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Media freedom vital for society
2008-01-23 08:36:08
By Editor
There is a link between poverty reduction and the fight against corruption. The fight against bribery gains steam when investigative journalists inform the public what is going on so that the people can call their leaders to account.
The public have the right to know if their government and corporate leaders are not abusing entrusted power for private gain.
Given the weight of the task, it is clear that following the trail of power and political interests is a challenging duty.
Journalists who write hard hitting stories on corruption suffer from all kinds of threats, illegal surveillance, kidnappings, murders, blackmail, physical assaults or being jailed without charges or on cooked up charges.
In some countries, prosecutors are used to intimidate investigative reporters by compelling them, through court procedures, to reveal their sources of information.
Last year alone, more than 70 journalists across the globe died because they were doing their duty.
Apart from those who died in war zones, the rest were mostly killed because of their relentless exposure of grand corruption operations.
We all know that the pillars of the state are the Executive, Judiciary and Parliament, and we have the media serving as the fourth pillar.
The other three pillars also depend on the media for information and feedback from the public, and, for that reason, there is no clash of interests between the Fourth Estate and other arms of the state.
Any government that is cracking down on corruption will find a friend in an investigative journalist, and any genuine anti-corruption organization will support investigative journalism.
However, the problem occurs when there are pockets within the national administration, who wish to cover up their gross misdeeds at any cost.
Such elements always ignore the fact that a free and independent media is fundamental to democracy, as it ensures that the public enjoys the right of receiving and giving out information.
On the other hand, investigative journalism has to be platform free, in the sense that there will be no personal agenda or complicity by journalists with other forces of corruption, who are all out to expose the crimes of their power rivals.
The investigative reporter also needs to have the ability to recognize conflict of interest, corruption and hypocrisy.
Because white collar criminals who have placed their fingers in the till use sophisticated methods, an investigative reporter should be able to use sophisticated computer hardware to analyse information.
Such a media person also needs to be capable of analyzing government documents, budget, polling and census results etc.
What we are saying here is that it does not require sheer courage alone to become an investigative reporter but also possession of skills for producing documented and well-balanced stories.
Corruption is bleeding Africa to death, and many of its political elites are justifying the creation of a middle class through the pillage of national coffers, and these are the kind of individuals who are all out to crush media freedom so that they can loot their national resources with impunity.
Nevertheless, media freedom needs to be protected for the sole reason that a critical element of a country`s anti-corruption architecture is an effective media.
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