Medhovathi - Journalism & Maldives

Defining a Journalist

Asking the question “Who is a Journalist?” was how the day began for me today. At AMIC’s annual conference now in progress in Singapore, there were the professors from media, journalism and mass communication colleges and faculties from diverse continents and backgrounds in the first session of the day all trying to arrive at a common understanding of who a journalist is. There were the think tanks from institutes of policy studies and research. There were the high profile journalists themselves carrying with them long standing experience. All of them contributing in their own way to the debate.

This has been a very rewarding session for me both personally and professionally. As a person living in a changing Maldives aspiring for the installation of a liberal democracy, it is important for me to understand the basic premise of the important institution of media: who is a journalist in the proper frame of its meaning? As a technocrat dealing with actual media reform in the country the definition becomes even more significant as the great substance of my work revolves around that definition – be it developing institutions and systems for them, or defining press freedom or even building the larger media landscape.

What I knew from them during that one and half hours of discussion is that they could not agree on a singular definition, either in the broad or in the narrow context. Everyone who spoke contributed to the discussion reflective of his or her own social milieu. There were the speakers who said journalists work with a professional disinterest. Perhaps a reference to the fact that they are professional people who do not get emotionally or personally involved with the stories they cover or have no inclination towards any one particular theory or opinion relevant to their story. There were those who described journalists with a moral flavor that set them apart from every other writer who communicated thoughts. There were those who defined journalists within an ethical setup where they thrust was on the fact that they operated within a set of ethical guidelines. There were those who likened them to public intellectuals who stood tall on national and social issues and pushed agendas and beliefs through the train of their thoughts. There were those who gave a very formal definition whereby the journalists were defined with an institutional approach - those who worked as professionals registered with the journalists associations and professional journalistic communities.

One thing I noticed however underlying all definitions and descriptions was this: a journalist has undergone professional training; he practices a trade or a profession; he is a seeker of information; he communicates information, commentaries, and views on issues relevant to the society; he works within an ethical and professional code; and above all he works for the public in their interest.

I am not sure what we have in the Maldives compares squarely with those qualities and qualifications. But I am sure that there are Maldivian journalists who possess and portray those qualifications and qualities even though it may not be said as a generalization. It is after all on politicians and decision makers like us to ensure that the Maldives landscape now is transformed to ensure that our dream of a proper institution of media is realized, freedom of press is enshrined in our way of life; and journalists are attributed the respect and decorum accorded to such professional communicators and commentators so richly deserve.

I know Maldives is a long way from being there. But I am equally sure that with our hearts and minds firmly placed on that purpose and direction, there is no reason why the Maldives should fail to have a free and responsible media in which serves journalists who possess the talent, the qualification, the professionalism, the ethics, and the disinterest as explained in the discussion this morning.

On a lighter note, a professor of journalism from Nigeria got up at the end of the session and said to the panelists and the several hundred journalists assembled in the hall, that despite being a professor of journalism, he was utterly confused this morning as to who a journalist really is and requested the session to do him a small favor. Please define for me who a journalist is.