Our generation is a blessed one, being an advanced age with tremendous and new technologies that are used to make one's life easier, better, and livelier. But way back 1920s to 1940s, things were not as they are today. It was a different age with different environment, different lifestyle, and different methods of communications. Yet, with all the inadequacy of that age, our generation is standing on the shoulder of the golden achievements of that age, which provided the lights of this new era. Back that age, people talked the same way our generation does, but they didn't have the means of massive communication superhighway the way our generation has. Back then, it was an era of steps toward a new age; it was an era that marked the beginning of our generation.
To get a glimpse of that era, I decided to read books on how people of that age communicated and what is the role of media in the Emirate environment during that age. It was in the 1930s that radio was introduced in the Middle East as a means to broadcast news throughout a wider scope of audience (Larsson, 2011). This development was an important phase of communication and media in the region for it catapulted some other tools for mass media communication. From then, mass media communication in most Middle Eastern countries, including the United Arab Emirates, grew and developed into a massive social tool for transformation of ideas and opinions,, but primarily as a tool for information to flow to the mass number of people.
Those are what written materials from libraries tell about Emirati communication and mass media history during that age. However, if we look closely and ask some people who have lived during that age about what they had experienced, it would a different story. Each person of that age has a story to tell based on their understanding and experience, which can be affected by their status in life, their proximity to these resources, and so on. For instance, a rich old man has a different story of his experience of mass media during that age, but a poor old man may tell an opposite story. There are always two sides of the story of mass media history of the region.
To be personal with this study, I interviewed by grandfather, Ahmad essa Binthani, who is around 75 years old. He was born at the early stage of the Second World War and he witnessed firsthand the meaning of mass media during that age. When he was born, radio was not yet that widely used; only few could own one. The only way for people to hear news on what was happening in their region or area was to socialize with other people. This is a very traditional way to get information- and this way is more susceptible to wrong reportage due to oral passing of information or news. But this was the only way for them to hear new stories of other lands. They would go to the transportation center, where people would come and go, and they could listen to stories of those who traveled from different places.
As I said earlier, the status of the person's life back then is a big factor in the experience of mass media communication. My grandfather lived in a fishing village and their family lived from that trade. They would clean fishes and sell to other people. The fishing trade allowed him to go the center of their community, where he could listen to news stories. Due to the trade and nature of the people's lives in the community, there was no need to hear of stories from other lands. They were just concerned of what's happening in their place. To say, proximity is a big thing to news reports. People were more concerned about what happened to their neighbors who went fishing the other day and was able to get much fishes, but about other lands, news stories were least appreciated.
According to Saunders & Goddard (2012), mass media plays a big role in educating the community on important issues that matter to the community. And for this role of mass media to become a reality, it is very important for the people to have access to resources that can be used for the information to flow from the source to the people. The lack of these resources hinder the people from understanding the environment and what really happened in their surrounding. This is what happened to the village of my grandfather. Their lack of interest to listen to news stories could not be blamed on their attitude toward information and education, but on the lack of resources for them to listen and appreciate news or mass media.
By the time, the Second World War broke out in total blast across the globe, my grandfather was already 10 years old. By this time also, radio was already close to two decades in the Middle East. Businesses already had their radios and transportation centers already had radios also. The Second World War happened just after the civil war of the region. My grandfather's family had to leave Sharjah to avoid being torn between warring factions. It was necessary for them to leave the fishing community because the civil war already caused thousands of people to go die from hunger. They could not anymore trade for fear of being collateral damages of the civil war.
Fortunately, my grandfather's father had a friend who owned a battery-type radio. His father would usually take him to the home of this family and that gave him the opportunity to listen to the radio news reports. At the young age of 10, my grandfather got to know about radio. It was a new beginning of a rich experience. And this marked the first introduction to a real mass media communication. This provided an experience that he would tell to others in the next years of his life.
From that radio, my grandfather heard of Hitler and the Second World War. It was the first introduction of my grandfather to the world outside the fishing village where he lived and from the community he grew up. Even in the middle of the Second World War, news stories about Europe offered my grandfather a new world outside; perhaps, a bigger world for a ten-year old boy. And central to this experience is the radio – the mass media. From time to time, he would hear how Hitler conquered countries in Europe and he would hear how the America and its allies fought against Hitler's horrible acts. From these news reports, my grandfather could tell us what happened in the Second World War, even if he wasn't there. From the radio reports, he was able to get a glimpse of experience on the war.
But still, even if newspapers were already available in big cities of the region, newspapers couldn't reach them. The lack of distribution channels and better transportation means stopped the appreciation of newspapers. At that time, there were no fast deliveries of newspapers; people had to rely on donkeys for their transportation. As a result, those who were able to buy newspapers in big cities could only recall the news to others when they arrived in their communities. It is the exact contrast now where newspapers abound in number. (And even in the United States, newspapers are becoming obsolete due to the rise of advanced means of information broadcast.) Printed resources were still not of much appreciation during this period because of the lack of means for these resources to be distributed to most people.
Right after the war, radio played a good part in the lives of the people. The Second World War caused tremendous positive and negative effects to Middle East. Of course, it created the State of Israel which started the conflict with Palestine. But the era also marked the boost of industrialization and the spreading of resources. As a result, those in the Middle East got access to mass media communication resources such as the radio. At this time, radio did not just become a tool for people to listen to news stories, but it had evolved into a tool for social change. From these radios, people were able to listen to classic music, speeches, and all. Radio now transcended the value of social, cultural, and entertainment aspects of the people.
Looking closely, we can easily say that the wide access to mass media communication made it more important to the lives of the people. It now served wider scope of influence and impact. People started to use radio as a mean for communication of all sorts of information. In essence, mass media communication developed into the direction and shape that we have now today. It had become part of the daily life of the people; it was embedded in the culture of the region.
When I asked my father if there were phones during his teenage and early adulthood years, he smiled. Back then, cell phones, computers, or laptops were not yet conceived in the mind of the man. There were still infant ideas, but they were just isolated to Europe and America. Back then, the United Arab Emirates was not yet formed as a country of importance as it is today. Infrastructures and the economy was not yet that developed. This means that the people didn't have access yet to advanced technologies that could have spread mass media into a wide spectrum. As I mentioned earlier, people had to travel to deliver news, especially for personal news that are not broadcasted by radio.
With the ripening of the United Arab Emirates to advancements, my grandfather also had the opportunity to use new technologies and tools that made life easier. This speaks volume of how the people adopt to the changes of technologies and mass media. They were not left out in their old and traditional means of communication. Today, my grandfather uses a phone to call someone who is in the other side of the country. Through the phone, he is able to hear stories and news of his sons and daughters living in far away places. The availability of these new tools provided my grandfather a better mass media communication experience.
My grandfather said that in his younger years, people didn't have much. This is the exact opposite to what our generation has. Today, people used social media to spread news and stories as fast as light. This a new avenue for people to hear news that are important to them. This is the exact opposite of what had been years back. People don't have to talk to each other face to face to hear news of each other. My grandfather can just use his phone to talk to us and hear about what's happening to us.
Indeed, social media has changed the meaning of mass media communication. Social media system has its own bad and good sides (the same way with face-to-face communication mentioned earlier). What traditional communication lacks in fast spread of news, social media fills in. People can open their phones and connect to the Internet infrastructure and they will be able to get news stories they wanted. Internet provided them means to get new stories from several sources. People can search the Internet for specific news stories they wanted to get. This is opposite to the former way, which restricted the people within what radio reports.
However, there are also negative effects that must be noted. Just like the traditional way of communication that is sometimes guilty of irresponsibility and falsehood, social media networks also spread news that are not true. With the traditional way, the scope of falsehood and irresponsible reporting is just a single community or area, but with social media, the scope is very wide. This means that when people are being masqueraded or accused wrongfully, the whole wide world knows about it. My grandfather commented that this is a source of problem with the information superhighway.
Yet, in the end, it is difficult to acknowledge of today's mass media communication without looking at the struggles of the past. Today, my grandfather can read newspapers everyday because the society learned from the value of distribution channels. Today, my grandfather can talk to people he wants to hear the news from directly. This teaches the value of asking the people who are actually present in the situation. This eliminates hearsay in mass media and this improves communication. Today, my grandfather can hear and watch news reports from radio and television conveniently without the need of hearing it from another house. This develops awareness of the need to make mass media communication available and accessible to the people.
References:
Larsson, G. (2011). Muslims and the new media: historical and contemporary debates. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Saunders, B. & Goddard, C. (2012). The role of mass media in facilitating community education and child abuse prevention strategies. Retrieved from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/issues16/issues16.html