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INTERVENTIONS
THAT ARE NEEDED IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE
MEDIA TO THE CONSULTATION, FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION STAGES OF THE POLICY
CYCLE IN THE MALAWIAN CONTEXT
The media play a critical role in national development, but this
role has often suffered setbacks in the Malawian context due to the alienation
of the media in the consultation, formulation and implementation stages of the
policy cycle. An analysis of the situation reveals that this is because the
media are left out at the conception, or problem identification, necessitating
a paradigm shift that entails engaging the media from the conception, or
problem identification, to the implementation stages if the media are to play
an active role in the policy formulation and implementation stages so that
their contributions are incorporated in national development goals.
A policy is a decision implying impending or intended action
(Bauer and Gergen, 1968: 21). In analysing policies,
two aspects are generally considered the most significant, namely, process
(policy making) and content. According to Bauer and Gergen, the mass media are
among the external groups which influence the policy process at its various
stages. These stages include problem identification (articulation), policy recommendation
(aggregation), policy decision (adoption), policy implementation, policy
evaluation, and policy resolution or change (). Lambeth (1978) indicates that the functions
of the media in the policy process include anticipating problems in advance of
public officials, alerting the public to problems on the basis of official
warnings, informing the public of the
stakes the competing groups had in solving problems, keeping various groups and
the public abreast of competing proposals, contributing to the content of
policy, deciding the tempo of decision making, helping lawmakers decide how to
vote, alerting the public to how policies are administered, evaluating policy
effectiveness, and stimulating policy reviews (Lambeth,1978 :12).
However, while the policy makers acknowledge that the
mass media serve a number of functions within the context of government policy
making (Olengurumwa, n.d.), the media are often left
out of the conception, or problem identification, stage, as a recent policy development
in Malawi attest. The Democratic Progressive Party administration, through the
Malawi Communications Communication Authority has recently formulated a draft
Communications Act (Broadcasting/Content Services) Regulations 2015 without
engaging the media industry from the onset (Mpaka, 2015). According to Malawi News, the government is proposing
a slew of provisions on how public, private and community broadcasting should
operate. A clear indication that the media industry was not consulted from the onset
is raised by Media Institute of Southern Africa-Malawi Chapter chairperson,
Thom Khanje, who is quoted as saying thus: “This document has a huge bearing on
our democracy and government should be as transparent as possible with it. It
should ensure that all areas of concern are debated on thoroughly and
recommendations adopted.”
Therefore, it is apparent that the media are not involved in the
policy conception, or formulation, process necessitating the need for more
inclusiveness in the policy development process in Malawi. In this case,
inclusiveness in policy making entails that players in the industry should be
involved from the onset in the identification of a need, which, informally,
implies a probe on that which should be attended to or resolved when something
is missing, wrong or not working right, and action must be taken to deal with
the troubling situation (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 3). Sometimes the word need
is substituted with words such as problem, gap, deficiency, discrepancy, issue
or concern (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 12). According to Altschuld and Kumar, a
probe is done when a discrepancy is perceived—
activities are not taking place in the way we think they should. Formally, need
is the measurable gap between two conditions—“what is” (the current status or
state) and “what should be” (the desired status or state”. Therefore, decision
making occurs as a reaction to a problem or an opportunity (Robbins and
Langton, 2003: 408). They describe a problem as a discrepancy between some current
state of affairs and some desired state, requiring consideration of alternative
courses of action. The two conditions must be measured and the discrepancy
between them determined. Not doing so means that a need has not been directly
identified. Inherent in needs is the idea that players must go beyond
discrepancies to rectify factors causing needs (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 3).
Therefore, the media industry should be engaged in policy formation
interventions from the onset for it to contribute positively towards the policy
formulation and implementation process.
However, the
continued exclusion of the media at the issue or problem identification stage
runs counter to principles of democracy since countries that have embraced
egalitarianism— which entails that all citizens of a state should be accorded
equal political, social, economic, and civil rights and privileges (Kurian,
2002: 105) — need to prioritise inclusion in policy development, and Malawi is
no exception. Experience has shown that involvement of individuals conversant
with their areas of focus may contribute positively towards attaining goals due
to their cumulative knowledge, or literacy, in a particular context, in this
case media. Hence literate thinking is viewed as the ability to think and
reason like a literate person within a particular society, literally learning
as socially based experiences (Langer, 1991: 17). The media could, therefore,
contribute positively towards the attainment of policy goals once they see
themselves as part of the process. It is, therefore, acknowledged that “The
free press plays a critical role in the formation of sound public policy. The
press produces a forum in which policy ideas and initiatives are tested and
formed in the arena of public opinion” (Centre for Media Freedom and
Responsibility, 2015).
It
is only when the media are involved that they may not feel marginalised during
the policy implementation stage, especially after experience has shown that if
a decision maker faces a conflict between selecting a problem that is important
to an organisation and one that is important to the decision maker, self
interest tends to win out (Robbins and Langton, 2003: 411), implying that if
communities of interest, in this case the media, are not involved from the beginning,
or do not show interest from the start, they are more likely to lose out as
policy makers enforce decisions that work to their advantage. Again, it has
been proven that “groups tend to jump prematurely to solutions before
identifying and prioritising needs or delving into what underlies them”
(Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 4). But, according to Altschuld and Kumar, needs,
not solutions, have to be the concern, and groups must be kept on target,
thinking first about needs. Otherwise, they warn, poor or unfitting solutions
could be implemented at considerable cost of time, energy and fiscal resources.
Secondly, exclusion of the media in policy formulation may lead to failure to
address gaps, as it has been proven that it is possible for policy makers to mistake
mere investigations in one or two conditions with needs assessment (Altschuld
and Kumar, 2010: 4) especially when, in some instances, need is inferred or
sensed— “Tell us what you think is needed” (a solution approach) — instead of
“Help us to delineate discrepancies targeted for action”. Needs sensing is
cheaper, quicker, and easier to conduct, but at best it is only about implied
gaps. While of value, it falls short of what we see as a needs assessment
(Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 4). Thorough needs assessments are, therefore,
important because they have an impact on what organisations do and how they
change. Therefore, needs assessments must go beyond the technical aspects of
procedures, which, although important, are far from enough (Altschuld and Kumar,
2010: 8).
This
notwithstanding, some challenges abound in the policy making process because
the press does not show interest. For example, “the press rarely follows the
policy process to its conclusion. Rather, it leaves the issue at the doorstep
of public officials. By the time a political issue reaches the stages of policy
formulation and implementation, the press has moved on to another issue” (Burns, Peltason, Cronin, Magleby and O’brien, 2002: 238).
According to Burns et al, when
policies are being formulated and implemented, decision makers are at their
most impressionable, yet the press has little impact at this stage. Therefore,
lack of press attention to how policies are implemented explains in part why
citizens know less about how bureaucrats go about their business.
In
conclusion, the media can play a more defined and pronounced role in the
development and implementation of policies but, in the current set up, this is
not the case because the media are excluded from policy formulation process.
The media are, therefore, playing a limited role in the policy implementation
process, and their impact is minimal, though the situation can be reversed once
policy makers become more inclusive and the media take a keen interest in
policy issues.
REFERENCES
Altschuld,
J.W., and Kumar, D.D. (2010). Needs
Assessment: An Overview. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Bauer, R. A., and
Gergen, K. J. (Eds.). (1968). The study of policy formation. New York:
Free Press.
Burns,
J.M., Peltason, J.W., Cronin, T.E., Magleby, D.B., and O’brien, D.M. (2002). Government by The People: Basic Version.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
).
Functions of the mass media in the policy process. Canadian Journal of
Communication, 16(1). Retrieved from http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/589/495.
Kurian,
G. (2002). Dictionary of World Politics.
Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Lambeth, E. B. (1978).
Perceived influence of the press on energy policy making. Journalism
Quarterly, 55(1), 11-18, 72. Quoted in ). Functions of the mass media in the policy process. Canadian
Journal of Communication.
Langer,
J.A. (1991). Literacy and schooling: A sociocognitive approach. In E. H.
Hiebert (Ed.). Literacy for a Diverse Society: Perspectives, Practices, and
Policies (pp. 17). New York: Teachers College Press.
Media and public
policy: putting policy in the news agenda. (n.d.). Centre for Media Freedom and
Responsibility. Retrieved from
http://www.cmfr-phil.org/flagship-programs/other-programs/special-programs/media-and-public-policy/Media and Public Policy on July 14, 2015.
Mpaka, C. (2015, July
11-17). DPP plans crackdown on electronic media. Malawi News, pp.1, 3.
Olengurumwa, O.
(u.d.). The role of the media in public policy. Retrieved from
http://www.nationalbook.org/ on July 14, 2015.
Robbins,
S.P., and Langton, N. (2003). Organisational Behaviour: Concepts,
Controversies, Application. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
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