Development Reporting

Development refers to the systematic use of scientific or technical knowledge to meet specific objectives or requirements. It is also defined as the process of economic and social transformation that is based on complex cultural and environmental factors and their interactions. Whereas reporting is simply the gathering of news. It involves discovering all relevant facts from various sources, selecting and presenting the important facts and weaving a complete story. Therefore, development reporting is the reporting of development related issues.

Development reporting is one of the ways to handle development activities through communication. Development, by itself, is a broad concept. On the one hand, it's an integral , value loaded cultural process; on the other, it encompasses the natural environment, social relations, education, production, consumption, well-being and humanity. Hence, it refers to the transition from an agrarian to industrial society, and now to an information society.

At a journalistic technique of handling development communication, development reporting is constituted by the nature of its content. The content may be related to both rural as well as urban society, but they should address the issues of the mass. The message of development reporting should be need-based, and it should appeal to the audience on education, awareness and development related issues. This reporting supports the dynamic process of bringing development to the people for whom it is pictured.

Concept of Development reporting

The purpose of development reporting is to create a sense of involvement, to spread the realization that the future comes out of present efforts, that development can be nobody's gift, least of all of the aid given by affluent countries, but is the result of one's own labor.

Development reporting must concern itself with the people. It must show them how to improve their bargaining power with the society. It must make them realize that their future is in their hands. It must describe the process of backbone building.

An important aspect of development reporting is success stories of people who have adopted new technologies, tries new methods, and benefitted themselves and helped society.

Development reporting, to be effective, requires considerable investigative and research skill on the part of the journalist, a part from firm group trends in economic thought, planning, and development.

                              Adapted from A Manual for News Agency Reporting                                                             Indian Institute of Mass Communication

History

Development reporting is relatively a new concept that has emerged in post colonial era after world war second when a number of countries became independent. In Nepal, it emerged actively after the Muluki Ain of 2018 B.S. Bharat Dutta Koirala is credited with introducing reporting on development of rural Nepal.

Features

Development reporting , by its very nature, is devoid of the kind of sensational interest that an eruption or a calamity or a political confrontation produces. It does not carry the stamp of immediacy that 'events' do. The events certainly have their place in news, but the concept of news should not be restricted to these events. Development reporting has not to include the traditional concept of " bad news is good news".

Development reporting further has the following features:

v In-depth research of the development process.

v  Honest collection, intelligent processing and interesting presentation and interpretation on development interest information.

v  Reporting on process instead of event.

v  5 W & H( Who, What, Where, When, Why, How) questions answered especially focusing on why and how.

v  No fixed deadline.

v  Address the issues to the mass.

v Since development is a process, follow up is prominent. The journalist may have to visit a subject repeatedly.

v  Field reporting is a must.

v Concerns for the whole range of local economic and social change, human dignity, security, politics, urbanization, agriculture, cottage industry, justice and equity, social empowerment, etc.

Reporting rural development for instance, has not received the necessary priority and importance in the media that it should have in developing countries. It is not as pervasive as reporting politics, conflicts, foreign affairs and defense security.

Development reporting includes information dissemination, social awareness on development activities, media advocacy for social mobilization, and participatory communication behavior. It represents one aspect of development journalism, which is new genre of modern journalism. However, development reporting has been criticized in various occasions since it has been used for hiding unsuccessful efforts, weaknesses, irregularities, and fraudulent activities. Similarly, it has been facing some allegations of being supportive to the government by highlighting minor development activities.

Objectives

Basically, there are the following objectives of development journalism. They are:

·        To inform the people

·        To explain the issues

·        To promote to do the same or more advance

·        To encourage for development To aware of the development.

Importance

Development reporting is very useful due to the following reasons:

1.     It prioritizes development related activities in news reporting;

2.     It raises awareness on various development issues; it keeps local people conscious on the importance of environment;

3.  It encourages local people to participate in development related works; by this approach, development activities can be sustainable;

4.     It suggests local people to preserve the positive aspects of cultures removing negative practices;

5.     It identifies causes and solutions of various natural calamities such as landslide, floods, draughts, etc;

6.     It illuminates various problems of village areas and motivates stakeholders for finding solutions; problems such as poverty, illiteracy, non-development, environment degradation, etc;

7.     It makes the authority alert by reporting about the huge development projects and their impact on society or surrounding environment.

Tips for Development reporting

Here are some tips for development reporting:

a)     Understand the proper concept of development and various development issues;

b)    Collect enough information about the development stakeholders and cultivate, update and maintain relationship as reliable news source;

c)     gain adequate training or be involved in capacity building programmes; so that you can present development issues in attractive format and style;

d)    Identify news angle from the point of view of grass- root or the general public;

e)     Help develop strong media policy and cultivate careful attitude of media organization towards development issue coverage.

Development reporting, to be effective requires considerable investigative and research skill on the part of the journalist, apart from firm grasp of trends in economic thought, planning and development. The very purpose of development reporting is to improve the quality of life both of the individual and of society.

Development reporting is primarily socio-economic reporting giving the why, when, which, what and how of deep structural change in our society. It does not involve events but socio-economic processes that are much more complex than an assassination or a coup.

Criticisms

Generally, development reporting are criticized due to the following reasons:

·        There are specific technologies, which are not easy to understand.

·       Academicians and researcher don't believe on journalists. They think journalists do not report properly.

· Sometimes it has been used for hiding unsuccessful efforts, weakness, irregularities, and fraudulent activities.

·    It has also been facing allegations of being supportive to the government by highlighting minor development activities.

Conclusion

Development reporting is therefore very useful because it attempts to document the conditions within a country so that the larger world can understand them. Journalists are encouraged to travel to remote areas, interact with the citizens of the country, and report back. It also looks at proposed government projects to improve conditions in the country, and analyzes whether or not they will be effective.  Ultimately, the journalist  may come up with proposed solutions and actions in the piece, suggesting ways in which they might be implemented. Often, this form of journalism encourages a cooperative effort between citizens of the nation and the outside world.

Reference

Mass Communication and Journalism by B.B. Acharya

Communication, Media and Journalism : An Integrated Study by Dr. Nirmala Mani Adhikary