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 "Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe."
John F. Kennedy's words ring true in today's highly globalized world, where democracy and good governance is the essence of life and where free speech and a credible flow of information is the key to democracy. Today, media freedom and sustainable democracy go hand in hand.
Marguerite H. Sullivan, U.S. Public Affairs and Communications Specialist dwelt on these and other ideas in an interactive session titled ‘Media Freedom and Sustainable Democracy' with PR practitioners, corporate communicators and media personnel in Karachi last month. The event was organized by Moderates, a private sector think tank dedicated to strengthening tolerance, interfaith harmony and democracy,
The talk was held under the auspices of the U.S. Speakers' Program and was coordinated by Dr. Elizabeth Colton, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General, Karachi.
 Marguerite Sullivan is the author of a very informative book "A Responsible Press Office: An Insider's Guide" that was written for the U.S. Department of State. It has won a number of awards and has been translated into 30 languages, She is currently Senior Director of the Center on International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy. She has also conducted over a hundred training sessions worldwide on issues pertaining to the freedom of the press, transparency and ethics of communication.
She touched on various aspects of a democratic society and explained the role free media plays in strengthening it. "Free and independent media and the ability to voice your opinion is the base of any democracy," she said, adding, "if civilians do not have information, democracy will not work and to exercise their power they must be able to make informed choices and independent judgments." The public can make informed choices only when it has a right to valid information and it is here that the role of an impartial media comes into play.
Marguerite Sullivan said she attached great importance to people's rights to voice their opinion. She said that from Pakistan and the Philippines to Uganda and Zambia "the right to have factual information gives the voiceless a voice which ultimately leads to building of a civil society and a strong economy."
Elaborating the use of new media, the speaker highlighted how mobile phone penetration in rural communities has helped improve livelihood. The accessibility to connect to the outer world has diminished the role of the middleman, thereby directly connecting the farmer to the consumer market where he can bargain well for his product. She cited community radio as another medium through which the public can be educated about several issues concerning health, education, law and gender rights.
There have been many cases, she explained, where small initiatives through community radio, like creating awareness about HIV/AIDS or women's access to safe contraceptive practices led the government to take action on the issues, which meant it held itself accountable to the society.
However, it is not media alone that matters. The legal environment in which the media operates in a country is crucial where information and defamation laws are in place. Good governance is one where the government has a process in place to keep a check on whether the media is passing on the right information to the public or not. This, said Sullivan, was the real essence of democracy where not only the government but also the media is accountable to the public.
 Such accountability comes into practice when we talk about the new face of media - the digital media - which has lately taken the media environment by storm. Ms. Sullivan said that in the present times when our journey towards the Internet has been robust, it is equally important that we have a media-literate public. Also with the advent of citizen journalism, where every internet user can take on the role of a news producer, the credibility of information is at stake. It is here that both the media and the government can take punitive measures so that the process of gate keeping is well in place and information helps build a just society.
Marguerite Sullivan added that our present generation is living and breathing the online media. Traditional media, especially print, has already taken a back seat. The American print industry is shrinking where many newspapers have shut down in recent years and several journalists have lost their jobs.
However, Ms. Sullivan was hopeful that with the right policies that ensure an authentic process of news dissemination through the digital media, the idea of a sustainable democracy will reach far and wide across the globe and every citizen will have a voice through a single click of the mouse.
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