The News Media in the Caribbean - Research Proposal Example

?The Role of News Media in Influencing or Setting the Political Election Agenda in the Caribbean Introduction and Identification of the Project TopicThis research proposal is about the role of news media as a form of mass media in influencing or setting the political agenda in the Caribbean especially during elections. The study will try to investigate the following points: the process by which the news media (print, broadcast and electronic media) influences or sets the public’s political agenda in the region and its corresponding effect, if any, to the voters’ choice of candidates. The Caribbean is a good choice of subject due to the region’s high reliance on mass media as a form of communication between the islands. This means that both its people and government are highly exposed to media technologies. In such case, it can be inferred that the Caribbean people are more or less informed of recent events within and outside the community as compared to the other regions of the world. During elections, Caribbean political candidates utilize the forms of media to introduce their identity and platform of governance which in turn serve as the people’s basis in casting their vote. The Caribbean is the best region to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of news media in shaping the political election agenda. Literature Review and Contextualising the Topic Within Existing Knowledge It is my contention that this proposed study should tackle the following subtopics in order to elaborate the research subject: the news media in the Caribbean and Caribbean politics and election. The News Media in the Caribbean Patricia Mohammed, in her feminist book, includes the topic on Caribbean’s mass media. The section uses the ideas of researchers and journalists to elaborate the presence of women in the Caribbean media. Quantitative research (specifically statistics) is utilized to support the claims made by De Bruin. In part VI, section 21 of the book, it is emphasized that broadcast media as a form of news media is the most popular in the Caribbean. The factors accounting its popularity were enumerated. This includes the following: affordability, Caribbean oral tradition and adult literacy (De Bruin, qtd. in Mohammed 385). In the later part, it is stated by De Bruin that the respective governments of the English-speaking Caribbean sovereign states own some of the long-established mass media especially the electronic media (qtd. in Mohammed 385). I believe that this finding is relevant in knowing the kind of political election agenda that is shaped by the news media in the Caribbean. Basing on this fact, it could be theorized that the political agenda in the Caribbean during elections is partly influenced by the government. Stated otherwise, the many government-owned forms of media have the capacity to set the political agenda for the Caribbean people. Nonetheless, De Bruin emphasizes that print and broadcast media in the Caribbean have recently been largely owned by the private sector (qtd. in Mohammed 385). This discovery is actually in contrast with the first formulated theory. Since private ownership characterizes the Caribbean print and broadcast media, it could be presumed that news media in the Caribbean is not bias. It could further be stated that the Caribbean political election agenda is mainly the effect of media exposure and people’s perception. In such case, the public’s perception essentially depends on how political issues are presented by the news media. This goes to say that whatever the media presents during elections, the voters’ perception can be more or less influenced. Accordingly, all these facts shall be explained more using the theories of mass media. In addition, De Bruin argues that government ownership can mean an over time discontinuity of policy (qtd. in Mohammed 385). This is due to the fact that every new regime assigns new set of newsroom administrators (qtd. in Mohammed 385). In an online article written by Rosalind Silver, it is claimed that the Caribbean has been increasingly affected by the newer forms of media adopted by the United States. In this sense, I would wish to tackle the subject on Caribbean’s political culture under the second subtopic. The reason of which is to see if the kind of political agenda in the Caribbean is somewhat similar with that of United States. As a political actor, America has effectively extended its influence in the region through the mass media. Silver reveals that government owned and controlled stations have carried American programs since they started broadcasting. To determine the impact of U.S. mass media in the Caribbean, intensive interviews were conducted. Fifty Caribbean people were interviewed coming from the different sectors (Silver). Karel Mc Intosh suggests that traditional media has led the mass communication arena in the Caribbean. This consists of the following: television broadcasts, newspapers and call-in radio talk shows (Mc Intosh 32). Notably, all of them belong to news media. I believe that this fact strongly supports De Bruin’s finding about broadcast media’s supremacy in the Caribbean. The article further asserts that although most of the Caribbean newspapers have web sites, only few have utilized such modern form of mass media to expand their reach (Mc Intosh 32). The author observes that new media in the region has been used by activists and influencers as their charter territory (Mc Intosh 32). The use of surveys and statements from authoritative individuals were exemplified in the article. Caribbean Politics and Election Carlene Edie posits that the Caribbean has many states adopting liberal democracies in comparison with the other developing regions of the world. Elections in the region are “held at regular intervals” (Edie, qtd. in “The Caribbean”). The book written by Henke and Reno talks about culture and politics in the Caribbean. In the introductory part, it is their assertion that in the Caribbean, there has been no violent political upheaval that would restructure the region’s major political values and concerns in a short period of time (Henke and Reno xi). Nonetheless, they observe that politics and culture in the Caribbean are essentially negotiated differently despite similarities (Henke and Reno xi). They differentiate the Caribbean to countries such as France and Italy (Henke and Reno xi). The book actually uses the ideas of political commentators and scholars to explain the topic on Caribbean politics and culture. Certain political theorists like Samuel Huntington, Gabriel Almond and Seymour Lipset are included in the book. The authors have chosen to employ the political-culture approach. The first chapter of the book explains the economic globalization’s effect on the Caribbean’s political culture. In the later chapters, case studies and examples were provided by the authors to illustrate the relationship between culture and politics. In the concluding part, Henke and Reno posit that confrontation and fragmentation characterizes the political culture in the Caribbean (xvii). It is their finding that the Caribbean states have found it necessary to adapt to the modern trend (Henke and Reno 3). Basically the book is a good source to understand how the Caribbean political system works. In an attempt to understand Caribbean politics, the case-study approach is utilized by Anthony Payne in his book about regional integration. Political integration for him is a process which results to the union of group of states (Payne 255). He specifically relates this to the countries making up the Caribbean. The book deals with the political integration that the Caribbean countries have established for how many years. The reason for choosing such subject is explained by enumerating two factors. First, the Caribbean community is recently considered as one of the well-integrated regions in the world. Second, the countries making up the Caribbean Commonwealth are typically new states. As mentioned in the book, the Caribbean has a long colonial history (Payne viii). To explain this claim, the author narrates a part of the Caribbean history. Jean Grugel differentiates the Caribbean political system with that of Central America. Regional politics is the main subject of her book. Politics in the English-speaking countries is founded on representative democracy (Grugel, qtd. in “The Caribbean”). This means that elections are regularly held and party system is competitive (Grugel, qtd. in “The Caribbean”). Relevant Theoretical Perspectives There are no dominant theoretical perspectives revealed by the research paper’s literature review. Thus, in this part, relevant theories shall be provided. I believe that the following media theories are relevant to the research subject at hand: agenda-setting theory, media priming, and media framing. All of them are sound theories specifically tackling the media’s effects to its audience. Agenda-setting Theory The agenda-setting theory states that the mass media affects the opinion of the public by encouraging the consideration of controversies (McCombs and Shaw, qtd. in Kott and Citrenbaum 145; Stacks and Salwen 102). McCombs and Shaw have argued that the media’s effect is less in “telling the people what to think and more in telling the people what to think about” (qtd. in Kott and Citrenbaum 145). Basing on this theory, it could be hypothesized that the news media influences the opinion of the Caribbean people about political controversies. It has the power to attract the public’s attention. This power makes the Caribbean people abide to the presented content. During elections, the news media sets the political election agenda in the Caribbean by releasing information about the candidates. Media Priming Media priming deals with the effects of the information presented by the media on people’s judgments or behavior (Preiss 54; Bryant and Zillmann 97). This theory is also relevant to the research subject. The study shall find out whether or not news media affects the voters decision or behavior during elections in the Caribbean. It is believed that the finding is essential to determine the process by which the news media shapes the Caribbean political agenda. Media Framing The basis of this theory is that media centers its attention on particular happenings and then puts “them within a field of meaning” (“Framing”; D’Angelo and Kuypers 336). In other words, the media has the ability to frame issues and place it in a certain context. The proposed study shall consider whether or not news media in the Caribbean is guilty of “framing” political issues during elections. Methodological Considerations The study shall utilize the qualitative research methodology. Specifically, it will be using content analysis to understand the characteristics of news media which influence the political election agenda in the Caribbean region. According to Wimmer and Dominick, researchers choose content analysis to study issues in radio and newspapers (150). For the two authors, it is necessary to analyze significant media content in order to know the importance of news topics (Wimmer and Dominick 153). In the course of the study, there is a possibility that case study shall be included. The case study will involve Caribbean states election period. In the election period, specific issues as presented by the news media shall be chosen to undergo content analysis. This method is expected to show the extent in which media sets the election agenda and its corresponding effect. As cited by Wimmer and Dominick, content analysis is employed in the "study of agenda setting" (153). At some point, focus group discussion shall also be utilized to support the findings as shown by the case study. For practical purposes, the election period of four Caribbean states shall be the point of discussion. The four states shall be the following: Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Barbados. The election period in these states shall be tackled in general. Issues specifically pointing to certain political candidates in each states will be chosen. After analyzing the content of these issues, its effect to the politician’s candidacy shall be determined. The consideration will be centered on whether or not the issues presented by the news media has affected the candidate’s election outcome. Election outcome pertains to the candidate’s status after the election, whether he or she is a winner or a loser. The focus group discussion will then be conducted. The participants of the discussion will be students in the university whose residences are found in any of the Caribbean states. They will be drawn from varying social status, age and courses. Wimmer and Dominick reveal the disadvantages of using content analysis as the research strategy. The advantages include the following: (1) it could not be referred to as a basis for making statements tackling the effects of media content to a certain audience (2) the findings are limited (3) lack of messages significant to the research and (4) most of the time expensive and consuming (153-154). On the other hand, the advantages are as follows: (1) allows for both qualitative and quantitative operations (2) is an unobtrusive method of analyzing interactions (3) “looks directly at communication” through transcripts or texts and (4) provides insight about “complex models of human thought” (“Advantages”). Key Themes to be Pursued The following are the themes most central to this investigation: What is the relation between mass media and politics? How does media affect political behavior? What are the methods done by the media to counter its adverse effect to people’s perception and judgment? Is educational background an important factor to consider in understanding the Caribbean people’s political behavior? Is Caribbean’s political culture largely affected by the media? Are political struggles in the Caribbean triggered by the mass media? What are the benefits that the news media offer to the people in the Caribbean? Why is electronic media not that famous in the Caribbean? Conclusion Overall, this proposal is concerned with the role of news media in setting the political election agenda within the countries comprising the Caribbean. It will try to expose the unexpected political realities in the highly modernized Caribbean region. Specifically, the study will show the impact of news media in the Caribbean election and whether or not the source of the news matters. Preliminary Sketch The research proposal’s outline shall be as follows: I. Introduction II. Literature Review 1. The News Media in the Caribbean 2. Caribbean Politics and Election III. Theoretical Perspectives 1.Agenda-setting Theory 2. Media Priming 3. Media Framing IV. Methodological Considerations V. Key Themes VI. Conclusion Works Cited “Advantages of Content Analysis.” Writing at CSU. Colorado State University, n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2011. . Bryant, Jennings, and Dolf Zillmann. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. New Jersey: Routledge, 2002. Print. D’Angelo, Paul, and Jim Kuypers. Doing News Framing Analysis: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009. Print. "Framing." University of Twente. University of Twente, 7 Sept. 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2011. . Hansen, Anders, et al. Mass Communication Research Methods. NYU Press, 1998. Print. Henke, Holger, and Fred Reno. Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean. St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago: University Press of the West Indies, 2003. Print. Kott, Alexander, and Gary Citrenbaum. Estimating Impact: A Handbook of Computational Methods and Models for Anticipating Economic, Social, Political and Security Effects in International Interventions. Adelphi, Maryland: Springer, 2010. Print. Mc Intosh, Karel. “Social Media Swirls in the Caribbean.” Communication World May/Jun. 2008: 32. Print. Mohammed, Patricia. Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought. Kingston 7, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 2003. Print. Mytton, Graham. Handbook on Radio and Television Audience Research. BBC World Service Training Trust, 1999. Print. Payne, Anthony. The Politics of the Caribbean Community, 1961-79: Regional Integration amongst New States. Oxford Road, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980. Print. Preiss, Raymond. Mass Media Effects Research: Advances through Meta-analysis. Mahwah, New Jersey: Routledge, 2007. Print. Silver, Rosalind. Pirating the Caribbean: Are New Media a New Colonialism? CML, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2011. . Stacks, Don, and Michael Brian Salwen. An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2008. Print. “The Caribbean.” Caribbean Politics Online. Tripod, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2011. . Wimmer, Roger, and Joseph Dominick. Mass Media Research: An Introduction. Belmont, California: Cengage Learning, 2005. Print. Read More