Empowerment and media in Pakistan

By Zahid Abdullah

With apologies to Shakespeare, the hurly-burly of elections is done, and the candidates have lost and won. People have put an end to the doubts that they cannot exercise their vote power in a wise and judicious manner. Well, they have. However, the democratic process is long-drawn-out and casting of votes is just one component. In other words, if we take empowerment of the masses as the key objective of the democratic process, the exercise of the right to vote on the polling day is a means to empower the masses, no an end in itself.

It does not require rocket science to figure out that people enjoy a sense of empowerment when they have a stake in the system of governance; when they can have access to healthcare, education and other basic necessities of life. The corresponding link between the ability to exercise the right to information and the level of the quality of life enjoyed by the citizens has long been established by researchers and acknowledged by the UN. In other words, the assumption is that those who have greater access to information have a better quality of life, compared to those who have lower access to information.

The question arises as to how people can have access to key information that determines whether or not will they be able to lead quality life. When we take into consideration the fact that people are largely dependant on the media for the exercise of their right to freedom of information, the significance of the media in disseminating pertinent information becomes all the more important. Therefore, it is the responsibility of journalists to empower citizens by exercising the right to information on their behalf, in matters pertaining to public interest, through investigative reporting.

Is the media informed enough to carry out this task? At the very outset, it needs to be understood that the freedom of the media is not an end in itself. It is desirable because a free media, in its role as the fourth pillar of the state, monitors the performance of public institutions through investigative reporting, shares with the citizens, who are not either skilled enough or do not have time to exercise their right to information, the findings of any wrongdoing and thus ensures the judicious use of public resources. Our recent interaction with journalists in the four provinces and in the nation’s capital itself has led to three distinct impressions about the way journalists access information and their sources of information.

First, journalists (especially from rural districts) are not skilled enough to access information through formal sources. Second, let alone using them, journalists are largely unaware of the existence of the country’s freedom of information laws. Consequently, journalists have access to only that information which officials deem fit to share, or that information which is divulged to them, not as a right but as a favour, and that too when someone wants to settle scores with somebody. Third, journalists work under pressure of deadlines. Newspapers do not provide them breathing space in the shape of time and money to conduct investigative reporting. In such a scenario, journalists do not demand certified copies of documents containing key information pertaining to the way the nation’s resources are supposedly committed and actually spent, which they can have access to under the Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002, the Sindh Freedom of Information Act and the Balochistan Freedom of Information Act, and under Article 137 of the Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

As a result, document-based information identifying official negligence, incompetence, maladministration or the one related to the weaknesses in the governance structures stays largely buried in the official files.

Information, when seen in the context of the media, has two distinct features. One, it has to be retrieved, and, two, it has to be shared. So far as the latter is concerned, the recent convergence of interests with the political parties notwithstanding, media organisations will have to continue guarding jealously the space they have and, at the same time, they will have to mount pressure for the repeal of those draconian laws that hamper media freedom. The former necessitates self-analysis on the part of the media organisations. With the introduction of the electronic-media factor, how long will newspapers be able to survive by publishing the stories that become public knowledge long before the newspapers hit the newsstands? It is quality information retrieved through investigative reporting which will enable the print media to compete with the electronic media. Similarly, TV channels will have to realise that their viewers will soon be fed up with them if they continue feeding them political talk shows and horrific pictures. They will have to realise that investigative reporting, using formal and informal sources of information, can also give an edge to a channel over its competitors. Only through investigative reporting will the media be able to perform its role of the fourth estate. The correlation between the survival of the press and the empowerment of the masses augurs well for the country. Media organisations will not only have to equip their reporters with freedom of information tools but they will have to launch a concerted campaign to reform the information laws as well so that the journalists will be able to dig deep for stories which will help ensure judicious use of public funds and proper functioning of public institutions.

The writer works for the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives in Islamabad. Email: zahid@cpdi-pakistan.org