Challenges Faced by Media in Africa - Assignment Example

?Challenges Faced By Media in Africa Introduction Information is a very important thing in life today. Staying up to with what is going on in the society require us to be able to have a means of getting this information. There are so many means of getting information; these include media, newspapers, radio, books, articles and television (Jamieson, 2012). But here are more reliable and fast sources of getting information that have come into existence today, internet is one of the strongest and fastest ways of relaying information. It has brought competition to the other modes of communication and thus putting them on toes. All these are responsible for collecting and relaying it to the people. According to (Louw, 2009) advancement in technology has led to development of new forms of mass media. The internet is an example of the advancement in technology. For a mass media to optimally perform its duties there should be managers who check that there is a smooth running of activities on a daily basis. In the media industry there exists different sectors that’s make up the media industry as a whole. These include the print, television, social, radio media and many others. Managers have a big role to play in all the sectors. Taking the case of the print media, (Hadland, 2007) states that managers are responsible with ensuring that there is at least information that is relayed to the magazine readers in a daily basis. Streamlining of activities is performed by the managers and the management at large. The managers are responsible for ensuring that he information that the readers get is authentic and that it also does not infringe on the right of any person in any way. They also have to ensure that the participating people in the sector do perform their duties as delegated to them, without the managers the running of these sectors would have been very difficult. With the changing technological inventions managers have to ensure that their sector get to move with the present forms of technology that affects their sectors. Managers should have strong creativity and thinking to ensure that their strategies and objectives are attained. They should also be able to troubleshoot problems and offer solutions to them in a timely manner. Furthermore, they should be able to ensure that their sectors do run in their expenditure limits, to optimize outcome. Managers in a media industry are usually problem solvers (Begoyan, 2012). This is because for any publication to get through in the printing media, approvals are mainly made by the managers. They help solve the problems that could arise from their work. They have to first analyze the contents of their work and ensure that it does not break any laws stipulated. Managers are also responsible for assigning work to employees in the media sector, with any conflict in work arising they are the ones to check and ensure that normality is brought back. Also when a problem arises because of any publication managers are the ones to air out the issues concerning the problems and not the other employees. Similarities and differences do exist between the problems that exist between the media industries in Africa and other parts of the world such as the U.S. Taking an example of In Africa and other parts of the world; the print media face a lot of challenges on their day to day activities. Problems that mainly exist in Africa are mainly communication, economical, political and social. These are discussed hereunder: Communication According to (Watkins, 2005) Communication Media mainly used by the print media sector are roads. They use this to deliver their work to the readers in the different parts of the countries. Poor delivery of magazines books and news papers are categorized by poor roads. Some countries in Africa especially the sub-Saharan regions, have very poor terrain, this renders the places impassable and therefore delivering some of the print media materials like newspapers become a very hard task to accomplish because of poor infrastructure in many parts of Africa. The places that are affected by this kind of problem become cut off from other parts of the world in getting up to date with current information. Watkins goes on to say that these places are mostly left out in development because their location can never be reached. This is a significant difference between the two. (Watkins, 2005) says that unlike Africa infrastructure in the U.S is very much improved; many regions in the country have good roads which make it easier for the printed articles to be distributed fairly well. To deliver services in many areas of such a country takes a shorter time and therefore ensuring that information like the current affairs are relayed faster. Economic The economy of a nation plays a mainrole in the media industry. The foreign exchange of a country affects the print media industry because, many a times the materials that are used it printing, are imported. With low foreign exchange a country may suffer a great deal in its production. Scarce Production in certain parts of Africa has gone down. This is in spite of those countries that manufacture their news prints locally. Printing material and machines that are used are mainly imported from the western countries. This makes it a rare material to get and also when they do break down their spare parts are never locally available, sourcing it back to the country takes quite some time to be delivered and therefore slowing down production and supply of the printed materials Many countries in Africa suffer with the economical instabilities that are brought about by their currencies. It is also a great setback when a newspaper pricing is high as compared to other media, people would refer for an alternative option and eave the printed media and therefore making it existence at a weak edge or blink of collapse. In the U.S the stable economy does favour the media sector in its activities. This leads to lower production cost which in turn boosts the availability of the printed articles at an affordable cost. Political In many parts of Africa, politics have played a major role in the existence of the media. Media is mainly influenced by the politics that take place in a place. In a case study, (Louw, 2011) revealed that in South Africa newspapers incurred losses. He said that the South African media was faced by hostile political environment. The ruling political party accused the media as being in the opposition. Journalists who are supposed to be collecting the much needed information from sources are faces by hostilities from the police. The South African politics of 1994 also led to the decline of the newspaper readers by 11% (Hadland, 2007, p11). With the case in Kenya the then ruling political party KANU was the owner of the Kenya Times which was a daily news paper. This hindered the freedom of the daily news paper and was never good to its growth in the media industry. This was also noted in other countries like Cote d’Ivore. Largely Political turmoil’s in a country affects the stability of a print media industry. Unlike the other factors the political factor is similar also in the western countries including America. The American politics have also affected the print media industry in various ways. Politics can never be separated from humans, human live politics all their lives. Most of the times the media stations and sectors are run and owned by the prominent and strong politicians, they therefore affect or bring some of the noted changes we have in the media today Social The African social beliefs and morals have made it hard for the print media to gain its grounds. There are some social factors that hinder the print media from thriving among most of the African societies. (Watkins, 2005) goes on to say that there are still some social standings that are in the African society that some of the print media may be go against. In some typical African societies, education has never been important and therefore making it hard to thrive in such areas. Another major issue is the African taboos and beliefs. It is a taboo in an African society to view the nude photos of people, but one will find that in health and science classes, these are some of the photos to create awareness about certain specific issues. This has often led to slow or no demand for such journal articles or books in certain regions of the Africa. Unlike Africa where the rate of civilization is still low Americans have got a better perspective of such issues. People are aware of their needs in the day to day activities and are eager to learn more from the different health articles that are available in their locality. The demand or for the printed media materials are more appreciated and therefore boosting the production of the materials in large quantities. There are some competing needs that are emerging in the media sectors that he managers need to strike a balance. Unlike the print media industry, the social media or the internet that has brought so much competition to the existing media sectors. The internet has brought a tremendous change in the media industry. It has been able to take over as the fastest growing media in place at the moment in the whole world. Like the social media site Facebook, Twitter and the rest, their main target of concern were the young generation. They are the greatest consumers or the users of the media at the moment. The socializing nature of the young was greatly favoured in the internet other than those that existed. Therefore the print media should find a way of meeting the present generations need mainly by reaching then were they are easily found that is the internet. They should make a lasting deal with the internet for them to continue reaching their readers at all times. Managerial responsibilities of a media manager can be greatly dictated and restricted by the social, economical, political and technological factors (Watkins, 2005). Socially a manager of a media sector is restricted by the social concerns of the surrounding environment. The strong religious beliefs, customary or even social standings do not permit some things or contents into their society, therefore is a manager one is bound to follow all this so as to be able to gain acceptance in the society. Managers are also bound or restricted by the economy of their country or location to perform some functions. (Jamieson 2012) concludes that, as a manager one should be able to consider all the economical factors that are binding them. They have to be able to run their businesses within the limit of their finances and also the expected expenditure. (Ochilo, 2012) argues that the political situation of a country does affect or dictate how a manager is going to manage a media sector. Whenever their are political instability the media are the first in the lime light that are advised to check on whatever they convey or aired to the public. The contents that they produce should not be inciting. This was seen in Kenya in the year 2007 when post poll chaos erupted. The media was asked never to publish or air any information that could spike more chaos in the country. The manager’s decision was therefore bound by the political situation in place. Technology is a very important aspect of the media. Any manager would never what to be left out technologically. Whenever there is a new invention that is of importance to the media, every manager is responsible in making all the important decisions and ensuring that they make any necessary implementations. The manager’s decisions are basically dictated by everything that goes on around then at any given time. They can never make decisions that are not bound by the situations. Managers are at all times ethically responsible. For anything to be published the managers are supposed to have given a go ahead. The mangers are responsible of any problem that arises from their organizations. It is their duty to investigate and analyse any content before it is allowed to be published and released to the public domain. References Begoyan Anoush. 2012. State versus private ownership: a look at the implications for local media freedom. [Online] Available at: http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/poland-article-19-report-on-media-ownership.pdf [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Watkins, J. P. 2005. Cultural Selection and Discussion – Problems with Mass Media/Communication. Cultural selection discussion- problems facing the media [online] Available at: http://www.agner.org/cultsel/discuss/read.php?i=57 [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Hadland Adrian. 2007. The South African print media, 1994-2004: An application and critique of comparative media systems theory. [Online] Available at: http://www.hsrc.ac.za/research/output/outputDocuments/4570_Hadland_SAprintmedia.pdf [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Jamieson Pushpa A. 2012. The Media and Ethics. [Online] Available at: http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_5109-1522-2-30.pdf?040728152147 [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Louw Raymond. 2011. Are the industry’s problems overtaking print media? The Media Online. [Online] Available at: http://themediaonline.co.za/2011/08/are-the-industry%E2%80%99s-problems-overtaking-print-media/ [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Louw Raymond.1999. The Media and Ethics. [Online] Available at: http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/poland-article-19-report-on-media-ownership.pdf [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Ochilo P.2012. Press freedom and the role of the media in Kenya. [Online] Available at: http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/africa%20media%20review/vol3no3/jamr003003007.pdf [Accessed 02 June 2012]. Read More