Don Robotham, Contributor

The press has a crucial practical watchdog role to play defending the rights and interest of civil society at both the individual and collective levels. This 'Fourth Estate' role of the press is well-known but is always worth repeating. Exposure of abuses of human rights, incursions against the rule of law, corruption and other forms of malfeasance whatever the source, is of absolutely vital importance for any democracy.

Whether these abuses concern bread-and-butter issues such as utility bills, lost relatives, transportation woes, poor services from public institutions, or human rights abuses, a free press has often been the only avenue which has been available to make these grievances known and to seek remedies.

Practical matter

Press freedom is a cornerstone of civil society and a leading force in the formation and elaboration of that public sphere without which there can be no democracy. The notion of liberal parliamentary democracy and the rule of law rest firmly on press freedom as a practical matter. It is through the exercise of press freedom that a critically informed electorate develops. It is through the debates in the media that legislative priorities are arrived at, public policy formulated and laws drafted.

In turn, the press provides the information and analyses which enable the general public and the policymakers to form an intelligent evaluation of what works and what does not and therefore, what remedies need to be considered in the continuous process of accountable gover-nance. Limitations on freedom of the press as currently obtain in our libel laws are in fact limitations on accountability.

But the role of the press is not just informational. It is freedom of the press which also helps to endow the process of governance with rational qualities.

Tribal loyalties

A process of governance removed from the realm of demagogic appeals to the narrow tribal loyalties of the moment, requires freedom of the press. It is in the course of the cut and thrust of public argumentation in the press, that the debate becomes focused on the issues rather than on personalities. The gradual formation of this more rationalistic climate for public policymaking and evaluation in Jamaica is an area too for which the Jamaican media can take some credit. Thus, the press has played and will continue to play a crucial role in defining the terms in which political debates are conducted and in insisting that appeals be made to reason and the long-term public interest rather than to the base self-interests of the moment.