Abstract
One of the famous quotes on journalism is by George Orwell which says that journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed and that everything else is public relations. Orwell, a journalist and novelist was simply showing how powerful and important a journalist can be in the society. Having been granted the licence to write that which isn’t in the public domain is in itself a privilege to journalists who automatically bear the burden of instituting social change in the societies they live in. Media have for long acted as a watchdog for the masses despite the technological and operation changes over the years. The society still looks to the media to be informed, entertained and educated; which are essentially the three major roles of the media. One of the biggest questions this paper seeks to answer is whether the African society would be the way it is in the absence of media; what roles have they played in making the societies they operate in better, and how did they do it?
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This paper will take into account the different defining moments the African society has gone through with a little bias in East Africa and the role the media played in either educating the masses on issues at hand as well as their consequences, and whether it provided solutions if and when they were needed to. This paper seeks to establish and explain the crucial link between journalism and development and how the two are interdependent. IntroductionWhat’s journalism and why should we care?To answer the second question first; we all love our movies and music, are addicted to our favourite soap operas, TV and our game shows, have reverence to our literature and visual art. But journalism matters than them all (Burgh, 2005) as it is the end product of a major industry that supplies hundreds of millions – billions, across the globe – with information about every conceivable aspect of the world around them.
Journalism, in all its varieties, is the constant background and accompaniment to everyday life. Journalism matters because it has a uniquely privileged cultural status, placing it (and journalists) at the centre of public life and political debate ever since journalists first began to irritate kings, queens and popes in early modern Europe (Burgh, 2005). Journalism has been required to be at least three things, often at the same time: A supplier of information required for individuals and groups to monitor their social environments; a resource for, support to and often participant in public life and political; a medium of education, enlightenment and entertainment. From the above definition, there is no doubt, media has played a pivotal role in developing the societies in which they exist in. Media act as a source of the information people need to make informed choices and decisions as they serve as the channel through which mass communication is achieved.
As a source of information and a platform which people can articulate and aggregate their opinions, however modestly, journalism has immensely contributed in developing the African society both politically and economically. Despite prevailing challenges from the media owners and governments of the day, journalism has done its best in responding to the African society’s demand for information and entertainment. The media (McQuail, 2010) may equally be considered to mould or to mirror society and social changes. In Africa, the media has played and continues to play a critical role in building informed societies. Through this information, societies have been transformed, solutions to problems have been found and long serving leaders have been forced to leave power. The media are assumed to have a potential for significant influence (McQuail, 2010), and this they do through the content they churn out which primarily causes social change.
To achieve this agenda, the media choses and tells us what issues are important and how they affect our lives. Journalists as agents of changeWe cannot separate journalism from development. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as quoted in (Obijiofor, 2015) defines development as a measure of the level of freedom that individuals enjoy in their society. He sees development as a process through which individuals achieve their objectives in life. When people have access to information on the different aspects of their lives, they are better placed to meet their economic and social needs. This is the role journalism plays in the society as it acts as a conduit through which such information is channeled and to play its role effectively, the media must see itself as instrumental to ensuring and improving the quality of life in society. Barder also quoted in (Obijiofor, 2015) argues that development must be judged by its impact on people, not only by changes in their income but more generally in terms of their choices, capabilities and freedoms. For instance, would a country be considered democratic without the media taking part in providing meaningful debate on what democracy is and its benefits to the society? Media is the nerve or the engine that powers a society interest in change be it politically and economically.
How would East Africans know there’s such thing as the East African Community if such an issues wasn’t reported by the media?The power of the news media to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence (McCombs, 2002). McCombs argues that not only do people acquire factual information about public affairs from the news media, they also learn how much importance to attach to a topic depending on how the media treated a particular issue. From how stories are placed in a newspapers to the time allocated on a particular news item on TV, media provides a host of cues to their audience on what and what not to pay attention on. The media acts as a link between their audience and outside world. Most of what the audience knows about their societies is as a result of what media have dealt on over time. In the immediate post-independence period, most ruling African leaders consolidated and perpetuated power in the name of development journalism (Gadzekpo). For instance, Gadzekpo argues that Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkurmah used the media as revolutionary tool of African liberation from colonialism.
In fact, Nkrumah described the African newspaper as a weapon to overthrow colonialism and imperialism and to promote total African independence and unity. However, development journalism is more than what Nkrumah envisioned – journalists must always recognise the importance of the media to development if they are to use their profession in imparting knowledge and skills to develop the society. The purpose of this review is to present evidence suggesting that a quality, independent media has a positive impact on society and should be viewed as a critical development outcome in itself.
This analysis is addressing three areas where media has had and continues to have a positive effect on societies:
- 1. Governance Impact: Corruption has a negative impact on society, particularly in furthering poverty and income inequality. When public resources are looted or unequally distributed, it is the citizenry that suffers and it is the role of the media to act as a public watchdog by monitoring government officials and increasing voters’ knowledge, allowing voters to hold corrupt politicians accountable during elections, causing politicians to reduce corruption. An appropriate example is the recent heightened war on corruption in Kenya. The media have been actively reporting on various corruption scandals dogging ministries forcing the government to sack or suspend officer implicated while some have been put behind bars.
- 2. Economic Impact: Investors as well as economic actors need accurate and timely information to allocate resources efficiently. A country’s economic success is dependent on how effective the media is in demanding accountability from leaders and monitoring governance. An effective press is the only channel through which successful economic policies can be made as mass media can, and often do, play a critical role in policy-making. Throughout the policy making process, the media plays the crucial role of providing information and monitoring leading to more effective economic policies. It can also reduce political risk and increase good governance—conditions that are important for robust economic development.
- 3. Social Impact: For citizens to be productively involved in developing their societies, they must participate in making decisions that shape their lives and this they do through the information they get from the media. Development would never be sustainable and just if the absence of journalism. Participation requires an informed citizenry, but this calls for a free and independent media to supply timely and relevant information to citizens allowing them to change their own behaviour and to demand higher social standards for society.
Media improves governance by monitoring the actions of those in power and alerting the public to corruption or abuse of trust. A strong, free, and independent media sector leads to lower corruption levelsA report by the Media Development Investment Fund, titled ‘Media-Development’s-Role-in-Social-Economic-and-Political-Progress’ shows that an independent media that monitors those in power and delivers accurate information to citizens has been shown to be an effective check on corruption across multiple studies. Corruption acts as a tax on productive activities in an economy leading to the flow of resources to unproductive ones.
In the absence of a free and independent media to hold those responsible accountable, the citizens and the economy suffers as resources are only concentrated in the hands of a few. Therefore, the role of the media is critical in promoting good governance and controlling corruption. Apart from raising public awareness about corruption and reporting incidences and the people involved, the media provides the initial seed that prompts official bodies to launch formal investigations of their own. The effectiveness of the media, in turn, depends on access to information and freedom of expression, as well as a professional and ethical cadre of investigative journalists. In the last few months, the media in Kenya has done its best in exposing corrupt ministries and even gone further to name the people involved. This has forced the government to declare war on corruption and as a result arrests have been made and jobs have been lost. In 1997, the International Monetary Fund managed to have an official at the ministry of Health sacked for signing a deal in which non-approved malaria chemicals were to be brought to the country. The government initially transferred him to another ministry but he was later sacked as the press relentlessly reported on the issue.
In 2017, the United States suspended aid to the same ministry after another scandal in which over 7 billion shillings was lost. If the media hadn’t performed their watchdog role by reporting on such issues, more resources could still be lost. Much as the media hasn’t been consistent in their reporting and following up on these stories, they have forced concerned authorities to take the necessary steps in the war against corruption. By providing access to information to users of public services, the media empowers citizens to demand quality and accountability from their governments.
Access to information helps citizens hold their governments accountable
Without institutional media, there would be a huge vacuum where our debates take place and a far narrower information stream (Scheuer, 2008). The media supplements the government’s limited role to check itself through the separation of powers. Similarly, without the media, the public would never be able to check on the powers of the government in the absence of publicly shared knowledge. Scheuer further argues that the general democratic responsibilities of news media include: informing people on factual matters relevant to their civic duties; explaining and clarifying those facts by putting them into context; providing a check against abuse of power by probing behind the curtains of government, commerce, and other public enterprise and providing avenue for discussion and debate.
During the Kenyan constitutional review process a decade ago, the media took an active role in educating the masses on the changes and what they meant for the nation. At its best, journalism provides deeper insights on issues, alerts the masses on problems, prepares them for change and in some case provides them with alternatives to these changes. Democracies need the best journalism they can get.
Media improves the efficiency of the economy by providing actors more and better information with which to make decisions and improving stability. One of the greatest roles of journalism is providing direction and setting the agenda on pertinent issues. From influencing awareness on attitudes of the masses, the media has key role to play in creating social change. Change happens through a spectrum of audience and the mass media has the advantage of creating this audience through the issues they seek to articulate and provoke decisions around. Governments come up with policies every other day but these governments lack the medium or they ability to reach out to the masses is limited and this is where journalism comes in. Through the media also, governments are able to gauge the citizenry’s take on a particular issue and uses this information to either change a policy or improve on what was there. Investors on the other hand rely on the media for necessary information on the economic status of a country and whether investing in these countries would have any economic sense to them.
Media catalyzes positive changes in society by providing the information that influences public opinion. World over, the media has played a catalytic role in providing information that influences public opinion leading to social change. The impacts can be seen across social issues among them public health - including maternal health, child behaviour; gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity; and climate change. Targeted, well-executed media campaigns reach audiences via a medium they pay attention to, leading to increased knowledge and changes in behaviour. Governments, private companies as well as nongovernmental organisations also rely on the media to disseminate important messages as media represents a collective means of storytelling.
For instance the war against HIV and Aids couldn’t have made the gains made so far without the media. Due to intensified campaigns through the media, the statistics have significantly declined even in areas where they were most prevalent. The media can be used as the primary change agent or as a means to support other educational campaigns as it has the ability to reinforce old messages, support health changes, encourage maintenance of change, or keep health issues on the public agenda. A good example is the campaign against polio that has been going on in Kenya over the last four years. The government uses the media to reach out to the masses to educate them on why their children need to be vaccinated against polio and thanks to the media, all these campaigns have been successful.
Conclusion
This analysis presents evidence that independent media play a critical role in improving governance and reducing corruption, increasing economic efficiency and stability, and creating positive social and environmental change. Without journalism the African society would not be the way it is. The media has executed its role of providing information to actors throughout society allowing them to participate in the decisions and debates that shape their lives. Journalists have also played an important monitoring role in a democracy enabling the citizens to hold their governments and elected officials accountable which in return has led to better policies and service implementation.