MEDIA OWNERSHIP

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

The media are assigned the role of creating the sense of identification through expression of essential cultural values and symbols and by giving desirable interpretations to event This is in consonance with the view that media helps to establish in order of priorities in a society about that society's problems and objectives, not by initiating or determining, but by publicizing according to an agreed scale of values of what is determined in a political system. (Curran, 1997) For, the cultural values, symbols and interpretations to be propagated by the media are bound to be approved by the political leaders.

In mass communication according to the school of thought widely accepted in a democratic nation, there are four theories of the relationships between the press and the society namely: -

1.     Authoritarian theory

2.     Libertarian theory

3.     Communist theory

4.     Social responsibility theory

Authoritarian theory this is the oldest developed in the 16^th and 17^th century in England. The main purpose of this theory is to support government policies and serve the state. Media under this theory is control by the government or its officials. Although private ownership of the press is allowed, it is used as an instrument for affecting government policies. The role performed by the media in this theory is discrimination of information, ideas attitudes, instructions and direction from the ruling class to the citizen.

FEATURES OF THE PRESS UNDER AUTHORITARIAN THEORY

1.     Media shouldn't do anything that could undermine the government

2.     The government monopolizes the media.

3.     Alternative views have no place in the media.

4.     Censorship can be used to ensure compliance

The system was practiced by most government in Europe namely Britain, France, Germany etc.

LIBERTARIAN THEORY

This theory developed following the growth of democracy and freedom of speech. It was first practiced in England in the late seventeenth century and it later spread to the United State of America.

The main purpose of this theory is that the press should inform, educate, entertain, mobilize, pursue and enlighten but most importantly it helps to discover the truth and serve as a check on government. Media under this theory can be privately owned. The theory is different from the first one because under libertarian theory the media serves as a watch dog on the government. The main objectives of this theory are: -

1.     There shouldn't be any prior censorship of publication by a third party.

2.     The business of publication as well as mat of distribution has to be opened for people without licenses

3.     There should be no compulsion to any publication.

4.     There should be free flow of information within outside national boundaries.

Some of the libertarian philosophers include Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, John Milton and John Locke.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY

This theory developed from USA on the 20^th century out the writings of WE Hutchkins. Under this theory the press is controlled through community opinions and professional ethics. It is privately owned and expected that the press under this concept should assume social responsibility, it should be free but self regulatory and both the society and state are fairly represented. The concept emphasized the following points:

1.     Individual and minority group have right to access the media.

2.     The organization and content of the media shouldn't be subjected to centralized political or state bureaucratic control.

COMMUNIST THEORY

This theory developed after the 1917 Russian Revolution. It was a product of Marxist / Leninist and Stalinist; determination to uphold their parties control in Russia. The purpose of the theory was 'to maintain the Soviet socialist system especially to the dictation and rotation of the party. Under this theory private ownership of the media is not allowed and that the media should support progressive movement at home and abroad. What may be classified as absolute and control pattern operate in communist China and the Soviet Union now Russia. In this theory it was obvious that the media were completely in the hands of ruling communist party which formed the government. Therefore there are no proprietors no share holders no founders than the government. In a nut shell the government hundred percent owned and fund me media.

REFERENCE

1.     Nigerian Media Law and Ethics by Prince Tony Momoh I/Introduction to Mass Communication Practice in Nigeria by J.A. Sambe

2.     Press Development in Nigeria (A Comparative Analysis) By Christian Best.

3.     Introduction to Mass Communication Laws by Sani Bello.

DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Because of early technological development, information about the world has come to be controlled by the international news agencies of the west namely; Reuters associated press, United Press International and agencies Prance Press.

Having realized the power of the media shaping the thinking of individuals in societies, developing nations essentially came up with the idea of development communication.

The audience for development communication is all sundries and the flows are vertically downward.

At the heart of development communication is firstly,

        i.            A deliberate effort to redress the battered image given to the developing countries by fee. Western media and hopefully attract investments, m order words, developing journalism seeks to repaints the ugly picture that of the never do well, which the western media portray the developing nations.

      ii.            Secondly, a resolved to use the mass media to bring citizens together using reporting techniques and programmes considered most appropriate.

    iii.            Thirdly, determinations to use that mass media for social engineering that would bring about wealth and thereby ensures individual and collective wellbeing in this sense, the mass media are to be used to highlight development programmes and to persuade citizens to participate for increased productivity.

There is no doubt that development communication is all out for development in all its ramifications. It is result oriented. Development communication is a phenomenon practiced only in the developing countries but it has gained scholarship in universities in the west and has proved a fertile area for academic encounters.

Obviously, the goals of development communication are not entirely consoling. Of concern is the one that aims to change the bad image of the developing countries presented by me Western Media, Can this be satisfactorily done through our mass media? The full implications of this goals are expressed in Articles VI and X (3) of the Declaration on the use of the mass media which say that 'It is essential for the mass media m developing countries to have adequate conditions and resources to enable them to gain strength and expand what resources are there for Africa for instance as far as the modem media enterprise is concerned?

Are the international mass media no longer reporting the developing countries as they had been doing? How many mass media houses in the western industrialized countries subscribes to the services of African news agencies? Or, how many citizens or the industrialized countries expose themselves to African mass media?

Up till now any African which needs a favourable mention in the western media would have to travel to London or New-York to address a press conference. Even with this, such countries would not be given the kind of performance they wanted in the media. So in addition, they pay in hard currency for spotlights in the major newspapers and on television in these cities. But the reverse happens to be the case in Africa. Africans still spend money to import foreign media products and spend their time to expose themselves to them. Apart from individuals it is known that "Third world" countries including Nigerian import over fifty percent of their television programmes. They do this, not from other developing countries which may be near self sufficiency in media product as the United State and Britain. Whereas countries such as Britain, France, West Germany and Italy which according to Professor Tunstrall are themselves significant media exporters as Well as importers. They import mainly from America indeed Professor Tunstrall gave an insight account of media products consumption in the third world at a conference of the media in 1983 in London.

In countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Egypt and India, the hybrid character of most of the national programmes is often a mixture of Hollywood formulae fleshed out with local stars, local language, traditional values and religion. This is superimposing "Third World" third world culture on America or European Ideas. In Economic terms they amount to miscre presentation and subversion of third world culture and tradition. The situation is worsened by the recent growth of video news feeds by satellite. As Professor Tunstrall reported out, many receive big slabs on their television news by satellite very close to transmission time and have to conduct enlightening operation of playing through censorship selection and transmission.

The story does not end with television programmes. Foreign magazine alone sold in eighteen countries including Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, South Korea and India. Thirty two London publications had at least twenty thousand export circulations. Among such male sex publications, political / financial magazine geared towards Africa and Asia.

The whole situation brings into focus not only the imbalance which exists within the third world and the west in the media trait but also the dominance and effect of western media of developing countries. (Media imperialism)

Clearly a number of differences could be seen between development communication and other communication type. Much of the differences lies in its history, goals and the fact that it is not just a specialized area of communication but philosophy, and ideology that is meant to guide journalism practice in the regions where more than one half of the world’s population resides.

HOW DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION IS MADE AVAILABLE TO THE CITIZENS?

Development communication is practice at an ever increasing cost the cost and maintenance of communication equipments are increasing and the wage bills for staff are rising. Yet its impact seems to be stunted by the way development information is transmitted. The management of development information is both uninventive and reflects lack of grasp of the essence of the phenomenon.

No doubt, development information is made available almost everywhere. It is there in the newspapers, radio and television programmes, schools and books. In all these sources, they are available as mass of facts. Citizens are expected to avail themselves of this piece of information choosing the ones relevant to them and discarding others. As it is with acquisition of knowledge some efforts has to be made by way of reading the newspapers, magazines and books watching television or listening to radio programmes. An average citizen may not clear to him how we will benefit from spending his time information on development.

Probably, looking for development information and these bits of information may be difficult task. Knowledge it is known, is easy to acquire when information is presented in its organized form. So development information must be organized to aid understanding, of thinking about and participation in development.

An attempt in this direction is categorization. Some newspaper and magazines occasionally have allotted columns to information on agriculture, health, science and other human endevours. So have the radio and television allotted some airtime to programmes on these subject matters from time to time. Even with these, development information still does not seem to make more sense; it still remains a mass of facts one more step can make such information more meaningful. It facilitates the citizen’s use of development information. It can lead to higher creativity in design and presentation of development information.

That one step is to go beyond departmentalizing development information according to subject matter but classify it to reflect the levels of development we are grappling with. Thus, for any subject matter information should be organized to show which ones are for self-development, immediate community development, local government, state and national development. This is likely to benefit both policy makers and ordinary citizens.

Interest progression from self development to that of immediate community, local government, state and national is not a simple natural process. It takes much to see beyond self development. Just as many educated Nigerians still do not understand why Nigeria spend millions of naira in aid of other countries in the name of international relations while Nigerians are suffering many citizens at all levels of income and education still do not understand why they should be asked to contribute to development that are far away from them. Here lies the challenges of higher creativity in design and presentation of development information.

Since" not all citizens can think like philosophers and therefore be disposed to appreciate to appropriate easily why certain things should be done in society, development communicators must constantly think of new formats and techniques for handing information for development at the different levels thus identified. In the absence of coercion, there seems to be no other choice than development communication to be persuasive.

Development communication is an attempt to influence the public to accept new ideas, to win citizens for new ways of doing things. Its success depends on the quality or persuasion and the type of change the citizens are persuaded to accept.

An effective strategy for ensuring the desired response must be concerned therefore both with influencing citizens attitudes, change and the types of change that should be introduced and when. For according to Barber 1969, "Those who want to accomplish change must act at the right time on the right place".

CONSTRUCTION OF MASS COMMUNICATION TO MODERN SOCIETY

CONSTRUCTION OF MASS COMMUNICATION TO MODERN SOCIETY

There are various theories on the effects of mass media messages on individuals, groups and society, whatever the case, mass media contributes should be taken as, a sub-system. In the functioning and dysfunction of the societal system the following are the major contributions:

        i.            Media messages help to promote social cohesion by making us do things as others expect us to do men (socialization). The media helps to reinforce good conduct by carrying messages about rewards and punishment for good and evil deed through the news and commentaries on public affairs. But the penchant for violent films by the television stations may detract from this point depending on the media violence theory perspective one examines it (see then chapter on media violence theories).

   ii.            The mass media confer status or prominence of some individuals in the society thus rising' to leadership position. This status conferral effect is achieved by focusing on rich and influential individuals in news and programmes.

 iii.            The media set the agenda for public discussion since the penchant issues given prominence are considered the major issues of the day.

 iv.            The media always engage in surveillance activities by forecasting about issue that affects the existence of audience members. They alert the people so that proactive action can be taken to avert disasters. They scan the environment in order to disclose threats and opportunities.

   v.            The mass media provides the common basis of news and information which makes opinion polling meaningful.

 vi.            The mass media have the ability to bypass communication channels and authority structures in political, religious, educational, economic and kinship spheres by establishing direct contact with individuals. In some cases, messages and disseminated without institutional control to the extent that parents may not prevent their children from accessing adult messages (Mcquaill 1980).

vii.            Mass media messages unite the people during crisis by releasing messages from a central source. However, some people regarding this tranquilizing role as dysfunctional since those who are likely to oppose the system are forced into a position of unethical acceptance of prevailing injustice (see Mcqualli IBID).

viii.            Harold Lasswell in discussing the system, stabilizing function of communication, identifies as functions of mass communication, the surveillance of the environment. The correlation of the components of society by interpreting information about events in the environment and prescribing solutions or appropriate reaction to them (e.g. through editorial editing and transmission of social heritage from one generation to the next (e.g. through cultural programmes). Through this they will help sustain the socialization of individuals even after formal education has ended. Charles Wright later added the fourth function of entertainment to Lass well’s list. This function relates to the provision of amusing programmes of audience.

  ix.            In communist systems the mass are regarded as part of the apparatus power of the ruling party and such are meant to disseminate censored information to the people and indoctrinate them by a manipulated opinion. The west equally purses these goals in defense of capitalist ideology despite their freedom.

    x.            In developing nations, the mass media are expressed to serve as facilities development by carrying out task in line with established policy. For example, they are expected to help in the tasks of national integrations, cultural creativity and eradication of illiteracy.