Development reporting refers to reporting on development-related issues, such as India successfully testing a new missile, or lack of development (underdevelopment). Effective development reporting knows the target audience, motivates the public, uses appropriate language, and immediately covers events. Early experiments in development communication in India included the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment in 1976, which broadcast educational programs to rural villages, and the Kheda Communication Project, which set up a local TV station to focus on social change and rural development. These experiments demonstrated the potential of using technology like satellite TV to extend education to rural communities.

1. REPORTING DEVELOPMENT
IN JOURNALISM
VINEETH NARAYAN V

2. WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT REPORTING?
 Development reporting refers to reporting of
development related issues.

3. WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT REPORTING?
 For example :
‘INDIA SUCESSFULLY TESTS AGNI-5 MISSILE’
This news is about a major development achieved
by India in the field of defense.

4. WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT REPORTING?
But sometimes development reporting refers not just
to reporting development, but also the lack of it,
i.e., underdevelopment.

5. HOW DEVELOPMENT REPORTING WORKS?
 Being aware of the developments in a society is not
merely enough. The goals of development
communication will be served adequately only when
these happenings are reported in the media. This
will make innumerable number of people come to
know about them. At this moment you should
remember that media is a magic multiplier or force
multiplier which multiplies all our efforts – whether
negative or positive alike.

6. REPORTING DEVELOPMENT
 Know the target audience
 News should be framed in a way that the public is
motivated
 Select appropriate language for reporting
 Immediate coverage of the event
 In this regard, the pioneer voluntary organization
Press Institute of India (PII) based at Chennai
(Formerly at Delhi) has been regularly publishing one
journal titled Grassroots for quite a long time now.
This journal is promoting news items from the field of
development which are deemed capable of
encouraging other people also to think in similar
ways.

7. HOW DEVELOPMENT REPORTING WORKS?
 A few years back a group of marginal ginger
framers were united to form a ‘cooperative
marketing agency’ in a district of Assam to bypass
the exploitations of the middlemen in the buying
and selling process of ginger in the actual market.
This scheme was later immensely benefited for the
farmers. They were also able to improve their living
standard from those monetary gains and the
amount of ‘confidence’ of being able to achieve
something really positive.
CASE STUDY 1

8. HOW DEVELOPMENT REPORTING WORKS?
 A few years back there was a news item in the
media that a village panchayat in Kerala had
suspended the licence of Coco Cola Multinational
Soft Drink Company. When the company’s daily
consumption of water resources was much more than
it was actually allowed to consume or use, wells
started drying up. Within months village fell in short
of water. Villagers protested against the company
and the company was forced to shut down in March
2004.
CASE STUDY 2

9.  This was a major achievement of the village or rural
populace of that area against a big multinational
company which should be quite encouraging for
anyone else fighting such a problem or issue at any
place of the country. This is developmental news
and such news items should be focused more than
anything else

10. EARLY INDIAN EXPERIMENTS IN
DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
 Conducted by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) with the
support of the US Application Technology Satellite (ATS – 6)
 Described as the ‘biggest socio-technological experiment in the
world’
 Specially-prepared programme contents were broadcast to several
hundreds of villages in six states – Rajasthan, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
 Several hundred TV sets were installed in public places of the
villages so that all the residents had an opportunity to watch them
whenever they were broadcast.
 The programmes included a variety of educational and instructional
themes ranging from children’s programmes, teachers’ training,
agricultural contents etc. which were aimed at benefiting the rural
and underprivileged community
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) - 1976

11. EARLY INDIAN EXPERIMENTS IN
DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Result of the Experiment
 Revealed an enormous potential for utilizing satellite
technology for extending the benefits of modern day
research findings into the life of the common masses at
the grassroots level.
 Apart from any other finding, this project’s
implementation also demonstrated that the government
was keen on facilitating meaningful information and
educational instruction to the people at the lower strata
of the society. To do this, even highly costly technology
were to be used by all means.
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) - 1976

12. EARLY INDIAN EXPERIMENTS IN
DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
 Aimed at experimenting with the idea of decentralization of mass
media.
 TV transmitter was set up in a village in the Kheda district of
Gujarat which was linked to the studio complex at Ahmedabad
 Programmes were focussed essentially on social change and rural
development
 Programmes were pre-viewed by a peer group formed specially for
the purpose. Only after the programme contents were cleared by
this group they were broadcast
 A lot of emphasis was put upon conducting detailed research prior
to production of the programmes. These included – researching into
audience profile, needs assessment of the target audiences, script
writing, programme testing,
Kheda Communication Project (KCP)

13. EARLY INDIAN EXPERIMENTS IN
DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Result of the experiment
 Success
 The experiment proved that there were lot of
possibilities of improving in future
 Later failed as it discontinued.
Kheda Communication Project (KCP)

14. THE NEED OF DEVELOPMENT REPORTING
 The majority portion of the country’s population is
illiterate, underprivileged and living below poverty
standard. The state authorities have failed in extending
the benefits of formal educational system to this
majority of the population. Under such circumstances
development communication and reporting about
developmental efforts and happenings are among the
most suitable and effective means of mass education.
And what is development communication. It is a form of
mass education for converting the people into ‘thinking
human beings’ so that they can contribute to the
progress of the nation on an equal footing with their
educated counterparts.

15. THANK YOU