The Media, Youths and Development

By Clive Siachiyako

In today’s world, not only does every country have a medium, but all countries give constitutional recognition to mass media due to the presumed important role it can play in empowering the citizenry with cardinal information to their well being. Scholars in many current academic discourses and developmental debates therefore argue that the media are the answer to high levels of ignorance that hinder people to grasp several possibilities of success in their way. To this effect, a set of functions related to development that the media must address in helping people meet their needs on the basis of their economic map for them to form their own image of prosperity in relation to the opportunities that the environment they live in offers them has been proposed.This essay therefore seeks to explore how the media can enhance development in the country. In particular, the essay will seek to outline conditions under which the media contribute to the successful adoption of policies aimed at economic progress. The essay will comprise three sections. The first section will consisting of definitions of the terms development and media. The main body will be in the second section, while the third and last section will be the conclusion.According to Lipalile (2003: 10), “development implies the growth and expansion of both the production base and basic service provision, with much attention focused specifically on efficiency and equity considerations.” Although the concept is multi-dimensional, it involves the quantitative increase in wealth and qualitative changes in the economy through technology, better utilisation of natural resources and better social division of labour and capital. Media according to Eyiah (2004: 03) “is a combination of the technological means of sending information, ideas and opinions from a mass communicator to complex audiences, comprising institutions and techniques broadcasters, film producers and publishers employ to disseminate symbolic content to publics.”

Proponents of communication development argue that the core thesis of the media must be towards successful economic development that requires the coordination of efforts by policy makers and implementers with the interests of the populace on policies that bring about economic growth. Economic growth refers to the steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased overtime to bring about rising levels of national income (Todaro; 1992: 45). It is only a truism in communication development that the media are not a mere luxury for the journalist to square their ‘enemies’, but a cornerstone of equitable development and a watchdog of both government and the corporate sector in terms of how resources are utilised and propagates for the channeling of taxes into developmental arenas. The media watch how the corporate world pay tax (are they invading or constantly pay) and how the government channel the taxes when in its coffers. In this sense, the media have the power to influence government expenditure and are useful in transmitting new information. They act as a merger-phone for the poor and disenfranchised in society. The media must therefore be openly at the forefront of development strategies in every country or social set up. That is to say, the media must give the public information that translates transparency and government accountability, less corruption, citizenry participation in decision making (by engaging them into media talks or providing them with editorial columns where they could air their views on issues that affect them on a daily basis.) That encourages individual and civil society participation in legislation and\ or policy design and formulation for the attainment of economic emancipation of all time high nature.The media’s major role in development can therefore be to provide checks and balances on public policy and public fund expenditure, by throwing spotlights on government expenditure actions and allow people to voice diverse opinions on governance and reform.

By so doing, the media help in building public consensus in bringing change in people’s lives especially the most disadvantaged members of the public. According to Nwosu at el (1993: 01), “communication development can score meaningful success towards the provision of good life to the most poor in society if there is an attention on integrative model of communication that recognises the importance of the recipient participation in the planning, dissemination and diffusion of development programmes.” This is what some scholars have called ‘visioning’, and through visioning, a country can identify and design a communication and information policy that defines developmental challenges in society that the media can help to solve. Such a policy should be tailored specifically to enhance development in the country in relation to the natural resource endowment at hand and in line with the developmental goals and programmes that seek to improve living standards of the whole population. To this effect, communication for development can be defined as organized efforts to use communication methods of different forms to bring social and economic improvements in the world especially in developing countries, (http://hdr.undp.org/).

In the globalised liberal economic system, where the free market economy (laissez faire) is the controller of economic progress, the media help markets to competitively work better, and they (media) also facilitate trade (through the international advertiser), transmit ideas and innovations across the borders. Learner sees communication as the great multiplier of ideas and information for national development; Rao sees it as the great smoother transition, which encourages specialisation and division of labour, both of which speeds economic progress, (Schram; 1994: 51). For instance, when new industrial roles are created for which there is no available knowledge about its additional value to societal growth norms; the media fill the gap with new norms and new ideas. As a result, information would slowly broaden people’s horizons in attaining standards of living that are considered to offer good life. This entails that empathy and mobile personality are key psychological variables in bringing about change, and information is a bigger contributor and stimulator of economic growth and attitude change towards success.According to Oshima (1992: 78), “the media have a multiplier property to produce development quickly in an environment where most societies are in a hurry to progress and want to catch-up with other countries.” In development terms, this entails that poor societies want to reach acceptable levels of economic progress that are similar to those prevailing in developed countries or at least set. To achieve this, countries need an economic theory that makes it possible for them to achieve this goal. Economic theory here means studying how those countries they are trying to catch-up with did it, in relation to available resources and how they should be utilised, (ibid: 89). Additionally, to achieve this, people need a media system which shows clearly the primary resources of developing societies in a hurry to develop on the belief that communication facilities reach most people fastest and cheaply with messages that would make people move together as a society.Schram (1994: 40) puts some of the functions of the media in enhancing development into two specific functions. He says that the first was the informing function. It is presumed that in the process of informing people about development, their horizon is widened for they are able to be where they have never been, and know developed places they have never physically seen.

The media should in this sense focus their attention on the need for change and economic opportunities inviting change and even the methods of the means of change. All social scientists have therefore agreed on the fact that the media can raise people’s aspirations and stimulate them to strive for better life and national development. This wholesome agreement is based on the account of the presumed powerful effects of the media on audiences (the Magic Bullet Theory assertions). The Magic Bullet theory argues that any powerful stimulus like a mass media message can provoke a uniform desired response from a given organisation like an audience. An appropriate development message can thus trigger a desired response for change towards the living style of the developed world. In this sense, great scores of economic success can be realised where media messages stimulate people to innovatively work harder to improve their welfare in the communities they live in. The informing function also helps in explaining economic and developmental jargon or sophisticated concepts that hinder people to contribute effectively to both national and personal development. For instance, when proclamations on the inflation rate are made, the media should explain to the least informed members of the public on the impact of the changes. If it is a reduction in inflation, people need to know the obvious benefits, which they must demand in case they do not come forth.

And when it is an increase, media professionals should equally advise people on best adjustments to sustain their well being during the period of the inflation upswing. If it is some donor aid qualification or debt relief, like the highly indebted poor countries completion point (HIPIC), the media must inform the people on the ultimate benefits, so that they can claim for that from custodians of state resources in due course. The media therefore act as watch dog of people over any eventualities in all areas of human endeavour.The above function is also cardinal in human development. According to current wisdom, informing is the most useful means of development campaign as it takes a paradigm shift from abstract economic growth to informing people on basic human needs than only trying to modernise them. The informing aspect empowers the people so that they can change their attitudes towards life. Information empowers people because it enlightens them as they struggle to develop themselves. They thus become innovative and creative as they manoeuvre to improve their living standards. They are empowered to have a foresight of likely the economic environment and are equipped with right information on how to face economic ills or success as they unfold. In this sense, people acquire new mindsets, values and attitudes, which are often opportunity oriented.Additionally, in this era of arsenals of technology in their different forms, the media have the role of explaining to the people the actual importance of each innovation and its anticipated contributions to their well being. This is because people are no longer gullible to anything as before, but they now approach any new development with measured tread, so that as they identify and venture into exploiting both current and new unexploited opportunities, they do not risk causing more serious economic malaise in future. In such environments, media professions should acquire higher levels of analysis and knowledge under the auspices of development.The second function of the media propagated by Schram is decision making. Being that any decision made affects people in one way or the other; the media must have foresight of how certain decisions will disadvantage the ordinary man. The media must provide people with the opportunity to participate intelligently in the decision making process from initiation to evaluation. The dialogue must thus be broadened to include all those who want to see change so that leaders can have the opportunity to lead and at the same time people must have the opportunity to be heard. This is a two-way dialogue where issues of change must be made clear and information must flow from up to bottom and vice versa. In this way, ever body feels to be part of developmental programmes that the country is carrying-out.In the final analysis, it is clear that the media enhance and bring social and economic or political changes in society. The media can foster and strengthen development at local or international levels especially if well integrated into national development thinking and practice. They play an important role in both development and governance. In development the media, particularly radio and television carry information that encourages commerce in geographical isolated communities, and globally moves international trade to higher heights. And at governmental level, the media serve as a watchdog of government; exposing corrupt and unethical practices by leaders and giving people a platform to voice diverse opinions on governance and possibly reform. Operating on double standard basis, the media provide checks and balances to service providers to increase accountability, while on the other hand engage citizens at the bottom of the service chain by providing them with easy access to information on the workings of public programmes meant to benefit them. This way, the media are a social watchdog and can broaden people’s horizons, raise aspirations and create climates for development.