Leaks to the media
THERE is a measure of delicious irony in the fact that the very notification through which the government has ordered that no official is to leak any material to the media, found its way to the press.
As reported yesterday, the Establishment Division had sent the notification to the federal, provincial, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan governments for implementation, warning officials they would face disciplinary action if found to have leaked information.
This amounts to merely re-emphasising an already established point, though, since officials are barred by existing rules and service policies from giving out unauthorised information. Leaks are by definition the result of an individual`s decision that certain material which would not otherwise reach the public domain ought to be put there. Nevertheless, the government – perennially beleaguered and lurching from crisis to crisis – has been driven to this point because, as the notification says, there have been several instances where the leakage of “information places the government in an embarrassing position”.
On a more reflective note, many stories of abuse and government-initiated transgression across the world may never have seen the light of day were it not for leaks to the media. From prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib to the Iraq war files to WikiLeaks, the realm of public knowledge about various administrations` dealings would have been poorer without the whistles blown by insiders.
Leaking information to the media is one way in which disgruntled officials try to address the situation without putting themselves at direct risk. It is next to impossible to prevent this. Rather than issuing notifications that seek to prevent officials from doing what they are already not meant to do, the government would be better served by some introspection. It would not find itself in embarrassing positions if there were little to be embarrassed about.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/15/2011
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