Communications and Media

Loseke (2003) state that  there cannot be an effective functioning of democracy if there lacks an informed citizenry. This is because in democratic states all over the world, citizens have over the years, looked at the media as the principal source of information in regard to socio-political matters. In this light, the news media is often considered as indispensable part of a modern democratic system. However, in this increasingly mediated world, it is imperative that audiences be in a position to utilize the media to meet their informational needs.

In this regard, this paper shall discuss the fundamental roles of media in the modern world today. Additioally, the role of media in conflict management, promotion of cohesiveness and co-existence will also be considered.

The Role of Media
As regarded by Loseke (2003), children come to develop their knowledge through the interactions they make with the world. In this sense, they create a coherent system of knowledge that they use to interpret events and reality around themselves. This system becomes their engine where all their logical reasoning derives. The emphasis is that the children learn through action. Therefore, the young ones learn by inferring from what they do (Buckingham, 2003), after which they create a reasoned system of knowledge from. In this perspective, media should help the children in their growth by disseminating educative and morally justified information (Devries and Zan, 1994 Buckingham, 2003). Therefore, to ehance growth and development of a resposible generation, Zelizer (2004) stresses that media practioners should make it their commitment that only useful information is accessible to children.

Media has a great responsibility in shaping public opinion on fundamental social issues. Whereas public opinion connotes the expressed views by a large collection of persons on a specific situation. These expressed views could be formulated by the public spontaneously or may be through solicited appeals made to them. These views could be for or against the topic of discussion so long as the theme in question is of public significance (Allport cited in. Adelah, 2010).

The reactions of the public towards a particular topic of discussion steered by the media connote the measures they would take in tackling a social issue of importance to them. Therefore, the establishment of an effective and feasible public opinion requires the existence of a liberal, free and responsible press (Buckingham, 2003). In this sense, it can invite the communities to express their views on the ways in which they would like things done. In fact, the media instills in the public a craving in airing their opinions so that they might influence the course of events the way they wish.

The media can both construct a community or destroy it by the way it broadcasts information (Zelizer, 2004). There are moments when countries go into conflicts destabilizing peace and harmony all over. In this regard, the media should act as peace agents and not as catalyst to the conflict. By so doing, the peace media values can be integrated into all levels of news coverage.

A free and critical media is endowed with a fundamental function in democracies by constituting the main source of information which acquaints the society with knowledge and a variety of experiences (Livingstone, 2004). The media ought to promote new standards in the society as well as reinforcing the existing values so long as they conform to the principles of common good (Devries and Zan,1994). It is one of the core agents for societal development, good governance, democracy and in areas of conflict.

Media can choose to promote peace or can choose to destroy it. It is in a position to promote public security and also reinforce motives for fuelling wars or acts of incitement. It serves as an instrument for peace and conflict management, which furnishes the public with messages and strategies that can occasion peaceful agreements and tolerant attitude in a given community (Luhmann, 2000). It can be a weapon of violence that brings about subjective and biased information and worsen the situation for the conflicting communities. Therefore, the media has become an all-encompassing entity with a lot of influence in attitudes towards conflict.

The media has a responsibility in fighting corruption in the social and political system. It ought to sensitize the public on such matters so that there can be a collective responsibility (Livingstone, 2004). It is irresponsible for media to learn about corrupt government officials and still cover them up. The Mass media are at liberty to expose the situations of corruption-related matters, particularly in the social-political system (Buckingham, 2003). Therefore, the journalists should not be afraid to carry out investigations and expose cases of grand corruption.

Media as an Agent of Peace
According to Herbert Blumer (1971) social problemsare the products of a process of collective definition and not objective conditions and social arrangements. Some times the media does not broadcast news on the happening social problems with futility of bias and distortion. The content of such news lacks balance and objectivity.

Media, therefore, becomes an active platform upon which claims-making and framing takes place.  It serves as a choreographer or whistle blower or gate-keeper and a framer. Media as a framer should come up with ways on how issues or news concepts will be defined as well as setting the limits of any public forum (Devries and Kohlberg, 1990). It should focus on the responsible aspect in respect to the issue at hand and provide solutions as well. It should inculcate in the publics minds a sense of optimism. The reporters should document the framework through which their reporting takes place (Wolfsfeld, 2004). They should be precise and to the point, relevant, prudent and open-ended. The media ought to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them relevant and practical in a communicating context. In so doing, they will be able to define the problem as well as provide a casual interpretation. They will also be able to capture the morality of the story and eventually recommend the best way forward.

In the context of crime news, the media diverts much of the public attention on specific crimes without adequate evidence of an actual increase in victimization rates (Devries and Zan, 1994). In this regard, the media constructs reality by selectively highlighting certain types of crimes from among the widely available pool of known crimes. This leaves the viewers with a perception of a crime wave.  Social problems are the products of a process of collective definition rather than objective conditions and social arrangements (Blumer, 1971 Wolfsfeld, 2004). The sociologists assert that social problems are to be identified with the public concern a view that Blumer refutes. He argues that many ostensibly detrimental conditions are not taken into account by the public hence the reason why they are overlooked by sociologists.

All over the world there are attempts to encourage the use of media in facilitation of conflict resolution and peace media. Peace media is the use of radio, television, and printed journalism, to foster peace, to broadcast truthful and honest information or alternate standpoints that could steer public sentiment towards diplomatic resolution of conflict or to counter hate radio (Pineda, 2006).

Journalists involved in peace building activities are supposed to demonstrate non-partisan motives when describing the parties involved in the conflict, but should never be neutral and passive observers when it comes to asserting that dialogue and other peaceful mechanisms are the only acceptable and appropriate ways in settling for a lasting solution of the impasse (Warnick, 2002).   Media, in so many ways, contributes to remodeling the course of events in a peaceful path (Luhmann, 2000). For instance, it can stress the merits of peace building as well as promoting persons and communities involved in peace initiatives, and somewhat balance the views of the actors.

The notion of media as an instrument in shaping social events entails more on the modalities of how news is framed. According to Gitlin (cited in. Pineda, 20061), Media frames are persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation and presentation, of selection emphasis and exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse, whether verbal or visual. These frames are culturally flavored frameworks that assist journalists in organizing information and package it for their target audience (Devries and Kohlberg, 1990).

The interaction between the public and the news media is illustrated by the way political events are structured by news media in the quest to give meaning to events by packaging information (Scheufele, 1999). Moreover, Scheufele (1999) states that media frames are important in news coverage and undergo alterations with varying conditions overtime. It is believed that these frames are in most cases evaluated from a social constructivist dimension, where meaning is generated through action limited in time and space hence the reason why meaning is not intrinsic to persons or events (Scheufele, 1999, p.210). It can be purported that those who influence a situation through their actions define the meaning of a particular circumstance.

Looking at it from the constructivist perspective, frames are always in place when disseminating information, which is specifically important in mass media. In the realm of political communication, framing has to be explained and operationalized on the grounds of this social constructivism (Reese, Gandy and Grant, 2001). Mass media is actively involved in setting the frames of reference that the viewers use to interpret and debate public events (Tuchman cited in. Pineda, 20061). Therefore, the framing of news presentation consists of the actions and dynamics that create meaning to events. It can be argued and justifiably so that this potential of media could be adopted for creating peace-promoting messages. However, this normally is never the case, as it has proven difficult for the media to contribute to peace building struggles. This could be influenced by some few reasons that will be discussed below.
 
It is evident that news coverage aspires to portray immediate events and actions and fail to put more emphasis on the longitudinal developments (Scheufele, 1999). For instance, media can take short-term view of a peace process and this creates a sense of irritation and anxiety in the elite. The media covers more on the bloody pictures, negative statements about antagonists, frustration, hopelessness, and death, et cetera (Buckingham, 2003). Such drama and spectacle make the greater part of the news be full of negativities instead of expressing moderation, prudence, and stepwise progress.

This does not help in the peace and healing process as perceived by the public. It just manifests the propensity in polarizing the parties as well as to intimidate the society as a whole. Again, plainness due to limitation of time and space during news presentation makes some of the details to be addressed shallowly, hence not capturing the gist of the problem (Luhmann, 2000). In other words, fundamental ideologies that have a bearing on the peace process are often overlooked lowering the level of the public opinion to the matter at hand. Unfortunately, journalists are tied to their racial and tribal cocoons and this makes their service discriminative, partisan, subjective and bias.

Media Literacy
Media literacy is understood as the capability to access, understands, evaluate and create media content (European Commission, 2007). From a traditional point of view, it is seen as a type of critical literacy which facilitates the public to comprehend the inherent ideologies, agendas and contexts of the media discourses they encounter (Buckingham, 2003 Andersen, 2006, Warnick, 2002). Media literacy aims at promoting a healthy and noble skepticism towards the media. In this sense, media literate citizens question the images and messages presented to them, rather than just accepting them at face value. Skepticism is core to media literacy such that media literacy education aims at enhancing media skepticism among the elite. Media pervades a greater percentage of many lives today and for this matter, media literacy must be increasingly perceived as a socially situated practice (Luhmann, 2000). Media literacy skills cannot only be confined to reading a newspaper may be on weekends. Somewhat, media literacy skills should be cultivated in any context so long as media is involved.

Media literacy is not only a practice itself, but leads to additional practices. For instance, it nurtures a culture of active citizenship whereby citizens take particular types of social action. Debates over media literacy are precisely debates about the manner and objectives of public participation in society (Livingstone, 2004, p.20). Media Education Programme should seek to establish new ways and mechanisms where all members of the society, particularly, the young people, get to actively participate in the political and cultural life of the general community in the media (UNESCO, 2007).

It can be argued and justifiably so that media literacy skills equip citizens with better participatory skills in the social and political lives of their communities. This can be perfected by ensuring they are well-informed about important socio-political issues, for instance, social movements or the conduct of their government (Devries and Kohlberg, 1990). Such informed participation enriches the foundations of a democratic society and making healthier in its democratic endeavors. This confirms the reasons why both UNESCO and the European Commission perceive media literacy education as concomitant to the fundamental right of all citizens to information.

Social Change in the Modern World
 For so many years down the line, media has played a significant role in the social framework. Its impact has been positive as well as negative. Thousands of citizens globally, are spurred by the media hence influencing their political decisions (Scheufele, 1999). In addition, media has such a great impact in the economic framework in that so many industries have been established, but on the contrary, it has also impacted negatively on the success of many industries andor companies. Big questions have been raised as to whether the change by the media is actually a change at the personal level of all the people in the society or is it a transformation of the world all live in (Reese, Gandy and Grant, 2001).

Social media plays a significant role in the education of children in the society (Devries and Kohlberg, 1990). Child literacy is very fundamental as it opens all their other dimensions of growth. It is evident that children who read and write at often times are proficient when it comes to reading and writing (Devries and Kohlberg, 1990). Considering media and its technology use of blog posts, text messages, status updates, text messages, instant messages facilities just to mention a few do motivate children in reading and writing. In simple terms, media has enabled children grow more in literacy (Livingstone, 2004).

Media is used today by many companies in the promotion and advertisement of products (Luhmann, 2000). Through the use of media as a channel, companies seek to capture the consumer and even attempt to interact with consumers through conversations. This is creating more vigor and diversity of choice. In deed, every person today, in one way or another makes choices basing on the information she acquires from the media in regard to certain products.

Conclusion
Therefore, media makes our interaction with one another more unified and goal-oriented. Media has a constructive role in the society. It should make the world better at all times and in all ways. It is true that media is profit-generating enterprise but it is among those businesses that must observe serious code of ethics. In fact, the communications act of any country should develop very strict measures on provocative or irrelevant media services. Media is there to nurture cohesive and brotherly society before anything else.

Communication is what unites us and so media should be an agent of peace and brotherhood among communities. Indeed,  regardig media literacy, I believe that citizens should never be controlled by the media rather shape what media presets to them. This can be achieved when citizens always sieve only what is of value and forget the rest.