The Role of Media in National and International Development - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT By The Role of Media in National and International Development Introduction The society is founded on communication where people interact, communicate and share information. In other words, the society could not exist without communication. This led to the development of media, which is a collective means of communication. It is categorised into print and electronic media. It helps facilitate the communication between the communicator and the public. The print media comprises of newspapers, magazines and journals among others while the electronic media is made of radio, television and the internet among others. The influence of media in many aspects of development cannot be underestimated. It has been on the front line to fight corruption, injustices, calling for democracy and exposing the issues affecting the society (Ucheanya, 2003). The essay explores and discusses the role of media in national and international development in reference to the theories of community development. The media plays a critical role in both national and international development as postulated by the theories of community development and literature. Media in Development For a long time, media has been a strong and perfect avenue of facilitating national and international development. In the 1960s, media was having a major influence on the society change. This led to a revolution of media growth and spread in the developing countries. This was as a result of the UN General Assembly report that had indicated lack of media accessibility in the underdeveloped countries. National and international development believes in the rapid increase and growth in the wellbeing of the society in all aspects. A country improves the welfare of its people through the provision of basic infrastructures, health, education and security among others. It focuses on the political, economic and social aspect of the society. According to Schramm (1963), every country needs a development process that will be guided by a development plan. It is in this development process where the media comes in to contribute to the communication of the development plan to the public. The media teaches, sensitises, mobilises and manipulates the people in the society through the distribution of information (Ucheanya, 2003). The role of media in national and international development is best described in relation to the community development theories. The community development theories give a guideline on the practicability of the community development plan. They also analyse various aspects of development such as the forms and processes it takes. Some of the most common community development theories include the diffusion theory, the decentralisation theory, group development theory, group behaviour theory and the growth pole theory among others (Bonye, Thaddeus & Owusu-Sekyere, 2013). These theories apply to both the national and international development plans. On the other hand, mass media helps facilitate the communication of the information as per the theory. For instance, the theory of diffusion requires innovation to be one of the key concepts of national and international development. In this regard, the role of the media is to convince the people in the society to accept the innovative ideas that will lead to development. Roles of the Media in National and International Development In Relation To the Community Development Theories One of the major roles of media in national and international development is the pursuit of an agenda by the governments and influential persons that interfere with the development agenda. The government institutions have been known to be containing the highest levels of corruptions in various countries. The media has been playing a big role in exposing such governmental institutions with the aim of inhibiting development in a country. Moreover, the media has helped in monitoring the governance of the leaders through alerting the public on any planned agenda. The people in power tend to create policies that will benefit them instead of concentrating on the development. For instance, the media in Nigeria helped stop the then-president Obasanjo from running from for a third term. This was a violation of the constitution and this could have inhibited development in the country. Besides, in other countries all over the world, the media has been on the front line to alert the public on the rogue actions by their leaders. The relevance of this role is backed by the theory of decentralisation, which states that power must be spread down the hierarchy to the local public. By the media alerting the public on the issues of corruption and government rogue secrets, it gives the power to fight against the government and to prevent the state of the country from being compromised. In Uganda, a country in East Africa was being faced by inadequate funds in its Education Ministry until the media unearthed the corruption that was rampant in handling the education funds. This led to the government taking action to reduce the deteriorating state of education in the country (Abdallah, 2012). Informing the people is another major role of the media in the national and international development. Both the print and electronic media invest a lot in the communication of new ideas, innovations and new ways of doing things among others. Moreover, the media informs the citizens on information that is relevant to taking the government accountable. Such information could be the mismanagement of funds in the public sectors, the existence of public funds and also the incompetence of their leaders. This empowers the people to demand quality and proper measures to be undertaken that will ensure the government is accountable. It has helped foster the national and international development through informing people on new ideas of investments and technologies to use. The diffusion theory of community development backs the role of media in informing people for national and international development. The theory states that for innovation to be adopted and become helpful to development it must be communicated through a proper media to the public. The dissemination of information through the media gives a large number of people a chance to get. This is due to the many forms of media such as radio, television and newspapers that are very affordable. A research conducted by the Royal Statistical Society in the United Kingdom revealed that most of the citizens were ill-informed due to lack of proper enlightenment from the media (Paige, 2013). For instance, the public thought the government was spending so much money on the foreign aids that actually was not the case. The government was spending much money on the pension 15 times more than in the foreign aids (Paige, 2013). This inhibits the national development in the UK since the citizens do not have the right information that could help in decision making that could positively contribute to the development. Besides, according to Bull (2014), media is a major driver in the innovation diffusion today. For instance, there had been a low adoption of new medicines in the European markets, especially in Germany and UK. This led to the creation of AHSNs, which are using the internet and the social media to spread innovations in the health industry. This is a huge contribution to the national and international development since it will open markets while increasing the production. The media protects the social justice both in the national and international level. The media has a role to play in aligning all the information for the interest of social justice. It has to fight for equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Lack of equality in the access of rights and opportunities translates into social injustice. A country cannot develop until all of its people are being given same opportunities. The media is expected to analyse the issues in the news with the aim of fostering social justice. According to Morvaridi (2008), social justice goes hand in hand with development. The powerless in a country should be empowered by increasing their voice and equality. This requires major changes in both setting of the governance and many national institutions. The media is in the best capacity to provide a voice to the voiceless. It can do this through by recording and reporting the injustices both in the national and international level while asking and calling for justice and equality. The poor and underdeveloped people in the society are invisible, and this leads to their neglect by the government. According to Shore (2009), the social media has a role to play in making the poor and underdeveloped visible. In this manner, the governments will be able to reach unto them and offer services and facilities that will facilitate development. The media has been in the front line to unearth social injustices in the African countries. For instance, South African has been facing social inequality and political challenges. These issues have subjected the country to a series of xenophobic attacks and increased rate of crime. The media has been trying to unearth these issues through media coverage (Broembsen & Davis, 2008). The government of South Africa has been laying down policies to eradicate crime and poverty in the country. This is fostering the social development in the country. The theory of community development believes in the need to involve the society in holistic for the development to be achieved. The theory of the growth pole backs the relevance of the role of the media in the protection of the social justice. This theory requires the distribution of the hierarchy of the development from the point of origin to other various parts. It argues that development starts at a certain point as a city or a town and spreads o others parts in a country. This ensures equality, and social justice prevails. The media helps in ensuring the development spreads to the relevant areas. The media has a role to play in maintaining peaceful coexistence and national development. Peace is a major factor that determines the national or international development of a country. Many countries around the globe that are affected by conflict such as Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan among others still lag behind in terms of development in all aspects. The media spreads positive messages that help discourage the occurrence of conflict. Moreover, the media demonises the actions of radicalisation that have led to the increase of terrorism around the globe. The media also discourages ethnicity and ethnic based leadership that has sparked increase of conflict in the African countries. The community development theory believes in group development that can only be achieved through peaceful coexistence. The theory of group development by Tuckman states that communication and developing relationships help in determining the future of the group. The media helps keep people in a common group such as common citizens of a certain country who are mandated to maintain peace within themselves. This in return contributes to a positive growth and development in social, political and economic sectors. Besides, the media helps in the spread of an ideology of inclusive that helps eradicate the politics of exclusive. Many world leaders have been playing politics of divide and rule whereby the preach hatred against their rival communities. This has tremendously affected the political development of such countries while slowing national development. The international media tends to be given attention when it comes to unearthing and criticising conflict in other countries around the globe (Eyiah, 2004). In terms of international development, the media has a major role to play in changing the perspective of people on foreign countries. It should feed the general public with the positive information regarding the overseas countries. Investing in educating the people on foreign countries helps them have proper knowledge. This will increase their investment interests that will foster development internationally. International development is also facilitated by international institutions and organisations that use the media to communicate their development plans to the international public. The United Nations is one of the international institution propagating international development around the globe. It developed the Millennium Development Goals that aimed at achieving a developed world community. The Millennium Development Goals were later changed to the Sustainable Development Goals at the UN General Assembly in 2015 (“Sustainable Development Goals”, 2015). The media has the role to communicate the SDG to the people all over the world so that they can understand and work towards achieving their objectives. The community theory of diffusion helps in the implementation of the international development since it believes in the adoption of a new idea into the community. The media persuades the general public to adopt the goals through emphasizing on their developmental advantages. Finally, the media plays a key role in mobilising the public to adopt developmental programs created by the government. Government sectors around the globe have been developing programs that are aimed at fostering growth in their countries. Such programs include community development programs, agricultural programs, rural development programs and employment programs among others. The government sectors have seen to embrace the media as the main means of informing the public about the existence of these programs. Media is the most appropriate means of diffusing the programs agenda to the masses. The community development theory of diffusion helps in the understanding of media involvement in the communication to the people about the existence of developmental programs. According to Rai & Shahila (2013), development in India has been facilitated by the media which has helped shed light on the programs available for the people. Moreover, the researchers note that the news channels and the internet have focused on the UN and the Indian government funded programs that have helped develop the Indian villages. Nevertheless, the need of the contemporary media such as the social media is high for the national and international development. This is due to the ability of the media to reach a huge number of people. Conclusion, The contribution of the media to the national and international development cannot be underestimated. An active and unbiased media is needed so as to maintain democracy, good leadership and equality in a country. It helps educate, inform, sensitise and mobilise the public among other functions. By carrying out the above functions, the media facilitates growth and development. National development is achieved through the positive change in the social, political and economic sectors of a country. On the other hand, international development is achieved thorough the creation of a developed world community. The dissemination of information portraying a positive image of the whole world has been the key factor in community development. The theory of community development helps in determining and understanding the role of media in development. The theories have been conceptualised to guide the implementers of policies focused to national and international development. Bibliography Abdallah, H., 2012. Probe Unearths Ghost UPE Schools In Uganda. Available at: http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Probe-unearths-ghost-UPE-schools-in-Uganda/-/2558/1386280/-/c9tktr/-/index.html [Accessed 18 Oct. 2015]. Bonye, S. Z., Thaddeus, A. A., & Owusu-Sekyere, E., 2013. Community Development in Ghana: theory and practice. European Scientific Journal, 9(17). 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