Information is like a drug that satisfies the curiosity of humans, a need an organisation of communicators called mass media has taken upon themselves as a social responsibility to ensure the members of the public stay fed by disseminating information of prominence to heterogeneous audience. We never truly understand the power of Information, its ability to manipulate our perspective of a particular subject, restructuring our opinion to fall in line with agenda sets by the media. As mankind grew in knowledge and wisdom we began to see for ourselves the roles information plays. The contemporary media has always been at the centre of dissemination of information and controling it narrative, like a captain on a ship, steering the wheel as they see fit.
In Nigeria for instance, based on different kind of event that has occurred over the years, it has brought a new actor into the business of dissemination of information, the social media. Compared to the contemporary media whose primary aim is to gatekeep Information, social media has no such boundaries. The greatest element of NEWS is credibility, as long as people believe it to be true no one would doubt its narrative but times have changed we have all seen how disinformation or dissemination of partial truth has been used by the elite as an instrument of creating salience for information of their choosing or matters that would be beneficial to their political career.
Now when we listen to NEWS on radio, television or read it on newspaper, our first instinct isn't to believe the information but to dissect its credibility by confirming it from other sources which is a shame to the almighty mass media. The thirst for information is no longer about getting access to information that matters but to verify the authenticity, I mean what is the point of listening to NEWS only to find out that it is just a partial truth of really what happened? there is always a story behind a story but what if the mass media purposely removed some information? The thought of being fooled is enough to create disinterest for information disseminated by contemporary media.
To some extent, I'm quite aware of the importance of gatekeeping of information to remove conflicting information from a story but we are currently in an era when the mass media is not really focused on their social responsibility has the fourth arm of government, instead they have become tool to the highest bidders. There were days when I tune to a TV channel to listen to news just to ensure I stay informed but gradually I realised after watching or reading news all I feel is anger. I ask myself questions like why is this happening? It is even more disheartening that the media feels more comfortable disseminating information about disasters in the country.
How often do I tune in to watch news? It is kind of complicated, I used to watch news occasionally and sometimes listen to radio with my dad but now that I find myself in a new settlement due to NYSC service I don't really have such privilege. This community lacks electricity which makes it a lot difficult to power electronic devices which kind of narrow down my choices to using my smartphone to access information and sadly due to my disinterest in information disseminated by the mass media I barely try to access any form of news, or else an headline that grabs my interest pops up on my tab.
Which kind of feels like I have isolated myself from the world. I wouldn't beat myself up about it, in a world where disinformation reigns supreme, I'm probably doing myself a favour. But then there are times I'm in need of a particular information probably for research purpose or in writing an article, how do I go about getting the right facts? This has become a lot easier thanks to multiplicity of media channels, I don't have to depend on one source for information. I browse through different channels of information till I find the one that is absent of propaganda and disinformation.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "News on the hour" in hive learners community.
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