We all share a somewhat similar world view although with considerable diversity. Our world view is limited by factors such as the nature of our family, our friends, culture, access to resources and our own personal efforts. It is easy to find individuals, groups or organisations nurturing stereotypes with regard to particular race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance and social status. These stereotypes make us reluctant to accept or even deliberate on diverse values and viewpoints gradually leading to the disharmony in the society .
Journalists have the duty to seek and report on issues that build and sustain the harmonious society. They are also responsible for encouraging civic debate on developmental issues like health, education and climate change. While the professional ethics for journalism stresses on the aspects of accuracy, fairness, respect for diversity and accountability in reporting the issues; the idea of fairness itself is deeply influenced by an individual’s world view. Like for instance during the rape incident the reporting is heavily focussed on the lack of efficacy of the agencies enforcing law and order; while completely ignoring the way rape victim is treated by the family, community and the beliefs nurtured within the culture. Even when you consider the same issue, rape in metro cities on individuals of particular class or profession gets way more priority than rape in villages, on dalits. And also the rigour with which astrological predictions are reported cannot be seen when it comes to reporting on science that is guiding the advances in astronomy.
All the above instances make us realise how the well established beliefs within us will affect our perspective and end up being biased towards particular aspects. While reporting an issue journalist is usually expected to approach the concerned stakeholders and report their views as it is but in reality the individuals whom the journalist will choose to approach will again be guided by his/her own beliefs. So it is important that journalists are equipped with the thought processes that enable them to reflect on their own self and explore the society with an open mind.
Relevance of Journalism in the present context
American press institute describes journalism as an activity of providing citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies and their governments. It also refers to journalism as an indispensable activity for any democratic society.
The role of disintermediation effect of technology on the journalism has gone beyond our imagination. Disintermediation here refers to the reduction in the intermediaries between the source of information and the target audience. Thriving social networking opportunities on digital platform has today enabled the head of the state to directly convey the message to the citizens on real time basis which was earlier done by Journalists. Similarly citizens, communities, institutions, societies and governments are directly connected to each other like never before which raises the question on the very relevance of journalism in the today’s world. While the digital divide is still significant this does not guarantee any solace for aspiring journalists. Both in terms of cost and feasibility it has become easier to bridge digital divide than laying roads or making provisions for the efficient means of transport. So the most important question that aspiring journalists should pose themselves today is…... how do we remain relevant and be valued in the present context?
The answer is to look at journalism as a discipline of verification, analysis and critique of the immense information that is flowing across the individuals at a lightning speed. American press institute refers to the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University according to which in 2012, there were an average of 175 million tweets each day. But almost all – 99% — consisted of “pointless babble”. Besides this the highly interconnected citizens today are susceptible to rumours like never before. The consequence of such rumours vary from increased the market volatility rendering businesses unviable to fuelling the law and order problem in the society or even putting the citizens’ lives permanently in danger by spreading unsubstantiated news about medicines and therapeutic practices. These rumours also contribute towards reinforcing the hatred and stereotypes with regard to particular race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability etc. So today the main responsibility of journalists is not about acting as a middle man delivering the information from source to others but to verify, analyse and critique the information that is flowing among the citizens. Further the onus on journalists is to educate the citizens about the process of gathering the information, analysing it using scientific methods and establishing the authenticity of its source. Overall it can be said that journalism today is about cultivating and nurturing the research aptitude among the masses.
Understanding ‘Development’ in Development Journalism
Development journalism is a kind of journalism that proactively facilitates the development of the society. The reason for emphasis on the development journalism is also because the business model on which the journalism thrives or sustains itself tends to focus on what satisfies the citizens’ immediate concerns but not on the aspects that will transform them to better human beings. The debate on how do we determine a particular country is more developed than the other gives us a better insight into the nature of development journalism.
With regard to development of countries World Bank report says “It is easier to say a particular country is richer than the other. But indicators of wealth, which reflect the quantity of resources available to a society, provide no information about the allocation of those resources—for instance, about more or less equitable distribution of income among social groups, about the shares of resources used to provide free health and education services, and about the effects of production and consumption on people’s environment. Thus it is no wonder that countries with similar average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people’s quality of life: access to education and health care, employment opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, and so on”
Further, the word development means different for different countries and individuals based on how they are placed in the current context. But what brings them all together is the idea of sustainable development.
As per the same report “Sustainable” development could probably be otherwise called “equitable and balanced,” meaning that, in order for development to continue indefinitely, it should balance the interests of different groups of people, within the same generation and among generations, and do so simultaneously in three major interrelated areas–economic, social, and environmental. So sustainable development is about equity, defined as equality of opportunities for well-being.
References
Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.
American Press Institute - Journalism Essentials - http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/
BBC - The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063h25f
