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The Role of Media in Improving Democratic Governance
an article published by Harvard University:
“The public debate in Latin America often suffers from a
lack of participation by social groups that have suffered
discrimination or marginalization. Such groups lack
access to institutional or private channels for the serious,
robust and consistent exercise of their right to publicly
express their ideas and opinions or to be informed of the
issues that affect them.”
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As a result, it appears society has turned its back on traditional media
and has turned to cyberspace to become informed and participate
actively. Perhaps this has been a response to having been manipulated
by private interests that are not necessarily linked to democracy –
which eventually reduced the influence of media on public opinion
– in addition to the social network boom and the rise of citizen
journalism. At a recent marketing forum in Venezuela, political
marketing consultant Gabriel Reyes highlighted the new role of social
media in governance: “Governance has one foot in social networks.
These are mechanisms for debate, not just for political parties, but
for movements and organizations; it is a vehicle for the rendering of
accounts and a guarantor of our democracy and transparency.”
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As we
have seen, media, trust, plurality, and transparency are all components
in the formula which produces good governance. But how to mix
these elements?
A Gamble to Recover Trust
In a region like Latin America, with broad challenges to governance
and media, IRI has developed a strategy to strengthen democracy by
means of radio shows that are designed to positively impact regional
audiences, seeking to promote interaction and community participation
through the responsible and transparent exercise of authority. As part
of this strategy, local journalists received training to strengthen their
professional skills. Emphasizing ethics and investigative reporting,
trainings are designed to help journalists fulfill their role in the
