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Africa Media Review Vol. 3 No. 1. 1988© African Council on Communication Education

Mass Communication and Development:Impact Depends on Strategies

Francis N. Wete, PhJJ.

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the impact of mass communicationon development. It suggests that, depending on how it is usedand what it contains, mass communication has the 'potentialfor good as well as evil'.

After reviewing the social and psychological prerequisitesfor development and effective use of the mass media, the paperdiscusses some research findings on the role of the massmedia on development.

It argues that for there to be positive change in society, thepeople must appreciate the need for such change. The massmedia can help in this cause, depending on their use andcontent.

'Francis N. Wete is a Senior Lecturer in the School of MassCommunication, University of Yaounde, Cameroun.

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Utilisation du Theatre et de la Communication pour ledeveloppement en Afrique

RESUME

Cet article porte sur 1'impact des moyens de communicationde masse sur le developpement. L'auteur suggere, que selonl'usage qu'on en fait et selon son contenu, ces moyens ont "unpotentiel aussi bien pour le bien que pour le mal".

L'article passe en revue les conditions sociales etpsychologiques pour un developpement et une utilisationeffective des medias de masse et traite de quelgues conclusionsde travaux de recherche sur leur role dans le developpement.

L'auteur pense qu'il ne saurait y avoir de changements positifsdans une societe sans que les membres de cette societen'epprouvent le besoin de ces changements. Les medias demasse peuvent contribuer a ces changements.

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Communication scholars have been arguing for almostthree decades over the impact of mass communication indevelopment. During the same period, poor nations have beeninsisting that the purposive use of the mass media is animportant part of their struggle for progress. They contendthat the failure of economic progress, which should havefollowed the attainment of independence, can be seen in termsof their failure to control indigenous information systems.Mass communication researchers though, in the 1950s and1960s, that the mass communication media were crucial tothe process of modernization. Although that view haschanged, developing nations still widely hold that if thechannels of information within their borders were controlledfrom outside, they would confirmed "in a state of perhapsmore hopeless dependence than before". (Smith, 1980)

These conflicting assertions raise the fundamentalquestions: Do the mass media play a role in development? Ifso, under what type of development strategy can the massmedia be most effective? These are the questions which thispaper will attempt to answer. Such issues as the theoreticalunderpinnings of mass communication and the emergingdevelopment strategy, basic to understanding the inter-relationships between the mass media and social change, willbe considered.

Underdeveloped nations are characterized not only bypoverty, disease, illiteracy and ignorance, but also byresistance to change. The intellectual debate over the role ofmass communication in development is the product of thequest for alternative ways of informing, educating, andpersuading large audiences in under-developed nationsquickly, frequently, and cheaply. Changes in the economy, itis realized, requires psychological changes, particularly theacquisition of new attitudes favourable to developmentalactivities. By the same token, it is assumed that new attitudescan be fostered through the mass media.

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Yet, the bulk of studies on the effects of masscommunication conclude that it has no effect upon people. Buta few, like Klapper's study, have found that masscommunication can have, when it relates to audiencecharacteristics, limited effects. Similarly, DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach developed the view that mass communication is acontinuous process of interaction between the societalsystems, media systems and media audiences. The societalsystem is determined by its structure, dynamic processes, andculture. Media systems are characterized by their economicgoals, values, technology, and organization. The extent towhich people will depend on media messages will depend alsoon the utility of these messages for individuals and forsociety. (DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach, 1975).

Consequently, DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach concluded thatwhen media messages are not linked to "audiencedependences", media messages will have little or no effects. Onthe other hand, when audiences are dependent on mediamessages, the messages will have "alteration effects" in termsof cognitive, affective, and/or overt activity.

The DeFleur/Ball-Rockeach "dependency" theory of masscommunication avoids the all-or-none position of mediaeffects. It allows one to specify in a limited way, when and whymessages will or will not have significant effects on howaudiences think, feel and behave.

On the other hand, consideration of the role of the massmedia in development has received increasing impetus asdiscussions over development models have broadened. Theconcept of development has grown from one that centred onmaterialistic, economic growth to one that implies suchvalues as social advancement, equality and freedom. Aftermore than two decades of dominance, the "trickle down"models of development have broken down.

The idea that the benefits of per capita GNP would spreadthroughout the economy and reach all groups has notmaterialised. Urban-based industries have failed largelybecause the mass of traditional producers in the rural areashave been neglected. Neglect of the rural population undercutsthe market for industrial goods produced in the cities. As aresult, the growth of capital-intensive goods has been sloweddown by the limited demand for them due to the low incomesgenerated by the agricultural sector. It is now widely

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recognized that sustained development cannot occur simplyby transplanting technology in the urban areas of under-developed countries while neglecting the rural areas wherethree quarters of the population live and work. Foreign aid,capital, and technology are not only enough but they havecontributed to the furtherance of development in the recipientnations, as dependency theorists have properly pointed out.These external factors have widened the urban-ruraldifferential and increased the dependence of the recipientnations on the donor nations.

There is, thus, a compelling need to find an alternativedevelopment strategy that will attract and benefit both therural and urban populations, and broaden the market forsustained growth in under-developed nations. In this effort, itwill be useful to specify the dependent, as well as identify theindependent, variables. Smelser has noted that the thingsthat change may be the "aggregate attributes of the populationof a social unit", "rates of behaviour in a population overtime", "cultural patterns", and that the determinants or causesof change include "the structural setting for change", "theimpetus for change", "mobilization for change", "the operationof social controls" (Smelser, 1968). Although the Parsonsstructural-functional model which Smelser applies is nopanacea to the study of social change, it neverthelesshighlights the importance of specifying the dependent andindependent variables.

Oshima and other development economists Imply the needfor structural changes when they suggest a shift to a rural-based, labour-intensive strategy of development (Oshima,1976). It will have the advantage of creating more jobs andproducing more food. The language of developmenteconomists has shifted from take-off, import substitution,disguised unemployment, unbalanced growth et cetera tointegrated rural development, agricultural intensification,appropriate technology, labour absorption, small industrypromotion, health development, Income distribution and soforth. This is the outcome of the realization that the growth ofnations could not be understood adequately if only thequantity of Inputs of labour and capital in the process ofproduction was considered. Nor could unexplained growth beattributed only to technological change. Scholars ofdevelopment have begun to feel the pressing need to take into

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account non-economic factors and their interactions withlabour, capital, and technology. Non-economic factors - socialvalues, social advancement, equality, individual freedoms -reflect concern for the quality of life as the goal ofdevelopment, as opposed to sheer material abundance. It alsopoints to the direction of change in the new developmentstrategy from focus on goods to focus on people, who are at thebeginning and the end of development.

Changes in development strategy focusing on non-economic factors require the acquisition of new attitudesfavourable to developmental activities. Comte argued thatsocietal progress is closely related to appropriate cognitivefunctioning. People are, therefore, the architects of change.They must be convinced of the need for change, if change is totake place. For example, efforts aimed at establishingcooperatives will not succeed unless farmers are convinced ofthe need for such association. Accordingly, mass mediamessages extolling the benefits of cooperatives will beineffective only if farmers are not convinced and do notbecome dependent on the media for information related to theestablishment of cooperatives.

Thus, alternative approaches to social change anddevelopment imply a review of the role of mass

-communication in development. A development strategy thatfocuses on people, as the initiator and beneficiary of theprocess, indubitably depends on people. As noted above,poverty in underdeveloped countries is accompanied bydismal ignorance and strong adherence to tradition. The taskof changing attitudes and values, ascribed to the mass media,becomes arduous.

A major obstacle in the search for determining the role ofthe mass media in development is the difficulty of separatingthe independent and dependent variables, the cause and theeffect. In other words, what comes first? Does developmentmake possible mass communication development or doimproved mass communication facilities - and the resultingincrease in the flow of information - make possible economicand social development? Merrill has suggested that unlesssome researcher or research foundation can establish twonations, one that will agree not to have any masscommunication media and another that has primitive massmedia from the start, then, after ten years, the impact ofcommunication media on national development Is observed.

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it will be Impossible to determine the effect of the mass mediaon development (Merrill, 1971).

Without subjecting people to media isolation for researchpurposes, Rao studied the communication system in twoIndian villages: one had embraced some new forms ofdevelopment like industrialization and the other continued,in large part, to depend on tradition, including the bartersystem. He found that in the developing village, wherechannels of information were varied and broad-based, thechanges resulting from economic, social or political ideascreeping into the community were smooth. Furthermore, Raodiscovered that when sufficient information is available, itcontributes to a spiral of developmental activity. It helpsfarmers to improve methods and produce more. It also helpsto transfer some of the excess manpower of the farms to othermore productive jobs. More productivity leads to increasedeconomic activity within the village (such as shops andrestaurants), to new appetites for consumer goods, to seekingafter new opportunities, and so on in a chain of relateddevelopment (Rao, 1966).

In the past, however, mass communication concentratedon conveying messages from government to the public in atop-down hierarchical pattern. There was an over-emphasison the source to the disadvantage of the receiver. Thisapproach fitted the now discredited concept of social changewhich viewed development in terms of what government doesto, and for, the people. The linear communication modelimplied in the dominant concept of development had alimiting effect on the contribution of the mass media indevelopment.

By contrast, some critics contend that the linearcommunication model has been used by the ruling class tosubjugate the masses in society. In this regard. Bell argues thattechnological changes have changed the nature of classrelationship much like the bourgeoisie did in the 18th and19th centuries. He believes that society is no longer based onclass but on control of information. People in positions ofpower depend on information and knowledge and consider theready availability of such information and knowledge to thepublic at large a threat to their power. To remove the perceivedthreat, the ruling class uses the mass media for brainwashingrather than for promoting development (Bell, 1973). Sure

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enough, mass communication can be a tool In the hands ofself-serving politicians. But there is no denying that the massmedia can be, if properly used, an indispensable force in theeducation of the society, the sharing of consciousness, thecreation of nationhood, and the promotion of socio-economicdevelopment.

Mass communication is, for instance, vital in thedevelopment approach which accords importance to self-development at the village and neighbourhood levels. Self-development means that each group, village, or community isresponsible for deciding what type of development it needsmost, for planning how to achieve this development goal, forobtaining necessary government and other resources, and forimplementing their development activities.

With this approach, the mass media may be used totransmit information of a background nature to a group,village or community about their expressed needs, anddisseminate innovations that may meet certain of theseneeds. Illustrations of this mass communication role can beround in radio campaigns in China, radio rural forums inIndia and radio listening group campaigns in Tanzania. Sucha mass communication function is more effective because theaudiences are dependent on the media messages. These kindsof media messages, as DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach would putit, have "alteration effects" in terms of cognitive, affective,and/or overt activity. Consequently, the role of the massmedia in self=-development is more permissive andsupportive than in the top-down development approach,where people are told what their problems are and persuadedto follow certain specific lines of action to solve them.

Mass media;s role in development depends, in the finalanalysis, on the media messages reaching the targetaudiences. But the paucity of mass media facilities in under-developed countries is compromising the potential impact ofmass communication in development. Africa, for example,has the least developed mass media facilities in the world.With the exception of radio, the other channels of masscommunication largely remain within the cities. In mostcases, only the radio reaches the quasi totality of thepopulation of a country. Development planners will have toaddress problems related to making mass media facilitieswidely available so that development messages can reach thepeople.

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With regard to investigating mass media effects, Rogersand Kincaid propose network analysis through theconvergence model as a methodological approach. Theconvergence model compels the researcher, at aninterpersonal level, to study the relations, differences,similarities and changes in the "information exchange"relations between two or more individuals over time ascommunication leads to the formation of cliques andnetworks. They contend that network analysis requires ahoverview of the entire social structure. At the masscommunication level, then, the convergence model requiresthe researcher to investigate more than just the direct effectsof mass media messages on individual audience members;equally important is how these direct effects spread amongthe communication networks of audience members and howthe media are given meaning by "receivers" through theirinteraction with other individuals (Rogers and Kincaid, 1981).Thus, network analysis overlays the social structure on thecommunication flows in order to better understand both thestructure and the message flows.

Given this holistic approach, it would be futile to design amass communication campaign without knowing who will becommunicating to/with whom and about what. Hence, tofacilitate understanding - the ultimate goal of allcommunication - participation, mass mobilization, andgroup efficiency, an appropriate development model shouldencourage local involvement in development planning,decision-making and execution.

The convergence model does not, however, predict thenature of flow of communication or impact for, to paraphrasePye, all audiences under all circumstances in all countries. Atthis stage of its development, there is as yet no adequatepredictive communication theory. In the meantime, McNellyhas suggested the pragmatic approach on the role of masscommunication in development. It calls on communicationresearchers to adopt, with respect to new types orcombinations of messages or channels, a "try and see if itworks" approach (McNelly, 1968). It Implies a disposition toseek empirical evidence in the field uninhibited by any rigidadvance assumptions; and to accept evidence on the effect ofmass communication In other cultures even though It may beout of harmony with seemingly well-established theoreticalmodels.

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From the foregoing, it appears that while the earlier blindbelief in the power of the mass media in development is nolonger tenable, a role for mass communication as aninstrument at the service of development is quite evident. Ithas the potential for good as well as for evil, depending on itsuse and content. In Polynesia, it is used to divert attentionfrom national problems (Barney, 1973); in Latin America,Beltran showed that mass communication content isfrivolous, irrelevant, and even negative for rural development(Beltran, 1974).

On the other hand, even Merrill admits thatcommunication is "obviously necessary for a nation to growand progress, just as it is for an individual person".Deutshmann concluded that mass communication isnecessary to national consciousness, spirit, and concertednational action. It can contribute to dissatisfaction and adesire to change; it can heighten a sense of collective power; itcan stabilize or disrupt the society; it can instil in the peoplerealistic goals or create in them extravagant expectation.

In sum, mass communication can be used either as astimulant or a tranquilizer. For the purposes of development,it can serve as a catalyst by generating information within thepeople so that they can define their own problems. The impactof this role in any given society would appear to be a directfunction of its development and mass communicationstrategies.

References

Barney, Ralph B. "Mass Media Roles in Development: ADescriptive Study from Four Developing Countries",Gazette, Vol.19, No.4, 1973.

Bell, Daniel, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: AVenture in Social Forecasting. New York: Basic Books,1973.

Beltran, Salmon Luis R., "Communication in Latin America:Persuasion for Status Quo or for National Development".Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan StateUniversity, 1974.

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DeFleur, Melvln L. and Ball-Rockeach .Sandra, Theories ofMass Communication. New York: David McKay Co., Ind.,1975.

Klapper, Joseph T., The Effects of Mass Communication.Glencoe: The Free Press, 1960.

McNelly, John T., "Perspectives on the Role of MassCommunication In Development", David K. Berlo, Ed.Mass Communication and the Development of Nations.East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1968.

Merrill, John C , "The Role of the Mass Media in NationalDevelopment: An Open Question for Speculation",Gazette, Vol.17. No.4, 1971.

Oshima. Harry T., "Development and Mass Communication: ARe-Examination", Wilbur Schramm and Daniel Lerner,eds. Communication and Change: The Last Ten Years -And the Next Honolulu: University of Hawai East-WestCenter Press. 1976.

Parsons, Talcott, "A Functional Theory of Change". Etziono,Amital, eds. Social Change. New York: Basic Books,1964.

Parsons, Talcott, Sociological Theory and Modern Society.New York: The Free Press, 1967.

Pye. Lucian W. ed. Communication and PoliticalDevelopment. Princeton: Princeton University Press,1963.

Rao. Y.V. Laksmana, Communication and Development: AStudy of Two Indian Villages. Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press. 1960.

Rogers, Everett M. and Kincaid, D, Lawrence, CommunicationNetworks: Toward a New Paradigon for Research. NewYork: The Free Press, 1981.

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Smelser, Nell J., Essays in Sociological Explanation.Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Smith, Anthony, Geopolitics of Information: How WesternCulture Dominates the World. London: Faber and Faber,1980.

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