There are three major traditional roles performed by the mass media. They are to inform, educate, and entertain. In carrying out these roles, the mass media attain other ancillary functions such as persuading/influencing the society; socialising, and integrating the society.
Through the persuasion role of the mass media, the masses attune themselves to the programmes and policies of the government to make them a reality. It is one thing to articulate a policy and another thing to carry the masses along. As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the press take it upon themselves as a social responsibility to explain, interpret and urge action on the part of the masses. Thus, it is only when the press have created the awareness about the necessity and desirability of such governmental policies and programmes that the masses are convinced and persuaded to lend support to them. Persuasion takes the form of constant and consistent efforts to socialise and make people both receptive and responsive to the desirable policies of the state or any other responsible corporate authority.
No project presently demands the deployment of the ancillary roles of the press more than Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s “Aba Renewal Project” which aims at reinventing and giving, Aba, the “Japan of Africa” and indisputable pride of the Igbo man, a facelift.
The renewal project is manifesting in massive road reconstructions, which has generated excitement galore across the city; desilting of drainages;and infrastructural rehabilitation of government buildings and abandoned projects.
In line with the adminstration’s paradigm shift in information management in the state, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Godwin Adindu, has in different fora laid strong emphasis on “development communication”.
Media practitioners in the state are by this new approach expected to go beyong the surface of government’s policies and programmes to explain,where necessary ask questions, to ensure that the public’s support is moblised for such policies and programmes.
Like Anyanwu D.O posited in his book”Editorial: The Voice of the Media”, “the mass media of communication are not mere watchdogs of the society. They are rather active agents that manipulate the minds of men; influence their values and beliefs; shape their views and lifestyles; take them to places or hold them hostage. In other words, the mass media are both agenda setters and opinion moulders.” Media practioners,especially in Abia, have enormous roles to play in Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s Aba Renewal Project.
-Ukegbu is a journalist and public affairs commentator.
