Controlled media could cause mass deception<\/p>\n
Thang D. Nguyen, Program Coordinator, United in Diversity Forum,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The media has become a weapon of mass deception. This has
\nhappened in two ways: The first is that governments have come to
\ndominate the media, and the second is that too much freedom has
\nmade the media irresponsible.<\/p>\n
The first case is quite Orwellian in that the media,
\nespecially the state-owned media, serves as governments' obedient
\nmouthpieces. For one thing, this means that their news reports
\nare government-friendly. But this also means they cover up
\nscandals in which their bosses are at fault.<\/p>\n
As an old saying has it, \"never bite the hand that feeds you\",
\nand anyone who violates this rule will face consequences: from
\nthe loss of their job to threats, imprisonment, family harassment
\nand death. Because of the overwhelming power of the \"thought
\npolice\", many media agencies bite the bullet and hide truthful
\nand objective information from the public.<\/p>\n
There has, however, been one exception recently: the BBC's
\nreporting, much of which was done by the brave, controversial
\nAndrew Gilligan, accusing Downing Street of \"sexing up\" the Iraq
\ndossier that led the UK into the U.S. war on Iraq. In January,
\nthe BBC's ex-chairman Gavyn Davies and ex-director general Greg
\nDyke quit in defense of the corporation's editorial independence.<\/p>\n
Before announcing his resignation, Dyke sent an e-mail to the
\nBBC staff in which he wrote: \"... the management of the BBC was
\nheavily criticized [for the Gilligan reports]. We need closure to
\nprotect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the
\nbenefit of everyone out there. Throughout this affair my sole aim
\nas director general of the BBC has been to defend our editorial
\nindependence and to act in the public interest.\"<\/p>\n
It is a shame that Dyke resigned; it is Prime Minister Tony
\nBlair who should have resigned. It is also a shame that this is
\nhappening to the BBC, which has worldwide respect for its
\nindependent news services. It sounds paradoxical, but the reports
\non the Iraq war from the government-funded BBC were much more
\nobjective and truthful than the reports from the privately owned
\nCNN or -- much worse -- Fox News.<\/p>\n
The second case in which the media becomes a weapon of mass
\ndeception is when it fails to perform responsible journalism.
\nWhat is responsible journalism? It is the responsibility of media
\nprofessionals -- whether they be reporters, correspondents,
\nproducers, editors, managing directors, chief executive officers
\nor chairmen -- to ensure that the public receives accurate facts
\nand objective information in a timely manner.<\/p>\n
But more than that, responsible journalism means that media
\nprofessionals are responsible for detecting, investigating and
\nreporting news that has life-and-death impacts on the lives of
\npeople -- hence the term investigative journalism.<\/p>\n
Often associated with Enron-like cases, Lewinsky-like affairs
\nor Watergate-like scandals, investigative journalism seems to be
\ndisappearing, and some journalists have become irresponsible.<\/p>\n
Under totalitarian, Communist or other undemocratic societies
\nin which the media is state-controlled or publicly funded, it
\nmight be understandable that, as much as journalists want to
\ninvestigate and report truthful stories to the public, they
\ncannot for fear that they or their families will be endangered by
\neither the state, influential businesspeople or other powers that
\nbe.<\/p>\n
Sadly, however, irresponsible journalism is happening in
\ndemocratic countries in which the media enjoys not only the right
\nto report freely but also to investigate into and blow up
\nscandals.<\/p>\n
A case in point is the cover-up of and the much belated
\nreports on the bird flu that has caused deaths and led to the
\nslaughter of millions of chickens throughout Asia. The outbreak
\nfirst revealed itself as early as last August when thousands of
\nchickens started to die in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, and
\nhas since spread to Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South
\nKorea and now the U.S.<\/p>\n
The Thai public was uninformed of this epidemic until the
\ngovernment ordered a cull of infected chickens roughly two months
\nafter thousands of Thai chickens had already died of the flu.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the Indonesian public was kept in the dark until the
\nend of last month when the news was no longer concealable. The
\nIndonesian government then went public with the bad news and
\nordered a mass cull of its chickens, after citing inadequate
\nfunds and insisting that culling would not be effective and doing
\nit \"would certainly reduce (its) poultry population drastically\".<\/p>\n
Where was the media all this time? In Thailand, the theory is
\nthat the media is quite scared of the Thaksin government, which
\nis influenced by powerful businesses such as feed producer
\nCharoen Pokphand Group (CP Group). But where does that leave the
\nIndonesian media, which since the end of the Soeharto era has
\ngotten quite a lot of freedom of the press -- if not too much?<\/p>\n
If the media joins governments and their intelligence agencies
\nin failing -- intentionally or otherwise -- to provide the public
\nwith timely, accurate and truthful information, who else can we
\nturn to?<\/p>\n
When the media acts as governments' tools of deception or are
\nirresponsible, they are as dangerous as weapons of mass
\ndestruction.<\/p>\n
These are personal views and do not necessarily represent the
\nviews of the United in Diversity Forum.<\/p>",
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