Transformative media reporting on economic issues
Student name: Mr Adil Peter Darama
Guide: Dr Papiya Guha Mazumdar
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: UNDP South Sudan Country Office
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Frederick Mugisha
Abstract: This study is work in progress to review articles which are reported by the Media Practitioners. The Study identified all economic articles which are Transformative by considering whether they are Positive articles or negative articles that are reported by Journalists from the Print Media and Electronic Media in South Sudan. Due to prolong conflicts and wars in the Country Media practitioners are seen to be silent on reporting positive development narratives hence, most of them concentrate on politics rather than other positive development that could transform people’s lives.
This study was to help in boosting the ways in which the Media practitioners report articles that could help in shifting the development conversation towards a positive development narrative which in turn will help in shaping to sustainable development in the Country.
The methods used for the study are quantitative we analyze the primary data got from the weekly economic media digest. The criteria were first to define the transformational articles using the framework which was adapted from UNDP supporting transformational change report (2011). The primary data are collected by using criteria like negative transformative articles, each media articles was assigned a score from 1-5 and were rated by three different people as transformational articles or potential transformative article or neutral articles.
The scope of the study is that it only focused in Juba on the articles from Print media and Electronic media because there are no Media Houses at State level. There are both English and Arabic, however, I only dealt with English media houses articles.
The findings show that most of the media Houses in South Sudan engaged mostly in reporting no transformative article, the articles that do not have the positive impact on people’s lives. It is also noted that few International Media house is the ones that report on positive development narratives.
Key words: Transformative, reporting, Economic, issues, Media.
