Media and Mass Mobilisation

"MEDIA AND MASS MOBILIZATION"

BY

A CORPS MEMBER,

AKINWUMI OLADIPUPO

AT

ADAMAWA STATE POLYTHENIC, YOLA

ON

16TH SEPTEMBER, 2010.

INTRODUCTION
The role of the media in shaping public perceptions and opinion about significant political and social issues cannot be ignored in today`s modern society. Hence, this paper is intended to enlighten the participants, especially undergraduates, journalists and other media operators in Adamawa State and beyond on the important role of the media and how best it can be used to mobilize people towards national development.
If we must properly handle or do justice to this paper in a way that would ensure proper understanding, the key words that make up the topic must first be examined.

WHAT IS MEDIA?
The word media is the plural of medium. The word “medium” itself is Latin in origin and means path, way or means. The word was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nation wide radio, networks, mass- circulation, newspapers and magazines.
Mass communication is a process by which a message is disseminated simultaneously to a large, heterogeneous and widely dispersed audience. This is made possible by technology. It was for this reason that Bittner (1977), asserts “for mass communication to exist, we need an intermediate transmitter of information, a medium. This means that mass communication requires a mass medium.
McQuil (1969), also defines the term mass media “as the entire system within which messages are produced, selected, transmitted, received and responded to”. It can also be seen as those means of communication that reach and influence large number of people especially newspaper, popular magazine, radio and television. Mass media go along with information and communication technology in this day so as to mold a new fangled way of life of the majority living in the global generation
Today, media are considered as the fourth estate of the society. It is the fourth branch of the government, the voice and weapon of the people and society as a whole.

WHAT IS MOBILIZATION?
Mobilization is simply refers to as the act of convincing and organizing people to support a course or project. To mobilize people at any level could require persuasive effort with good communication strategies geared towards appealing to them in a convincing manner to adopt a particular pattern in an approaching an issues. It is this strategy that is adopted in getting people involved in a project or programme by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and attitude required for participation. It increases their participation in any social change issue. Mobilization is also aimed at mustering a national support for a successful programme (Ngiranda, 1995) cited in Ucheanya, 2003. It involves the creation of awareness or enlightenment of the target public on the issues they are to participate in actualizing. Be it development projects, poverty reduction efforts or policies, political programmes, social change activities of any sort. Mobilization is very relevant in winning the support and participation of people for such programmes. No doubt, the mass media are very effective in this respect. But the fact that a good number of Nigerians still dwell in the rural areas if taken into cognizance, makes radio the most valuable medium for mobilizing the masses for any government project or campaign.
Despite the laudable nature of any project, policy or programme, there is need for people especially those the programme or the project is meant for to be mobilized, to support and participate in ensuring its successful implementation. From the foregoing analysis, media and mass mobilization could now be operationally defined as all efforts tailored towards using media of communication at reaching,enlightening,convincing and motivating ordinary people in a society (those not involved in decision making ) to support and participate in achieving societal goals that affect them

RELEVANCE OF MEDIA IN THE SOCIETY
In this dynamic and challenging society of today, the role of Nigerian media is too many to mention. The press has performed enormous and crucial roles for meaningful rural and national development. The media serve as a pivot upon which socio economic, political and cultural activities resolve. It is on this basis that many successive governments in Nigeria, be it Military or Civilian depended largely on the support of the media in propagating their policies and programmes to the people especially in the rural areas where more than 70% of the population live. The establishment of newspapers raises a potential media literacy issue. The media literate person has an obligation to be aware of the impact the press has on individuals and the society. The relevance of press in a democratic setting, Thomas Jefferson in his 1787 letter quoted in Baran (1999) writes “Where it is left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspaper{s} without government I should not hesitate to prefer the later”. In corroboration of this view, Galadima Danladi et al (2001: 62) say “The development of Nigerian politics is intertwined with that of the press”. This is so because the nationalists used the press as a tool for their struggle for independence and this explains why the media is a very strong instrument in the hands of both government and the governed. Therefore, media operators deserve to be treated with care and caution. The media is today accorded the fourth position in the fourth estate of the realm. The press enhances not only the smooth operation and interaction between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary in the service of the people, but also prevents any oppression of the people by these arms of government.
Importantly, the history of the media in many societies shows that journalists have always been in the forefront of the struggle for freedom. In this regard the media remain an indispensable and veritable tool in achieving meaningful national development. It is a means of mobilizing masses to actively participate in government programmes and policies that can bring about national integration and unity. It will be imperative at this point to now look at how to use the media to mobilize a target audience.

HOW CAN MEDIA BE USED TO MOBILIZED A TARGET AUDIENCE?
In an attempt to provide an answer to this question on how to use the media to mobilize a target audience, agenda setting theory of mass media which some scholars describe as a function theory or hypothesis cannot be ignored completely. The agenda setting by the media can be traced to Walter Lippman (1922). He suggested that the media were responsible for the “pictures in our heads”. Forty years later, Cohen (1963) further fine-tunes the idea when he argued that the media may not always be successful in telling people what to think about.
Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media, the ability to tell us that issues are important those issues or individuals that the media chooses to publicize ultimately become the issue to which an individual think and talk about. According to the theory those topics, issues and individuals we think becomes important because of the media attention they receive. For instance, the media choose to highlight a particular event such as the mobilization of grassroots participation towards the forthcoming voter’s registration exercise, it then becomes an important issue or mobilization of grassroots participation for poverty alleviation programme then it becomes an important issue. This can be done by the media through news presentation, gingle, drama, propaganda, documentary, sport competition, feature articles and others both in electronic and print media. As an agent of change the media have fought so many battles and won, especially in Nigeria and African countries in general. The Independence of Nigeria was fought on the pages of newspaper by the nationalists, the third term agenda of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was also frustrated by the Nigerian media. The press played a prominent role in returning from military rule in 1999 to the present democratic system of government in Nigeria.
Therefore, the media have made a great impact in bringing about positive change in the society and also made great influence on its target public in changing their mindset and attitude towards a particular state or national contemporary issue.

MEDIA CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA
It must be observed that despite the numerous successes recorded by the Nigerian media over the years, some challenges are still militating against Nigerian media which must be addressed by the government and all the stakeholders in the media profession. It is unfortunate to note that the relationship between government and the press has always resulted in harassment of Journalists. This is due to considerable influence they have on public opinion. Sometimes, to the detriment of government which has resulted in the prosecution of many Journalists. It is sad to note that many Journalists have been charged with criminal label and also brutally killed in the course of discharging their duties, starting with Dele Giwa of the NewsWatch who was brutally killed via letter bomb in 1986, the list includes, Bagauda Katho of the news, the trio of Godwin Agbroko, Famakinwa Samuel and Abayomi Ogundeji of Thisday, Bayo Olu of the Guardian and most recently, Edo Sule Ugbagwu of the Nation.
It is unacceptable that 24 years after the killing of Dele Giwa, the various securities agencies in the country are yet to find any clue to the motive behind the gruesome murder. The same fate has befallen other victims. The killing of Journalists could be seen as a calculated or deliberate attempt to silence others in the profession. It is callous and cowardly to target unarmed civilians particularly those who are rendering valuable services to humanity.
Another challenge faced by Nigerian media is the poor remuneration for media workers in the country; both private and public media establishments are guilty of this. It has drastically encouraged financial inducement, struggling for brown envelopes and unethical practices among Journalists.
Quacks Journalist in the media profession is another serious problem facing by Nigerian media. Those who are not qualified to practice as Journalists now parade themselves as Journalists. However, there are still lots of challenges and hazards in the “pen” profession but the ones explained are most crucial and critical and need serious attention by the government, operators and all the stakeholders in the media profession. But it must be noted that despite these challenges, Nigerian media remains one of the best in Africa and in the world in general.

RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to make Journalism one of the best professions in Nigeria, I wish to suggest the following recommendations: * That both private and public media operators in the state should make the training and retraining of their workers utmost priority in order to increase their scope of knowledge and how best to make use of the media to mobilize people to participate in government programmes and policies in such a way that will bring about positive change in the society.

* Journalism is a noble Profession and its practitioners must be given adequate protection because Journalists are partners of governments in the sense that they are the ones who inform the public about the activities and programmes of the government. They are also the voice of the voiceless among the populace, therefore all the securities agencies in the country should ensure that its practioners deserve adequate protection.

* The employers of Journalists in both the public and private sectors, print and electronic should ensure that Journalists are well remunerated like their colleagues in other profession such as medical and engineering. This is believed to address the issues of unethical practices and professionalism in the country.

* Communication or change agent involved in mobilizing the populace for government programmes and projects should appreciate the value of media in the success of their campaigns.

* Journalists should have the deep knowledge of how to apply the modern mass media in their campaigns. They should also know the existing traditional media in their targets areas and learn how to effectively apply them in communicating with the people.

CONCLUSION
The role of the media in grassroot mobilization is very strategic. It has potent ability and capacity to reach, manipulate, sensitize and mobilize people for effective participation in development goals of any society. The media can also be used for political, social transformation, educational or public enlightenment campaign at both the grassroot and national level that will bring about positive change in the society. Thanks for listening.
God bless you all.