Digital media, transparency and the war against corruption - Video

FORMBY, U.K. - Jan. 14, 2021 - PRLog -- Corruption is highly damaging to economic and social life through misappropriation of public funds, restriction of open market activity, favouritism towards families of those in power and the many detrimental effects of rent-seeking.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing countries brings the prospect of reduced national revenues unless and until these countries can address their corruption challenges.

In this video David Fellows and John Leonardo review evidence for the power of transparency to reduce corruption and improve economic performance. They then consider the increasing relevance of digital media, particularly social media, to the transparency agenda and how its application can be encouraged. The authors have begun translating their work into video format to encourage the general public to engage with important issues of public policy and administration that are rarely made accessible to them. The response has been very encouraging worldwide.

The authors suggest that Governments can use social media to seek public support for anti-corruption activities, including reporting corrupt practices, complaining about unfair decisions and observing the accumulation of unexplained wealth by politicians and officials.

Effective engagement is, however, dependent on the demonstration of government integrity, the recognition of public priorities and the provision of basic information on services and funding made available to local communities.

The video concludes with the assertion that the international development community can encourage governments to uphold press freedom, protect whistle-blowers and use social media as part of the transparency process, and scale up its support to countries that are pursuing effective anti-corruption policies.

[The video and the full article, first published by the IMF on 7^thJanuary 2021, can be found on the PFMConnect website at: http://blog-pfmconnect.com/digital-media-transparency-and-the-war-against-corruption/]

About the Authors:

David Fellows is an international development PFM advisor who previously worked extensively in UK local government finance and in the Cabinet Office as advisor on public service reform. He was a leader for the introduction of digital communication in UK public service delivery. He is a director of PFMConnect, a public financial management consultancy: david.fellows@pfmconnect.com .

John Leonardo John Leonardo is a PFM expert with extensive worldwide experience including institutional strengthening and public engagement pertaining to PFM activities. He is a director of PFMConnect.