Community Journalism
By Dr. Stanford G. Mukasa.
Associate Professor
Journalism Department
Part 1 Introduction
Welcome to the distance education lecture on journalism, and
leading to a certificate in journalism.
I am Stanford Mukasa, the instructor for the course.
This course will use information and communication technologies
(ICTs) that will offer a variety of services.
We will use web- based course technology, or webCT, as well as a
website.
The webCT address is
http://www.chss.iup.edu/webct/
The website address is
http://www.chss.iup.edu/certj/
Course website
The website for this course contains important information about
all aspects of this course
Here you will find instructions on
If you are able to
access the Internet on your computer, please download detailed instructions
from the website http://www.chss.iup.edu/certj/
Once you are enrolled
you will be supplied with a login name and password to enable you
to use the webCT materials.
Introduction
to the course.
In today’s lecture I will cover the
following.
The course
will introduce journalists to specialized reporting and writing in the areas of
community, health, nutrition, environment, education and local government.
Particular
emphasis will be focused on proper and professional methods for gathering
information; interviewing experts, community and local government leaders and
representatives; and writing informative and interesting stories for the public.
This
course is important in that it gives reporters specialized journalistic skills
in covering issues of public interest, relevance and concern.
The course
will focus on three critical issues
This
course falls within the
The course
will consist of two sections.
The course
is designed for working print and broadcast journalists both at entry and
advanced levels; students taking journalism courses, information officers,
researchers, specialized writers in business, health, agriculture, development,
etc. The course is interactive and developed in modular formats, which help
participants to progressively understand community journalism.
At the end
of the course participants will gain the following skills and knowledge in the
following areas;
I will now begin with an overview of the African Mass Media
Part 2: Overview of the
African Mass media
In learning about
community journalism it is very essential that you have an understanding of the
socio-political and geo-cultural environment in which the African mass media
and journalism exist.
The mass media as we
know them today were introduced during the colonization of
The mass media that
existed during colonial times were known as the colonial media.
Studies of the colonial
media have shown that their role was largely to publish news and information
about the mostly white colonial settlers.
They were, of course,
some mass media that were published in the interest of the African masses.
These mass media were known as the nationalist media. However the
nationalist media circulated mostly in urban areas because of poor transport
routes in rural areas.
By and large both the
colonial and nationalist media tended to serve a small urban population of
either white colonialists or urban Blacks.
After independence the
mass media tried to increase their coverage to areas where the majority of the population
lived.
But this was not enough
to cover rural populations.
As a result some
questions have been raised as to whether
Let us look at some
statistics of the African media. These statistics came from the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or Unesco.
In 1997 there were an
estimated 2,432,000 radios in the World, or 418 radios per one thousand people.
Yet in
There were 1,396,000 TV
sets in the World or 240 TV sets per 1,000.
There are an estimated
8,391,000 newspapers in the world or 548 newspapers per one thousand people. In
There are a number of
factors that impact on journalism in
The situation is made
worse by the fact that most newspapers are published in English and tend to
focus on news and events in urban areas. In terms of content the African mass
media do not adequately cover their rural populations.
In a situation of
underdevelopment and lack of adequate reading material for rural populations,
African journalists have a major task of communicating effectively in the
scarce media resources on the continent.
Community journalism
makes journalists communicators instead of passive disseminators of
information.
Journalists in a
situation of underdevelopment have an important task of connecting to the urban
as well as the rural populations.
In order for journalists
to effectively and adequately cover their populations, especially in the rural
areas journalists need to have a good understanding and working knowledge of
the information and other needs of the people.
Journalists must not
only develop skills to write but also to communicate.
The terms “Journalism”
and “communication” are often used and applied separately as if there is no
relationship between them.
Journalism is the more
specific skill in gathering news and information and publishing it.
Communication tends to
be a science of the way people share messages.
In communication the
source sends a message to the receiver through a channel like radio, a
newspaper, a magazine or telephone, or interpersonal communication.
The science of
communication studies how effective the message is. The question asked here is:
Has the receiver of the message received and understood the
message?
If the receiver has
understood the message is the receiver going to act or behave in a way that
improves his or her life?
This is the essence of
community journalism.
To interact with the
community.
To determine what the
information needs of the community are.
And to provide the
required information and knowledge in a way that will make the community use,
and benefit from, the information and knowledge.
On this basis,
journalism and communication both deal with sending information and messages
from a source to a receiver.
The receiver acts on
these messages in the expectation that the receiver’s life will be improved.
Journalism deals
therefore with disseminating information to the community or members of the
public.
When members of the
public receive this information it is hoped that they will have access to
resources and services in a way that will improve their lives.
Let us assume the
journalists write about a local businessman who was once poor or had no job.
And then he was able to take advantage of opportunities that came his way.
He then worked hard and
became what he is today.
People reading this
story may be motivated to try what the business did in order to succeed in
life.
Here is an example of a
message communicated through the mass media and acted upon by the members of
the community.
In the 1970s the radio
campaigns that were launched by the Government of
The result was that some
people improved their health and literacy. They had indeed benefited from these
radio campaigns. Similar campaigns were carried out through other parts of
Journalists in
They have a professional
obligation to write about human rights violations, lack of the rule of law,
uneven distribution of goods and services and lack of development.
For example, journalists
can write about people who live in the part of your country where there are
very poor roads, or in short there is very little development.
The result of publishing
such a story will be to bring in improved assistance from government or other
humanitarian agencies.
All the examples I have
given above help us to understand the role of information or journalism in
development.
Here is a summary of the preceding
lecture.
·
As a result of the legacy of colonialism African newspapers tend to
concentrate in urban areas and cover relatively little information that
really matters to the rural population.
·
·
Journalists must cover stories that inspire people. Successful
stories motivate other people.
Information society
The importance of
information is underscored by the fact that we now live in what is known as the
Information society.
And
Information society.
But what do we mean by the term “information society?” If you look around your community, especially
in urban areas you will notice that people are now surrounded and bombarded by
all kinds of messages.
These messages come from the radio, newspapers, magazines, and
advertisements posted on buildings, on busses and other standing or moving
structures.
Information society means our lives now revolve around information
and knowledge.
Whether at work or at home,
people are regularly exchanging
information, receiving information, selling information, managing information
or distributing information.
In some countries most jobs are in the information and knowledge
industry. It is therefore very important for journalist to know the role of
mass media in society.
The questions that we should ask about this role are:
Do the mass media give people the information and knowledge they
need to improve their lives?
Or do they encourage people to buy consumer goods?
Think of all the messages you received or saw or heard today. Where they encouraging you to but a new car,
a new jacked, a new dress, a new radio, or were they encouraging you to improve
yourself in life through learning new work skills?
Do the messages ever talk about being a good citizen, or being a
good government, or stress on human rights, democracy and the rule of law?
To understand how the mass media function researchers have
developed a number of theories.
Theories give us some basic knowledge about issue we are interested
in learning about.
The first theory we will examine is the Authoritarian theory
of the mass media. Under this theory the role of the mass media is influenced
by governments.
Here governments use mass media to assert control over the masses.
The mass media are therefore seen as part of the government and must promote
government policies and programs.
Criticism of the government under this theory is very often not
allowed. So journalists are required to
write stories that are favorable to the government.
Some people call this a government-say-so type of journalism. In this situation information that many
people are interested in to enrich their lives is sometimes not published
especially if it appears to be critical to government.
The second theory of the mass media is called Developmental. This
theory is very
popular among
Under this theory mass media are expected to promote government
development programs like building bridges, roads, schools, hospitals and so
on.
Journalists are expected to help people understand government
policies on development. In many cases the government owns and runs some of the
mass media, and expects cooperation from the mass media.
Under this model most of people’s information needs about improving
life are heard. A major point is that it is often very difficult for the
journalist to write critical stories about governments, especially on issues of
human rights, democracy and the rule of law if they were seen to be under
threat.
I have often argued that under the developmental theory journalists
should seek or agitate for a partnership with the members of the public rather
than government.
The next is Libertarian theory which was once very popular
in some western industrialized countries like the
The Libertarian theory argues that the press must be free of any
government control or regulation. Journalists can publish anything they want
without the fear of prosecution.
One big problem with the theory is whether it gives too much
freedom to journalist’s o the extent of making them accountable to no one.
This lack of accountability under this theory led a judge in a
court to make the famous remark that journalists should be answerable to the
public for what they write.
The judge said these words: Freedom of the speech does not mean shouting
false fire in a crowded theater!
What he was saying was journalists should take responsibility when
they write stories that will hurt other people.
As a result of the judge’s ruling a new theory of the press
emerged. It was called Social Responsibility which says the journalists
have a social responsibility to the public.
The role of journalist has historically been recognized as very
critical in informing and educating people.
However it must be noted that in some countries of
In this case the journalist is free to anything as long as it does
not criticize the government.
The freedom of the press and speech are contained or implied in a
number of international declarations.
African journalists may face problems with some governments on the
question of freedom of the press.
It is the journalists’ responsibility to highlight these
international declarations aimed at protecting their freedoms.
Journalists have a very strategic role in informing and educating
the population. Their freedoms must be respected and protected.