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Add to FavoritesThe answer is yes media expose's can lead to drastically needed reform. The problem is that there are so few true journalists. When there are scandals in government, journalists dance around them so carefully that they are not as effective. In western countries, where there are checks and balances in place, you would think that any kind of an expose' would lead to some kind of reform.The problem is that today, the media dwells on such insignificant issues while the government continues to recklessly misuse the peoples' tax money. In developing countries however, the governments have such a strangle hold on the media that no changes seem to come out of such revelations.
Take a country like Kenya for instance. This is one of the few African countries that could have been competitive in the world market today. By 1986 the exchange rate of the Kenya shilling to the dollar was Ksh 16.00, today it's up to Ksh 60.00 to the dollar. The GDP was very similar to that of Singapore. Due to corruption one might say, mainly led by government abuse, Kenya is now lagging way behind. The inflation rate is high and the unemployment rate reflects it. The level of embezzlement by government is well documented. Countless articles were written about these issues, all which amounted to nothing. In the end none of the corrupt leaders are prosecuted.
Case in point, a prominent government official, a Mr. Githongo exposed all the anomalies in the Kenya government. The media covered it as thoroughly as was expected of them. Names of top ministers were revealed in different scandals ranging anywhere from corrupt passport deals to money laundering. Needless to say, he was ostracized, the media reprimanded and after a brief suspension one of the rogue ministers, he was reinstated. Recently Kenya held an election in which the opposition party promised to streamline the government. When the votes were counted, even though the opposition was in the lead the whole time, the incumbent won. All the scandals that had been revealed during his previous administration would of course be carried over to the next government.
In essence as much exposure as the media gave the abuse of power, no reforms were realized. On the other hand neighboring countries like Tanzania and Uganda have been very sensitive to any reports of abuse by government officials. A Ugandan vice president resigned when he was charged with corruption after a journalist wrote about it.
It may seem like most journalists in these developing countries give up too soon .One would think if enough pressure was applied by constant exposure of raw dealings, changes could actually take place. Even though in the case of Kenya much has not improved, the incumbent government has been forced to share power with the opposition party. There was an uprising, mainly because of the information that was talked about by media of all forms. With the opposition as part of the government the situation is not as dire as it was before. Granted the government will continue to conduct it's business in some shady fashion. but the fact that part of it is watching and gunning for reforms is somewhat a deterrent.
For journalists who have not forgotten what their role is, they can play an integral part in bringing about changes. The problem is that even in western cultures like the US, the media tends to be very soft on exposing government abuse. I must at this stage commend media characters like Keith Olberman of MSNBC and Dan Abrams also of MSNBC. Most of the government deviance that they highlight on their shows are not talked about by the rest of the media. This is the only way reform would take root. This is surprising because on any given day, it seems like the US media speaks with one voice. Identical stories, using the same phrases . Why they don't highlight abuse of power by government with the same vigor beats me.
Learn more about this author, Phoebe Odingo.
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No
Media exposes have been a vital cog in the exposure of government abuses all around the world, but one cannot say that media exposes alone can and have lead to governmental and political reform. Exposing human rights violations through the media has always been an important way to internationally embarrass governments enough to try and make some changes in their internal policies. The flood of information we receive each day informing us of some new and brutal event in the world would make us think that changes are being made as a result of worldwide awareness. However, the changes quite simply, and very sadly, are not happening on the ground, as they should be.
Let's take the war in Iraq, for example. In the years after the government of the United States and others initiated the war in Iraq, a scandal involving the abuse and sexualized torture of detainees was exposed regarding Abu-Ghraib prison. While it was extremely important that those horrors emerged into the light, it has done nothing to change the American government's continued illegal policies on the torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners not only abroad, but at home too. While the government was indeed embarrassed and a slew of resignations were tendered, the expose has done nothing to actually change any of the US government's policies regarding torture.
Another example is Zimbabwe. When Robert Mugabe first took power about 20 years ago, the press was welcomed into the nation so they could show everyone in the world what freedom could look like in a former colonial nation who had decided to expel its white citizens and give white-owned lands to back to the indigenous Africans. As Mugabe descended into his Napoleonic megalomania, he expelled all of the journalists so that there would be no one in his country criticizing him or his policies. Of course, journalists always find a way and now many journalists report from border towns in South Africa and are still able to expose the horrific economic situation within the country. Even when Zimbabwe's opposition leader was brutally beaten and tortured, with images of his swollen and broken face plastered all over worldwide media, this did absolutely nothing to change the situation within the country even though it may have been considered Pulitzer Prize material.
A positive example would be the case of the Canadian government with regards to the recent United Nations adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of the World's Indigenous People. The Canadian government had been a staunch advocate against this declaration for two decades, during which UN working groups were drafting texts and trying to gain governmental and indigenous peoples' consensus. Embarrassingly, the Canadian government was one of four governments (including the USA, New Zealand and Australia) with high indigenous populations who in fact voted against this non-binding resolution. In the aftermath of the historic vote on the Declaration on the Rights of the World's Indigenous People, the Canadian government was slammed by human rights and indigenous peoples' groups around the world. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released cutting statements regarding the four nations who voted against this Declaration. On April 8, seven months after the initial adoption of the Declaration by the UN, the Canadian Parliament has indeed made a motion to endorse the Declaration and begin to implement the standards noted within it accordingly.
Sadly, the case of Canada is one of the more rare occasions where media exposes have begun a process of change. Most times, upon the exposure of a human rights violation, the government will make grand speeches about how the reforms are on their way, but then in a year's time we hear the same old story once again.
It would seem that as important as media exposes are in letting the world know about the horrors going on inside nations, the only thing that actually makes reforms happen is when a government itself exercises its political will to make the necessary changes. Hard-hitting journalism is not enough, although it can indeed play a very important role as the impetus for dialogue on how to actually make the necessary reforms happen. Once governments see the media and global citizens as entities they must be held accountable to, only then will we start to see reforms that happen as a result of media exposes alone.
Learn more about this author, Sezin Piotruszewicz Koehler.
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