Is Society Influencing Media Conduct? My Brief Perspective
By Victor A. Massaquoi, Communication/Media/Social Policy Analyst
Here is the million dollar question: Is society influencing the activities of the media, if so, how? My take, despite the relative brevity of this piece, is an attempt to help young and upcoming media, communication and social change students to realize how malleable hitherto mutual the relationship is between the Sierra Leone society and the media.
Since the 1960s, communication, media and social policy scholars have employed critical lens to examine and understand society and its multiple components; one of society’s major constituents is (are) the media. The tendency of previous media and society research focus has been to investigate the role of the media in national development (politics, economics, culture, education, health etc.). But in recent years, the pendulum is swinging the other way. Scholars are now seriously looking into the political location of media houses, its effect on national development, how decisions are made to cover a story, and what are the relevant and extraneous factors in gatekeeping--a process a news organization utilizes to decide what story to carry on the air and in the newspaper, and the internet.
A recent review of the media ecology in Sierra Leone, I am inclined to conclude that, just like the United Kingdom, the United States and the Gambia, activities in society, including politics, economics and socio-cultural, coupled with other internal and external (international relations, globalization etc.) factors affect the judgment, coverage, writing, production and publication of news (hard and soft), commentaries, features, entertainment and the like. Remember, the central objective of the media is to entertain, inform, educate and persuade.
What we see today in Sierra Leone is that on the one hand, because of the economic pressures and other activities in the Sierra Leone society, some media houses are flagrantly violating the basic norms of professional and ethical media practices, including the ABC of good journalism—accuracy, balance and clarity. On the other hand, with less regard for professionalism, media organizations, as the forth estate, should be fairly acting as watchdogs on social, economic and political activities and report to society unfiltered, but the reverse is the truth.
While in Freetown, recently, I was bemused and utterly flabbergasted as I analyzed the content of some of the media publications. The framing, language, focus and slant are issues of further exploration by students of media, society and policy design. This brings to mind a commonly used theory in political communication and social policy design—framing—scholars, politicians, journalists, all of whom are part of a society frame political, social, and economic discourses to manipulate the attitudes and behavior of audiences. According to Skinner (1957), people and organizations of influence (the media) use framing all the time to influence human behavior.
But is this good or bad for society? Yes! Media practitioners are human beings; they have innate political instinct; they have freedom to talk and write, hopefully; they have relationships in society; they have a stake in society; they do not live in a vacuum, but the underlying concern is the level and overt participation in political framing that leaves people wondering. Are they seeking the interest of the politician or the masses, the rural poor? Media can play a role in society by not allowing society to dictate what stories to cover, and by not blinded by reality, but by applying the basic tenets that undergird the functions of the media in national development.
To conclude, undoubtedly, the sociology (the social, political and economic activities) of Sierra Leone affects media activities in a cogent way as reflected in the production and distribution of national development policies and activities, and news worthy stories to audiences across Sierra Leone, and by extension, the world. In his book, Tilted Mirror, Professor John Pollock examined political frames and how they repeatedly found their way in newspaper columns and the 6pm news. For example, in Sierra Leone, the buzz word is “Attitudinal Change” depending on how the promoters structure and frame it; people may or may not buy it, but the media has a critical role to in that, too.
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By Victor A. Massaquoi, Communication/Media/Social Policy Analyst
Here is the million dollar question: Is society influencing the activities of the media, if so, how? My take, despite the relative brevity of this piece, is an attempt to help young and upcoming media, communication and social change students to realize how malleable hitherto mutual the relationship is between the Sierra Leone society and the media.
Since the 1960s, communication, media and social policy scholars have employed critical lens to examine and understand society and its multiple components; one of society’s major constituents is (are) the media. The tendency of previous media and society research focus has been to investigate the role of the media in national development (politics, economics, culture, education, health etc.). But in recent years, the pendulum is swinging the other way. Scholars are now seriously looking into the political location of media houses, its effect on national development, how decisions are made to cover a story, and what are the relevant and extraneous factors in gatekeeping--a process a news organization utilizes to decide what story to carry on the air and in the newspaper, and the internet.
A recent review of the media ecology in Sierra Leone, I am inclined to conclude that, just like the United Kingdom, the United States and the Gambia, activities in society, including politics, economics and socio-cultural, coupled with other internal and external (international relations, globalization etc.) factors affect the judgment, coverage, writing, production and publication of news (hard and soft), commentaries, features, entertainment and the like. Remember, the central objective of the media is to entertain, inform, educate and persuade.
What we see today in Sierra Leone is that on the one hand, because of the economic pressures and other activities in the Sierra Leone society, some media houses are flagrantly violating the basic norms of professional and ethical media practices, including the ABC of good journalism—accuracy, balance and clarity. On the other hand, with less regard for professionalism, media organizations, as the forth estate, should be fairly acting as watchdogs on social, economic and political activities and report to society unfiltered, but the reverse is the truth.
While in Freetown, recently, I was bemused and utterly flabbergasted as I analyzed the content of some of the media publications. The framing, language, focus and slant are issues of further exploration by students of media, society and policy design. This brings to mind a commonly used theory in political communication and social policy design—framing—scholars, politicians, journalists, all of whom are part of a society frame political, social, and economic discourses to manipulate the attitudes and behavior of audiences. According to Skinner (1957), people and organizations of influence (the media) use framing all the time to influence human behavior.
But is this good or bad for society? Yes! Media practitioners are human beings; they have innate political instinct; they have freedom to talk and write, hopefully; they have relationships in society; they have a stake in society; they do not live in a vacuum, but the underlying concern is the level and overt participation in political framing that leaves people wondering. Are they seeking the interest of the politician or the masses, the rural poor? Media can play a role in society by not allowing society to dictate what stories to cover, and by not blinded by reality, but by applying the basic tenets that undergird the functions of the media in national development.
To conclude, undoubtedly, the sociology (the social, political and economic activities) of Sierra Leone affects media activities in a cogent way as reflected in the production and distribution of national development policies and activities, and news worthy stories to audiences across Sierra Leone, and by extension, the world. In his book, Tilted Mirror, Professor John Pollock examined political frames and how they repeatedly found their way in newspaper columns and the 6pm news. For example, in Sierra Leone, the buzz word is “Attitudinal Change” depending on how the promoters structure and frame it; people may or may not buy it, but the media has a critical role to in that, too.
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posted by Vickylandys | 9:59 AM
1 Comments:
haa!
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