The downside is that the media can become the instrument of state propaganda. The media in Tanzania, in five decades and beyond of the country’s existence as a sovereign and independent state, rendered service in the varied aspects of national endeavour.
Several political, economic and social factors singly and collectively impact on national development. The process can involve rapid transformations as well as resistance to change.
The twenty-first century poses new challenges and opportunities in which the role of the media will be of fundamental importance.
The distinction is necessary at the outset as we proceed to examine how man-made factors such as media and others can influence the process of national as well as state development.
States can be developed and built by deliberate human actions. Nations evolve almost always through a kaleidoscopic, spontaneous, multi-layered natural process, not subject to human will alone, except in some rare cases.
The physical frontiers and the communication frontiers of nation-states are likely to be in sharp contrast even as they sometimes converge.
As individualized electronic linkages e.g., wireless internet over cell phones, and other choices proliferate, media and nations and citizens may assume new shared roles.
Factors that will impact upon national development in the 21st century include geo-political, economic, technological, social and cultural conditions of intense, rapid change as well as resistance to change.
Climate change may devastate whole eco-systems so badly that nations too could be destabilized at their cores.
Far more than in earlier centuries, with print media and books, it was in the 20th century that modern mass media acquired a pervasive political presence.
Media played a significant role in national affairs and in national development across the world regardless of the specific type of nation and state they were located in.
Nation-states may be categorized according to their levels of evolution as nations and as states and as per their levels of economic development and military power.
It is not intended herein to name each country in each such category but only to indicate broad categories of nation-states whose descriptive titles changed over time as a result of global political transformation.
In the era that began after the 2nd World War, the levels of economic development and institutional stability divided nations and states into the First World e.g. the U.S.A. and Canada; into the Second World e.g. major Communist and Socialist states and the Third World e.g. Africa, East Asia, India. Bolivia etc..
Alternative terminologies for these three “worlds” of countries came to be used in the terms: “developed countries” to refer to those who became members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) representing countries with the highest per capita incomes.
About 150 countries including both middle and low-income nations are generally described as “developing countries.” including the United Republic of Tanzania.
There are also the Least Developed Countries, known as “LDCs.” Cutting across such categories, moving across continents and time zones, covering phases of peace and of war, of stability and tension, applying to nations and states in diametrically different conditions, media have rendered roles in the development of nations that can be placed in the following modes:
As stokers of national pride and chauvinism, whether this is in regard to as articulators of national identity, promoting campaigns for independence from colonialism or, where nations were already free, as re-enforcers of recognized national identities.
Asserting differences from the identities of neighbours or in support of national teams in competitive sports as motivators for national cohesion and unity, and doing so not necessarily only when owned by the State or controlled by governments but as expressions of their own beliefs and policies.
As sources for valuable information about development, as in providing guidance and advice to farmers via radio and TV on the use of seeds and fertilizers in support of agricultural extension workers, who first helped promote the concept of development communications.
Media’s role as unabashed, unapologetic instruments of state propaganda and governmental policies, during conflicts, as well as before, or after them; as advocates of the free market and of consumerism, disseminating volumes of advertising content, serving as extensions for the marketing of goods and services.
As means of expression for the marginalized, the dispossessed, and the persecuted or as the public’s own, de facto, ombudsmen regarding people’s complaints and grievances as well as independent, first-hand reporters on the actual situation in zones of war and violence.
In addition its role popularizes of the arts, literature, music and creative cultural work; as mirrors of reality in respect of the basic functions of media i.e., for information, education and entertainment.
And at the same time, as distorting mirrors, unwitting or willing sources of censored messages and of willful disinformation; the preceding functions of media in nation-states of all kinds range from the sublime to the subversive, from exceptional roles rendered only in individual cases to collectively-observed patterns.
Whether a country has been reasonably stable as in the case of the USA or whether a country has been volatile as in the case of Burundi, media have played a notable role in the process of national development.
With the proviso that, in the case of countries such as Somalia, access to media by the people is far lower than in the USA. Therefore the impact of media is proportionately far less.
The growth of nations over decades, and sometimes centuries, is marked by unpredictable and sometime even un-manageable change.
This catharsis is driven by forces that cannot be controlled by any single, or even multiple set of drivers or elements.
During its departure, colonization often imposed arbitrary divisions to artificially create new nation-states. Sometimes, ideologies or strong individuals exert a decisive influence on how nations and states develop.
But seen in holistic terms, all the contributory factors that shape the development of nations are far too numerous, intricate and diverse to be subject to any laboratory-made, pre-set design.
Thus, even when, and if, the inherently diverse nature of media could be calibrated and co-ordinated to a particular single purpose, the variables and imponderables that govern the changes in nations cannot be subject to the exclusive influences of media.
Let us briefly survey the case of a single nation’s advent and the relevance of media to this process.
Poverty is the gap between resources and needs, and it is deepened not only by a lack of resources – most obviously income – but also by the cost of obtaining minimum needs.
Alleviating poverty requires improving income as well as reducing the costs of meeting basic needs. Below are just some of the impacts that living in poverty is having on people’s lives.
The numerous definitions of poverty and material deprivation cannot be entirely separated from housing circ*mstances; poor housing conditions increase the risk of severe ill-health or disability by up to 25% during childhood and early adulthood.
The decline in the social housing stock has been well documented – there are long waiting lists for a shrinking number of properties.
With the number of private renters in poverty doubling to millions, private renting is regarded by some as the “new home of poverty”.
There are growing concerns about the condition of properties within the private rented sector, as well as the lack of security of tenure and how this can impact on health and well-being.
For many people, prohibitive housing costs combined with poor standards of accommodation affects physical and mental health, keeping them trapped.
Unhealthy air, the WHO estimates that ambient air pollution accounts for 25% of all deaths and disease from lung cancer worldwide, as well as 17% from acute lower respiratory infection and 16% from stroke.
Recent research has highlighted the risk to the development of the fetus and found that children remain susceptible to harmful effects of air pollution on their neurodevelopment and long-term cognitive health.
Deprived communities tend to live in poorer quality environments and research suggests they experience higher air pollution levels and poor indoor air quality is associated with inadequate housing standards.
With most air pollution in growing towns and other major cities attributable to road traffic, it is worth noting that, with lower levels of car ownership, poorer communities are less likely to be contributing to the air pollution they suffer from.
The Food Foundation characterizes food insecurity as ranging from worrying about the ability to obtain food (mild food insecurity) to experiencing hunger (severe food insecurity).
A destitute individual as someone lacking two or more of the following things over the past month: shelter, food, heating, lighting, clothing and basic toiletries. It found that lack of food was the most common of these – with over 60% of the 1.5m destitute in a developing country not getting enough to eat.
Our relationship with food is about more than distribution and access, since it is not only a physiological requirement but one bound up with our practices and cultures.
So the lack of food has the potential to have a profound impact on our psychological well-being. Access is as much about quality, in terms of access to a healthy and culturally appropriate diet, as it is about quantity.
In recent years, there has been a series of changes to the benefits system including the “benefit cap”, the roll out of Universal Credit, and the increasingly punitive sanctions regime.
Reductions in benefits have obvious financial implications for many households. But there are also significant mental health implications, including increases in stress, anxiety and even suicide rates.
People in poverty are also more likely to experience insecure work – for example, zero-hours contracts. Some people on these contracts are pushed into this through changes in benefits and the “work first” approach that dominates the developing country’s employment support system.
But research shows that poor working conditions are also linked to significant health disparities.
