GLOBAL MEDIA: ANALYSIS OF ITS IMPLICATION ON AFRICAN CULTURAL HERITAGE

ABSTRACT

Communication is an imperative component of human survival; and this singular factor of human existence can be found occurring at many different levels- intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, intercultural, etcetera. Because of the rate at which technology was being developed and improved, Marshal McLuhan in 1964 predicted that the world would soon become a “global village”, a prediction which many doubted its possibility of coming to pass, since it was difficult to comprehend then. But with a near speed of light, his prediction has come to fruition in our time. With the communication paraphernalia at the disposal of the western world, especially the USA and the United Kingdom, there is a wide gulf existing between the rich information North and the poor information South in terms of information sharing. This paper looks at global media and its implication on Africa’s cultural heritage, as well as its corollary effects on Africa’s development agenda. Adopting the discursive approach, contributions of several scholars on the theme of the paper were examined to establish the centrality of the subject matter at this point of Africa’s history. It concludes that there is an imbalance in the nature of global communication flow, a condition which is considered inimical for those societies at the receiving end-developing countries. It recommends that African leaders must first tackle the hydra-headed problem of corruption which would then set the stage for an objective assessment of the need for establishing global media outfits, capable of providing the true African narratives, in order to also put in place a contra-flow to the unbalanced existing model.    

Keywords: Media Culture Globalization