Mass Comm Project: Students Perception of Western Television Programmes(Part Nine )

ECONOMIC RELEVANCE OF CULTURAL IMPERIALISM TO THE BROADCAST MEDIA IN NIGERIA

Considering the fact that the sole aim of establishing any media enterprise is profit oriented, most media establishments tend to patronize more of western media content because it is cheaper to buy foreign media content than to produce  local programmes. In doing this, the broadcast media saves some reasonable amount of money for other purpose. Importing foreign media content also saves a broadcast media establishment the cost of sending correspondence outside the country of its operation get news story.

EFFECTS OF FOREIGN CULTURE ON THE LIVES OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS

Rattle by the current stiff competition by the television stations, the Nigerian television industry has continued feeding viewers with foreign programmes at the expense of

indigenous programmes’. According to Nnebue (1997) “The Television industry in Nigeria is not only frustrating indigenous movie makers by their cut-throat air-time rate. It is unnecessarily giving attention foreign soap, whose thematic thrust are alien to our indigenous culture”

            Fakhy Labib lamented that:

 …It is regrettable that information that information control is still in hands of big international monopolies which made most of the third world countries mere consumers of information unlike any other commodity. The result is that most third world countries buy with their own hands what is detrimental to their national struggles and cultures, and what is contrary to their values and development efforts. The cultural imperialism theory assumes; that the information flows from the information rich areas of the North to the information poor areas of the South. It further assumes that, these flows are changing the cultures or even endangering the cultural identities of the southern nations

There have been several assaults on African cultural heritage. In the 1960s, a Regius professor of modern history at Oxford University proclaimed in a televised lecture: “Maybe in the future there will be African history, but at the moment, there is none, there is only the history of white men in Africa. The rest is darkness and darkness is not a subject of history.”

Ellert (1984) asserted that:

…The indigenous cultural values were and are still being suppressed through forced Labour and people are exposed to western influence alien to our culture.

…The traditional industries and craft that have survived did so in a hostile in which much has been forgotten.

…The pressure of alien culture was and is still too strong and great and time does not stand still. Those in urban areas are growing up ignorant in vital aspect of their cultural heritage.

Concurring with Ellerts view, Futayi (1986) wrote:

…cultural interaction and contact permits learning and understanding which may result in change of behavior or new ways of life… during such contacts, revolutionary tendencies are bound to occur, cultural contacts leads to alienation and to the abandonment of traditional ancestral origin and modes of thoughts.

Both Ellert (1984) and Fatuyi (1986) viewed cultural contact in negative terms and consequently exclude its dynamic elements. The traditional culture did inescapably did decline with the advent of colonialism and to some extent, television.

According to the report by the international commission for the study of communication problems (1990); “Individuals feel ill or even threatened by the air of chaos, disaster and all portrayal around them”. In view of these, people watching alien programmes are likely to react in one way or the other, like their mode of dressing, speaking and in most cases, their perception and views about their norms, values and most importantly, culture.

REFERENCES

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Asemah, E.S. (2009). Principles and practice of mass communication .Jos: Great Future Press

Balogun, O. (1985). Cultural perspectives in the African mass media. Enugu: Forth Dimension Publishers

Biney, A. (1999). The Western media and Africa: issues of information and images. Interstate Online 24 August.

Boy-Barret. (1977). Mass communication in cross cultural context: The case of third world. Open University: Milton Keyes.

Enemaku, S.D. (2003). The deregulation of the Nigerian broadcast industry and ensuing challenges and opportunities. Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd Ikeja

Fiske, J. (1989). Understanding popular culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman

Hamelling, C. (1983). Cultural autonomy in global communication. New York: Longman.

Nwanze, I. (2003). Broadcasting in Nigeria: private broadcasting prospects, challenges, and legal aspects. Portharcourt: Renaissance Communication Limited.

Olaide, A. (2000). The cultural heritage. Lagos: Asefeda Ventures.

Parenti, M. (1986). Inventing reality: The politics of the mass media. New York: St Martin’s Press.

Schrank, J. (1986). Understanding mass media. Toronto: Copp Clark.

Schramm, W. (1964). Mass communication and national development: the role of information in the developing countries. Stanford: Stanford University Press

Schramm, W. & Lerner, L. (1967). Communication and change in the developing countries. Honolulu: East-West

Williamson, J. (1987). Consuming passions: The dynamics of popular culture. London: Marion Boyars.

READ ALSO: Mass Comm Project: Students Perception of Western Television Programmes(Part Eight )

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