Cultural Alienation: The Mass Media And Cultural Alienation In Nigeria

Cultural Alienation: The mass media reflect inequalities. In many countries, like Nigeria, the large number of languages used makes it difficult to produce programmes for all linguistic groups hence depriving some people from sharing in information source and entertainment. In most places, particularly in developing countries, possession of a television set is a privilege of urban dwellers. But even if programmes reach outside the main production centers, the audience is often culturally disadvantaged as the media content may be completely alien to the spectator’s background. Furthermore, even though communication media have proliferated in recent decades and brought the external world to millions of people previously living in isolated communities,

At the extreme, modern media trample on traditions and distort centuries-old socio-cultural patterns. This trend alienate some people and make them feel lost like a planet off its orbit. The process develop to cross cultural frontiers as nations like Nigeria get a considerable portion of their film and television programmes from abroad, outside their cultural space. Language of communication is another areas of cultural bias and dysfunctional trajectory of the media in the process of cultural information. Where numerous groups of the population are linguistically cut off from each other, cohesion in cultural, economic and political spheres is virtually impossible. Here, language is no minor communication problem. Those whose languages are not used by the media are excluded and deprived of their right to participate in national affairs, culturally, politically and socially. Think of this situation in the Nigeria media space, where there are over 250 ethnic groups with different languages; where a significant number of the people do not understand English language, the official national language. The implication is that many Nigerians are cut off from getting or passing media reports that concern their culture, first

The positive side of the media has not been given much attention. The media, in general, has been playing a significant role in shaping society today. Media is the term closely associated with the fourth estate (which includes both print and visual media), and it has not only become an important factor in democracy but is playing a major role in educating the public. Irrespective of age or qualification, the language of a large number of people is being significantly influenced by it. The general use of phrases, syntax, and idiom is often being determined by the way journalists use them. The electronic media has really made the world a global village. Just by pressing a button one gets to know the happenings in virtually any part of the world. The satellite television has brought into our lives the kind of things that we could not even imagine a few decades ago. Even the hairstyle or the one-ear ring style of Beckham or Ronaldinho has become popular in some rural areas of the country, thanks to the media coverage of club and country football in Europe and South America. It is an undeniable fact that the electronic media has increased our knowledge base and we have quite a few mobile encyclopedias amidst us, at least among the educated public. The media keeps providing information to young students and educated youth to build up their careers. It has opened