role and limits of the market.
5.3.3 Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
The attached presentation (Appendix 7) should be regarded as a work in
progress. Its three 'chapters' were a practical attempt to bring together
media development experiences in the Middle East and the Balkans. Couched
for senior practitioners and relating directly to their concerns, rather than a
researcher's perspective, they attempt to show how 'good journalism' can
survive and thrive.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
60
A key assumption is mentioned in a throw-away phrase on the final slide
"vision and leadership and personal commitment are still essential"; like Risto
Popovski's personal refusal to be "influenced by the government, political
party or a lobby group" (Appendix 6), (or the BBC's institutionalised
insistence on "accuracy, fairness and impartiality" (BBC 4th edition)).
Without these, 'good journalism' disappears under the pressures and
temptations of political and economic survival, as in Jordan or Western
infotainment TV. Such vision and commitment is rare and precious and needs
to be protected and nurtured when it is encountered17.
However, as the plaintive Abdullah Hassanat demonstrated in Jordan it is not
enough. The ground has to be fertile if 'good' journalism is to spring up and
flourish. The organisation that commissioned these presentations, the Media
Development Loan Fund, has been involved in this field since the mid 1990s,
providing over US $50 million of low-cost financing to 135 projects in 18
countries (MDLF 2007). It takes this same approach of finding and
supporting 'champions' to enable them "to make the most of their dedication
to objectivity and accuracy, building solid businesses around the core values
of independent journalism" (ibid). Experience has taught it to restrict its
activities to what it calls 'emerging democracies', where, MDLF's
Development Director argues "assistance to independent media is essential if
civil society is to take root" (Schneider 2006:2). The aim is to create
leading news businesses that are also social institutions embodying "a
commitment to truthful and ethical journalism" (ibid).
This 'fusion' is encapsulated in the MDLF phrase 'core editorial proposition',
which, at the start of the presentation, brings together the concerns of the
audience, the journalists and the advertisers to lay the foundations for a
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
61
realistic, worthwhile, sustainable media organisation. Another unspoken
assumption here is that there is an enabling legislative environment that
reflects and supports people's desire for 'good media' or at least doesn't
undermine and destroy it, (this is probably implicit in the concept of
'emerging democracies'). And also that the output of this 'good' journalism
is of some use; "So you give people the truth -- what are they going to do
with it if they don't have democracy?" (Jemstone 1999:6). All of which
raises again questions about the role of 'good' media, in the absence of a
such a supportive environment.
The presentation deals with practical concerns of media managers, like the
openings offered by new technologies, which may create space for more
freedom, both directly and by providing opportunities for dynamic, nimble
media organisations. These are explored in some detail and show how a news
organisation can operate efficiently, maximising the scope for raising revenue
and improving output. There are implications for how news is gathered,
quality-controlled and distributed, all to the high journalistic standards that
have been extolled throughout these pages, what's called by MDLF 'the news
machine'. This supplies the trusted information without which "we can have
neither the democracy in which we believe nor the economic growth and
consumer choice we desire" (Hargreaves 2003:2).
However, 'good' media must do more than find out what's going on,
understand it and pass it on, interestingly, to the public, though often this is
all that can be aspired to (and is itself a worthy and useful task). A
definitional element of 'good' journalism, so constitutive to the undertaking
that it is frequently overlooked or taken for granted, is the 'news sense' or
journalistic instinct that keeps the media in touch with the people. This is the
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
62
other half of the two-way communication; not just those with power
informing those without, but those without questioning and holding
accountable in some ways those who have power. Like Sen's politicians
taking notice of famines if they want to stay in power (Sen 1999:169), a
good media organisation is looking after the interests of its public if it wants
to continue in business.
Rather than dealing with such concerns head-on, as the presentation was for
senior journalists, it works on practical strategies to make the news more
"useful, interesting and sustainable" (Appendix 7). The direction of the
'news-machine' needs to be set by reference to the public, rather than by the
advertisers or the government, though pragmatic concern for sustainability
ensures they're not ignored either. In practice, institutionalising this focus,
means a well-resourced forward-planning desk and focussed specialisation, or
issue-led journalism.
The knowledge, information and contacts acquired in developing this
expertise enable trustable journalists to set the news agenda, rather than
hopping about to the tunes blasted out by the official organs of information
or succumbing to the seductions of the private sector. If journalists have
noted, for example, that a Minister (or a polluting company) has promised
action and promised it within three months, then they can revisit the story to
see what's been done And compare it with what might have been done or
what other countries or companies have done. Without such elementary
diligence the media organisation forgets and next time the Minister's or the
PR executive's promises are more elaborate, in the knowledge that she got
away with it last time.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
63
By focussing on public concerns and not letting go, the media become the
forum where such issues are debated and where views are put forward and
tested and synthesised; where intelligent opinions are shaped and core values
formed. Not necessarily within one media organisation but in the
disorganised rabble of voices that together reflect the society within which
they exist and are valued; "raucous press freedom" (Marr 2004:xv).
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
64
6
Conclusions
Free media are essential for equitable development; can they
exist? They have to. The alternative is worse than it seems. The human
equivalent of the kind of environmental tipping point 'foreseen' by James
Lovelock and others: the end of trust. It is definitional of the 'good'
journalist to earn trust. In her absence what public figure could be trusted?
What chance of equitable development without her? And in an inequitable
world without trust what hope for any of us? Unwilling to depend on one
another or co-operate or share ideas, we condemn ourselves to a neo-liberal
jungle where the super-rich demand more, as the children of the poor die in
their thousands.
It is happening. The media are under threat and caving in. In the face of
such overwhelming power we watch Big Brother, rather than studying Orwell's
original (1949). We are not the victims of a capitalist conspiracy; as
explained earlier, it is just the default position of our economic system. If we
don't say Stop! Enough! then it keeps on going. With decent capitalists at
the controls, all competitively believing there is no alternative. And if they
have gutted the media, as well as destroying the rain forests and polluting
the earth, who will tell us when they have gone too far? How will we know?
It is difficult to imagine a "decent society" without "brave, intelligent, probing
journalism" (Marr 2004:64). To operationalise such sentiments for
development, in what possible circumstances would a society not have free
media? This might be a good starting point for any (and every) well-meaning
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
65
intervention or poverty reduction strategy. It seems reasonable to conclude
that the absence of 'good' media (media placing the public's right to know at
their heart) is a clear indication that the society is probably run by a
government that itself does not have at its absolute core the obligation to
govern in the interests of the people as a whole? And that seems likely to
mean that development policies and spending are not focussed on benefiting
the people as a whole? How much funding should such a government be
given? Is this the kind of place where FDI (the motor of so much
'development' these days) should be encouraged?
Those who don't understand this relationship are lavishing millions of dollars
on the media in developing countries to try to make them 'good'. It is not
that simple, it does not work; for the reasons explained by Abdullah Hassant
in Jordan and implicit in the decision of MDLF to focus their resources on
'emerging democracies'. Not only is it often futile and a waste of
development money but, even if 'successful', such a directionless strategy
will increase and entrench the power of non-democratic, self-serving
governments, by refining and professionalising their toothless media which
can thereby better misinform and disenfranchise the populations. Unless of
course that was the intention all along.
Development is about shifting power. Were it to be true that media are
influential enough to do that, would those with the power allow others to
take over the media? Many times we have had to warn over-enthusiastic
journalists, emboldened and motivated by training workshops, to take care on
returning home. Commitment and vision can be a short-cut to unemployment
and exile, if not worse in some countries. There often is an important role for
free media in such circumstances but it requires more planning and
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
66
preparation than being lectured at for a week on the ethics of Western
journalism. Few development organisations are involved with directly
fomenting revolutionary change however wicked and repressive the
government18.
So funders, wanting good development, should demand a thorough impact
assessment before supporting even one more media training activity. Such
vital work is the cutting-edge task of the future, not for tired old former- or
naive would-be-journalists but for those sceptics who have seen and recoiled
from the damage caused by current policies. Governments' professed
support for media freedom must be tested sceptically before multi-million
dollar (or occasionally euro) programmes are approved. Media should be
required to report openly and fully, in all local languages, on the funds being
provided. And this should be a requirement before the next tranche is
provided. Effectively it would be a condition but that word is best avoided
with its overtones of outside interference in the workings of sovereign
governments. Though how could this be a problem here? All that's being
required is that the source of the sovereignty (the people) should be
informed by their media what is being done with the money entrusted to their
government for their benefit? And given the chance to comment.
So, what should be done? Diagnosis. As the absurdly influential Dollar Report
does (World Bank 1998); only here on behalf of the people as a whole, not
just potential providers of FDI?. Seek good societies, with the 'right' policies;
those where the government is trying to operate on behalf of the people as a
whole. How will they be found? Easy -- good media are at least tolerated
there. As in Macedonia you will know. There will be a buzz, an energy, a
mission about the organisation and, almost always, an inspiring individual
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
67
driving it. The society around will be unfrozen, or unfreezing, not locked up
by entrenched interests ensuring that the activities of the many are
disproportionately benefiting the few, or where the welfare of the many
seems irrelevant to the few.
Having diagnosed, then brutal triage -- this is an emergency and funds for
media development are scarce. Dollar too concentrates on those he favours.
But in this case the favoured few are 'good' journalists. To be successful
they need talent, commitment and leadership and the sort of environment
where they can operate. If it exists then work with the journalists. If not
then be tough and realistic; without thriving, good media the government will
not operate in the interests of the people as a whole (or at least not for
long). The prescription is clearly laid out by David Dollar. Just substitute the
words 'good media' for 'right economic policies' and you become a 'midwife'
to a government looking after its people as a whole. His five key
recommendations would become:
* target financial assistance to those low-income countries with good
media and policies supporting good media;
* policy-based aid should nurture policy reform that enables good media
to thrive;
* give less to countries where good media are not monitoring what is
done with aid; like the fungibility argument, without active good media the
money will slip off into pockets where it will not benefit the people;
* projects should focus on creating and sharing knowledge and capacity;
judging "what works in service provision" should not be left to outsiders but
judged by well trained, local, 'good' media in touch with the people;
* "aid agencies need to find alternative approaches to helping highly
distorted countries" -- the 'pockets of reform' here will be groups of
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
68
committed, honest, good journalists determined to do what is genuinely best
for their countries. (ibid:4 to 6)
A footnote: for those who would argue that Dollar's approach is selfsustaining,
as it is about attracting the funds that bring 'development': what
kind of development? Good media are necessary for good development. The
investment decisions underpinning Dollar are made by individuals and groups
of individuals, based within their own countries and influenced by their own
media. If these media too are 'good' then good change can follow, even on a
global scale.
FREE MEDIA ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: CAN THEY EXIST?
69
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Notes
1 The British experience where the high-fliers from many of the best universities
fight it out to enter journalism is not universal; in many countries it is a job at least
half-way down the pecking order and well behind the pharmacists and engineers and
family lawyers.
2 A wise and perceptive senior media figure in Jordan shared his assessment of
such global TV with 150 leading European and Middle Eastern media thinkers and
practitioners at a Jemstone Round Table on 'The Impact of the Global Information
Revolution on National Identity and Local Culture':
"It has allowed the rich and advanced West to . . . propagate their value systems and
impose either consciously or unconsciously their culture on the weaker nations. . .
dictating on others the way they should behave, eat, drink etc and interfere in their
daily lives. . . . Traditionalists find refuge in the past and this has created what is
called fundamentalism in the Middle East." (El Sharif 1998)
3 At other times, in other conflicts, facts have been created for similar reasons:
Macedonia (Lynch 2002:22); Israel-Palestine (ibid:23, 47) and the Great Lakes
(ibid:24). War reporting is often complex and confused; the media and its users
have become accustomed to simple stories. Stereo-types are a solution as already
illustrated in Eritrea-Ethiopia (de Waal 1997) and so is recourse to the DMAsyndrome:
dualism (one side good, one side bad); Manicheism (each supported
somehow by the forces of good and evil); leading unstoppably to Armageddon, the
final battle (Lynch 2002).
4 Such trends will continue, if not accelerate, for a range of technical reasons,
including economies of scale, 'economies of scope' and the power of networks; "the
media will become far more concentrated not less so" (Graham 1998:32). It is
already producing more channels and new types of news media but fewer and bigger
multi-media conglomerates; "state monopolies may be undesirable but exchanging
them for private monopolies is hardly desirable in any industry" (ibid:33). The italics
are in the original, to stress no doubt the peculiar stupidity of allowing this to
happen in media, where concern for the wider public good is essential for the health
of society.
5 They are: literacy; signs that constructive political criticism is welcomed; the
nature of the electoral system; and how news is produced and distributed. It's also
worth noting that, despite the book's sub-title, the authors are explicitly writing
about how to "build effective media systems that advance democracy", not
'economic development' (Krug and Price 2002:187). This is despite the chart on
page 2 of the same book, showing no clear, simple correlation between freedom of
the press and democracy; which suggests that both these terms may need to be
unpicked with some diligence before reaching any meaningful conclusions or policy
proposals. Certainly simple and appealing declarations that "a free, independent
media reflecting diversity of opinion is (sic) a precondition for democratic societies"
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77
(IFC 1989) do not unhappily appear to be uncontestable statements of empirically
provable fact, at least until both 'media' and 'democratic societies' have been
further defined.
6 "The last forests near the ancient Nabatean capital of Petra, in modern
Jordan, were felled by the Ottoman Turks during construction of the Hejaz railway
just before World War 1" (Diamond 2005:411). The societies of the Fertile
Crescent and the Eastern Mediterranean, where Western 'civilisations' started out,
"committed ecological suicide by destroying their own resource base" (ibid).
7 Or certainly not to survive as we are today; there may be nothing left but "a
republic of insects and grass or a cluster of damaged and traumatised human social
communities" (Giddens 1990:173). In Southern Australia, in early 2007 it was
reported that "an astonishing collection of fossil animals" had been found, including
the "complete specimen of a marsupial lion" (BBC web-site 25/1/07). Apparently
Australia was once home to a collection of giant beasts, 'megafauna', including an
immense wombat-like animal and a 400kg lizard but they disappeared by the end of
the Pleistocene period, 11,500 years ago. The fossils in these Thylacoleo Caves
suggest this was because of the actions of man "either directly by hunting or
indirectly by changing the landscape through burning" (ibid). We can do the same
thing to ourselves and it's probably well underway already.
8 Interestingly ICTs themselves may be nudging us in this same direction,
towards "more inclusion, more democracy and, ironically, more political influence
over the shape of markets and social outcomes by well-organised, efficient states"
(Carnoy et al 1993:5).
9 Such conflicts need to be understood (and reported) in context and in the
light of "the socio-economic divide, environmental constraints and the spread of
military technologies" (Lynch 2002:62), so that the underlying causes (or inequality
and disparities of power) can be addressed directly.
10 It is possible to hypothosize situations where there might be society-wide
agreement on development priorities and a national leadership that is disinterestedly
committed to delivering what the people want and to updating their understanding
of the popular will (perhaps in East Asia); but in effect this means 'good media' and
certainly without them there is no guarantee that any leader will stick to their ideals.
11 The authoritative development Key Sheet on Mass Media suggests they
"function as a mirror of society" (2003), reflecting what's going on, or what those
holding the mirror wish us to see. It's more complex and inter-related than that. In
describing a good newspaper as "a nation talking to itself", the American playwright,
Arthur Miller (1961) moves the discussion in a fruitful direction, towards the
reiterative process of debate and the formation of our values (Sen 2001:80). It's a
well-worn path; Walter Bagehot, the editor of The Economist and author of The
English Constitution (sic) argued strongly for "government by discussion" nearly 150
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78
years ago (Stiglitz 2003:124). The role of the media in this core relationship
between power, money and people was summed up, again a long time ago, by
another great media figure:
"An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the
right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular
government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will
produce in time a people as base as itself." (Pulitzer 1904).
12 Not only were these findings published (Jemstone 1999) but they have been
the basis of future workshops and have been widely circulated to other media
trainers. Again, selected quotes are used in the case study to illustrate the way
journalists are constrained from doing a proper job in a country like Jordan.
13 No attempt is made to validate systematically the core assumption that
Makfax is indeed an independent news agency, beyond observing its staff and
operations, the willingness of other news providers to pay for its output and the
support for its work from three external organisations, each committed to free
media (the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, the Media Development Loan Fund and the
Swedish Helsinki Committee), The mission to Makfax was focussed on providing
"expert advice and recommendations" (Lomas and Brewer, 2006:4) not on broader
evaluations.
14 Failure in this regard would mean too favourable an account of the findings
but this would need to be countered by the fact that Makfax continues to exist and
to provide space for independent voices in the national debate in Macedonia and
beyond.
15 When 'security' can be invoked, the national interest obliges the media to
reflect the views of those in charge. So some journalists saw their role as:
"explaining the Arab stand to the other side";
"make clear the stance of the country to the world, so we are not forgotten";
"learn (sic) the Arab people how to get back our rights from the Israelis"
(Jemstone 2004)
16 The Makfax principles:
* truth and people's rights to learn the truth;
* reporting based on true data and reliable sources;
while fully rejecting:
* discrimination and inciting intolerance and hatred among people of different
nationality, race, language, religion, ideology, political or any other ground,
* distortion of truth, forgery, plagiarism, insult, slander, all types of bribe
taking.
According to its web-site this has enabled Makfax to build a reputation as:
"a media [organisation] that runs an unbiased, impartial and true coverage of the
most important political and economic events". (Makfax 2007)
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79
17 "Leadership and self-determination cannot be imported. Know-how can"
(World Bank 2002:233), the defiant words of Tatiana Repkova, editor of the Slovak
daily, Pravda. She is one of those 'media pioneers' quoted and supported by the
World Bank Institute along with the pioneering web-journalist Steven Gan at
Malaysiakini (ibid:242), and Adam Michnik, who lists his inspiring and witty "ten
commandments for a decent journalist" (ibid:291), including an 11th, not to mix,
either drinks; or business, or smearing or propaganda with journalism (ibid:298).
18 Though many development professionals proclaiming 'immanent possibilities',
(Giddens 1990:155), are hoping perhaps that such visions might, Jacobin-style,
inspire change: utopian realism, responsible well-being, common humanity, reasoned
progress, decent society. "Anticipations of the future become part of the present"
(ibid:177).