Power Play in the Media and Ethics

Is Media A Lapdog, Watchdog, Running Dog Or Simply Wagging Its Tail In A Society?

By Firoz Abdul HamidConsultant Advisor, LKY of Public Policy, Singapore

 

Year 2007. The corridors were long and by my standards silent except when a door opened. Each department separated by strong wooden doors. The walks across and below THE building (Prime Minister’s Office) seemed endless not least intimidating. Having worked in less judicious space on a construction environment and then within the cubicles in the private sector, this walk to the Office of the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia (Head of Civil Service) seemed distinct.

 

Little did I know then, this walk would chart the start of a new and insightful journey in my professional life. It would change my view of how the world worked, for up till then everything seemed black and white for me. It would orientate me to the issues of humanity, human struggles and question the whole subject of ETHICS.

 

The first meeting with the Chief Secretary then, Excellency Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, who had just taken office for some 6 months prior, would touch on media and their approach to public sector. He spoke with an exasperate tone of the need for public officials to understand the media. And the media to understand how the public sector works. Seems simple I thought!! And then the real work began. I was to advise him and work with the 1. 4 million public officials and the outside world in making sense of - - understanding the media and moving the public sector into a more customer focused service in its delivery.

 

The next 4 some years in the public sector (on and off) would cast a new light on how the media worked, locally and abroad, and what those faced with potential media interaction struggle with. Right up to this point dealing with the media from the platforms of private sector has been quite straight forward for me. You have your company and then you have the media. But now your shareholders are - - the general public. The policy drivers – Members of Parliament.

 

Depends on who you speak to - the view on and about media could fall under the following Schools of Thought:

 

1.    Those affected - Well the media is a lapdog for so and so

 

2.    The media – We are the watchdogs for the people against those scrounging the people

 

3.    Those affected – Media are running dogs for sponsorship and their sponsors

 

4.    The media – we will not wag our tails for anyone

 

Yet when one dives beneath these categories, and its convictions and self righteous exclamations, you can’t but sense the cry for ETHICS. Where is the ethics in reporting? Where is the ethics in service and serving? Where is the ethics in one’s promises and commitments? Indeed where is the ethics in one’s actions?

 

In his book “Good Value”, Right Honourable Lord Stephen Green the former Chairman of HSBC and now the Minister of State for Trade and Investment of the United Kingdom Parliament wrote, “globalisation is about something far deeper than economics, commerce and politics.  It is an evolution of the human spirit.” He added that “we need to connect our metaphysical and moral framework - what we worship, what we admire, what we hold dear, what we hold to be right - what we think about the world and what we do and should do.  None of the realms we move in - our family life, our social life, and our work life - is neutral ground. “

 

Lord Green’s writings as with many such similar writings bring forth the fundamental question of What is Ethics? There is so much cry for ethics today especially post  the financial crises, the disclosures of fraud cases in public and private sector done in the name of profit and the people, ill working conditions for foreign workers in the construction industry to garment production factories and poultry farms causing loss of lives and dignity to many.

 

• Read the text