Mass communication and development: impact depends on strategies.

Development scholars are moving toward an emphasis on noneconomic factors (social values, social advancement, equality, individual freedom) and their interactions with labor, capital, and technology. People are now conceptualized as the agents of change, and they in turn must be convinced of the need for change. This new approach implies a need for a review of the role of mass communication in development. A central question is whether development makes possible mass communication development or do improved mass communication facilities--and the resulting increase in the flow of information--make possible economic and social development. Although there have undoubtedly been incidents in which self-serving politicians have used mass communication to oppress the masses, the mass media has the potential to be a powerful force in the education of the society, the sharing of consciousness, the creation of nationhood, and the promotion of socioeconomic development. Mass communication is, for example, vital in the development approach that accords importance to self-sufficiency at the village level. The mass media can be used in such cases to transmit information of a background nature to a group or community about their expressed needs and to disseminate innovations that may need these needs. In the final analysis, mass media's role in development depends on the media's messages reaching the target audiences. This underscores the importance of analyzing in advance who will be the recipients of a mass media campaign and encouraging community involvement in communications planning.