It is not a secret that the public attitude regarding media coverage of corrupt practices is equivocal. Some perceive this as a process of "standing somebody up". Others see this coverage as a political order. The third are certain that the media coverage and facts will yield no consequences. There are the forth, who rejoice at the courage demonstrated by the reporters; the fifth who consider such media references as another set of ineffective activities implemented within the framework of a grant or a project, and the sixth who regard such efforts as one of the pseudo-imitation components of fight against corruption. But eventually what is the role of media in the fight against corruption?
The expert opinion, intuition, one's feeling of powerlessness and finally, the discreet populism hint the same idea, "the role of media is extremely important for fighting corruption";. The pessimists will insist that no matter what media does, the outcomes will not be tangible: individuals and reporters will suffer consequences for nothing";
Actually it won't be inaccurate to claim that on both sides of corruption there are mostly the pragmatic, and for the pragmatic the truth is whatever works. Corruption is something that works - it is everywhere; it is effective, feasible and easy. The pragmatic can work out some clear perceptions regarding the role of media, which are as follows:
It is widely acknowledged that media presents whatever the public is interested in and demands. In Armenia perhaps not everything is offered on such a basis. However, it seems that there is really no public demand for the theme of corruption and materials regarding it. It is a fact that the Armenian society is marginalized and whenever one side hears, reads and watches something bad about the other one, they feel excited - this is pleasant news for them. However, this “pleasure” can hardly be called a public demand. Is the society ready to take the role of an active agent, rather than a passive observer? Is there awareness that when a journalist reports on a case of corruption, she is inevitably at risk? It is difficult to provide a unanimous answer here. One thing can be predicted though: it is highly unlikely that today the society will support the brave journalist and protect his/her fundamental rights and professional career, and one reason for such behavior can be the fact that the society itself is not organized.
The society is weak and anticipates the support of the media. Journalists want to feel the protection of the society, feel that their back is secure, but they don’t. The society is weak to be able to defend journalists. In such cases mutual assistance is the way to self-empowerment. In fight against corruption an artificial unity between journalists and society is impossible. Small steps and successes, gradual establishment of mutual trust – this is the prescription that seems to be the most feasible and doable one at the moment. One thing is certain: the fight against such a complicated phenomenon as corruption, should not be unpremeditated, at the same time, however, it should not be planned very minutely, with clear distribution of roles. Among the necessary steps are
The issues are numerous. We'll mention a few:
The paper is elaborated based on the opinions passed by the participants of the discussion "The Role of Media in the Monitoring and Analysis Process of Fight against Corruption", which took place on April 13, 2006. The roundtable discussion was attended by independent analysts, government officials, and representatives of the international organizations and media. The round table was organized with the support of British Council.
This announcement is available only in Armenian.
This announcement is available only in Armenian.
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