Developing countries need media to grow

An adage says that no one can excel in isolation and a tree cannot make a forest.  Developing countries need media presence to grow in the sense that the media is a channel that the government usually depends upon to disseminate information to the general public.

Apparently, the government may have good intentions; it may have policies that will be beneficial to the general public.  But the fact is that the media cannot be neglected if such policies are to have the desired impact.

In developed nations, media workers play significant roles as the vanguard for disseminating the good intentions of the government to those who reside in the remotes communities. Any information they get from the media workers will give them a sense of belonging.

Let me cite an example from a video clip of three old women on Facebook in a remote part of this country.  A media worker had an interaction with them in the quest to know whether they had heard about Covid-19 in their community.

They had responded simultaneously by saying: “What do they call coronavirus?”  They pronounced the word in a rather funny way and concluded that if they discovered such a virus in their community, they would kill and eat it. They eventually said that what they needed was food to eat and that they were less concerned about Covid-19.

In this narrative, we can vividly see the vital role of journalists in national growth.  The fact is that the government cannot be everywhere to disseminate information to the masses: it is the duty of the media to do so.

As a matter of fact, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has its correspondents across the nations of the world and that is why residents of the United Kingdom (UK) know more about what is happening in other countries than the citizens of those countries.

In this regard, professional journalists should be given all the support they need in disseminating necessary information to the masses.  The truth of the matter is that there is a limitation to which the personal aides of politicians can go when it comes to dissemination of important information to the masses.

Many developed nations are growing on a daily basis economically and technologically because of the immense contributions of the media.

The skyrocketing price of cement is well known to residents of the United States.  The fact is that such awareness will be of advantage to the growth of their country economy. Countries could easily run into colossal losses due to the lack of information.

Media workers are folding their arms these days because of incessant brutalization. An adage says that if you cannot swing your arms, it is better to place them on the head.

For developing nations not to lag behind in all their endeavours, the media should be given ample opportunity to work with the government for greater achievement in all sectors.

Rev. Oladimeji Michael Olalekan,

Ibadan.

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