Role of the Media

This question leads me to the second topic that I want to say something about, which is the role that the media can play in responding to the challenge of tackling poverty in developing countries.

The media, through supporting high-quality, thoughtful comment and debate on public issues, has a key role to play in supporting good policies and building decent societies. And this is just as true in the area of economic and development policies as in other areas.

The best single example of this that I know of is the debate about trade and the level of tariffs -- that is, levels of protection -- that took place over the three or four decades to the early 1980s in Australia. Australia, in economic terms, is today a relatively open, low-protection country. But tariff levels used to be much higher, and significant parts of the Australian industrial sector used to be much more protected than is the case today. For decades, through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, a long-running national debate was conducted in parliament, in universities, and in business circles about the pros and cons of cutting tariffs and reducing protection.

Throughout this long debate the national media, and especially economic journalists and commentators at the high-quality end of the print media, played a key role in promoting reform. Several of Australia's most well-known economic journalists such as Ross Gittins and Ken Davidson constantly set out the issues clearly and fairly. One well-known Member of Parliament who wrote hundreds of anonymous articles (semi-anonymous, anyway) under the pen name of "The Modest Member" also lent strong support for reform. In the end, starting in the 1970s and continuing through into the early 1980s, there were very marked reductions in the level of protection in Australia.

The results of these and other pro-market supply-side reforms paid off for Australia in the 1990s. They are still paying off today. During the past decade, Australia's economy has performed very well with one of the highest rates of growth across all of the OECD countries.

Looking back at the series of supply-side economic reforms that have underpinned good economic performance in Australia, there seems little doubt that the media played a key role in strengthening the environment for reform.

Of course, the media plays a similar role elsewhere. In many other countries well-known economic journalists and commentators constantly argue the case for reform. In the United Kingdom, Martin Wolf who writes for The Financial Times, William Keegan from The Observer, and the numerous columnists and invited contributors who write for The Economist constantly outline key economic issues that need attention. In the United States, Paul Krugman has attracted much publicity as a hard-hitting commentator on public policy issues.

Across Asia, too, there are many well-known national journalists and commentators who contribute to the public debate. Here in Japan, people such as Yoichi Funabashi and Akira Kojima frequently contribute articles on national and international issues. In the Philippines, Amando Doranilo is perhaps the doyen of national journalists in his field. In Indonesia, Professor Mohammad Sadli has been an extremely influential voice for good public policy for over 40 years, while younger commentators such as Hadi Soesastro, Mari Pangestu, and Anggito Abimanyu frequently argue case for economic reform. In Thailand, Ammar Siamwalla is a leading commentator, while in India people like Prannoy Roy, Sanjaya Baru and Krishna Raj are very well-known journalists.

These people, and many others like them, play a key role in supporting the process of good governance across the Asia-Pacific region. This is because the good governance of a nation needs to take place at many levels. Of course, the role of the most senior leaders is important. When the top political, bureaucratic, and military leaders are doing a good job, this is a major step forward.

But good governance needs to go well beyond the top people in government and administration. For one thing, it is highly desirable that the performance of top political and administrative leaders is constantly monitored in an open and transparent way. Experience across many countries and across hundreds of years teaches us that the private interests of leaders and the public interests of the community do not always coincide. In the public interest, therefore, there is much to be said for ensuring that decisions about economic policies -- and especially decisions about the sectoral impact of economic policies -- are discussed in public by well-informed commentators.

For another thing, while there is a need to ensure that decisions taken by government leaders are constantly scrutinized, there is also a need to ensure that when top leaders do take good decisions they get strong support. It is unrealistic to expect government leaders to be able to promote reform by themselves. They need widespread community support to promote social and economic change across a nation. The role of economic journalists and commentators in supporting reform is a very important one. They can play a key role, first, in helping creating constituencies for reform and then later, once reform packages have been introduced, in helping encourage acceptance of the changes across the nation.

In fact, one of Indonesia's most senior economic ministers reminded me of this recently when I asked him what the ADB Institute might do to strengthen support for good policies in Indonesia. He replied that that it was frequently clear enough what policies were needed but that, too often, there was a lack of public support for the policies. "Do what you can to persuade the public, and the parliament, to agree to reforms," he said. "Without their support, it is hard for me to promote the changes we need."

In talking of support, we need to remember that it is not only the top leaders of a nation who need support but journalists as well. Too often, the role that journalists play in the Asia-Pacific region in challenging existing policies and promoting reforms is risky. Across the region there are many instances of journalists taking substantial personal risks, and sometimes paying a heavy price for telling the news like it is.

I have, by the way, a personal interest in this topic. My son has been a foreign correspondent in Indonesia for over four years. He covered the turmoil in Indonesia in 1998 when President Soeharto resigned from office, and later reported on the transition of power in East Timor. He, along with other journalists in Jakarta, has at times been caught up in angry crowds of anti-foreign demonstrators in Indonesia, and has had to duck for cover during military clashes in Dili. I am therefore very aware of the risks that journalists face in covering events in developing countries in Asia, and strongly believe that all journalists in the region need good support from the international community for the important work that they do.