Media’s role in fight for democracy important – Lublin

A balanced role of the media is needed to influence democracy, since no one per son can achieve such a feat, American political scientist David Lublin said during an open forum discussion on “Democracy” with members of the loc al media fraternity on Tuesday.

Lublin, also the Mayor of Chevy Chase in Maryland, United States of America, is on a visit to Guyana on behalf of the United States embassy to discuss “Democracy” at several open forums. He is scheduled to meet youth, local groups, and members of the public who are invited to join the discussion.

The purpose of the open forum discussion is to look at the electoral system, social media participation in a democracy, issues, and identifying problems that could be easily solved.

Among the issues raised by media members was the role of the media in a democracy, transparency, equality, and shared governance, among others. Lublin pointed out that, for democracy to thrive, it was necessary for the media to be balanced, be it private media or the state owned media.

“You have to seek out both sides, it is important that everyone has a chance to say something.” He went on to say that in most democracies the state-owned media is independently run, and he gave the British Broadcasting Corporation as an example because that entity also allows the opposition to get their points across as well.

In speaking to the issue of transparency, Lublin noted that, as a fellow politician, he understood how some politicians would want to be secretive and get frustrated at the media, but it was nonetheless important that people see and know how resources are spent to improve their confidence in the government. He added, too, that “reasonable access to information and embracing transparency was a key part,” in promoting democracy.

Diversity of licences for media houses was also a point made by Lublin. He noted that, in a growing democracy, people needed to be allowed choices. When asked by some media practitioners to rate Guyana’s position as a democracy on a scale of 1-10, Lublin declined to answer the question, but he noted thus “It would be arrogant to come and judge here (Guyana). It’s the responsibility of the Guyanese people here.”

Lublin graduated with a B. A. in political science from Yale University summa cum laude (1990). He completed an M. A. in government at Harvard University in 1992, and received his Ph. D. in government from Harvard University in 1994.

Since receiving his Ph. D. from Harvard, David Lublin has authored two books, The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress”, and “The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change”. He has published articles in a variety of journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Stanford Law Review, and the Washington Post. His work on redistricting was cited by the Supreme Court in Georgia v. Ashcroft. Dr. Lublin has received two grants from the National Science Foundation, most recently, for the Federal Elections Project which compiled election results at the precinct level from around the United States. The German Marshall Fund recently awarded him a fellowship to pursue work on minority representation in democratic countries. He is on the faculty of the Women and Politics Institute and is a fellow of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.