Role of the media

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cartoon: Deccan Chronicle
Role of the media
The thesis that democracy is a Western intellectual inheritance derived from a long and unique past (unmatched anywhere else in the world) does not, therefore, work. It would not survive very well even if we took the rather limited public balloting view of democracy, and it does particularly badly when the history of democracy is seen in terms of public reasoning.

One of the central issues to consider for the advancement of public reasoning in the world is support for a free and independent press, which is often conspicuous by its absence — a situation that can certainly be reversed. And here the traditions established in Europe and America over the last three hundred years have indeed made a gigantic difference. The lessons derived from these traditions have been transformational for the world as a whole, from India to Brazil, and from Japan to South Africa, and the need for a free and vigorous media is being rapidly learned across the globe. What I think is particularly heartening is the speed with which the coverage — and indeed sometimes the culture — of the media can change.

press freedom

An unrestrained and healthy media is important for several different reasons, and it is useful to separate out the distinct contributions it can make. The first — and perhaps the most elementary — connection concerns the direct contribution of free speech in general and of press freedom in particular to the quality of our lives. We have reason enough to want to communicate with each other and to understand better the world in which we live. Media freedom is critically important for our capability to do this. The absence of a free media and the suppression of people’s ability to communicate with each other have the effect of directly reducing the quality of human life, even if the authoritarian country that imposes such suppression happens to be very rich in terms of gross national product.

Second, the press has a major informational role in disseminating knowledge and allowing critical scrutiny. The informational function of the press relates not only to specialized reporting (for example on scientific advances or on cultural innovations), but also to keeping people generally informed about what is going on where. Further-more, investigative journalism can unearth information that would have otherwise gone unnoticed or even unknown.

Third, media freedom has an important protective function in giving voice to the neglected and the disadvantaged, which can greatly contribute to human security. The rulers of a country are often insulated, in their own lives, from the misery of common people. They can live through a national calamity, such as a famine or some other disaster, without sharing the fate of its victims. If, however, they have to face public criticism in the media and confront elections with an uncensored press, the rulers have to pay a price too, and this gives them a strong incentive to take timely action to avert such crises.

The paretian liberal

Fourth, informed and unregimented formation of values requires openness of communication and argument. The freedom of the press is crucial to this process. Indeed, reasoned value formation is an interactive process, and the press has a major role in making these interactions possible. New standards and priorities emerge through public discourse, and it is public discussion, again, that spreads the new norms across different regions.

The relationship between majority rule and the protection of minority rights, both of which are integral parts of democratic practice, is particularly dependent on the formation of tolerant values and priorities. One of the lessons drawn from the social choice result of ‘the impossibility of the Paretian liberal’ is the crucial relevance of mutually tolerant preferences and choice in making liberty and liberal rights consistent with the priority of majority rule and of being guided by unanimity over particular choices. If a majority is ready to support the rights of minorities, and even of dissenting or discordant individuals, then liberty can be guaranteed without having to restrain majority rule.

A recurrent theme

Finally, a well- functioning media can play a critically important role in facilitating public reasoning in general, the importance of which for the pursuit of justice has been a recurrent theme in this work. The evaluation needed for the assessment of justice is not just a solitary exercise but one that is inescapably discursive. It is not hard to see why a free, energetic and efficient media can facilitate the needed discursive process significantly. The media is important not only for democracy but for the pursuit of justice in general. ‘Discussionless justice’ can be an incarcerating idea.

— Excerpted from Amartya Sen’s recent book, The Idea of Justice