Analyse the need and importance of development reporting in the present times, citing suitable examples.
Answers
INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENT REPORTING
UNIT STRUCTURE
1. Learning Objectives
2. Introduction
3. Importance Of Development Reporting
4. Present Trends In Development Reporting
5. Early Indian Experiments In Development Communication
6. Let Us Sum Up
7. Further Readings
8. Answers to check your progress
9. Possible Questions
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going trough this unit you will be able to
explain the importance of development reporting
discuss the present trends in development reporting
describe the early Indian experiments in development communication
INTRODUCTION
By this time you must have become familiar with many of the issues in Development Communication. Now you should also be given an exposure about how the various aspects of development are being reported, in what manner, with what impact and the trends in this field. This will help you to prepare yourself for practicing what you have been discussing so far in this block and the different units. This is because as the subject is assuming more and more importance over the years, increasing professional avenues in this field are coming up offering a lot of scope for engagement in the future.
IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT REPORTING
Development reporting is a concept which is gaining much importance in the recent times. Development reporting refers to reporting of development related issues. Now development reporting refers not just to reporting development, but also the lack of it, i.e., underdevelopment.
You must be definitely aware of so many developmental efforts, activities and experiments going on all around the society in near and distant places. Being aware of these developments is not merely enough. The goals of development communication will be served adequately only when these happenings are reported in the media. This will ensure that innumerable number of people or masses come to know about them. At this moment you should remember that media is a magic multiplier or force multiplier which multiplies all our efforts – whether negative or positive alike.
Let us illustrate this with an example. A few years back you may have come across a news item in the newspapers about how a group of marginal ginger framers were united to form a cooperative marketing agency in a district of Assam. The objective was to bypass the exploitations of the middlemen in the buying and selling process of ginger in the actual market. This scheme was effectively implemented with active supervision of the deputy commissioner of the district in which the farmers were immensely benefited. They were also able to improve their living standard from those monetary gains and the amount of ‘confidence’ of being able to achieve something really positive.
Now, only when this news item or story would be known to the masses or the maximum number of people possible it will yield a broad result. That is, it is a good sign and development that a specific groups of framers have been able to achieve such a feat in a remote place of the country or the state. If we would like to extend these benefits to more and more people in the society among the underprivileged and illiterate sections there will be far more benefits.
This is because as more and more people will come to know about it they will feel encouraged and develop a certain kind of confidence to try to enact a similar experiment with such a project and gain desirable benefits in the end.
Let us consider another example. Several years back, a group of about a hundred self-help groups (SHGs) united themselves under an umbrella organization and took a loan of a big amount from a nationalized bank’s branch in a district of Assam. These SHGs were so punctual and prompty in repaying their loan amounts that the bank management was highly impressed with them and they offered more loans to the groups even without their asking for it.
No only this. A few years back there was a news item in the media that the village panchayat in a rural locality in Kerala had suspended the licence of a major cold drink bottling company. This was beca