Daily Times

As the hackneyed phrase, “Media is the fourth pillar of a state or government,” mass media is expected to play a concrete and vital role in guarding the public benefit, which requires a free press and independent media (within the constitutional parameters and ethical bindings); otherwise, it would fail to bring the fruit of democracy to the general public. Human history is replete with such models and examples which suggest the essentiality and vital role of media in bringing transparency in the functioning of government and the state and watching the public benefit vigorously. For example, when an Arab saw Hazrat Umar (RA) wearing a dress of the sheets of war booty, he asked how Hazrat Umar (RA) could get two sheets when one sheet per person was distributed. He believed that Hazrat Umar (RA) was tall, so the dress could not be prepared with one sheet. Hazrat Umar (RA) proved the truth by saying the second sheet came from his family. The example sets the truth also, and falsehood is defeated. The establishment of truth necessities the questions and binds the persons at the helm of affairs to provide answers for their actions. A famous Renaissance philosopher and writer, Francis Bacon, says that people must speak and should not hide because if they are authentic, they will be confirmed, and if they are false, they will be corrected. The same hold stood for asking the question of the power to bring out the truth. This was sufficient to establish the truthfulness and remove any of the suspicions in the people’s minds. This brings two things before us: the right to ask questions must be there and should not be denied to anyone, and secondly, the answer must come from the ruling elite to ensure transparency and responsibility.

The pillars of democracy may be many, but these two are necessary for the life, nurture, and effectiveness of democracy. If the right to ask questions is denied and false answers are provided, democracy does not exist. The right to question and freedom of expression makes democracy valid and authentic, and consequently, no need is left to hide or speak lies. In this age, it has become even more complex and essential because once something is hidden (willy nilly), or people are denied their right to question, somehow, truth emerges and damages the long-established credibility of the person or the party which attempted to hide the truth. This is also the best way to ensure truth because if one knows that there is media and the press to ask him questions on behalf of the public, one may exercise restraint not only from corrupt practices but also from hiding the truth. It means that in good and successful democracies, the press works as a moral policeman and is responsible for supervising and monitoring the role and conduct of the ruling elites.

In successful democracies, the press works as a moral policeman and is responsible for supervising the role of the ruling elites.

Look at the American and Western democracies where the press is the guardian of the right of the people to know. For example, reputation and credibility became at stake in the USA when the sitting president’s relationship was discovered. The public got angry and questioned the president’s credibility only because he had attempted to hide facts, as the people of the USA thought. Similarly, the government of Boris Johnson had to go home because one of their ministers attempted to hide the celebration of a night party during Corona restrictions. It means that to establish truth, questions were asked, and consequently, the truth was brought forward.

Even in this modern age of 21st-century technology and information, a few postcolonial states attempt to stifle the people who ask questions to hide their anti-society practices, and sometimes to stifle the truth, homicides have also occurred. These attempts have damaged democracies more than ever, permitted anti-people criminal practices, and consequently made societies weak and vulnerable. Moreover, it has generated multidimensional conflicting behaviours in the masses of such democracies because state-controlled media and press speak different versions of the story, and social media has a opposite version of the story. This causes a divide between the people and creates conflicts about the truth and credibility of the state-guided media and press. The division among the people causes animosity and distrust, affecting the country’s overall strength and moral power. In the 21st century, we cannot live in isolation. We are surrounded by many states and their watchdogs. If one state hides a truth, people turn to such multinational media to discover the truth. So, the only solution is to be answerable to the questions of the public and act righteously. The states that have not let the establishment of truth through the freedom of expression are devastated and cannot emerge as egalitarian states, the main goal of democracies.

Nonetheless, there must be an established moral and ethical code for the press and media’s conduct in exercising their right to question. They should simply ask the question and give the people the answer they get from the rulers and the powerful instead of becoming opinion makers. They should also help establish truth rather than manipulate their right for some specific benefit instead of the benefit of the people.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee