IFC discusses challenges media faces in reporting on corporate governance
KARACHI: Reluctance to talk and lack of cooperation from corporate institutions are the biggest obstacles that commerce journalists face when reporting on corporate governance.
This was the crux of a group discussion on the ‘Role of Media in Promoting Effective Corporate Governance’ organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank under its Pakistan Corporate Governance Project here on Wednesday.
Participants of the discussion said that problems such as lack of willingness of a corporate firm, especially multinationals, to share data such as market share, sales volumes, detailed information regarding financial statements is the biggest barrier to corporate reporting.
Other problems such as pressure from big firms on media organisations to stop a news item from being printed [on the basis of marketing/advertising interests], lack of version/ evidence to likely stories that a reporter may have, lack of regulations and check and balance from representative bodies such as Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Karachi Stock Exchange have also discouraged the media from reporting on corporate governance.
IFC is striving to promote corporate governance in Pakistan, and in an attempt to successfully achieve this, they are reaching out to different stakeholders, including journalists.
According to IFC’s Mahwesh Bilal Khan, journalists need to grasp corporate governance concepts to reach awareness on the subject, to report news that business leaders seek and to uncover potential or existing corporate governance issues in companies.
According to the IFC, well-informed reporters and editors play a central role in building awareness of the value of corporate governance. Through their investigations, they can show the consequences that result when companies are poorly governed.
If the journalists’ creditability is perceived as unimpeachable, the IFC says, their analyses tend to influence opinions of leaders in business, government, academia and stakeholder communities.
They can also illustrate how companies that abide by best practice not only perform better but also are more resilient in economic crises.
The IFC plans to launch a media guide to corporate governance and train journalists in this regard.
Other suggestions that came up to improve corporate governance reporting in Pakistan included the teaching of corporate governance in journalism schools, giving ideas to journalists on corporate governance stories, and bringing the key stakeholders- such as the business people, regulators and the media together to address their issues in front of each other to resolve the communication gap between each of the groups.
” 
” 
” 
” 
