INTRODUCTION

1.MEDIA It is best to define the media by the roles that they perform in society. Through press articles,
features, and analyses, they inform, educate, and amuse readers. In addition, they create
radio and television dramas, documentaries, current affair shows, PSAs, magazine shows, and
other types of programming. Through the media, people can share their stories, viewpoints,
and voices with the public. The last ten years have seen a significant increase in online media
usage in Africa, which is being taken advantage of by both urban and rural people to obtain
and distribute information for commercial and social reasons.

Along with promoting social change and influencing public opinion and attitudes, the media
is essential. The media can highlight important changes that have an impact on people's lives
both favourably and badly through its reporting. It can also highlight topics that are frequently
overlooked and voices that are marginalized. Because of its agenda-setting role, the media
frequently shapes societal priorities, discourse, and ways of thinking.

The media perpetuates stereotypes, particularly with regard to issues of gender, religion, and
culture, as evidenced by research and data. Women are represented as having inferior status
to men frequently. When seeking sources for their articles, journalists frequently target the
powerful members of any community, who are typically men. It is common for women to be
portrayed as the spouses, mothers, and caregivers that they traditionally are, while males are
portrayed as strong, resourceful, leaders, and many other positions associated with authority.
In contemporary democracies, however, the media may have the most significant role as
watchdogs, keeping an eye on how governments are performing and acting to make sure they
live up to the expectations and promises of the people who elected them. The media, the
state, and its institutions frequently clash as a result of this role.

2.HOW DOES IT WORK

Fairness, accuracy, diversity, and balanced representation serve as the foundation upon
which the media operates. But in every nation, the political and legal landscapes play a major
role in determining how well it can carry out these tasks. In areas where the legal environment
is favourable, there is an abundance of media outlets and goods, as well as a diversity of
opinions and information availability. When there is an oppressive legal system, there is a
dearth of media diversity in addition to bias as well as overt political meddling. Political
meddling has the potential to divide and seriously impair media impartiality.
The ownership of media also affects how the media operate. There are often three types of
media organizations: state, private, and public. The government control the roles and activities
of media companies in tea, but public media are frequently directed by the interests of the
viewers and listeners who purchase licenses to use their services.
The media's growing partnerships with the commercial and civil society sectors have
reinforced and created new channels for the dissemination of research and development.
Many organizations and the media are collaborating to create special projects that benefit
both parties. Organizations are able to achieve their development, social, and commercial
objectives in this case. By working with media managers, researchers can take advantage of
this field.

3.TYPES OF MEDIA

a. MASS MEDIA: Print (newspapers, magazines), television, and radio are examples of mass
media. Newspapers continue to be a significant source of news in Africa even with the
dramatic fall in newspaper readership worldwide.
Newspapers are still used by politicians, decision-makers, and others to gather information
and determine public sentiment. However, low literacy rates and inadequate distribution
networks continue to hinder newspapers' ability to become widely used. The most significant
information source for both urban and rural communities is still radio. It can also incorporate
a wide variety of program forms and has enormous potential for expanded coverage.

b. COMMUNITY MEDIA: Community media's capacity to concentrate on and report on issues
specific to a given community makes it significant. For instance, community radio station
journalists are frequently local residents. Nevertheless, community radio stations have limited
geographic reach, inadequate funding, and untrained journalists and editors.

c. NEW MEDIA: People in Africa are gaining access to and sharing information in ways that were
unthinkable ten years ago, and this is an area of startling growth. People are accessing and
sharing social, political, and economic information through new media (the internet, email,
blogs, SMS platforms, etc.). Additionally, new media presents new avenues for forming
alliances with telecom firms in order to propagate important findings from studies that have
the potential to transform lives.[1]

4.HISTORY OF MEDIA

When recording media distinguishes the historic from the prehistoric, the term "media
history" almost becomes a tautology. History is never truly unmediated. Thus, there will
always be a temptation for a particular field of historiography, whose focus is human
communication technologies, to absorb all of human history into itself. This idea has
progressed to the point where other programs for comprehending human activityterms like
society, culture, economy, and powerappear as either abstractions devoid of the empirical
foundations of media and mediation, or as derivatives of them, according to media historians
of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. One could argue that media history
provides a better explanation of politics, society, and culture than those ideas do of media.[2]

5. ADVANTAGE OF MEDIA

1. The latest news gets to people fast. Giving knowledge to people anywhere in the world is
not hampered by distance. People are kept informed about global events and trends by the
daily news updates they receive from media websites.
2. The public is educated by the media. Television and radio programs teach the mob about
environmental preservation, health issues, and other pertinent subjects.
3. People may use their hidden talents through the media. They can showcase their hidden
talentshumour, performance, singing, reciting, etc.through the media.
4. The media is a fantastic tool for promoting mass-market goods and driving up asset sales.
5. Mass education is made possible by electronic media, which promotes electronic
duplication of information and lowers production costs.
6. The media shows a variety of cultural activities, which helps different cultures spread. It
promotes acceptance of one another's differences among people everywhere.

6.DISADVANTAGES OF MEDIA

1. Too much time is spent by users browsing or binge-watching content on the Internet.
As a result, their relationships with neighbours, family, and friends might suffer.
2. The internet gives con artists, scammers, hackers, and other predators the chance to carry
out illicit actions without their victims' knowledge.
3. Certain media topics are inappropriate for young audiences, and limiting older adults'
access to such content can present challenges in certain circumstances.
4. For the majority of kids and adults, certain television programs and internet content can be
extremely addictive, which lowers productivity.
5. It often makes drug and alcohol abuse seem cool, which could be detrimental to the youth
of the nation.
6. Anyone can create a fake account and pretend to be someone else. Access to such profiles
could be gained by anyone who would use them for malicious activities, like disseminating
false information that could damage the reputation of any targeted individual or organization.[3]

7.CONCLUSION

We use a variety of media to entertain ourselves, learn new things, and stay informed about
current affairs. We are no longer limited by time or place to choose the media we want to use,
thanks to technological advancements.
We can now watch our favourite shows on our phones, listen to the radio while driving to
work, and check the news and information on our laptops and mobile devices, all thanks to
technological advancements. In the future, who can predict where science and technology
will lead us?

8. CITATION

1. Introduction, how does it work and types of media, available at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08acae5274a27b2000785/Using_Media_
to_communciate_research_output.pdf ( Last visited on 19 October,2023 at 6:10 pm )

2. History of media, available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionariesthesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/media-history ( Last visited on 10 November,2023 at 5:20 pm )

3. Advantages and disadvantages, available at: https://www.javatpoint.com/advantagesand-disadvantages-of-media ( Last visited on 12 November,2023 at 7:23 pm)