Until the past decade, development experts shared a conception of how to facilitate development in the Third World countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. One essential factor in this paradigm was the role of mass media communication. The media were expected to convey useful information from government development programs to their intended audiences. This dominant paradigm of mainly one-way communication flows did not lead to widespread development in the Third World. Instead, scholars and development planners began to search for alternative models of development and for other conceptions of development communication.