Development Journalism: What, Why and Which Way?

In a developing country, the word "development" first brings to mind food, housing, health, education and agriculture; in the West it means technology, modernity, jobs and good pay. In Bangladesh, Shykh Seraj writes, true development means the development of people and their living standards, and the media play a vast role in speeding it.

Development journalism began in Asia in the late 1960s, when communication for development won political and academic backing in newly independent states, and spread to Africa and Latin America. In Bangladesh it is often narrowed to agricultural journalism, which Seraj disputes.

Quoting the late journalist A B M Musa, he recalls that an African head of UNESCO criticised Western papers for reporting only "death and disaster" from poor countries and called for development journalism. It helped spread modern machinery, fertiliser and improved seed to farmers, and several countries became self-sufficient in food. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines developed high-yielding rice, and Mexican wheat reached India and Pakistan. Seraj recalls campaigning on modern technology, fertiliser, improved seed and irrigation on BTV's Mati O Manush in the 1980s.

Development also includes infrastructure: without a bridge or road, a farmer's harvest can go to waste. Crop insurance must be raised again and again as climate change becomes a global issue. The development journalist must be a socially aware entrepreneur, spotting gaps in every layer of society and helping policy respond, and should tell stories of self-employment that inspire new entrepreneurs.

When he began agricultural programmes on BTV in the 1980s, friends asked what future such journalism had. He found that even Oklahoma University's journalism department did not know what development journalism was. Now, with global warming threatening almost all farm production and climate refugees rising, journalists must spread climate-adaptive technology. This journalism, along with extension services and scientists, has helped secure food and nutrition for Bangladesh; the next generation must think a step ahead.

Source: Shykh Seraj. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.