Hints: Introduction, What is media? What is nation-building? Role of media in nation-building, Conclusion.
Introduction
The importance of media in today’s society is very significant. In a democratic society, the media is supposed to play certain functions. Media is called the fourth pillar of the state. So the media plays a very important role in nation-building.
What is media?
Media is the way by which people can know what is happening around them and their country and above all around the world. In today’s world, media is the strongest power. Everyone is trying to control This power. We can say media is the third person who makes the communication between two or more. In today’s world, there are two kinds of media. They are print media and electronic media.
Print media: Print media means those media by which a large number of people receive information from printed papers. Newspaper, Magazine, Articles, etc are the print media.
Electronic media: Electronic media or e-media is the way by which people get information more quickly and instantly. In today’s world, electronic media is very much active. Television, radio, the internet, etc. are electronic media.
What is nation-building?
Nation-building does not necessarily mean the independence or the sovereignty of a nation. In the true sense of the term, nation-building means those kinds of activities that help a nation to build up as a prosperous nation. It can be said that nation-building is the task of government. The media of a country plays a very important role in nation-building.
Role of media in nation-building
Human is always interested to know what is happening around them from the ancient time of the world civilization. He always wanted to get access to information. In today’s world, we can say it is a global village. The earth has become small and the people of the world so intimately cross-joined that all of us are deeply affected by events occurring in distant corners of the world. We can know any incident in just time. So in this new era, media plays a great role in nation-building. Media can make its role in all sectors and it is also doing so. To make a developed country media plays an efficient role from the grassroots level to the top-level from the education sector to family planning.
Newspapers provide a most dependable medium for the propagation of ideas and knowledge. In ancient times, when no newspaper, the propagation of any new idea was a problem of high magnitude. At that time there was no scope for making their views known even among neighboring people not to speak of the whole world as now. Nowadays, it is very easy to pick up the idea and views by the press. Now by the newspaper, we can share our thinking from top-level to bottom. Now the newspaper is saying what is happening in the world. So it helps us to make our decision for development. The utility or usefulness of newspapers is very great. We can know the economic situation of the country and the world. We can know the political condition of the world and our country. Newspaper informs us all kinds of news about the world and helps us to form opinions on them. It keeps us informed of the latest developments of home and abroad in the field of politics, science, literature, sports, and all. Newspaper brings us in close contact with the great thinkers and talents of the world. The common people can learn many things by reading newspapers. Newspaper contributes to the development of the country by linking between the government and the people. It molds public opinion. It publishes the policy of the government and ventilates the grievances of the common people. Today news-papers are making their role in all sectors. In the education sector, the contribution of the newspaper is very great and like these-economics, politics, agriculture, gender issues and in all sectors newspaper has its role.
Except for newspapers, there are also many magazines based on health, education, fashion, economics, and so on. These magazines also have a role in our country’s development. Radio is a wonderful gift of science. It can be said the inter-net of the poor. It can carry a sound to our ears from any part of the world. Radio is a career of all sorts of news and views. In our country, maximum people have the capacity to have a radio and they have. So by this media, we can make a conscious nation which is very important in nation-building. Television is a wonderful gift of modern science. It is a combination of sound and picture. Television enables us to see and hear things that are happening hundreds of miles away. It is the playground and theatrical stage of the world. Television is a very strong medium to build a nation. Television is now used to educate people and the students in particular. We can make a self-sufficient nation by showing programs on TV on education. health, medicine, economics, and all the sectors. Television is now playing the most important role in our nation-building.
Now it is the world of globalization. So, the satellite is very common in our country. By the cable lines, we are getting the chance to observe the world’s condition. Internet is the latest facility to get information. By this, we can collect any documents and any news in a short time. So, we can say that newspapers, Radio, Television, Satellite, and Internet are the media in our country. The role of media in nation-building in our country is very significant. We gained our independence in 1971. The media had a great role in achieving our independence. At that time our media made the people too much conscious and liable to the country. Now also the media is doing various things for our nation’s awareness.
Development issues have acquired considerable importance in news coverage in all the print media and electronic media from the past few years. With the free flow of information, it is possible to dig deep into different development issues from various perspectives. Poverty, literacy, health, environment are given coverage in the media. Poverty which is the most critical problem in our country is now looked upon in all seriousness in the media. Not only news but also views, columns, articles, short films, campaigns, etc. are now running on for poverty alleviation. The development of the nation is not possible without taking into consideration the disparity between the segments of society. The unbalanced development in urban and rural areas and the absence of popular participation in the development process were evident from the presentation of news and critical writing in the newspaper and other media. Environmental pollution and ecological imbalance which has received attention as major issues and have been discussed and debated and throughout the world are well recognized by our media. Non-government organizations are particularly sensitive to this issue. All these are adequately reflected in the media.
Economic reporting and Economics based programs have acquired maturity over the years. There are an English daily and a Bangla daily that deal mainly with economic news and different program are shown on TV based on economics. Our media pays considerable attention to economic issues at the macro and micro levels. The role of the private sector, the importance of enterprise and investment, growth rate, inflation, share market, and other conceptions are now widely known and this has been possible for our media. So, we can say that our newspaper, radio, and television have been playing important role in nation-building and we hope for a prosperous country and this has been possible for our media.
Conclusion
Through credibility of the media increased over the years after the inception of democracy at the beginning of the 1990s, the audience still has many more expectations about the role of the media. They felt that more could be done about the presentation of political events, social ills, crime, education, health medicine, economic problems, and so on. Media is the most powerful and efficient way of nation-building and our country’s development. Changing the perception of the people is a most difficult task and the media plays a pivotal role in the process. We have shown some success in primary education, family planning, etc. and these have happened because there is a great role of media. Now, we are in the 21st century and we hope for a better country and better world and media has to play a great role to make it true.