The law offers enormous opportunities for enhancing openness, transparency and accountability without which containing corruption remains a dream. Barrier for access to information is a bottleneck to transparency, which is a breeding ground for corruption and misappropriation. As we have seen asymmetry in the flow of information between public authorities and the citizenry as an obstacle to promotion of transparent regime, the RTI law has stood the test of time globally in correcting this asymmetry in the past decade.
By now, around 95 countries have adopted such laws, and a country like India is setting a new international standard for transparency legislation by handling more than 1800 thousand RTI applications since 2007. Media has played a variety of roles from building awareness to keeping oversight on RTI implementation in India.
Effective implementation is the essence of any good access regime. As right to information is fundamental to the realization of economic and social rights as well as civil and political rights, informed participation by all must therefore be guaranteed through increased access to public information. And the Media, as one of the most important actors, can play a seminal role in disseminating and raising people’s awareness on RTI law and can itself tremendously benefit from its successful implementation.
The media, as a fourth state, shoulders the responsibility to make the government, its institutions and functionaries accountable and transparent. And for this, investigative reporting is one of the most important contributions the media makes to consolidate democracy. As things stand now, when most people are not aware of exercising their right to information in a direct and personal way, media’s role and significance of empowering the public about legal advantages of RTI becomes all the more important.
The RTI law has given a greater and wider space for the media to play in empowering people and strengthening democratic polity. By using this legislation, media can investigate and expose issues of wider public interest. Media, as guardians of freedom of speech, can open up “closed doors” to transparency, accountability and participation by disseminating information about RTI to secure people’s fundamental right to know.
Such kind of vibrant media activism, by publishing and broadcasting nationwide discourses on RTI, can eventually narrow down ‘transparency and accountability deficit’ especially in countries like Nepal transitioning through political instability. Transparency and accountability is mainly concerned with promoting information disclosure and access to information as a prerequisite for public accountability.
Indian experiences of the last five years can be informative and beneficial to the Nepali media when it comes to stepping up campaign for putting the RTI law into practice. Both the state-owned and private media houses in India have initiated joint endeavors to educate people, implement the law and shore up its oversight role.
The other beauty of access regime is that it encourages journalists to dig into facts in a very decent way. No longer will scribes have to depend on leaks and other personal sources if they resort to the RTI law. Media, in emerging democracies like Nepal, is usually expected to play the role of an activist, watchdog and implementer.
Global experience shows that the media needs to concentrate its efforts on three aspects while advocating various issues relating to the RTI implementation. Firstly, media should broadcast and publish opinion polls, debates and success stories to sensitize people by motivating them to use the RTI legislation. About 17 television channels and around 300 FM radios are currently operating in Nepal. Some TV channels and FM radios have the strongest network down to the grassroots.
Simply, if a TV channel and FM radio allocates at least half an hour for programs such as live discussions, phone-ins and debates on RTI weekly or fortnightly, it will definitely make a difference in the implementation of the law. Secondly, media can strengthen its oversight role on how the law is being implemented. It can publish and broadcast reports on concerns to what extent the government authorities have disclosed information proactively and their level of compliance in handling and processing RTI applications and requests.
And thirdly, the media can replicate and share best practices from around the world on how journalists in other countries are using RTI as a tool to access to complete files, records and other essential documents that contain important public information. A glaring reality in Nepal is that our media is yet devoid of “activist” characteristics despite being highly professional and competent in fulfilling its watchdog role.
Just to draw an example in the context of RTI implementation, Indian media, which are even privately run, have been exhibiting greater social responsibility by proactively campaigning for RTI issues. Had the media not adequately contributed, India’s RTI implementation would not have drawn global attention just in five years. But, if we closely assess Nepali media’s contribution to promote and implement the law in the last four years, it is far from satisfactory.
MEDIA: A BENEFICIARY
Traditional system of information access in Nepal has made the press more dependent on news sources that journalists personally cultivate. Whether bureaucrats or politicians, much depends on privilege and patronage of personal contacts or sources. But the RTI law has blurred this traditional “principal-agent relationship” by establishing access to information as a fundamental right. Journalists can procure reliable information by using RTI. Now they don’t have to solely rely on their personal contacts for obtaining information but can solicit a complete file on any government project from public bodies. Otherwise, obtaining a pack of information on any state affairs, in absence of RTI law, would have become an uphill task because of bureaucratic secrecy and hassles.
If an application is filed under the RTI and only partial information or even no information is received, then the information hidden can provide leads or justify the suspicions of the investigating journalist. The information, which is kept hidden, speaks in itself what kind of information is kept hidden, revealing the fact that something is wrong. This enables them to see beneath the surface into issues that may expose hidden corruption and irregularities of public funds.
By making use of this legislation proactively, journalists can overcome the traditional reverence of government officials and instead regard them as ‘public servants’ accountable to taxpayers for how they spend public monies and resources. Now it’s time for the media to fully capitalize on the power of RTI law. This will certainly change and improve horizons of transparency and accountability situation, which is vital for democratizing realpolitik and its values.
If we look at India, ample experiences can be drawn in this regard. Media fraternity in India has been performing exemplary roles in empowering people on RTI and keeping close tabs on its implementation. Indian experiences of the last five years can be informative and beneficial to the Nepali media when it comes to stepping up campaign for putting the law into practice. Both the state-owned and private media houses in India have initiated joint endeavors to educate people, implement the law and shore up its oversight role. Doordarshan, a state-owned broadcast network in India, has launched half an hour program weekly on RTI. It is an audience-based show comprising of live-discussions, phone-ins and studio debates to showcase the best examples on how people are using RTI.
The Indian Express, a national newspaper, along with an NGO Parivartan, has been guiding people in exercising their right to information through a RTI column “Express Initiatives”. In addition, the Indian Express has been organizing awareness camps and training workshops in association with other institutions to teach people to make use of RTI law. The Hoot, yet another online news portal in India, provides critical insights on right to information showcasing experiences and obstacles faced in RTI implementation.
These successful initiatives establish a strong case for the media that they can perform a crucial job from raising people’s awareness to keeping a close watch on RTI implementation. This inalienable relationship between the media and RTI provides reciprocal advantages on the one hand, and ultimately deepens democracy and broadens conventional limits of transparency and social accountability, the foundations of democratic polity.
pbhattarai2001@gmail.com
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