The Role of the State-owned Newspaper

THERE has been quite a bit of controversy over the Prime Minister’s stated disappointment with a headline that appeared in the Tuesday, August 25 edition of this newspaper. The PM contended that he did not think the headline reflected what actually transpired in parliament. What followed were wild statements about, and insinuations of, government interference in the editorial decision-making of the paper.
Some reports went as far as to suggest that the PM decides on the headlines that should accompany stories. Nothing is further from the truth. We can say with absolute certainty that since its assumption of power, no official of the government nor any party in the government has sought to influence the content or editorial direction of this paper.
While we do not deny such interference in the past, we have committed ourselves to producing a newspaper that covers the news as impartially, and as inclusively as possible. In that regard, the Prime Minister, who has responsibility for the public media, has been our loudest supporter.
We do not wish to comment on the accuracy of the headline, but we do not see anything wrong with the PM publicly expressing his disappointment with it. He is the representative of the owners of the paper, and has every right to speak up if he feels that the paper has unfairly covered the activities of its owners. It is our view that there is an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Operating a State newspaper is a very complex undertaking. Where does one draw the line between the obligations of ownership and autonomy in editorial decision making? Should the paper ever be critical of government actions? The answers to these questions are not cut-and-dried. They are determined by the dynamics of the situation. A State newspaper, like all other newspapers, has vested interests, politically and ideologically. Ours arise from the government’s thrust; there is no running away from that.
But what is very certain is that there must be a distinction between Party and Government in the operation of the paper. In our heavily party-centred environment, this has been a difficult area for the State media. But perhaps because we now have a multi-party government, the distinction has been less blurred. If a party feels disgruntled by our coverage, it has a right to express that publicly or privately. But we are not beholden to any party.
Our newspaper is owned by the State, and is, therefore, expected to editorially support the general thrust of the government of the day. The Government then has a right to set out the broad parameters within which the paper operates, and to question the paper when it deviates from such. However, what it should not have a right to, in whatever form, is the running of the day-to-day affairs of the paper. It is our view that such a scenario reduces the paper to a mere mouthpiece of the narrow partisan interests of the party or parties which constitute the government. Again, we are at one with the Prime Minister on this.
Ultimately, we feel that our paper must strike a balance between covering and articulating government policies and practices on the one hand, and performing the traditional functions of the media, including the right to be an impartial medium and a watchdog of the interests of the society at large. Ultimately, our paper is owned by the people, and the government acts on their behalf.
We are satisfied that we have struck that balance in recent times. Our news coverage is diverse, both in terms of subject matter and political viewpoints. Editorially, our op-eds reflect a much larger chunk of public opinion, some of which have been critical of the government. So, too, are our editorials, which have moved decisively away from the party’s viewpoint to a more national outlook. Of course, there is always room for improvement, but we believe we are on the right track.

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