Why a free press is vital for development
Even in late February, as we toured Shanghai and Beijing, people were wearing strips of gauze across their mouths, rather like the strictly vegetarian Jain Hindus of western India, who are fearful of swallowing any living thing. Our guides murmured something vague about visiting villagers dreading big city smells.
Looking back, I wonder if they were ignorant or playing dumb. Either way, with Premier Wen Jiabao meeting Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders today in Bangkok to discuss the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) crisis, it is pertinent to reiterate Indian Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's thesis that press freedom is vital for development. The distinguished economist meant that no country can advance without transparent governance; rulers must always take the ruled into their confidence.
Candour alone can justify tough measures and make them acceptable to the populace. The need goes beyond epidemics. Transparency is not only an instrument of crisis management. In a democracy, it should constantly reveal government policy.
America's invasion of Iraq is a case in point. Last September, US Vice-President Dick Cheney accused Saddam Hussein of 'actively and aggressively' trying to make nuclear bombs. The world is still waiting for evidence of this.
A month later, President George W. Bush said Iraq's growing fleet of unmanned aircraft could be used 'for missions targeting the US'. Again, for America's credibility, there needs to be evidence to prove (a) the existence of such a fleet, and (b) the intent to use it against the US.
These are also aspects of the 'culture of secrecy' that the Vienna-based International Press Institute criticises in China. Fearing loss of face or the political and economic consequences of adverse publicity, many governments try to suppress bad news, whether it is cholera or corruption.
The old Soviet Union's desperate efforts to conceal earthquakes resulted in even higher loss of life and property. The secrecy only ended in 1986 when, pursuing openness, president Mikhail Gorbachev overruled communist officials and threw open the Chernobyl nuclear plant to global scrutiny.
Professor Sen argues that although Mao Zedong was committed to eliminating hunger, up to 30 million people died in the 1958-61 famine because 'the lack of a political opposition and absence of an independent critique from the media' prevented officials drawing the right lessons from the disastrous failure of the Great Leap Forward.
Similarly, he blames the 1943 Bengal famine, which he witnessed, on censorship compounded by British India's lack of democracy. The colonial regime took remedial action only when a Calcutta newspaper, the Statesman, 'decided to break ranks by publishing graphic accounts and stinging editorials'.
Responsible government cannot function in a vacuum. It must enjoy consent, which implies consultation. It must respond constructively to democratic pressure. That is where the media comes in. Niu Wenyuan, the scientist who helped set up China's social stability predetermination and early warning system, said: 'With bad information, policymakers cannot make wise decisions.'
Professor Niu claims the social factors that led to the Tiananmen Square protest surfaced at least four months earlier. Timely attention might have averted the tragedy.
Apart from its intrinsic importance, Professor Sen gives three reasons why free speech and communication is crucial.
First, a free press disseminates knowledge and allows critical scrutiny. Second, it provides protection by giving a voice to the neglected and disadvantaged, and thus providing greater human security. Third, free public discussion contributes in shaping values and in the emergence of shared public standards that are central to social justice.
It adds up to feedback. Without it, Mao's government believed it had 100 million more tonnes of grain than was the case at the peak of the famine, says Professor Sen.
Hopefully, China has learned its lesson. Chinese newspapers have certainly become vocal about Sars. But what of other governments, whose reasoning - like America's for invading Iraq - is still shrouded in the culture of secrecy?
Sunanda Kisor Datta-Ray is a senior fellow at the School of Communication and Information of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
