Proceedings of The 11th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences
Year: 2020
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/11th.hpsconf.2020.12.100
Thinking Beyond Policy in Engendering National Cultural Identity, through the Broadcasting Media
Ifeyinwa Awagu
ABSTRACT:
As policies evolved in the development of the broadcasting media in Nigeria, they delineated the volume of cultural and identity content envisaged towards nationhood in these media. The paramount cultural vision was to use these media to propagate cultural learning of the ideologies and elements of the numerous ethnic groups; in order to facilitate the transmission of the cultural heritage, foster national identity and unity, and generating international flow. Given the strong affiliation of partisan politics to broadcasting media, public radio and television made efforts to enforce cultural content according to the government regulations, while market trends and forces directed the private stations. Even with the cultural content, specifically propagating national cultural identity as a constant motif was an issue. there is concern on the threat to national cultural identity occasioned by access to global media content and motifs through the national media industries. This has been further challenged by the influx in media content with diverse cultural, social, political and economic ramifications in the tide of globalization. With the possible lack of a committed and structured agenda on projecting national cultural identity, what can the broadcasting media do to counterbalance media content that would project national cultural identity for both the local and international audiences? Using conceptual analysis and theoretical framework of agenda setting and Neoliberalism, this paper examines how the broadcasting media, within the national communication system, responds to the articulation of national cultural identity in the light of the multilateral forces of globalization.
Keywords: national, cultural identity, broadcasting media.