The Media and Development: What's the Story?

"The transformation of the media continues apace. In its latest phase the top-down (even North-South) pre-existing order is being thoroughly shaken up. More people in more places can create, distribute, access, and apply knowledge in the form of media content - and, so armed, drive development. For talent-rich developing countries, there are new opportunities for redefining new media related development structures. At the same time the development and sub-set ICT4D [information and communication technology (ICT) for development] community has to reset its sights..."

This 40-page World Bank Working Paper is meant to assist in raising awareness, understanding, and visibility of the media in development. Because the media can be used and delivered in so many ways, there is no single means of analysing its contributions to development, author Gareth Locksley stresses. Thus, the paper presents a range of storylines with the common thread being the media's role in development. The paper also discusses older and newer trends in the relationship between the media and development, and how they might impact developing countries.

The media's development impact is presented using 5 closely intermingled influences:

1. Plurality and transparency - the contributions that a plural media environment makes to good governance, transparency, and the functioning of markets (economic and political) can be seen as the media's political economy role.
2. Behavioural - the media can inspire beneficial changes in the behaviours of individuals, groups, and organisations.
3. Infrastructure and platform - compelling content is essential for and the main driver of investment in new convergent broadband infrastructure and platforms, which hold the potential for transformational development.
4. Economic - the media provide many jobs, especially in smaller-size enterprises.
5. Trade - trade in media, mainly audio-visual products, is substantial, but asymmetric trade barriers restrain investments and limit opportunities for developing country exports, and so circumvent the media's potential contribution to development.

As the plurality and transparency storyline unfolds, it contributes to the economic, behavioural, infrastructure, and platform influences of the media on development - which in turn inject feedback into the media system. The remainder of Chapter 2 includes sections analysing each storyline and its impact on the development process.

One of the key messages of this paper is that the media continuously evolve and expand. Chapter 3 explores trends apparent in the media, all of which are experiencing the impact of digitalisation. To understand these trends, Locksley considers some underlying characteristics of the industrial economics of content production. The ongoing transitions from analog to digital, from voice to data, from narrowband to broadband, and from circuit-switched to packet-switched, along with the growing role of wireless technologies, have set in motion new trends. According to Locksley, the digitalisation of all content significantly enhances the fluidity of media content. As a result the boundaries of different content segments are becoming increasingly blurred.

Convergence occurs when multiple or bundled packages of services are provided to a market using shared infrastructure, Locksley explains. This entails offering at least 2 of the following services: fixed line, mobile, internet, and TV. New, nontraditional players from the navigation sector (such as Google) and content sector (such as News Corporation) are entering the market and playing by new rules. As a result, traditional models of regulation have been called into question. For Locksley, the key questions in a converged environment are: How and by which institution should these platforms and the content they carry be regulated? Is there any case for continuing to regulate according to the technology of a platform if all platforms deliver the same services, applications, and content? Should platforms that are near perfect substitutes for each other be regulated in the same way?

In the face of such convergence, many regulatory authorities are rethinking or struggling with their philosophies and approaches, Locksley observes. To that end, new business models have quickly developed - usually by nontraditional players - to commercialise bottom-up content contributions. The traditional top-down nature of content distribution is being challenged, largely because this combination is changing the nature of choice from "on offer" to "on demand," from "mass" to "individually tailored," and from "corporate created" to "user created." For Locksley, these new trends present disruptive challenges to existing players because they alter the relationships in the traditional value chain and redistribute power within it in developed and developing countries. "Volumes of user-created content often associated with social networking have exploded into major bottom-up and lateral trends." This is significant because user-created content can circumvent trade restrictions and quotas. In addition, new business models have developed that link content creators directly with customers, avoiding several components of the value chain as a new form of user-created content.

The trends Locksley describes are allowing more people on a global basis to participate in knowledge creation and sharing, circumventing traditional production and distribution channels. A spur to development will flow where this content is both relevant and actionable, he notes. "Younger people adopt and adapt new ICT more readily than do older generations, so youth-led trends should be expected in the media - and the developing world has plenty of young people.

Also, the trends set in motion by the transformation - of abundance, convergence, globalisation, fragmentation, consolidation, new business models, and user-created content - are also evident in the developing world. The preponderance of mobile phone networks and the growing importance of wireless have stimulated early adopter innovations in developing countries. These include increased offers of "single network, no roaming charges," short messaging system (SMS) alerts, the widespread use of video-enabled handsets to gather news, and rapidly expanding content production and distribution. Mobile banking, television, and magazines are already flourishing in some developing countries where they are ahead of some developed countries. The practice of "beeping" (call-me-back), of sharing handsets, and of using them for music storage are further evidence of innovative uses of mobile phones in the developing world. That is, Locksley stresses, it is quite possible that developing countries will assume leadership positions in "mobile content."

For Locksley, these trends offer opportunities for developing countries to project themselves onto the global media space unhindered by traditional models and restrictions. Falling costs and increased access via new distribution channels mean the Diaspora and homeland can exchange content. Developing countries still face serious challenges in connecting villages to the internet, though polices are being implemented to address this concern. Yet, because many developing countries are unencumbered by legacy assets, they have the opportunity to leapfrog to newly available, affordable technologies. Mobile and wireless networks will play a large role in this regard, according to Locksley. Providing specialised education and training for sustainable content production as well as establishing an appropriate investment climate and regulatory environment, including local intellectual property rights, could create the foundations for content clusters and creative cities in developing countries.