Saberi Roy - 3/3/2008
The term culture as we understand would refer to our social and moral systems, as well as all forms of human activity that are carried through generations comprising the gamut of human beliefs, values, arts, religions, languages and behavior. Culture is the product of civilization, a way of life and establishes traditions for societies. Corruption is counter to culture and erodes cultural integrity and moral systems of societies and thus has a deep and long lasting impact on the continuous evolution of human society. The different facets of culture are reflected through arts, knowledge systems, music, entertainment, religions and rituals.
The corruption of different modern cultural manifestations would be the malpractices that have entered educational systems, corruption in entertainment and mass media, as also in business and environment.
Education, Ethics and Corruption: Education is the basis of a morally stable society as students go on to become teachers and public officials. Morals and ethics can percolate only through proper education and thus education remains the strongest tool to prevent corruption. Education spreads awareness against corruption and thus helps in strengthening the moral or ethical values of society. Raising general levels of awareness in the population is essential as this establishes citizens’ demands for accountability, and education creates a culture of accountability by emphasizing ethical practice and by creating the need for such practice. Thus there are two basic ways by which education helps – by developing responsible citizens through education and promoting values and ethics within the educational system and by developing a sense of awareness in people so there is a greater demand of accountability and transparency. Ethics is thus created by and within the educational system. Transparency International (TI) has focused on the anti-corruption education as also the corruption within the educational system. Within the education system, corruption ranges from exorbitant illegitimate fees and bribes and donations that deprive the less economically privileged and also leads to poor quality education. Corruption in education happens in many countries in large and small ways from accepting bribes and employing poorly qualified tutors to obtaining government funds in a fraudulent manner. Schools charge illegal fees or extra payments from certain communities, embezzlement of funds actually intended for teaching purposes and using school property and funds for private purposes are some of the common corrupt educational practices in developing nations. According to TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2007, the educational sector is considered as one of the most corrupt after the police, judiciary and permit services. As knowledge and ethics begins at school, it is necessary to realize that educational structures are the pillars of society and culture and have to be monitored by an international organization for complete accountability and acceptable standards of practice.
Entertainment, Mass media and Corruption: Mass media and entertainment are not too far away from corrupt practices either. Corruption is especially conspicuous in the media during political campaigning and elections. Bias in the media in its extreme form amounts to corruption as it unjustly tries to sway voters by manipulating ratings and project a fabricated image of political parties rather than the reality. All media propaganda not based on accurate information suggests that the media tend to take advantage of the public impressionability and manipulate the public for personal gain of politicians. Instead of acting as a watchdog media sometimes participate in an entirely corrupt system. In recent years media corruption in the Philippines, especially during elections and even now, remains a hot topic and watchdogs have accused that journalistic integrity in the Philippines has been compromised and free press has been bought. Manipulation of the media and reports going out to the media is a standard practice in many countries including the Soviet Union and the US. This sort of manipulation is completely contrary to any democratic culture which is based on the principles of accountability and transparency. Entertainment in the form of books, films, music is also subject to corruption. In the US the FBI has investigated several cases of labor racketeering and bribery in the film industry and similar corruption is extremely common in the film and music industries abroad and in countries of South Asia, film industries like the Bollywood have always had close links with the mafia, terrorists and anti-socials and that’s an accepted fact in such countries. Media’s role is ultimately to support democracy and control corruption instead of being a part of it and the film and music industry directors, no matter how desperate they get, should not depend on criminals to finance them. Establishing a close link between the media and entertainment industry for purposes of accountability in journalism as also in entertainment would be necessary to stop malpractice. All film and media companies should have completely accessible information on their financiers, sponsors and supporters - political, business or otherwise and clearly indicate what their preferences or positions are and how or by whom they are supported and financed. This information should be made mandatory and should be easily accessible to the public to promote greater understanding of a media or entertainment company’s ideology, philosophy and practice.
Business, Environment and Corruption: Corporate social responsibility and focus on environmental issues is a major part of corporate governance. Good corporate governance prevents and checks all forms of corruption in the public and private companies. Large businesses have to be based on transparency since they have to remain accountable to stakeholders and customers. Along with transparency and management comes the need for corporate social responsibility which ranges from following labor laws and human rights issues to protecting the environment and contributing to the social and economic development of the regions. TI has provided an example on how hundreds of people were killed and injured when a fireworks factory burst into flames in Netherlands due to grave security breaches by government regulators and officials. Another example of environmental hazard is the logging of Borneo woods and destruction of habitats of rainforest nomads that have led to widespread deforestation adversely affecting the world’s climate. Several research studies have been conducted on the consequences of environmental exposure to factory waste dumps. From evidence of high levels of carcinogens in the river water in Greece to severe asbestos waste dumping in Canada and Brazil, the entire culture of waste dumping and disposal by companies have remained largely unaccounted for. The empty talk of corporate social responsibility will never hold any value until there is complete accountability of business transactions with regard to waste disposal and attainment or use of environmental resources. As can be seen from TI’s example, this sort of corruption at the corporate level and the link between big businesses and governments in actually creating environmental hazards is widespread and there is comparatively very little accountability. Unless there is some form of connection drawn between environmental hazards, corporate social responsibility and the widespread corrupt practices and misuse of natural resources, all attempts or hopes of preventing global warming or protection of the environment will simply remain unsubstantial.
Cultural change is a necessity at times but corruption directs these changes towards negative directions and all cultural products of society from corporate environments to the media, film industry and education are caused by and in turn cause corruption. To understand the true value of life and culture, we also need to understand the deeper and long lasting consequences of corruption that have permeated all aspects of modern society.
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