Talking the talk: Navigating frameworks of development communication

Abstract

Journalism in Melanesia faces many challenges. Journalists strive for independence and objectivity while carefully navigating the needs and demands of communities, fragile states, and increasingly repressive governments. Personal safety is a concern in some places and there seems to be no abate to the growing encroachments on press freedom. There are also more insidious pressures. The influence of the global aid industry means that Melanesian journalists may find themselves under pressure to conform to dominant narratives of development in order to appease donors and training providers. This can result in journalism that paints a misleading picture of the way things are, instead showing donors and international interests what they want to see. This article offers a critical review of the approaches to development communication that may impact on the ways in which Melanesian journalists are able to work within this pervasive development discourse.

Communication Participatory in Community Empowerment Programs at the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea Border

“…The field of media, communication, and development is complex and the dominant approach in this field comes with a wide range of criticisms. The dominant communication approach to development, it also fails to capture the discussion around the role of development journalism in developing countries (Backhaus, 2020) Building community empowerment can be done through the application of participatory communication, not only the exchange of information and experiences between program managers and the community as well as the transformation of new knowledge that aims to overcome situations that need to be improved. The application of communication can support in optimizing the potential of the community, by providing voting rights through the application of a dialogical communication model in community development programs at the border, examining the role of communicators and communication media in community empowerment programs at the Papua-New Guinea border.…”

Communication, information and the media

“…While this may have had some benefits in terms of informing journalists about technical aspects of the industry, Pamba (2014, p. 2) argued that the industry's 'direct involvement in aspects of training of journalists may be viewed by some as undermining the independence of the media, raising issues of transparency and accountability'. Similarly, questions have been asked about whether donor aid programs subtly steer journalists to report favourably about the activities and agendas of aid agencies (Backhaus, 2020). While the role of the media as the fourth estate is commonly considered to be important in the PNG context, it is acknowledged that some commentators question whether this notion of the media's role clashes with traditional cultures and values (M' Balla-Ndi and Obijiofor, 2020, p. 78).…”