Communication and the media

Communications and Media

Communication has vastly expanded as media forms have diversified in recent times. Through globalization and democratization, communication through the various media has been a blessing to the economy and culture of African countries. Online communication has transformed the mere information consumer of old into a content producer today. Media literacy has become a component and approach in the educational curriculum of all 50 States. But this immense and unprecedented expansion of communication has negative effects. Studies showed that prolonged exposure to violence in the media inclined male viewers to physical and verbal aggression. They also revealed that long-time exposure by vulnerable girls to sexually objectifying forms of media tended to decrease their global self-esteem. Likewise, communication through the various media is as essential to winning a war by the proper transmission of information as defeating the enemy in the battlefield. Communication through the media asserts both positive and negative influence on people. The purpose of this paper is to discover some of its positive and negative effects from authoritative sources with the end-view of contributing information to support the decision-making function of policymakers.

Discussion

Globalization and democratization have been a blessing to sub-Saharan media (Kariithi 2007). The people's newfound freedom can be traced to the proliferation of the mass media, due in turn to the economic policies established and implemented by their new governments. The invigorated environment liberalized the air waves in African countries, leading to an explosion of the radio and TV broadcasting industry. Innovations included and culminated in the internet. Today, all African media organizations assert individual online presence. These websites have global content, which influences local media content. Records showed that advertising sales in these countries in the past five years approached $3 billion. All developments pointed to self-sufficiency and long-term sustainability. Joint ventures in publishing and broadcasting flourished. The cellular communication sector has been most successful. Statistics revealed that subscription went up from $1.2 million in 1996 to $51 million in 2005. $10 million was projected for 2010 (Kariithi).

Technology has become an integral component of modern communication (Holtz 2005). Communication is also moving more and more online as well. It is more than just substitution. It has also changed roles dramatically. The mere information recipient and consumer has now become a content producer. He wields influence like a public relations professional. Technology has increased the capability of communication so that audiences are now communicating by themselves online. This has allowed an exchange of information broadly and quickly. The current and continuously-evolving environment has been described as participatory. The audiences are themselves running their show. Critics warned communicators to learn how to deal with these empowered audiences in other to retrieve the influence they previously enjoyed over the audiences (Holtz).

One more miracle that has come out of new communication products, techniques and know-how is media literacy (Lundstrom 2004). This new and popular trend teaches children to think critically about media messages they receive on a daily basis. It trains them to assess, analyze, evaluate and produce communications in many forms. It reduces children's TV viewing and video playing time; decreases aggressive, smoking and drinking; improves reading and listening for both marginal and non-marginal students; incorporates high and low-technology media literacy lessons in specific areas. It also helps student distinguish fantasy from reality and between the real and the simply imagined (Lundstrom).

The massive but virtually un-supervised flow of communication through the mass media has also developed adverse side effects. A study conducted on male and female viewers of violent movie and TV programs provided evidence on the connection between watching the programs and sensation-seeking trait in the viewers (Greene and Kromar 2005). Males developed the linking for viewing violent media materials more than females. The study also discovered the link between the development of verbal aggressiveness and exposure to violent and horror movies. Additional research showed that those who were frequently exposed to these movies were also inclined to develop risk-taking behavior (Greene and Kromar).

Vulnerable young women who had long-term exposure to sexually objectifying media could suffer from decreased self-esteem, according to another study (Aubrey 2006). A group of 149 female undergraduates in a big mid-Western university was surveyed for their responses after having been exposed to such media. The study revealed that the exposure could dent their global self-esteem if they already possessed the vulnerability to these media materials. An example is Seventeen Magazine, which is an example of a sexually objectifying medium (Aubrey).

The media are an effective instrument of war (Payne 2005). Recent conflicts clearly demonstrate that the transmission of information plays a significant part in warfare. Winning a war is considered as decisive as actually beating the enemy at the battlefield. Winning the medial war is, therefore, a main item in the agenda of Western war-planners and policy decision-makers. News stations bring information on a 24-hour basis to their website's current affair section and through blogs. The public's increased interest in constant news must be matched by the military strategist and on an even more complex way to gain victory (Payne).

This reality has been established by the factory of the U.S. military in the post-Cold War (Payne 2005). Military commanders, therefore, must take stock of this reality and devise the best measures of controlling the media and influencing or even directing their output. The problem is that current laws and conventions of law do not appropriately address the role played by media in influencing the political outcome of a war. An international humanitarian law exists, which requires that members of the media be accorded the same rights as those enjoyed by civilians. However, this may not be practicable or sustainable in the heat of fighting itself (Payne).