Citizens must be warriors of good governance and implement their power towards a clean, transparent and accountable political system. A group of political leaders are, surprisingly, becoming no accountable by furthering their own ideas without legitimate representation from citizens, or even worse representing other interests instead of voters choices.

In the past, institutions and political leaders have been considered reliable and people used to trust on their decisions, but in current times they are not only not representing people´s needs but defending their own initiatives coming from diverse interests. Aggressive campaigns and a message leading by fear and hate dominated the political arena. Is the only reason why nationalism and failed processes as Brexit are succeeding, not in terms of results-driven approaches to crises, but the surprising continuity of a steady failure and rejection.

Current structure of social media creates the fantasy image that there are active citizens influencing the political sector, but nothing further from reality; there are just people giving opinions or ideas on and anarchical and sometimes unethical way. Indeed, is an space to influence but without rules, leaving all opinions to subjective impressions and simple luck that the post would be reading by the correct and truly influential people.

That marks a notorious difference to real influence, is not the number of people that the post reached but those leaders and active citizens that get the message at the right time. The impact of Twitter exposures it clearly: “don’t worry about followers, but on the impressions you get”.

For getting into influential citizens we need Education + Information, if not is it just a group of people that arbitrary gather around a specific issue without ethics and sense of political agenda priorities. Is paramount to be informed before giving a opinion and the constant “explosion” of contradictory positions without expertise, knowledge or fair information leads to a lack of ethics and to an anarchical and useless social media.

Sadly we get used to it, to make of communications a powerful pillar in which we rely without accountability and without accurate information of their sources and real interests. In part, nationalisms are succeeding and spread their message precisely because of this chaotic framework. We have forgotten that leaders, citizens and institutions are the one in charge to send the message as part of a “natural” process and not “artificial” messages made by sophisticated communications structures that, then, re-sending it to leaders. This is a totally anachronistic procedure and is making of Media owners a truly axis of power instead of just a tool. That is what should be: a tool at the service of citizens. In addition, in crises times the influence of citizens is key for changing the system and must be active until it gets into results. Nowadays those changes are managing by leaders manipulated by big interests through an effective communication strategy.

Media and political leaders own the process and that is the big mistake. Brexit is one of that models and we see the devastated results in which even a complete failure negotiation process, failed promises and inefficient leaders is still moving forward without 0 accountability.

We must recall the essence of democracy: politics are representatives and citizens owners of the process. Media has achieved their own selfish goals, having as a result: unreliability without delivering fair information. Citizens trust on Media as a substitute of their own inaction and as a consequence misses sense of ownership.

Empowerment also means awareness and action from citizens but a reshape of current excessive and biased protagonist role from the communications arena. Political arena is not an entrainment show…at least it shouldn’t be. Printing with ethics, transparency and accountability, towards reforms and a new global order.

Empowering citizens: getting closer…