ANALYSE THE CHOICE AND CONTENT OF NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS MEDIA
This research focuses only on addressing the theme of Haitian Crisis response with regards to five news stories from BBC News. In analyzing the five stories, reference is made to scholarly articles, journals and books written about mass media thus ardently tackling the aforementioned theme while giving this research a resounding professional outlook.
BBC News as a media outlet has been in operation since the 1920s and has made tremendous changes-both good and bad which have deservingly earned it the reputation that it currently enjoys. The most outstanding revolution can however be pinpointed on the inception of the internet which has not only widened its scope of coverage but has also rocketed its audience numbers (BBC.co.uk, n.d.).
The growth of BBC News-more so with regards to the print section- can also be accredited to the constant developments in print media which can be dated back to about 30,000 years ago. From the era of cavemen sculpting writings in walls to Gutenbergs printing press discovery and then to the development of computers, print media has established itself as one of the most reliable source of news (Piechota, 2002).
Additionally, with the options like live-streaming of news combined with written material, BBC News enjoys great flexibility, wide coverage and precision in their news presentation thus making them a favorite media outlet to its professional and highly esteemed readers.
Methodology of research
The research methodology used here involves choosing a theme from an appropriate news outlet and analyzing five articles that explicate the segments content on different occasions. The methodology chosen here was carefully done so as to ensure that the research is representative, informative, accurate and generally professional. This was clearly and orderly addressed as shown below.
Theme of the research
The theme addressed here was The Haitian Crisis Response.
This theme mainly seeks to highlight the plight of victims of the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and the reaction that governments, non-governmental (private) institutions and various individuals made towards its restoration. This theme is the driving force of the research and throughout the study references are made to various sources of information so as to ardently address it.
Justification
Firstly, choosing this theme is appropriate since this research embarks on showing reactions by different people towards the Haitian earthquake and the aftermath that the victims are facing. Having faced the most devastating earthquake and killing up to 230,000 people while leaving approximately one million homeless, it is crucial to address how the world responded to the Haiti crisis (BBC News, 2010a). Secondly, many people across the globe are concerned about Haiti crisis and would love to know the progresses that have been made so far as well as the precautions being taken to avoid such an occurrence repeating itself in the future. This theme ardently outlines these points of concerns.
Thirdly, this theme acts as a source of accountability and offers an in-depth summary of the occurrences in Haiti. This accountability role is in-tandem with the works of Thompson (1995, p. 91) where he says that the media is charged with the responsibility of keeping the public in the know-how of what is happening around them. And the best way of doing this is by checking on how the public reacted or responded to a particular case.
Timing, program outlet and segment choice for the research
The outlet choice was (Online) Newspaper about BBC News and the segment choice was international news. The data is collected between January 2010 and May 2010-which is the representative period of the aftermath of the shocking series of Earthquakes in Haiti.
Justification
To begin with, BBC News, just as it was stated earlier, is a respectable, highly informative and undoubtedly credible source of news that is read all over the world. Its choice therefore ensures that the facts documented in this research are substantially on point. Having been in the public limelight since 1920s and also operating the online version of the newspaper, BBC News has not only known the modalities of what and how they should present news to their audiences, they have also been able to improve the quality of information emitted to the public. This makes them a very reliable source of data collected for this research (BBC.co.uk, n.d.). Moreover, the online version of the newspaper is easily accessible just with the Press of a button and occasionally incorporates additional information-like audiovisual excerpts- which make the news informative (Castro, 2010). Again, the choice of time highlights the most recent occurrences-as reported by the media-thus giving relatively accurate and timely data of the case in study. Lastly, the time is fitting as it fervently represents the aftermath period of the Haiti earthquake and enthusiastically shows the progress that has been made so far.
Context, language and audience perception of the news in this research
The data collected blends audiovisuals and words which are presented in simple-yet professional-language by the BBC News writersreporters. The audience in this research is perceived as being passive and has therefore been addressed from pro-mass media theories likeUses and gratification, Agenda setting, Hypodermic needle, Two-step flow, Dependency, Cultivation and Framing (Gatekeepers) theory (Thinking Made Easy, 2009). Addressing the theme from this particular context is vital as it ardently demarcates how far the research goes and consequently avoids any confusion that might be made in the case of mixed up contexts.
Justification
This rich blend of words and audiovisuals represented in simple language Enables individuals to transcend the spatial and temporal boundaries characteristic of face to face interaction thus reinforcing the emphasis being made on the gravity of the theme in question (Thompson, 1995, p. 93). In addition, the presumptions made about the audience fits since recent studies tend to depict that most people trust information disseminated by the mass media (Zhang and Chia, 2006). Finally, the use of theories-in the analysis- gives a scholarly point of view for the research and thus offering an aromatic acumen of educational background which can in-turn lays a foundation for future researches.
Importance of the research and the most important observations made
The analyzed data from the five stories in BBC News proved very helpful in-terms of giving out vital information. For example, there is information on how the world responded to the Haiti crisis, how the Haitians are coping with the devastating effects of the earthquake among many other issues. However, the most important facets highlighted are first, the challenges faced in rebuilding Haiti and secondly, what has been done so far to improve the difficult situations (BBC News, 2010b). These two intrinsic facets are going to be the cause of disagreement in highlighting the importance of this research.
Malik (2009) articulates that newspapers play a huge role in shaping public opinion as well as steering the society towards social reformation. This is what many mass media scholars refer to as the Agenda setting role (Cakir, n.d., p. 415). From the data collected, there are numerous examples of surmountable donations that were made by various people, organizations and governments. All these were because of the medias spotlight on Haiti and how they required urgent help (BBC News, 2010d). So far, 9.9 billion (6.5 billion) has been pledged-with part of it already donated- towards Haiti from the international community. This figure in fact exceeds the 4 billion, which was estimated by experts as being enough to rebuilding Haiti (BBC News, 2010c).
Through the highlighting of medical, health, agriculture, rebuilding, shelter, infrastructure, funding, economic and security challenges it was easy for people to know the progress being made in Haiti and what ways one could help (BBC News, 2010b). In addition, the newspapers constantly documented legitimate ways of contributing while warning people of fraudulent organizations taking advantage of the crisis to illegally earn money. As a result, it was easy to know how to contribute to Haiti while staying on the lookout for the fake imposters. This is the watchdog role of the media, which is fundamental to any professional media house and is persistently advocated for by many media organizations (Thinking Made Easy, 2009).
Moreover, the research reveals the mistakes that led to the Haitian crisis. As a result, future precautions can be taken to avert the possibility of the problem in the future. This is very elemental since earthquakes can have detrimental effects not just on individual countries but also on the world as a whole.
The most important observations made in this research include--firstly, there is an increased tendency of the independent organizations coming up to support crisis victims. This is exhibited by BBC News (2010e) which documents of the church strongly supporting Haiti is rebuilding through institution of orphanages.
Secondly, the development of internet and technology has led to an increased number of people reading newspapers through ease in access of information (Castro, 2010). In effect, the mass medias tentacles keep spreading growingly in additional areas and thus making its influence being felt more and more (Zhang Chia, 2006).
Thirdly, the notion advanced by Meyrowitz (n.d., p. 42 43) that television is more popular than print media is currently fading away at a snail-pace. However, audio-visual forms of media like TV and radio still stand taller than print media (e.g. Newspapers) in spite of the increased circulation of the latter (Cakir, n.d., p. 413).
Fourthly, the increased dependence on modern media has-in a way-corroded the use of traditional forms of communications like oral communication which was prone to informational discrepancy and alteration. In effect, this has fostered an environment with more accurate, timely and social-adhesive information being in good circulation. This greatly pans the previously limited reach of the mass media into higher heights thus covering more valuable ground and reaching more people (Thompson, 1995, p. 94-96).
Fifthly and finally, it is worth observing that growth by some forms of media has conversely led to the downfall of others. In relations to this, Thompson (1995, p. 98) keenly notes that
The processes of growth and consolidation are increasingly assuming a multimedia character as large corporations acquire extensive interests in various sectors of the media industries, from local and national newspapers to terrestrial and safelight television, from book and magazine publishing to film production and distribution. Faced with the economic power of large corporations, many smaller media organizations have been squeezed out of existence or forced into defensive mergers.
In conclusion, it is important to note that the newspapers (in specific) and the media (in general) played important roles in the helping of Haiti victims. Many more examples of instances where the media has proven its worth are countless. Nevertheless, the media not only comes to help during crisis situations only it also performs many other roles like entertainment, education, broaden ones outlook of life, shaping opinion, platform for advertisements among many other salient roles (Malik, 2009). So instead of merely condemning it, we should rather focus on joining our efforts and reforming the few places that it has fallen short of professional standards. By doing this, there will be growth by both the media and society. Finally, the advancements in technology over the recent times provide an interesting prospect for the future of the media industry (Thompson, 1995, p. 100). It is therefore our collective duty to ensure that these inventions are duly incorporated with the present technology so as to foster ultimate growth of the media industry.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment