Media as a Tool for Promotion of Transparency and Countering Political and Financial Corruption

Corruption is a complicated phenomenon and an indication of serious problems in various institutions. Legal measure alone could not tackle problems caused by corruption, because wrongdoings originating from corruption, within recent years have increased both in governmental departments and private companies.
Media can play a leading role in boosting public awareness about problems caused by corruption and give shape to social norms and ethical judgment about corrupt practices within the society, because practical evidences of importance of anti- corruption measures in public culture, increases the awareness of people about corruption and social norms and encourage them to campaign against this phenomenon.
But, despite the potentials of media in controlling corruption, media are not very effective and instrumental in promoting accountability of government towards citizens. Media generally serve the interests of power holders. It should be noted that transparency in itself is not enough for curbing corruption. Greater access to reforms should be accompanied with information analysis and incentives for taking action based of the analyzed information, because if media play their supervisory role, the possibility of revealing the wrongdoings of officials and their persecution by judiciary and losing their positions, will help to bring down corruption. Due to this same reason, the role media can play in promoting transparency and the way they can fight against corruption are the objectives behind this paper.