MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Abstract

The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) was set up to address the problem of communication imbalance between the West and the developing nations. This communication imbalance indicates a wide margin between the developed nations and developing nations in terms of media technology, accessibility to information, information gathering and dissemination. The result is absolute or partial domination of the media system of the developing nations leading to gradual or outright erosion of the cultural values of developing nations. This paper, therefore, examines the relationship between media technology and cultural imperialism in order to establish whether media technology is an instrument of cultural imperialism. The study employed survey method of inquiry. The population comprised of 256 students of the Department of Mass Communication, Madonna University Okija. Using Taro Yamane technique, the study used a sample size of 156 respondents. The finding reveals that indeed, cultural imperialism is about an attempt to bring about domination of a culture by a perceived superior culture. The study equally shows that the domination varies according to countries of media export and the countries of media import. The study recommends that the use of traditional media of communication should be encouraged. This will make the developing nations to start exporting indigenous culture and media messages to the developed nations.