The media is the people

Last week the story of 19 members of one family living in house in a very bad and miserable shape went viral. The house showed members of the family living in cabins in the outdoor yard area and Bahrain was hit by the pictures and videos that were spread. I contacted the charity society that went viral with the videos in an attempt to raise BD8000 to renovate the house and the whole idea behind the call was to use the press to promote the issue and ask concerned authorities to intervene to help this family and provide them with any kind of assistance to renovate the place where a 19-member family live. I believe that we in the press industry have a bigger role to play than just report news. We can make a difference by highlighting these stories, bringing them to our pages as content and involving everyone who can help, not forgetting that some issues may also be considered social responsibility. After all, we as a society should also help those in need.

And this is what we will try to do now, help others. Press is one of the strongest tools that can be used to show bitter realities of many people and hold certain authorities accountable for any mismanagement that leads to shortcomings and not providing the public the rights they are entitled to.

So far I have spoken to many families and individuals and all fear that when their identity is exposed, they would upset their families as they would be viewed as needy. What we need to seriously address here is that many people are actually asking for basic rights that the government entities are obliged to address and provide, whether they are health, housing, municipal services or jobs.

People should not feel that they need to be humiliated through the press or social media, through identities being revealed in order to be provided what is their right. We therefore decided that identities will be hidden, yet, we will help convey their messages to concerned authorities and make sure that their issues are addressed.

Now going back to the house where 19 people live, let me share with our readers that the money being raised to help this family has so far come from charity organisations and the public. One needy family collected BD6 and sent it to the charity society that is raising money to renovate that house. Only BD 6 is what they could afford and they decided to collect it and help someone else who needs it more. I literally had tears as I read this part of the story because it shows how the people of Bahrain are. I am a Bahraini myself and I know that my people are generous and have so much to give and I know that when they can help, they never hesitate to.

But what I also know is that there are budgets allocated for the renovation of houses and I actually hoped that this would’ve been a case fully adopted by the concerned ministries. I hoped that the broadcast spread yesterday with an update about how much had been raised so far, had included what concerned government entities had contributed with.

Bahrainis do not need to be exposed in order to get a right they are entitled to. Their dignity may sometimes stop them from demanding what is their right. I therefore hope that concerned government entities will respond to our calls through the press to help these cases in a positive manner. We will preserve identities to preserve their dignities. I hope that all government   will look at us, with every case we raise, as their partners. After all, this newspaper is the states, the governments and the peoples voice.