What About Transparency in Other Areas of the Public Sector?

Mass media, such as newspapers, television, and the internet ensured major progress in the development of transfer of information from various sources to general public. Public sector represents an important part of human activities and since it is paid by taxpayers, it is in their interest to know what public sector do. In this chapter, the degree to which the media mirror the authentic reality in public sector is analysed. These data show that transfer of information is insufficient and mass media do not play a role in public sector which is comparable to the role of science publishing which is making science transparent. Nevertheless, the development of the internet which is cheap and user friendly opened new possibilities of direct communications between public sector and general public. The chapter illustrates that the three underpinnings of transparency (procedures, results, and funding), which function well in science and its management, can be transposed to other segments of the public sector. Several successful examples of such attempts are presented from US, Sweden and Croatia. The ethical aspect is particularly important, as transparency of procedures greatly reduces corruption risks.