Present Status and Prospects of Agricultural Journalism in Technology Diffusion

Abstract

Radio, television, and newspapers are the most effective media of journalism to accelerate farming populations on the appropriate track of their agricultural activities. An ex-post facto explanatory cross-sectional study was conducted in Dumuria Upazila of Khulna District to analyze the role of journalism and identify the most effective mass media, along with the hindering factors that obstruct the role of journalism in disseminating agricultural innovations, as well as the level of awareness and adoption of these innovations. A total of 110 respondents were purposively selected without bias to collect data using a well-structured interview schedule. The study results indicated that the majority of the respondents had the highest level of awareness regarding television (TV) about the reliability and significance of different media sources of news, followed by newspapers and radio. Television was also found to have the highest adoption rate for learning about new agricultural technologies among the respondents, with newspapers and radio/FM ranking second and third, respectively. “Economic condition to afford TV,” “illiteracy of the farmer,” and “bad signal and internet problem” were found to be the most significant hindering factors for television, newspapers, and radio, respectively, in blocking the role of agricultural journalism. Television was found to be the most effective mass media outlet for agricultural journalism, with radio and newspapers coming in second and third place, respectively. The findings of this study also demonstrate that respondents learned the most about weather and market prices from television and other sources (peer groups, NGOs, and personal experience), whereas they received the least information from radio/FM and newspapers. The study’s findings also demonstrate that educational status, cosmopolitanism status, and extension media contact had the most significant positive correlation, whereas age and cultivation experience had the most significant negative correlation with awareness about TV, radio/FM, and newspapers at the 1% level of significance.