Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ruffled some media
feathers the other day when he said that journalists were up for purchase. He was careful enough to add, ‘like
politicians,’ the humility of the latte compensating for the brashness of the
former. If humility begets humility then
yes, we need to acknowledge that whether or not journalists choose to be bought
they certainly are up for sale.
It happens in many ways.
Journalists have ideological preferences. They have favorites. Even if they do their utmost to be neutral
and fair, the subconscious can produce slant, slight or heavy. Then there’s also a tendency to ‘go easy’ on
friends, especially entities that bring in advertising revenue. There is that kind of ‘look askance’
certainly. Media houses and editors deal
with these things to the best of their ability but they can slip and there are
no foolproof screens.
What Ranil refers to is more serious. We all know that there are things called
‘plugs’ and that there’s payment in cash or kind. All this in addition to the also mutual back-scratching and people helping each other.
Ok. So the problem
has been identified. What’s the
solution? Ranil Wickremesinghe can go
with ‘charity begins at home’. We could
too. The difference is that
Wickremesinghe is better positioned to bring in rules and regulations, back
these with enforcing mechanisms. His
playground is the entire country, ours is our relatively tiny media outfits.
The notion of ‘purchase’ here clearly implies corruption. It is a widespread disease, but it is not
impossible to combat. This is why there
are laws, law enforcement mechanisms etc.
In the case of politicians purchase involves money. Money can be traced. The Prime Minister must have heard about
asset declaration, disclosure and audits.
Not all those who stand for election declare assets. Very few, if at all, declare assets when
their terms end. Simple rules can be
enacted. Simple and affordable
mechanisms can be put in place to ensure compliance.
Let’s begin Mr Prime Minister!
0 comments:
Post a Comment