Media And Mass Media

News is the core activity to which a large part of the journalistic (and thus media) occupation defines itself (Mcquail 2010 ). Its primary purpose, quips Bagdikian, “is to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgements on the issue of the time” . The power, content and reach of news in today’s world is almost incalculable due to globalization and advances in communication technology. However, in the 1960’s a prevalent charge was brought against news journalism led by the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), which centred on the unequal balance in representation of nations in global coverage and reports.

Western or ‘First World’ states were being accused by the smaller, less-developed ‘Third World’ nations of media monopoly and imbalance resulting in a one-way flow of information from ‘top to bottom’. The developing states argued that the two were at different ends of the spectrum pointing out that the First World’s high degree of “industrialization, well-developed media systems, colonialism, expansion of markets as well as well as regulatory freedoms” enabled them to exert considerable influence over the development of mass media institutions and practices throughout much the world” (Reeves yr ). Nevertheless, both sides agreed that the media could be harnessed as tool to promote economic growth and to ‘act as an agent of development of the Third World’ , (Thussu yer). Servaes and Thomas (2006) maintained that the information and communication industries were serious economic boomers and like the First World, could contribute to national development in Third World countries, “Information has a commodity value; values that may be a significant factor in extracting even t...

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...o important developments of even the most specialized activities. For this, the profession of journalism is becoming specialized. The journalist is becoming subject to the compulsion to respect and observe the intellectual disciplines and the organized body of knowledge which the specialist in any field possesses” . Development journalism particularly benefits from specialization training as it is proportionate to the output says Shah (1990), “journalists who receive special training on issues like rural development, health, population and social issues tend to cover a high proportion of stories dealing with such issues and as such will bolster the level of development news reported.”

From the arguments presented, we can see that even though intentions and purposes are different that there are common themes facing both development and mainstream news organizations.