Development support communication approach to Devcom is for evolving effective communication strategy for development projects. Development support communication perspective on development sees development awareness, motivation for development and participation in development as a realistic approach leading to the development effort. The human and localised development approach to communication and credibility are the prerequisites because people in different development thresholds need different development communication handling for effective development. It can be effectively used in Journalism, mass communication, public relations, and advertising.
Development is a change or transformation of attitudes and beliefs and cultivates the ideas that lead to modernity. The key factor in this process of change is communication. Development is a type of social change in which new ideas are introduced into a social system. Communication is essential for this social change. The new paradigm of development does not envisage the role of communication as that of a magic multiplier of development, however, it is certainly envisaged to play a facilitative role in the process of development (VS, Gupta). Mass media and communication support is necessary for the success of development programmes. This success depends on the development strategies, development economy, development administration and development communication. India was among the first to use mass media sponsored planning to support development initiatives.
Development does involve an increasing level of physical, social, and psychological communication. Media and communication support is essential for the success of development programmes. Development of Mass media is in fact result of the development process itself. The great honeymoon of the development planners and workers with the mass media started when some of the findings of the American and European researchers were sought to be transplanted on Indian Soil. Emphasis on the need for a developed mass media as a precondition for modernisation of society led the development experts to demand the expansion of mass media systems. Wilbur Schramm as an advisor to the Government of India strengthened the perception that mass media be used as a magic multiplicity of information so that adequate information support was provided for leapfrogging in the field of socio-economic development. Daniel Lerner in his study “The passing of the traditional society” noted that there was a strong correlation between the indices of the mass media and socio-economic and political development of the nation. Communication through mass media according to him was both an index and an agent of modernisation in societies.
Development support communication serves to mobilize human resources, generate the need for development, raise the aspirations of people. It plays a vital role in the Development Communication related to population control, family welfare, health, education and environment.
Leave a Reply