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Module 10: Covering Public Service Issues Aim of training
1. Participants understand public service delivery in their local area. 2. Participants are able to identify problems that emerge in public service delivery.
3. Participants understand why public service issues occur.
Topics
1. Public service delivery in the local area. 2. How public service quality affects lives and livelihoods.
Methods
1. Presentations. 2. Study cases and best practices.
3. Discussions and question-and-answer sessions.
Materials and equipment
1. Case studies, best practices, and relevant laws on public service delivery. 2. LCD projector and laptop.
3. Large sheets of white paper. 4. Permanent markers.
Time needed
2 x 60 minutes.
Facilitation process
1. Facilitator presents on public service delivery in general or as it relates to a particular field such as health or education, and the relevant service standards
such as Standard Operating Procedures and Minimum Service Standards. 30 minutes
2. Facilitator guides a discussion on public service quality in the local area. 30 minutes
62 3. Facilitator explores in greater depth a few of the key questions or issues raised
by participants in the previous discussion, relating them back to service standards. 30 minutes
4. Facilitator guides a second discussion if needed. 30 minutes
Reading materials Covering Public Service Delivery by Fabian Gaban
Why are public services rarely covered in the media? - Journalists view public services as boring or not as interesting as other topics.
This is in spite of the fact that public services can be viewed from a range of different angles: political, economic, social, or human interest.
- Readers are not interested in public service delivery because the stories tend to be presented in a dreary or dull fashion and are not explicitly linked to the
readers’ own lives. This causes a vicious circle, because if readers do not read these articles, then journalists will not cover them.
- Journalists do not fully understand the importance of public services and their relation with politics.
What are public services? Public services are services provided to citizens by the government. They can be:
- Direct through the public sector by government-owned institutions; or - Indirect through the private sector but subsidized by the government.
All citizens have the right to receive quality public services that are free or at least affordable. All citizens should be able to access these services regardless of their own
financial status that is, regardless of whether they are rich or poor.
Types of public services: - Waste management
- Clean water and drinking water - Education
- Health - Electricity
-
Citizens’ documentation identity cards, licenses, birth certificates, etc - Business and building permits.
Public services as they relate to the media:
63 - Public broadcasting national radio and television stations
- Libraries and archives libraries contain not just books but also government records such as budgets and plans, as well as national archives
- Information public information laws state that government institutions are required to be transparent and provide information to citizens about public
services; both the public and the media can demand government institutions to release information and become more transparent.
Public services as they relate to politics: - Decision making based on social consensus, such as through democratic
elections - Executive and legislative elections have a major impact on public service quality
- Politics are not just about individual politicians but also about campaigns -
Politicians and parties often make ‘promises’ during elections, but they are not always implemented.
Public services as they relate to decentralization andor regional autonomy: - In decentralized countries or those with regional autonomy, public services are
the responsibility of local governments, even if they are primarily funded by the national government.
- Heads of provincesstatesdistricts and legislative bodies play a significant role in the quality of public services.
Public services as they relate to the economy: - The quality of public services is largely decided by the funding they receive from
provincialstatedistrict and national governments. o
For example, in Indonesia, in 2006, only 1 of the national budget was allocated to public health services, while 3.4 was allocated to
infrastructure. At the same time, public servant salaries took up 15 of the national budget.
o In Indonesia, education received 17 of the national budget in 2006, an
increase from just 2 in 2001. However, many citizens believe that education remains too expensive.
Public services and the neo-liberal capitalist economy: -
Some public services are privatized and sold to investors, which frees the government of responsibility for providing those services.
- An increasing percentage of government-owned businesses now act like private
businesses.
64 -
Some governments are trying to end public services and make all services private. For example, the liberal governments of Reagan and Thatcher which
privatized hospitals and prisons.
- Some governments also increasingly rely on private armies to fight their wars,
such as the US go vernment’s use of Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Misconceptions about public services: -
Public toilets which require payment -
Ordinary citizens who direct road traffic – where are the traffic police?
- Clean water and drinking water that must be bought
- Parks and beaches that are not publicly accessible or require payment.
Effect of privatization: - Richer people tend to be able to use privatized services more than poorer
people, causing a wider social gap. - Centralization andor urbanization.
- Service quality may decrease, as attention turns towards profit and efficiency.
Strengthening the role of the government: - It is true that in Indonesia at least, the government is often corrupt and that public
services are poor. However, privatization is not the solution. - The solution is to make the government stronger and better through democratic
instruments. - Democracy only works well if the public actively participates and is not apathetic.
- The public can only actively participate if they know about and understand problems, and are able to be critical about them informed citizenry.
- The media must assist the public in understanding problems. Good media coverage of public service issues:
- The media must understand public service delivery. Thus far, many journalists have major misconceptions about public service.
- Journalists should strive to their coverage of public services more interesting. This is a basic element of journalism: make important stories interesting.
- Some journalists may need to become better writers, and improve their presentation of stories.
- Journalists should take their readers’ position into account, and write about the
issue in a way that is relevant and interesting to them. Do not write as if it were a public servant’s speech or a press release.
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Example of how a citizen journalist affected public services in East Java
Sholikhul Huda, a citizen journalist from Jember in East Java, wrote an article on Berita Nusa Archipelago News called ‘Jember and 9 other districts in East Java do not yet
have an Infor mation and Documentation Management Officer’. Sholikhul’s article
explained how all districts are required to have such an officer, as mandated by the Law on Transparency and Public Information. The article sufficiently embarrassed the
Jember district government, and they have now finalized the district head decree that will allow the appointment of the officer. They will soon implement the law.
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Module 11: Journalistic Code of Ethics Aim of training
1. Participants understand the contents and the importance of the journalistic code of ethics, and are able to implement in their work.
2. Participants understand how the journalistic code of ethics can guide citizen journalists.
Topics
1. Journalistic code of ethics. 2. Code of ethics as a guide for journalists and citizen journalists.
Methods
1. Group discussions. 2. Participant presentations on their small group discussions.
3. Sharing opinions and ideas.
Materials and equipment
1. PowerPoint presentation with journalistic code of ethics. 2. Printed handouts of journalistic code of ethics for each participant to take home.
3. Laptop and LCD projector. 4. Large sheets of white paper and permanent markers.
Time needed
60 minutes.
Facilitation process
1. Facilitator presents about the journalistic code of ethics and its importance in
high-quality, sensitive, and ethical media coverage. 20 minutes
2. Participants discuss case studies available in ‘reading materials’ section below
in small groups. 20 minutes 3. Participants present the results of their discussions. 20 minutes
4. Facilitator summarizes the code again and answers any questions. 20 minutes
