Once again we are reminded that even with the marvelous multitude of communication channels in the Information Age-fax machines, cell phones and the Internet to name a few-there is no guarantee the right message gets out.
Technology only enables the call or e-mail to get to its destination. That’s the mechanical part of it. The rest is more complicated, and can play out in odd and unpredictable ways that tend to suggest information technology’s full potential perhaps can never be realized without supporting transparency, rule of law and freedom of the press. The interplay of these elements has implications for national security, trade, health and lots more for countries experimenting with free markets but resistant to serious democratic reform.
Such is the dilemma for Russian families trying to get the straight story on the fate of children, teachers and others held hostage in Russia’s Beslan, not far from Chechnya. At least seven people were killed in the early stages of the bloody siege. By Thursday afternoon, 26 women and children had been released, but hundreds remained on the razor’s edge.
As if the attack wasn’t horrific enough for Russian families, they found themselves angry and frustrated about the lack of reliable information-any information-from their government on the school attack.
The Washington Post reported this: “No one gives us real information, that’s the most terrible thing,” said Madina Gulyarova, 39, who had a 10-year-old nephew in the school. “We see on TV that the whole world supports us. But nobody from our authorities will speak to us.”
To be fair, it is said the first three stories of war or a catastrophe are wrong. It is the nature of the beast-sorting out the facts and then confirming them takes time. Moreover, any government statement must be carefully worded so as to not make a bad situation worse.
But there’s no need to give Russia the benefit of doubt. It is no beacon of press freedom.
Neither is China, today and likely for all time the biggest mobile-phone market in the world. Remember the botched handling of information on the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS? How many deaths could have been spared if timely, accurate information had been distributed?
It is why press freedom remains on the agenda of the World Summit on the Information Society. Countries like Russia and China seem to believe they can thread the needle and enjoy the lavish rewards of capitalism while rejecting the notion of press freedom and dragging their feet on making the process of government-including the setting of wireless technical standards-transparent and fair.
The fanciest phone in the world cannot change that kind of uninspired intransigence.
