Who dares say the unsayable?

The freedom to express oneself, and of the media to publish and broadcast, without hinder, matter that may be uncomfortable for governments is not widely enjoyed in this region, yet are freedoms many of us assume to exist. Because we don’t have banned books and imprisoned journalists means that we have a “free press”. Censorship is still with us, but in this world of monopoly ownership and unmediated market economies, of petty nationalisms and fundamentalism, it has become quite subtle and complex.

There is a certain relationship between censor and the censored. It is one of understanding just how far each is prepared to go. This is so anywhere, but it appears to me that in the Caribbean newspapers and broadcasters are prepared to go hardly any distance at all in holding vested interest to account. I am told it’s because our countries are so small that it can be foolhardy to tell it as it is. I understand but do not accept.

This fear has engendered a frightening degree of self-censorship. I am absolutely certain that journalists and media houses could defend our right to know much better than they do, but they refrain in anticipation of being bullied or threatened. Journalism is not a 9 to 5 job. It requires the practitioner to go beyond the call of duty. Ask the 500 who were detained or imprisoned worldwide last year. Ask the families of the 150 media professionals killed in 2005 in the line of duty, the largest ever in history.

Journalism is not about wanting to be liked or a means of self-promotion. Much more, the journalist is there to share information so that the public have the knowledge to enable access to essential services, to exercise his/her democratic right to make an informed decision and be critical of and responsive to elected officials. A free media promotes accountability, transparency, and counteracts corruption, enabling good governance and the strengthening of civil society.

The Caribbean meeting this week should have examined just what our media has contributed to the eradication of regional poverty — the UN millennium goal is to halve it by 2015. Trinidad and Tobago, famously the richest country in the region, has 25 percent of people below the breadline. I have never read, seen or heard the Prime Minister interviewed at length on this state of affairs. Yet we have three daily newspapers, at least three nightly newscasts and umpteen radio stations. Other islands are worse off because they have no daily newspapers, or TV or our tradition of journalism.

I have no idea if regional PMs and their cronies call media houses daily to complain about news coverage but even if they did, that would be par for the course. And if it got too much then they should be prepared to take the bold risk, as Jones P Madeira and his team did at the Guardian in the mid-90s, and refuse to be coerced. There is honour in that and dishonour in colluding to keep the electorate ignorant or in toadying up to officials.

The fact is that over-sensitive governments and over-secretive business and commerce are on a losing wicket. We, increasingly, live in knowledge-based societies where even in the Caribbean significant numbers of people have computer access. The worldwide web is still unregulated — for how much longer is debateable, but enough of us can access information to know how effective or delinquent our rich and powerful are. By being intimidated into patronising the public, the media exposes itself to the same ridicule and lack of trust citizens may have for their governments.

Of course, media houses often do not care because for most of them the bottom line is profit. Many enjoy monopolies and are in the pockets of officials, or share the same school tie. But, until media owners are prepared to say the unsayable and print the unprintable they have no real reason for being and could become redundant.

We now have citizen journalism — remember the Rodney King affair in LA where an onlooker’s video recording of police brutality against a black man led to dismissal and social upheaval? Today we contribute to the news agenda with our own pictures and video footage, our own chat rooms and blogs. Media organisations everywhere need to get smart and stop cosying up to government. It is a brave new world requiring new ways of dealing and they should be telling their governments that or they are failing them too.