Holding ourselves accountable

Sections of the media in Guyana have recently, once again, come under the spotlight for crossing the boundary line; and questions have begun to be raised about the role of the media in building and maintaining a democratic, fair and peaceful society. We take a brief look today at the role of the media, and how well the media have been fulfilling those expectations, considering the fact that the media act as a public watchdog on behalf of the people, and always hold others accountable for their actions.

All of us would agree that an essential part of democracy is the freedom of speech, and the media in Guyana have always been passionate in safeguarding that freedom. Sometimes media personnel even abuse that freedom to the point of spreading inaccurate and biased information, and publish content that promotes racial insecurities among the citizenry. In some cases, that freedom is also used to launch unjustified and personal attacks on public officials and others not in agreement with our views.

But we must pause and ask again: as the fourth estate, are we fulfilling our moral and social, and even legal, responsibilities to the people we claim to serve, or are we satisfying our own self interests? Citizens support and look to the media as a system for keeping the power structures of their society in check, hence they (the media) themselves must be beyond reproach at all times. In his work on the role of the mass media, James Curran refers to the power of the media in creating change, but he was quick to point out that with that power comes responsibility.

We are also forced to ask to what extent the poor and marginalized are given a voice in the media so that their views and concerns could be placed in the public sphere for discussions and debates. With the large number of voices in our society and the historical scarcity of mass media space, the media have an obligation to give a fair representation to a diversity of views within the society. While it would be impractical to represent every individual, it is more possible to represent communities, demographics and organisations.

Further, in a democracy, the media are expected to give the citizens the kind of information they need to make informed decisions about issues affecting them, and also about the people that seek to govern them. One important role of the media is to educate and inform citizens about issues of national importance, so that they can make better decisions about their well-being. This is an important element of the democratic process, and media practitioners must take this function seriously.

Further, communication can only be considered useful to the democratic process if it is accurate, balanced and fair. Inaccurate and biased messages will not inform, represent or protect citizens. In fact, it does more harm than good.

So, are the media in Guyana fulfilling these expectations? The findings of various media monitoring bodies and other organisations in the past, and most recently the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), reveal that some media organisations have not been following the guidelines with respect to acceptable journalistic ethics. The ERC has recently had cause to urge media houses to find a way to deal with content that has the potential of promoting race-based politics and racial insecurity. The commission made this appeal after concluding that “unacceptable” statements were contained in articles published in two daily newspapers – Kaieteur News and Stabroek News.

The ERC has since warned that there should have been more sound editorial judgment, scrutiny and consideration applied to the articles, while warning that their publication could be “misleading and dangerous”. Further, the body noted that while freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution, it is not an absolute right, and must be practised in a responsible manner. Freedom of expression does not relate to hate speeches or other expressions, in whatever form, capable of exciting ill-will against any person or class of persons.

Finally, among the many roles media organisations have, there is an important role to play in building and maintaining a democracy, and it is necessary that this role be taken seriously. The media (including our own) must therefore always strive to hold themselves to the same standards, or even to those that are higher than are expected of others.