Head of Policy Development at the BBC World Service Trust James Deane has an interesting post over on the Communications Initiative blog asking if a free and plural media should be considered more important than a transparent election process in securing democratic development.
His post springs from a recent attendance at the Salzburg Global Seminar on strengthening independent media, and in particular an argument put forth by Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion that the media is an essential part of the system of checks and balances on executive government power:
“Collier provided … the most succinct case I have yet heard on why media is essential to economic development. He argues that information is an essential public good and that the media’s role in providing information and acting as a check on executive power qualifies it for public financial support …
“Media and the development efforts that support them are not more important than elections in securing democratic development. But, based on some of the best economic thinking of our time, media development is vastly more important than their current status within the development system currently suggests.”
Visit the Communications Initiative to read the rest of this post, and click here for more on the Salzburg Global Seminar series.
