Media responsibility for global economic crisis?
27.04.2009That was the broad conclusion of the first two panel discussions at the 8th annual Eurasian Media Forum held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 23-24, 2009.
In a wide ranging discussion moderated by Riz Khan of Al Jazeera International, the overall conference chair, panellists from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, France, Netherlands, Russia, the UK and the USA examined the role of the media and how journalists needed to question the causes and explore the possible responses to the crisis.
American television producer and author Danny Schechter said: “We as journalists and citizens need to come to grips with who is responsible. Unless we go a little deeper we are just going to sit in on an academic conversation. It goes a lot deeper than the discussion has gone so far. We have to focus on the pain that is being spread very deeply in the world and we have to stop it.”
He said journalists had become embedded in the corporate system. “They didn’t ask the right questions and the consequence is what we have now. This is a good time to ask questions.”
Looking at scenarios for reform of the financial system, Professor Igor Panarin of the Diplomatic Academy of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, referred to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s recent call for a new world order and a new Asian currency.
These issues should be examined by the media, he said, including the possible creation of a new world reserve currency system, embracing Asian currencies, the Euroo and the Dollar. He also forecast the development of a new world order based on three entities, the European Union plus the United States, the Asian community and the post-Soviet group of countries. “This will balance the worldwide system that will allow us to cope with the deadlock created by Wall Street bankers,” he said.
Grigoriy Marchenko, Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said there were various alternative systems that should be looked at, such Islamic banking, but added: “ I think there could be alternatives and they should be explored, but I don’t think there will be a replacement. Throwing the old system out in favor of something not yet tried or tested would be too critical. Replacing one monopoly with another is not really constructive.”
The Forum’s second session, entitled ‘in Search of the New Capitalism’, moderated by Adrian Finighan of CNN, extended the debate on how to deal with the crisis, and how the media needed to play a more active part in informing the public.
John Studzinki of the Blackstone Group, UK, said: “The press needs to re-asses its role, it needs to be tougher in terms of reporting what is going on. There is a need to explain the workings of the financial system, to find a balance between the financial, the human and the government. We need to understand that capitalism has changed because the players have changed.”
Armen Sarkissian, Director of the Eurasia Programme at Cambridge University, UK, said all systems that worked had a right to live: “The proof is in their success.” The world was not black and white but coloured, requiring a harmonised solution for each country.
Professor Sarkissian warned that the global economic crisis would be followed by even greater crises, affecting energy, water, food and the environment, which the world had to be prepared to face.
The current crisis was being tackled, he said, but the next one, affecting the environment would be much worse and much more difficult to correct. “We will have to have international governance, not only on environmental issues but over nuclear fuel.”
British politician George Galloway said a new social and economic system was needed, rooted in human values and designed to benefit all the people, not just a small minority. “The economy is too important to be left to capitalists,” he said.
Kairat Abusseitov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom, said capitalism was facing a conceptual crisis of unknown proportions.
“Be careful of the terms being used because everything is still under consideration,” he warned. “We have to have a good balance between individualism and collectivism. In parallel we have to look at the interdependence of politics and the human dimension. Thirdly, we have to align the currency system.”
Sebastien de Montessus of AREVA, France, said capitalism needed to be renewed with much more importance given to regulations. Regulatory bodies had to ensure that democracy can operate, he said.
END
SS/24.04.09
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