Media Systems in Developing Regions Before, During
and After the European Colonization
This paper discusses how the history of European colonization developed media systems in developing countries particularly, in the African and Arab regions. The first part of this paper looks at the traditional media in Africa before the arrival of Europeans. A discussion of the arrival of European colonists, their treatment of the indigenous people and some of the culture change brought about by colonization, and the introduction to mass media in Africa follows. The second part tackles the role and perceived duty of media in Africa, as well as in the Middle East. Here, the impact of media to the two regions’ society is examined.
Media System in Africa Before the European Colonialism
Prior to the colonization by Europeans, Africans had effective and complex systems of interpersonal and mass communication (Moody, 2001). Messages were usually passed from person to person until the information became widely diffuse; Moreover, messages also went out to general audiences through callers, criers, bards and drummers (Doob, 1961).
Communication media were the tools employed by Africans to facilitate conveyance of the messages. Callers, criers and bards frequently used whistles, bells, gongs or horns to attract audiences. The callers, criers and bards were actually the media because they acted as the instruments of message conveyance. After choosing a time, usually in the evening, when people would have returned home from the fields, these messengers would sound the attention-getting tool to call people to assembly. At this point, they would announce their news, which often emanated from tribal chiefs or elders. (Doob, 1961).
Marketplaces also served as important settings for the development of talking drums as a communication medium (Bohannon, 1964). Unlike town criers, drummers usually did not have the undivided, simultaneous attention of the entire intended audience. Rather, message recipients were passers-by who happened to be within earshot of the drums. To try to attract attention and guarantee comprehension, messages were drummed repeatedly. Established, easily recognizable drum patterns enabled listeners to decipher messages. Other instruments that could carry messages include whistles, horns, reeds, and wood cylinders called tom toms (Doob, 1971).
Media that carried messages independent of a human purveyor were functional objects, such as tools, or religious items, such as statues, that had been associated with meanings (Doob, 1961). These permanently encoded media, similar to today’s newspapers and magazines, took second seat to auditory communication in early Africans’ communication repertoire. Spoken communication, often referred to as the oral tradition, was the predominant method for conveying messages, both for immediate consumption as well as for posterity.
In both silent and oral communications, facial expressions, non-verbal sounds, gestures and physical attributes carried a great deal of meaning, not only about the message purveyor, but also about the message itself (Doob, 1961). Bohannon (1964) states the nomadic tendency of Africans coupled with the power of silent communication to overcome language barriers enabled effective diffusion of information across geographically large and culturally diverse regions.
As only two societies (the Vai and the Mum) in Africa developed scripts, permanent media in the form of written works were uncommon in the entire continent. Permanent media instead were in the form of masks, statues, and other objects that had a functional attribute in addition to carrying a message (Doob, 1961). Because of lack of Western experience, Africans had difficulties interpreting the flat media such as paper and photography introduced by European colonists Doob (1961).
According to Hachten (1971), researchers have had difficulty studying the array of communication media available to Africans prior to the introduction of European technologies; because the informal mechanisms of distributing information are difficult to locate. This does not suggest a lack in a structure, but because Africans’ informality makes them less conspicuous and hence less amenable to research (Hachten, 1971). Contributing to the difficulty of interpreting traditional modes of communication is the Western bias with which many researchers approach the topic (Moody, 2001). Because they were not raised within Africa’s social, cultural, political, or communication tradition frameworks, they are unable to easily or thoroughly interpret them, especially those modes that are subtler. However, within the last few decades, African researchers have contributed to the study of traditional communication systems (Moody, 2001).
Earlier, Ugboajah (1985) addresses the issue of cultural bias in the study of African communication systems, and he offers his analyses of traditional, or folk, media. According to Ugboajah (1985), Africans take on many forms and are rich in symbolism, therefore, folk media cannot be conveniently separated from folk cultures. Although these traditional forms of communication fell from the ranks of mainstream media when colonialists arrived and installed their own communication systems, Ugboajah (1985) asserts that folk media, retained their significance to the indigenous masses.
Media System in Africa Under the European Colonialism
European colonialism has massively changed Africa’s traditional social, economic, cultural and political organization. It has introduced modernization that continues to shape the continent, especially after Africans regained their political sovereignty. The communication technologies introduced by the European colonists were undoubtedly major agents for change.
The introduction of mass media by the European colonists came in later, after pioneering developments in mining and farming industries and established colonial bureaucracies intended to support these industries (Bourgault, 1995). Colonial administrators greased the wheels of industry. Under the colony, civil engineers built transportation infrastructure to facilitate industrial activities; Schools provided Africans with just enough math and literacy training to equip them for low-level administrative jobs within the colonial government (Bourgault, 1995). European Colonists said they intended simply to help get African countries on track for modernization and self rule, however colonists’ exploitation of natural resources and their reluctance to leave suggest that philanthropic intentions were overstated (Moody, 2003).
Colonists’ administrative practices had extensive effects on Africa’s social, economic, cultural and political traditions. As a result, Africa shifted from a barter economy to a Western-style cash economy (Bourgault, 1995). Among the imported commodities on which Africa would later depend is Western radio and television programs (Moody, 2003).
The division between the urban, administrative class and the rural/proletariat classes is the most profound effect of colonialism on modern Africa and its media systems (Moody, 2003). Colonists’ education programs focused Africans students’ attention toward the West, rather than toward their family’s cultural heritage. Schooling required students to leave home, so traditional roles and rituals were forgotten or never learned. Africans educated in the Western tradition also were taught to think in the linear style that evolved in Europe after development of the printing press by Guggenheim in 1490 AD (Moody, 2003). This further put them at odds with their rural brethren who were still accustomed to non-linear way of thinking that grew out of Africa’s oral heritage. Also, native languages lost their saliency for Western-educated Africans.
The defection of the urban African elite from traditional lifestyles and value systems is important because in controlling governance of the new African nations, it also controlled the growing mass media. Because the Europeans did not have enough manpower to control the vast territories and populations they were taking over in Africa and Asia, they began to use the media as a form of mind control, colonizing people around the world, just as they also colonized information about the world (Clarke, cited in Moody, 2003). Today the mass media includes every visual object that influences the mind—billboard advertisements, commercials and more, especially movies and television.
Print and radio, in particular, played important parts in the push for independence and, later, in nation-building and development campaigns. But before discussing the effects of these media, it is important to address the cultural environment into which they were introduced.
Over time, a linguistic, social, cultural, and economic chasm grew between Africa’s urban elite and its rural and proletariat masses. After independence, Western-educated Africans occupying low level administrative posts in the cities automatically assumed the higher level jobs and lifestyles left vacant by their departed European bosses. As a result, a political gulf also positioned itself between the groups.
Interpersonal media such as telephone, post, and telegraph allowed European administrators and expatriates to stay in touch with their families, friends, and colleagues, both on the African continent and in Europe. When mass media finally came on the scene, it was (again) used to serve the interests of white colonists, not black natives (Bourgault, 1995).
European-style printing presses came on the scene in Africa in the late 18th Century. Sierra Leone gained a press in 1794, however a French raiding party looted the town soon after delivery, which delayed press operation until after the turn of the 19th Century. By that time, printing presses had begun operating in Egypt and South Africa (Moody, 2003). At that time, newspapers were considered the most effective means of reaching the masses. Ziegler and Asante (cited in Moody, 2003) state that early indigenous African papers were political and outspoken on the rights of Africans around the world.
Because of the strong role of the media in moving toward independence, the proper role of the press in Africa came under debate during the 20th Century. Some African leaders argued that the press must present and carry forward revolutionary purpose; to establish a progressive political and economic system upon Africa that will free men from want and every form of injustice. This would enable them to work out their social and cultural destinies in peace and at ease (Ainslie, 1967).
In the revolutionary press paradigm, the African press was a direct instrument of revolutionary efforts. According to Ainslie (1967), media coverage should explain and inspire revolution rather than criticize revolutionary agents or activities. This is a view that shaped press systems in Algeria, Guinea, and Mali. Government control of media, however, became a standard in Africa, especially for radio stations, because the government was the only entity with enough money and educated personnel necessary to operate media outlets (Hachten, 1971).
Radio broadcast systems were introduced in South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Kenya the 1920s; Zambia, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, in the 1940s; Burundi, Gambia, Swaziland, Rwanda, and Tanzania, in the 1960s (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). Adoption dates do not necessarily parallel those of printing technology. Sierra Leone had one of the first printing presses but it did not have a radio system until the 1950s. Egypt and South Africa, on the other hand, held their position as early adopters of communication technologies by adopting radio in the 1920s, not long after it became widely adopted by Western audiences (Ziegler & Asante, cited in Moody, 2003).
Although South Africa was quick to adopt print and radio technology, it was slow to establish a television system, something it did not do until 1972 (Ziegler & Asante, cited in Moody, 2003). On the other hand, Egypt was consistent in adopting communication technologies: it was among the first African countries to adopt print, radio and television.
National leaders in Africa were reluctant to adopt television because of concern that the medium would permit hegemonic influence from American and Britain programming and potentially unleash social conflict over policies of apartheid (Hachten, 1971).
The Impact of Media: The Arab Region Experience
There is a considerable body of knowledge, at a general level, relating to media impacts in a foreign context (McQueen, 2003). However, actual investigation of media use amongst non-western audiences seldom occurs, with anecdotal or circumstantial evidence usually offered (Lealand, 1984). This is particularly the case in the Arab countries, and is as much a concern to media industries as it is to mass communication scholarship. Sreberny (1999) states that the region is undergoing profound and rapid change in its media environment and in popular access to information technologies. New communications technologies and means of distribution, new producers and new audiences make the region one of the liveliest mediated cultures around, with profound implications for its politics and culture.
Mowlana (1995) describes the impact of European media on the Middle East in terms of technology and content. A large number of cultural and media imperialism studies referred to by Sreberny-Mohammadi (1996) have shown, not only a continuing imbalance in information flows from the west to developing countries, but domination and influence on domestic product in terms of production values, genres, formats, ideologies, languages, national focus and cultural values. Evidence of domination has been found in relation to the west’s trade with the Middle East. Objective, empirical evidence of actual cultural erosion, or skewing of domestic media production as a result of western media flows is more difficult to provide (McQueen, 2003).
A political economy analysis of media influence brought about by the European colonialism in the Gulf will take into consideration developments in both Arab and non-Arab terrestrial and satellite television, arguably, the most important delivery vehicle for western TV programs (McQueen, 2003). Furthermore, relevant information regarding local developments in video and cinema distribution must also be considered.
According to Forrester (1999) the Middle East is considered a growing market, as well as an important center of production of Arabic language broadcasts and film, amongst media industry personnel. Contradictory forces, however, are also at work. Showtime, a major satellite boasts that it offers the best in western entertainment. Faisal Al-Ayyar, CEO of the Kuwaiti Investments Projects Company (Kipco) explains why Showtime has deliberately ‘steered clear’ of Arabic programming (Forrester, 2000). Al-Ayyar states that they stay with western programming where there are plenty high-quality.
Accurate figures for the expansion of media organisations in the region are difficult to come by, but it is estimated that there were 6.96 million TV households in the Gulf in 1999, compared to 4.77 million only four years ago (Baskerville Communications Corp., 1999). Cinema complexes are another booming media phenomenon in the Gulf. Aloofy’s (1998) content study shows that only 7% of the total broadcasts on Gulf stations had a non-Arab source of production. Of entertainment programs only around 5% were non-Arab productions. This figure undermines the cruder versions of the cultural imperialism thesis, which claim that western entertainment dominates international television screens.
As a result of western media flows, the change in Arab culture and identity is taking place. Man Chan’s (1994) analysis of Star TV’s impact on the wider Asian region notes that in addition to western broadcasts, the blending of western program formats with regional elements is resulting in a degree of cultural homogenisation, at a global and regional level.
Rampant consumerism is widely regarded as one effect of western media influence in this region, a belief in line with the media imperialism arguments (McQueen, 2000). The media are frequently accused of promoting materialism and values that are alien to Islamic culture (McQueen, 2000). Further evidence of growing consumerism in the Gulf area is provided by local-based marketing and advertising firms, who celebrate this phenomenon in various commercial publications.
Western media, particularly satellite television and films, are often described as hostile to Islamic and Arab society (Al Harib, 1998). According to the Gulf News in the UAE there have been growing calls for a firmer political counter to the negative fallout of satellite TV’ (Oct 21st). In particular, the constant stream of western films that stereotype Arab and Islamic people have united academics, journalists and viewers in dismay.
The European Colonialism Continues: Media as an Imperialism Tool
Although countries in Africa and the Middle East have gained their independence from the European colonists, it is very evident that they are still under a form of colonization. This is manifested in one of Europe’s greatest legacies to Africa and the Arab region: the media. European introduced media systems for their business and personal convenience. Moreover, they developed media systems to acquire good reputation from the colony. But it seems that the end of introducing and developing media systems is to keep the colony clinging to European culture and tradition even after the colonization. Thus, neo-colonialism occurs, manifested mainly in media.
The idea of cultural and media imperialism implies that modem world media systems have provided an important and strategic means whereby dominant nations have attempted to extend and develop their economic, political and cultural forms of control and power in the global arena. (O’Sullivan & Jewkes, 1997).
Hamelink (1995) argues that integrating the communications systems of the developing and developed world eliminates the spaces in which people in developing countries can imagine or construct alternative paths to development, and thus contributes to a pattern of cultural synchronization. As a result, there is a loss of autonomy and cultural difference, and a hierarchical ordering of the world into dependent and exploitative relations (Hamelink, 1995). According to Tracey (1985), cultural and media imperialism theories are closely linked to the promotion of global consumerism and the generation of a culture conducive to wider western corporate interests.
Transborder broadcasting, especially direct satellite broadcasting, has been challenged as a form of cultural imperialism (Xiaoming, 2000). Western broadcasters are often accused of creating social instability, destroying local industries and eroding local culture by beaming programs to other countries without permission (Xiaoming, 2000). This is due to the fact that television is not simply an entertainment medium; it has the ability to communicate the norms, rules, and values of a society.
Gerbner et al. (1986) state that the major social function of television lies in the continual repetition of patterns (myths, ideologies, facts, relationships, etc.), which serve to define the world, legitimize the social order, and cultivate cultural values. Similarly, Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur (1990) state that mass communication can play an important part in creating the conditions for development of values and value priorities. Moreover, multi-channel cable environment have transformed television viewing. Nowadays, TV programming in Africa and the Middle East is geared towards entertainment, and have served to move the television viewing experience from programming per se to a more control-based consumption experience that involves an active audience.
Conclusion
The effects of mass media on Africa are intertwined with the effects of the European colonization on the continent. In examining the general themes that arise on pre-colonial, colonial and revolutionary periods of Africa’s history gives one an insight. Africa’s European colonial history shows that the introduction of media systems resulted to a massive change in Africa’s culture and tradition.
On the other hand, in the Middle East, the European colonialism has left a legacy that is difficult to let go. As media in this region has been introduced and developed by European colonists, it is inevitable for people in this region not to be hegemonized by the European tradition and culture present in media.
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