Role of development journalism

Development journalism:

Michael Kunczik states -"Development journalism proceeds from the normative assumption that the people affected must be actively involved in the decision making, planning and implementation of development projects. With that, apart form dissemination of information, two functions of development journalism is particularly emphasized: the motivation to active cooperation of the people affected and the active advocacy of their interests vis a vis planners, respectively the government.

In "Development and Communication" published by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, he further says-" Development journalism is then synonymous with a 'grass roots approach', that is, it is decentralized and participatory."

P. Sainath, says in the introduction of his collection of stories from India's poorest district-'Everybody loves a good drought', winner of thirteen awards-" The people who figure in this book represent a huge section of Indian society. One that is much larger than the 10 per cent of the population who run their lives. But a section that is beyond the margin of elite vision. And beyond the margins of a press and media that fail to connect with them."

Localized Approaches to Development Communication

The relationship between communication and development can be broadly categorized in two types:

a) Macro societal level

b) Micro level

Macro societal level studies examine the co-relation between existence or availability of mass media institutions and various indices of development. Lerner, Schramm and other communication theorists found high correlation between media participation and such indices of development as organization, literacy and political participation.

A UNESCO study (UNESCO, Mass Media in Developing Countries, Reports and Papers in Mass Communication, 1961, Paris) found that indicators of national development such as per capita income, literacy, urbanization and industrialization were correlated with indicators of a well-developed media infrastructure (e.g. newspaper consumption per person, daily newspaper circulation per 100 persons, cinema seats per 100 persons and number of radio sets per 100 persons.) The development of mass media was clearly related to other developments in the country.

All the studies provide direct support to the view that a modern mass media system is an important part of social overhead capital of development.

Mircolevel studies examine the co-relation between media exposer and modernization variables. Communication scholars have found significant interrelationship between communication variables and modernization variables. It is argued that information of certain kind awakens appetite for new things and new ways of doing things and mass communication produces demonstration effect.

Other scholars have expressed that mere availability of any kind of mass media is not likely to be useful for innovative changes; the information transmitted through media must be functionally and locally relevant and relates to patterns of content presented to the audience. Information is perceived as useful, it is applicable, timely and specific in given situation.

The importance of localized communication approach is emphasized. Grass roots-based, people-centered participatory development strategies that emerged in the 1970s proposed a completely different notion of cultural change distinct from the West to East diffusion of modern ideas via the mass media suggested by well-intentioned US academics. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire outlined a new methodology that had illiterate adults participating actively in the transformation of their world.

In Freire's proposed pedagogy of the oppressed, the teacher (or media producer) is no longer the authority, but a learner-cum-teacher: someone who both learns and teaches in dialogue with other fellow learners-teachers. The dialog-based message design process proposed in this book tries to approximate the Freirean ideal.

The development programmes must be local to meet the local needs which vary widely in differing regions and sub-regions in large developing countries as there is plurality of cultures and languages.

Communication scholars argue that a localized approach would enable the communicator to design messages which will be relevant in terms of utility, timeliness, applicability, specificity, etc.The localized media approach would tailor message for local conditions. Such an approach can overcome the constraints of infra-structural reasons and facilitate two-way communication by allowing greater involvement and participation of the audience in the communication process.