As I pointed out in my speech during that event, the government and the media are jointly responsible for this situation.

The media has a duty to inform the public. The constitution emphasises the importance of the free flow of information and includes provisions guaranteeing people’s right of access to information and criminalising the withholding of information from the public. This means that the government and other official agencies are obliged to give the press access to the information necessary for it to undertake its primary duty of conveying accurate information to the public.

In fact, communicating with the public has become an essential part of the public official’s job description. The era in which it was enough to release the occasional official statement is long past. Every minister today must actively and regularly engage with the public, keeping them abreast of the latest developments, providing them with the relevant information, and responding to their questions. This is the way to fill the information gap through which rumours penetrate, as opposed to merely denying the rumours.

In the US, for example, the White House holds a daily press briefing at noon, in which the official spokespersons update journalists on current events and then field their questions. Meanwhile, we have some ministers who have not given a single press conference since they took office in July.

The prime minister has recently announced several important achievements that came as a surprise to us. Surely each of these achievements should have been the subject of an in-depth journalistic report or investigation and received extensive coverage.

The government must be more open with the public. It must go beyond official statements, remarks to the press and press conferences. It needs to pursue new communication mechanisms to facilitate diverse and continuous dialogue with public opinion leaders and to ensure that accurate information reaches the public who are wearied and depressed by rumour mongering and dark visions of the future.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly