Why should social awareness be a shared responsibility of the Media and the Community?

The speech was delivered by Martin Andanar at 9th Comguild Mass Communications Conference at the AFP Theater.by Martin Andanar, Head of News5 Everywhere

Ms Jennifer Cruz, Ms Melclaire Delfin, participating schools, students, professors and all members of COMGUILD, good morning.

It is my pleasure to be here today as one of your speakers. Indeed, the agenda Social Awareness: A shared Responsibility of the Media and the Community is so timely as our nation is again in the crossroads of status quo tolerance and intolerance.

God has been so good to us that he has given us so many opportunities or crossroads to tread the right track. Edsa 1 in 1986, Edsa 2 in 2001, the Hello Garci and Euro Generals Controversy, The DAP issue, numerous abuses also of private individuals from the private sector and so on and so forth. Lahat na yata ng klase ng corruption naging issue na, from

1.Waste of Project 2.Fraud3.Lying 4.Concealing Information 5.Cronyism 6.Nepotism7.Insider Trading8.Abuse of Authority9.Bribery10.Kickbacks 11.Patronage of Civil Service Positions

12.Conflict of Interest13.Embezzlement14.Influence Peddling15.Violating Norm of Professional Integrity and 16.Failure to take personal responsibility

But it seems like we can never beat the established system of abuse in government and in the private sector.

As mediamen and women, this should all lead us to question our level of awareness. Afterall, one can only have a better understanding and solution to a problem if he is aware of what is happening around him. So, are we really aware of what is happening around us? Are people in communities aware of what is truly happening around them.

Human Rights Activist, Malcolm X, once said: “The greatest mistake of the movement has been trying to organize a sleeping people around specific goals. You have to wake the people first, then you’ll get action.”

I have a question: Do you know what you should be aware of?

Allow me to recommend 4 ways to look at society. It’s something I drew from my Sociology Class during my

University days in 1995. According to C. Wright Mills we can decipher society through the Sociological Imagination, which is the “vivid awareness of the relationship between experience (personal troubles) and the wider society (public issues).”

Australian Sociologist, Evan Willis, adds; one can use the sociological imagination by looking at society from the lenses of the following social factors: Structural, Cultural, Historical and Critical.

Structural, how do various forms or social organisation and social institution affect our lives? How do these vary over time and between countries and regions?

Eg. Bureaucratic Red Tape influences private companies over pricing.

This problem entails a top down structural solution in both government and private institutions.

Cultural, what influence do tradition, cultural values and particular belief systems have on our behaviour and social interaction? In what ways has cultural change occurred? What subcultures exist? How does our own cultural background influence our sociological gaze?

Eg. Bureau of Customs culture of corruption, explains why tax revenues are not met. This is encourages traders to underpay or smuggle for more income.

This problem requires a cultural solution. Maybe a cultural revolution supported by an unprecedented political will.

Historical, how have past events influence the present?

Eg. Past decision of letting corrupt official go scot-free, explains the braveness of current corrupt officials.

The problem here lies in how we deal with history. History is supposed to be dealt by learning from it so we dont repeat the same mistakes in the future. Maybe a new history mindset that should evolve from values formation.

Critical, how people critique the problems.

Eg. Myopic vision and amnesia towards corruption in the past emboldens the corrupt official.

The solution that I see here is collective effort of the media and the citizenry to record all wrong doings in an online public logbook of shame. Wherein we can just refer to every now and then. Parang sa mga subdivision lang na sinusulat mga pangalan sa malaking blackboard ng mga hindi nagbabayad ng monthly maintenance dues.

Aware of the corruption around me, I find this a useful way to understand why there is corruption and it gives me a ray of hope that solutions arise from the same social factors that explain why corruption exists.

Having said that, the role of the media, as the fourth estate, remains the same. It is to remind the community to be aware of what is happening around their communties and to explain in layman’s terms what the consequences are in their day to day living.

It is not only our professional duty but I believe it is our primordial constitutional and civic responsibility to do so. We have to be aware and appreciative about the fact that, as a profession, it is only the media industry that was given certain inalienable rights in our constitution’s bill of rights.

As written in article three, section four of the 1987 Constitution Bill of Rights.

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Again, we must appreciate and respect that constitutional provision by taking the heavy responsibility in using those rights to maintain social awareness and, thus, contribute to nation building.

But it has got to be a symbiotic relationship between the media and the community, since the media also get their critical feedback or information from the same community they serve. One cannot survive without the other. The same way that media dishes out an engaging topic, a rather successful communication does not occur if the audience does not engage.

Ergo, community participation is critical. We must not confuse it with community volunteerism and engagement, they are one in the same.

Why is community participation essential to social awareness? It gives every citizen a sense of ownership of his or her community. Community participation strengthens grass roots democracy.

It makes or forces leaders to become accountable and honest. It is the precursor of a “civil society”.It builds communities and, eventually, it builds a nation.

According to Dr Barbara Burrel of Northern Illinois University there are 4 types of engagement:

Civic Engagement: Organized voluntary activity focused on problem solving and helping others.

Political Engagement: Is an activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action either directly by affecting the making or implementation of public policy or indirectly by influencing the selection of people who make those policies.

Public Voice Engagement: The act of voicing out the wrong and the right.

Cognitive Engagement: Is the active pursuit of knowing what’s happening in a society.

We can go on and on about this topic for the rest of the day but since I am given only an hour to talk to you, allow me to cut this here and give you what the take aways should be from this talk.

1.Social Awareness is clearly the responsibility of both the media and the community. It is a constitutional responsibility for the media and it is a civic responsibility for the community.

2.Social Awareness requires a certain set of skills. We have to know how to understand societal problems and how to solve it. I suggest understanding it from sociological imagination perspective of C Wright Mills and Evan Willis.

3.Constitutional and Civic Responsibilities of the media and the community to promote social awareness should not be taken at face value. It is the commitment to continuous engagement that will strengthen the value of these certain inalienable constitutional privileges.

Social Awareness: A shared Responsibility of Media and the Community. Heavy words that we must seriously nurture, practice and protect.

Thank you for having me.

End.