This memorandum is in response to the Board of Directors’ request to investigate recent negative coverage of our corporation and the resulting comments from local pressure groups in two of our main markets. This memorandum provides a comprehensive review of which media, pressure groups and political groups are most influential in each of the company’s main markets, the United Kingdom (UK), India and Africa, followed by recommendations concerning how the organisation can better manage its relationships with those groups in the future by developing innovative ways of using the media. The memorandum is organized into two tasks. Task 1 identifies the relevant domestic, national and international media in the UK, Africa and India followed by an evaluation concerning the respective importance of the media in influencing partners, opinion formers, stakeholders, customers and the public at large in these markets and the influence of pressure and political groups, and media owners, on the media’s perception of inter-organisational policy and strategy. Finally, Task 2 reviews the challenges and pressures faced by the media in reporting the activities which deliver inter-organisational policy and strategy and a description concerning how best to exploit the media’s constraints and time-critical requirements to promote a positive outcome. An assessment and evaluation of the inter-reaction between news, public and stakeholder opinion and inter- organisational policy and strategy and the impact of global news media, and propose innovative methods of utilising this to the benefit of the inter-organisational policy and strategy concludes the memorandum. Task 1

Identify relevant domestic, national and international media

UK:

The UK enjoys a mature and sophisticated media infrastructure that is among the best in the world due in part to the use of English as the language for media content and production (Bromley, 2016). While the UK does not have any major global media conglomerates physically based in the country, UK activities are extensively covered at the international level by by Time-Warner and News Corporation (Bromley, 2016). In addition, there are several major domestic media organisations represented, though, including most especially the BBC (the largest news broadcasting organisation in the world, Bertelsmann and Reuters (Bromley, 2016). It is important to keep in mind, however, that although the media landscape in the UK is typically conceptualised as a consolidated entity, it is actually comprised of English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh elements that reflect the specific interests of different parts of the country (Bromley, 2016).

At present, there are more than 61 million Internet subscribers in the UK (UK communications, 2018). In addition, besides electronic media, the UK also has world-class mainstream media resources including television (there is a universal mandatory license fee assessed all television that supports the BBC) as well as extensive radio stations and landline and mobile telephonic communications (Bromley, 2016). Despite a continuing decline in readership, there are also still eleven newspapers actively published in the UK (the Daily Record and Sunday Mail are Scottish publications) (Bromley, 2016).

Africa (Nigeria):

Although the media landscapes in the UK and India (discussed below) are highly complex, the media landscape in Africa is even more challenging to analyze because it is not a monolithic nation with a consolidated communications entity but rather a collection of 54 different nations, each of which has its own media resources, pressure groups and specific areas interests. Therefore, this analysis focuses on Nigeria, the most affluent nation in Africa with the most sophisticated communications landscape at present.

Although there are only about 154,000 telephone subscriptions in Nigeria today, the country has extensive regional and national cable and satellite television resources and each of the country’s 36 states operate their own stations (Nigeria communications, 2018). In addition, local, regional, national and international coverage is also provided by a radio network that includes government-owned stations that broadcast their own programming except for news coverage (Nigeria communications, 2018).

In addition, Nigeria has nearly 48 million Internet subscribers representing more than one-quarter of the entire population (Nigeria communications, 2018), but these communications resources are constrained by an inadequate infrastructure including frequent power shortages and outages...

Besides the foregoing communications resources, Nigeria also boasts a number of daily and weekly newspapers, including Punch, the Nation, Nigerian Tribune, Business Day and the Daily Times of Nigeria that provide domestic, national and international news coverage.
India:

With more than a billion subscribers, India has the second-largest number of telephone subscribers in the world today (India communications, 2018). Domestic, national and international services are provided by this extensive telephonic network. Likewise, India ranks third in the world in terms of Internet subscribers with more than 374 million users at present (India communications, 2018). The largest public television network in the country, Doordarshan, operates approximately 20 local, regional and national services together with a growing number of privately owned and operated television stations that are distributed through satellite and cable services to more than 200 million viewers (India communications, 2018). A modern radio network also provides extensive local, regional, national and international news coverage broadcast to every corner of India; however, the Indian government retains control over the AM radio frequencies which are limited to the All India Radio Network (India communications, 2018).

It is also noteworthy that in sharp contrast to the print media industry in many other countries, newspaper publication and readership remains strong in India today and newspaper circulation has actually increased since 2016 to 62 million today, representing an impressive 60% increase (Zehra, 2017). This significant growth in newspaper circulation rates has been attributed to several factors, including increased disposable income and literacy levels, the perceived credibility of the printed word and the fact that newspapers are delivered directly to subscribers homes (Zehra, 2017).

Evaluate the importance of the media in influencing partners, opinion formers, stakeholders, customers and the public at large

Besides the general public, pressure groups and consumers, the organisation’s partners also include manufacturing and distribution concerns as well as local government administrations and aid agencies, but the importance of the media in the UK, Africa and India differ somewhat as discussed below.

UK

Given the world-class status of the UK’s communications infrastructure, it is reasonable to suggest that the media has a profound impact on the perception of the organisation by its stakeholders. This importance, however, varies according to news source. For example, UK consumers may be more influenced by social media platforms compared to traditional mainstream media sources due in large part to the growing distrust of these sources. For example, major global media conglomerates in the UK, most especially News Corporation, have come under fire in recent years for their shady and even illegal news-gathering tactics. In this regard, Bernal (2015, p. 2) reports that, “Several books were published about News Corporation in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2013 following the well-known phone hacking case, which highlighted the illegal methods used by journalists to get hold of information about celebrities, politicians and victims of scabrous events.” In each of these books, the point was made that the scandals had a negative effect on the public’s perception of the credibility of these news sources (Bernal, 2015).

Africa (Nigeria)

The explosive growth in digital communications in Nigeria in recent years indicates that this news source has assumed new importance and relevance in terms of how negative and positive coverage of organisations is perceived by stakeholders. While the electronic communications infrastructure in Nigeria remains constrained as described above, its influence has become far more pronounced as growing numbers of businesses and individual consumers rely on these resources to the exclusion of traditional mainstream media (Ericsson, 2016). These trends suggest that the organisation’s focus should be directed at social media platforms and other digital communication resources.

India:

In some ways, the communications landscape in India resembles that of the African continent since there is such diversity involved. This diversity and the country’s enormous population make it difficult to evaluate the relative importance of the media in influencing partners, opinion formers, stakeholders, customers and the public at large. In this regard, Stein (2016, p.…