Press freedom: What is it good for?

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http://ioc.sagepub.com/content/42/3/6The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/0306422013503105

2013 42: 6Index on CensorshipAmartya Sen

Press freedom: what is it good for?

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In this section

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Special

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7indexoncensorship.org

ABOVE: A worker reads a newspaperin Kolkata


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India and its media must make better use of its democratic freedoms.

Surprisingly, says Nobel Prize winner amt s, it might be able tolearn something from China

42(3): 8/14 | DOI: 10.1177/0306422013503105

Press freedom: what isit good for?

is free sPeeCh in conlict with thedemands o economic and social develop-ment, or are they complementary? That

question can be addressed at dierent levels

o generality. It is important to understand

the wide reach and pervasive relevance o

this question, even when the immediate

context o the discussion is a very specifc

comparison. The immediate reerence point

of this article is the comparison of China andIndia.

A strong belie oten implicit in the

importance o good technocratic planning

or successul development (no nonsense

about disorderly public discussion) used

to be quite dominant in economic thinking

or a long time, and it received rather little

challenge until late in the 20th century.

Rather than encouraging public debates,

the process o governmental policy-mak-

ing tended, or a long time, to rely on the

presumed soundness o decisions taken by

those who know best.

That view has, however, been challenged

over the last ew decades, and it has been

argued that press reedom is crucially

important or development. Why so? The

literature on the subject has highlighted, in

one way or another, at least our distinct

reasons in avour o encouraging and acili-tating uncensored public discussion. The

frst reason is the intrinsic value o reedom

o speech and public communication in the

reedom o human beings. I it is accepted

that peoples reedom to do what they have

reason to value is really important, then

reedom cannot but be one o the central

objects o development. And given that

basic recognition, it is easy to see that ree-

dom o speech and communication must

be among the constitutive ingredients odevelopment an important component o

developmental ends.

Second, seen as an instrument, the role o

a ree press in disseminating knowledge and

acilitating critical scrutiny is a necessary

requirement o inormed politics, and can-

not but be important or the ormulation o

development policies, or the enrichment o

public debates on the diagnoses o the prob-

lems to be addressed, and on the assessment

o policies.


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Third, the protective role o press ree-

dom in giving voice to the neglected and thedisadvantaged, and thus helping the cause

o greater human security, is by now well

accepted. The observation that amines do

not occur in unctioning democracies with

reedom o the press is one testament to this

protective role.

Fourth, the unctioning o a ree press and

its contribution to open public discussion are

important in generating new ideas, including

the ormation and scrutiny o values. Press

reedom also contributes greatly to the emer-gence o shared public standards, which are

central to discussions on social justice.

acvmt C i

I should admit that I have been a ollower

o this relatively new line o thinking

about development, and have argued or

the importance o press reedom, and more

generally or the benefts o a unctioning

democracy. But that immediately raises

a problem, in particular when comparing

China with India. I have to argue, at therisk o sounding hopelessly sel-indulgent,

that the possible tension even an appar-

ent contradiction in my thinking may

apply to others as well, since none o my

belies on the two subjects are particularly

unique.

India has had a ar less restricted press

than China, and has been much more o a

practising democracy. And yet in terms o

the standard criteria o economic and social

development, China has clearly done signif-cantly better than India. China not only has

had a aster rate o economic growth (even

though Indias has been ast too) but, more

signifcantly, it has achieved a higher lie

expectancy, uller literacy, and a wider cov-

erage o guaranteed health care than India

(and here unlike in the case o the rate

o economic growth Indias perormance

is very defcient). The question that imme-

diately arises is whether this indicates that

press reedom is not really that important,

and whether it may even work to the detri-

ment o development.I would argue that the answer to what

appears to be a dilemma lies in the recognition

that press reedom can be most eective only

when that reedom is utilised by the media

ully, rather than in a biased or slanted way.

Freedom is a permissive condition, and permis-

sion is not enough to make a success o the use

o the opportunity available.

The achievements o a democratic system

depend on what issues are brought into politi-

cal engagement. Some issues are extremelyeasy to politicise, such as the calamity o a

amine (which tends to stop abruptly with the

institution o a unctioning democratic politi-

cal system, as has happened in several coun-

tries, including India), whereas other issues

less spectacular and less immediate provide

a much harder challenge. Using democratic

means to remedy non-extreme undernourish-

ment, or persistent gender and caste inequali-

ties, or the absence o regular medical care

or all, is much more difcult, and success or

ailure here depends signifcantly on the rangeand vigour o democratic practice. There has,

however, been considerable progress in dealing

with some o these issues, such as particular

features of gender inequality, through relatively

improved practice o democracy in recent

years. But there is still a long way to go to take

on all the social disadvantages and injustices

rom which many Indians persistently suer.

efcc t

ttmIn contrast, in China the process o decision-

making depends largely on decisions at the

top, taken by political leaders, with relatively

little scope or democratic pressure rom

below. The spectacular act that the Chinese

leaders, despite their scepticism o the values

o democracy and liberty, have been strongly

committed to eliminating hunger and illit-

eracy has certainly helped Chinas economic

and social advancement. That deserves huge

applause.


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And yet there is an inescapable ragil-

ity in any authoritarian system, since there is

little remedy when the government leaders

change their priority in a counterproduc-tive direction. The reality o that danger

revealed itsel in catastrophic orm in the

Chinese amine o 195962, which killed

at least 30 million people, when the regime

ailed to understand what was going on and

there was no public pressure against its poli-

cies, as would have arisen in a unctioning

democracy. The policy mistakes continued

throughout these three years o devastating

amine. There was not only no politically

signiicant opposition (and no criticism

o the disastrous policies pursued by the

government) but the inormation blackout

was so complete with censorship and con-

trol o the state media that government itsel

came to be deceived by its own propaganda

and believed that the country had 100 mil-

lion more metric tons o rice than it actually

had. Eventually, Chairman Mao himsel

made a amous speech, in 1962, lamenting

the lack o democracy because it led to

mistakes in centralised planning thanks to

inormational defciency.

The ragility was seen again with the eco-

nomic reorms o 1979, when China took

the intelligent decision o removing its huge

antipathy to the market economy, and thisgreatly improved the efciency o Chinese

agriculture and industry. But wholesale mar-

ketisation also involved a huge retreat rom

the principle o universal health care coverage

or all. As the axe ell on the rural coopera-

tive medical system, the proportion o the

rural population universally covered by ree

or heavily subsidised health care crashed to

10 per cent or so within a ew years.

Such ragilities are hard to eliminate in an

authoritarian system where supportive and

Credit:Adnan1Abidi/Reuters

ABOVE: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks with Sonia Gandhi during a meeting in May this year

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protective policies can suddenly change,

depending on power politics at the top. Anestablished right to health care could not

have been so easily and so switly with-

drawn in a functioning democracy. The with-

drawal of universal entitlement to health care

sharply reduced the progress o longevity in

China, and Chinas large lead over India in

lie expectancy dwindled over the ollowing

two decades alling rom a 14-year lead to

one of just seven years. However, the Chinese

authorities did eventually come to recognise

the value of what had been lost, and reversedtheir direction o thinking again this time

with very positive results. The reintroduc-

tion o social health insurance on a large

scale (under new arrangements, including

the new cooperative medical scheme) from

around 2004 helped China to have a much

higher proportion o people with guaranteed

health care (more than 90 per cent) than

does India. The gap in life expectancy in Chi-

nas avour has been rising again, and is now

about 10 years. The reach o health coverage

is clearly central to this trend.

T m p m mcc

Given Indias multiparty democratic prac-

tice, it has to cultivate democratic engage-

ment in demanding universal health care

and addressing long-standing neglects. This

means putting pressure on the government

in ofce but also making these priorities a

part o the political demands o the opposition,

since governments, especially coalition govern-ments such as the present one in New Delhi,

have to respond to the priorities set by politi-

cal pressures and public demands, which can

take widely diverse orms and which all com-

pete or governmental attention and resources.

Cultivating democratic engagement can be a

harder task than convincing a handul o polit-

ical leaders o the need or a policy change.

On the other hand, i a norm o this kind is

democratically established, it is less subject

to the ragility to which all authoritarian

decisions remain vulnerable. In order to

match China in health coverage and sur-pass it in resilience, India has to make much

greater use o the reedom o the media, and

more generally of its democratic system, than

it has done in the past. The same can be said

or the priority o basic education or all.

That this can be done has already been

shown in India, in the use o democratic

reedoms in particular states, through

prioritizing public services, also allowing

the pursuit o inclusive economic growth.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradeshhave combined the pursuit o social wel-

are with the cultivation o ast economic

growth. Indeed, the act that an educated

and healthy labour orce has not only

enjoyed enhanced living standards but that

it has also helped these states to quickly

ascend the ladder o per-capita incomes,

thanks to rapid economic growth, illus-

trates this point with much clarity. Even

at the national level there have been many

successes, or example in addressing the

AIDS epidemic (it had been predicted that

India would be the country most severelyaected by this global epidemic, but that

outcome was prevented by swit public

policies responses with wide reach). There

has also been impressively fast legal reform

to help provide more security and saety

or women, which ollowed the public agi-

tations ater a terrible case o gang rape

in mid-December 2012. The legal amend-

ments were not as strong as some wanted,

but much stronger than the previous sys-

tem o laxity and inefciency, and the

in rms h sndrdrr nm nd s

dvmn, chn hs rydn sgnfny brhn ind


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amendments were enacted by the Indian

Parliament within three months o the agita-tions.

To conclude, press reedom and demo-

cratic guarantees are necessary or making

a high-perorming development path secure

and stable, rather than ragile, even i such

reorms can be more quickly ushered in in

the absence o democratic reedoms. An

authoritarian country could go the way o

North Korea or o South Korea, or experi-

ence varying perormance o the kind China

has historically had, depending on actorsother than democratic social choice. There

are many things o great importance that

India, including its media, can learn rom

China, but to make use o these lessons India

needs to make more, rather than less, use

o its democratic reedoms and uncensored

media.

As one of the principal architects of Indias

democratic constitution, B R Ambedkar, said

with deep insight: in order to make a success

of its democracy, India needs to continue and

vastly expand its eorts to educate, agitate

and organise. That call to action remains

substantially unulflled. A ree press has to

be more than its own reward. x

Amartya Sen

www.indexoncensorship.org

Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont Uni-

versity Proessor at Harvard University and

was previously Master o Trinity College,

Cambridge. This article draws on his books

Development as Freedom (1999) and, jointly

with Jean Dreze, An Uncertain Glory: India

and Its Contradictions (2013). He was

awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in

1998


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13indexonCensorshiP.org

Talk backi vt Ferial Haffajee, t

st ac pp Ct P, t

p m jt pt v t

Amartya Sens pt p m.

At two titles Ive edited, we have aced gags or

attempted gags more than 10 times in 10 years.

This pre-publication censorship (through attempted

court interdict) is the most severe orm. It has beenattempted by multi-national corporations, a corrupt

but popular youth leader, our version o the FBI,

companies linked to the governing Arican National

Congress and others of the motley crew who do not

know the South African constitution.

Our constitution explicitly protects free speech and

thus a free media. It has saved my bacon many times

and held the censors at bay when gags have ailed

in court. I have oten been surprised by the people

weve found ourselves sitting opposite in court. There

have been good democrats among them and people

who helped drat the Constitution and birthed the

new democracy of Nelson Mandela.

Is it as simple as them not having read the

ground law or orgotten it? Not at all. It is that

media reedom is great in philosophy when you

are in revolutionary trenches, but very hard to stay

true to when you are in power. Because power,

Ive seen in the past 19 years, does corrupt as

money and influence are as seductive here as

they are anywhere. Mandelas generation o

political leaders, who lived or a larger goal and

were servant leaders before the term was evencoined, have been replaced by a generation driven

instead by self-interest.

Corruption is a growing cancer. To illustrate:

President Jacob Zuma has made R250 million

(US$24.5 million) worth o renovations on his

private estate drawing on the public purse, when

the rule-books allow only R100,000 (US$9,790)

or security enhancements. Relationships between

the presidency and titles like City Press are brittle

because public interest has clashed loudly with sel-

interest on this and other instances.

In addition to the gags, the South African media

and its allied reedom o expression organisations

have had to fght o eorts at greater state regu-

lation and less transparency as the pace of investi-

gative journalism has been cranked up.

Journalism in a new democracy, in which I eel

mysel personally invested, is a constant balance

between being a critic and a patriot (the US

PATRIOT Act notwithstanding, I am patriotic). We

walk a tightrope between being a watchdog and

recognising the role o the media to help shape

society by being useul and constructive. Whatdoes this mean? It means ensuring that our cov-

erage o health, o education and o the oten

arcane processes o development (bringing water,

toilets, housing and broadband access to a major-

ity o people and, in South Aricas case, dealing

with a cruel AIDS pandemic) is as sexy and as

omnipresent as the coverage of celebrities, power-

ful people and corruption.

This is not always easy as a nation turns its

attention to play, sex and scandal ater so many

years of struggle. The country would rather not be

distracted by development journalism, choosing

instead to pay attention to the seduction o the

Kardashians or the next hot reality show. But cov-

ering development is a core part of our responsibil-

ity, as is ensuring that we give adequate exposure

to the things government gets right.

In our case, this includes reporting on the exten-

sion of a substantial social safety net to a majority

o South Aricans (no other Arican country has

such a comorting net), electricity connections,

housing, and the government managing the

economy fairly well through two recessions. In mycase (and I cant speak or colleagues), it is also

ensuring that I always refer to South Africa as our

country and not this country, for I am not alien

to the place I was born in and where I now prac-

tise and enjoy a healthy media freedom.

With its constitutional umbrella, South Arica

has developed a eisty and ree media that is

invested in the countrys success. We are not

perect, but we are a decent ourth estate that

enjoys good levels o trust rom our dierent

reading publics.


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14

In this, we have learnt well from Amartya Sens

seminal philosophy o development as reedom.

As a child who grew up under apartheid and

then a woman who benefted enormously rom

the reedom years and the ANCs policies, my

journalism is not particularly geared toward the

Gotcha mode o investigative work. It is not

ocused on up-ending governments or claiming

scalps, though it is good when bad leaders are

called to account.

My working thesis is that corruption and poor

government practice and policy impact on theextension o reedom. They sap the dream o

reedom and make a beloved country less than

it can be. So, every time we take on a large

investigation, we try to show what has been

squandered or stolen in houses we could have

built and identiy entrepreneurs we could have

encouraged and children who could have been

given a better education.

Media reedom and the possibilities o democ-

racy, Ive learnt in South Aricas ree years, are

totally indivisible.

ferial haajee is editor of the Sunday newspaperCity Press in South Africa

Documents

Press freedom: What is it good for?