Journalism has ignored writing on public service

Media houses have dedicated pages to cover important public policy areas such as the economy, sports and education on a daily if not weekly basis.

Some of them have assigned reporters, and also columnists who have specialised in some of these issues.

I particularly commend leading media houses for allocating space to these three areas as they ably meet the informational needs of their audiences.

Perhaps, all the media houses need to do is strengthen the dockets, support reporters who cover the issues in order to improve citizen’s understanding of the same—so that they can develop informed attitudes to the policy actions around the issues.

One cannot say media houses have given their time, energy and resources in covering the public service or public administration system. This is the institution that formulates and implements policies on some of the public policy issues they have given their time, energy and resources to report.

Nor have media houses identified experts on public administration to write about the organisation and management of public sector institutions. Public Administration is a subdiscipline in Political Science that focuses on the study of public policies, their implementation, and organisation and management of public sector institutions.

It is strange that the media is adept at reporting on policies, programmes, projects, initiatives and activities of government through its various ministries, departments and agencies, but have not taken pains to report on their institutional foundations, structures, organisation, management and perpetuity.

The nearest media houses come to report on the public service systems is when employees are either receiving enhanced remunerations or threatening or withholding their labour when they are not happy. The other area of interest is when an institution is getting new leadership or the leadership gets into trouble.

We have specialised institutions particularly established to address the purposes, foundations, structures and management of the public administration. They also exist to provide the human resources that are critical to the functioning of these institutions.

The specialised institutions in question are involved in the reorganisation or reform of the institutions with a view to making them more resilient in copying with and managing changing expectations, values and demands of the citizens by dint of change in systems of government, change in government, change in technology and other variables.

Bureaucracy, although permanent, is and must be responsive to internal and external forces. Its capacity, resilience, and agility—in terms of technical, administrative and leadership—are critical to the success of any government.

These are exciting things to report on—be it for hard news, features and the human elements in public administration. I don’t see any media house which has invested in reporting on this aspect of government. Reporting cases of corruption is good—the principles of accountability, integrity are critical to effective and efficient management of public affairs.

However, issues of appointment of personnel into top leadership into public institutions, labour issues concerning public servants is a tiny aspect of public administration. It is a speck.

A public affairs reporter would like to know, for example, whether change from the parliamentary system of government to the presidential system of government has had any substantial effect on public administration.

What changes were made to adjust to this system of government?

That media houses or journalists have not found anything worthy of reporting or researching in this area is baffling. Baffling to my “news sense” and an affront to my study of Political Science - called simply Government—in my undergraduate days.

— The writer is a Communications Officer, Ministry of Education