FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Media Research Apathy Should Go Away

By Chun Bahadur Gurung

IPrinted news-items of the newspaper and electronic message of broadcasting media do not supply food to the hungry, clothes to the naked and a cure to the sick. But all of them share information on food; clothing, shelter and most importantly they have super power to make concerned authorities respond. A UNESCO study found that indicators of national development such as per capita income, literacy, industrialisation and others are correlated with a well-developed media infrastructure. Therefore, development of the mass media is closely related with development process of the country.

Obvious

It is obvious that media industry in Nepal is growing up very fast after reinstatement of democracy. But are we in a position to answer a few questions relating to development and/or deterioration caused by mass media? Do we have pro-poor media system? Can we answer which model of media system can be prescribed to solve conflict, eradicating poverty and addressing issues relating to nationalities and the poor? Is it the formula ‘man-bite-dog techniques’ we need to adopt while writing and editing the news-items? Have we ever studied the effects of a bunch of dead bodies published, aired and broadcast in the media? Aren’t we media professionals, responsible to solve the present crisis of the country? Unfortunately, neither have we assessed nor appraised media performance and its’ impact to serve the society better.Today, the audience and media critic, have been raising questions to the media practitioners about journalism practice we have been employing. Is journalism really only a ‘mission to report the reality’? Don’t we pre-envisage impact after publication of news items, particularly sensational photos, bunch of dead bodies and others? These are a few but very important questions that require proper answers.

The government particularly, the Ministry of Information and Communication must have a clear vision and will to act to how the mass media could be employed in the development process in the country. Further, the political instability has also been fueling the governments’ apathy towards this.
But how will all these questions be solved? The answer is research in mass communication and importantly in the mass media so that media researchers can have a diagnosis-chart and will be able to prescribe the correct curative therapy. What we have been practicing is healing patients without having proper diagnosis. Consequently, we have failed to achieve the set objectives. In the media sphere, the research is one of the very least prioritised subjects. Very few institutions like Media Service International have been initiating media research as requested by some other organisations.
There is very high potentiality to employ mass media in the development process of the country. But the media are suffering from the disease that is yet to be diagnosed. Additionally, most of the strong aspects of the mass media are yet to be identified. It seems the government has failed to understand media research as a movement, a voyage of discovery.

Very few media from private sector have been concentrating their research endeavor only on sales, circulation and content analysis that relates to short-term profitability. The media houses which have already reached a break-even point, must pay attention towards media research.

We must not forget that in 1960s newspapers and magazines were competing with television as well as radio for audience attention and advertiser investment. This situation greatly spurred the growth of private sector research. The Bureau of Advertising of the American Newspaper Publishers Association (subsequently called the Newspaper Advertising Bureau) began to conduct media research on all aspects of the press and its’ audience.

Likewise, we have also seen the practice employed by the developed countries. In 1970 an institution called News Research Center reported research results to editors after completing their research projects. In 1976 the Newspaper Readership Project was instituted to study the problems of declining circulation and sagging readership that found most editors had accepted research as a necessary tool of the trade. But have we in Nepal ever thought to do so?

Most newspapers with a circulation of at least 1,00,000 now have their own in-house research department in the US and other countries. The expansion of group owned newspapers, about 75 per cent of American daily newspapers in 1994, has also increased the trend toward research because many small papers can call upon their corporate research staffs for aid. Even what we see is, some individually owned newspapers also have added media researcher to their staff. The Vancouver, Washington, Columbia (circulation 48000) for instance, had hired research managers as did the Rochester, Post Bulletin (circulation 39000). Today experts estimate that the newspaper industry spent about $30-$40 million on research in 1992, that is a substantial increase since 1990.
PowerTo sum up, unquestionably, media has the power and we all must employ its strength in the development process of the country. There aren a number of aspects of mass media to identify and utilise. But we have not yet understood as to how it could be done. If the communication policy does not address and recognise this feature of mass media, then the private sector must act.

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