Development communication and journalism

The essentials

Development communication is the use of communication to promote social and economic development — for example, better health, nutrition, farming, education and gender equality. The term is associated with the Filipino scholar Nora Quebral, who described it as the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and its people from poverty to growth. It aims not only to inform but to change attitudes and behaviour, and it works best when people participate in identifying problems and solutions.

Journalism is the gathering, checking, writing and presenting of news and information through newspapers, magazines, radio, television and digital media. Development journalism reports on development issues, programmes and people's needs, rather than only on events and celebrities.

Key points

• Individual methods: home visits, farm visits, personal letters, phone calls — best for personal advice.
• Group methods: method demonstration (shows how to do something), result demonstration (shows the outcome of a practice), group discussions, meetings, workshops.
• Mass methods: radio, television, newspapers, posters, exhibitions, internet — reach many people quickly.
• Folk and traditional media: puppetry, street theatre, folk songs — culturally familiar and effective in villages.
• Community radio: run by and for a local community, in local language.
• Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), 1975–76, used satellite TV for education in Indian villages.
• News writing: answers the 5 Ws and 1 H (who, what, when, where, why, how); often follows the inverted pyramid, with the most important facts first.
• Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience: direct, purposeful experience at the base is most concrete; verbal symbols at the top are most abstract.

Exam tips

Match the method to the purpose: teaching a skill → method demonstration; quick awareness to many → mass media; personal problems → individual contact.

Common mistakes

Confusing method demonstration (how to do) with result demonstration (what results a practice gives).