POSITION OF MEDIA IN PRESEVING NATIONAL CULTURE

DAR ES SALAAM SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM TOPIC: POSITION OF MEDIA IN PRESEVING NATIONAL CULTURE CASE STUDY: DAR ES SALAAM CITY Presented to Journalism department at Dar es salaam school of journalism as part and partial requirement for fulfillment of Diploma course in Journalism YEAR OF STUDY 2012 WRITTEN BY: COSMAS J.PAHALAH SUPERVISSED BY: EDWIN MPOKASYE TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER ONE 1.0) STATEMENT OF THE STUDY……………...........1 1.1) BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY………………..2-3 1.2) OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY……………………3-4 1.3) SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY……………….4 1.4) SCOPE AND LIMITATION……………………...4 CHAPTER TWO 2.0) LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………..5-6 CHAPTER THREE 3.0) RESEARCH DESIGN……………………….…7 3.1) POPULATION……………………………….….7 3.2) SAMPLE AND SAMPLING…………………....7 3.3) STUDY AREA ……………………………….....7 3.4) INSTRUMENT OF COLECTING DATA……..8 1.0) STATEMENT OF THE STUDY There is an old saying “Man is a social animal”, which means beyond other requirements such as food and shelter, man has another fundamental need and that is, need of communication with each other. The urge of communication is a basic one and in our contemporary civilization, it has become a necessity for survival. In order to facilitate communication, man has established several means which have developed from time to time such as sending messages, letters, telephone and telegraph and these all assist in providing connection between people even with those who are at far distant places. In the present era, the means of communication have evolved into a very advance phase and are now collectively called “Mass Media”. Media is actually an art of transmitting information, ideas and attitudes from one point or person to another. When an individual communicates to the other, this may be through use of gestures like passing on smiles when happy or in a good mood, frowns when showing a displeased expression, or selection of our words or tone while speaking depending on the feelings within us. In either case we want to select the most effective ways to communicate exactly what we intend. However, communication among a large number of people or society is not as simple as with individuals, but it’s far too complex. Information or news that is important to a mass of people may not be passed on to them from individual to individual. This must reach many people at the same time and also effectively. Such as the forecast of a storm to warn one whole city to take immediate measures cannot be passed on individual to individual since time factor is important. This may be done through newspapers or television or both. Or if some product is to be advertised, it has to be conveyed collectively to a mass that again may be done through radio, television or newspapers. These technological means of communicating... 1 1.1) BACK GROUND The colonial expansion of European states in Africa was usually accompanied by missionary efforts to proliferate Christianity and European civilization. A kind of benevolent tutelage of the `inferior native' populations occurred that was particularly well-illustrated in The White Man's Burden. The direct consequences of the colonial expansion ranged from genocide that wiped out of large segments of a population, to the subtle destruction of African cultures. Every culture has a dual tendency, a tendency towards stability and a tendency toward change. What is the contribution of culture to the development process? Surprisingly, on numerous occasions even normally intelligent and knowledgeable Africans erroneously and inadvertently conceptualize culture as `drumming and dancing' and therefore fail to see any contribution culture makes or made to the struggle for socio-economic development. It must be noted however, that culture or `the way of life of a people, their ideas, acts, and artifacts' is one of the main determinants of whether a society develops rapidly or slowly. Numerous studies by anthropologists show that the traditional values of a people are closely related to the pace with which they accept or reject the demands of modern industrial or commercial operations. Since no society in the modern world exists in a vacuum, it is the pre-established patterns of culture which, to a large extent, determine whether that society accepts or resists innovation and change and the speed with which this is done. African culture is functionally linked to the popular media forms -- radio, TV, and the press -- since they played a very significant role in their struggles against colonialism and exploitation. Since time immemorial, the media have helped to rescue, incorporate, preserve, and mediate elements which serve the interests of these popular classes. These interests include not only the people's aspirations, but also those factors which define their beliefs, expressions, and historical cultural development in general. 2 Today, in spite of modern-day inclinations, the drum continues to assemble school children because of its importance as a medium with communal significance. Popular theater, for instance, are cultural performances by and for communities which give expression to that community's reality, aspirations, and diverse struggles for survival and development. Throughout history, popular theater forms such as dances, dramas, musical compositions, narratives, and others have played a role in the cultural struggles of the African peoples and their development. The nature of struggle has dictated the role of these art forms. Colonialism disrupted not only the political organization and economic production of the many African political entities, it also brought forms of cultural alienation, invasion, and disorientation. Control of wealth, natural resources, and cultural products were the main aims of colonialism. New systems for the production and distribution of wealth were initiated, along with mental and psychological control of self-perception and awareness. Consequently, African culture was destroyed, undervalued, undermined, and distorted. The systems by which Africans had struggled with nature and organized their societies became irrelevant in an incomprehensive and exploitative social order. In Tanzania media have important role in preserving and promoting culture. By broadcasting and writing by using Swahili language, one can communicate with a large proportion of the people in their own language or at least in a language they can understand. Swahili language is a popular language and national language in Tanzania. 1.2) OBJECTIVES GENERAL OBJECTIVE The general objective of the study will be to determine the role played by media in preserving culture in Tanzania. 3 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE i) To enable society know the position of media in preserving national culture. ii) To emphasize the society on the importance of preserving and promoting national culture. iii) To give awareness to the journalist and other media men on importance of promoting culture. 1.3) SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY i) Will help the society to recognize their culture ii) Will make the society to be part and parcel of culture iii) The study will be an important requirement for researcher to be awarded diploma in journalism. iv) The research will be a corner stone for further research concerning a subject matter. 1.4) SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study will not reach a wider audience because of limitations of finance to cater for researcher’s trip and accommodation, and also time constraint, which hindered the researcher to travel faraway. The selection of study area will therefore based on the researcher’s convenience and available. 4 CHAPTER TWO 2.0)LITERATURE REVIEW Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use. The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user. Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need. Uses and gratifications theory takes a more humanistic approach to looking at media use. Blumler and Katz believe that there is not merely one way that the populace uses media. Instead, they believe there are as many reasons for using the media, as there are media users. According to the theory, media consumers have a free will to decide how they will use the media and how it will effect them. Blumler and Katz values are clearly seen by the fact that they believe that media consumers can choose the influence media has on them as well as the idea that users choose media alternatives merely as a means to and end. Uses and gratification is the optimist’s view of the media. The theory takes out the possibility that the media can have an unconscience influence over our lives and how we view the world. The idea that we simply use the media to satisfy a given need does not seem to fully recognize the power of the media in today’s society. cultural theory This term has been applied to diverse attempts to conceptualize and understand the dynamics of culture. Historically these have involved arguments about the relationship between culture and nature, culture and society (including material social processes), the split between high and low culture, and the interplay between cultural tradition and cultural difference and diversity. Cultural theory has also been marked by an engagement with concepts which have often been taken to cover some of the same ground signified by the notion of culture itself. Prominent here have been the concepts of ideology and consciousness (particularly its collective forms). 5 Mc Graw hill, 2008, stated that, “We must still recognize the way that various media shaping influence us, touching our emotions our lives, in advertising, media and world and then constant our lives we are influenced by media images by the reality they reveal to us” 6 CHAPTER THREE 3.0) RESEARCH DESIGN This study will use combination of methods to collect data, the primary data will be conducted by using structured interview, observation and questionnaire method while secondary data will be conducted by documented different documents. 3.1) POPULATION The population of this study will be married people from Ilala municipality . This study will be limited in the area because Ilala has big library for getting secondary data as well as researcher is living in that place. 3.2) SAMPLE AND SAMPLING This study will use both probability and non probability sampling techniques. Representative and a basis for generalizing the conclusion by using sample of 100 of local people as well as workers of Baraza la sanaa Tanzania (BASATA), students from high learning institutions. Researcher will interview about 50 % local people in different streets 40% students from high learning institution and 10% workers from BASATA. 3.3) STUDY AREA The study limited in, Ilala municipal. The study is limited in the area because the researcher has no enough money to conduct research through out the country. 7 3.4) INSTRUMENT OF COLLECTING DATA The researcher will use a number of ways in conduct research includes interview, observation and questionnaire method. The primary data will be conducted by using structured interview, observation and questionnaire method while secondary data will be conducted by documented different documents.