Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa by Winston Mano

Author:Winston Mano [Mano, Winston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780767062
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2015-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Television Industry: Structures and Disparities in Experience

From its inception in 1959, Nigerian television has been a tool of governance. The television industry consists of three types of station: those owned by the federal government, constituting the national network service; stations owned by state governments, which rival network affiliates, especially in democratic regimes; and independent (privately owned) stations. Certain audiences benefit from satellite and cable television services alongside the terrestrial service previously described. By viewing satellite stations, they may evade national broadcasts and programming planned for national unity.

There have been high aspirations for using television to educate audiences, transform society, offer entertainment and a view on the world. This required balance in programming, a distinction between the commercial imperatives of the television business and developmental motives necessitated by priorities of sponsoring governments. Being more affordable, entertainment programmes (both foreign and local) were favoured. The tendency to showcase folk productions (songs, dances) meant that particular ethnicities gained recognition. Attempts to reflect a federal programming character meant that at least three dominant groups featured regularly in network programmes. While shows like Village Headmaster (NTA, Lagos) and Masquerades (NTA, Enugu) acknowledged cultural diversity, Magana Ja Rice (NTA, Kaduna) was not as inclusive. In any case, characters reflected widely held ethnic stereotypes. Viewers may read cultural tolerance of states from these. Imported television programmes offered a common platform. Being sleek productions with portrayals of a better quality of life elsewhere, they called attention to the viewers’ unsatisfactory realities. These had the potential to entrench disenchantment for the nation, while spreading affection for distant places.

Fostering unity begins with those who staff television stations, but this is a challenge when NTA’s large size is considered. Staff are privy to disparate ethnic experiences, they even bear the burden of their groups as they compete to resource their local stations. The advertising revenue and public funds available to provincial broadcasters do not compare with that available at national headquarters or commercial centres. Similarly, because physical development across the nation is not uniform, location determines available infrastructural facilities. Disparities between the six zones (north-east, north-west, north central, south-east, south-west, south-south) tend to acquire political overtones, evoking ethnic sentiments and recalling other discontents. This is compounded when, as is inevitable in network television, imposed decisions are deemed to be in poor taste. Consequently, television supposed to promote patriotism inadvertently fuels parochial loyalties, even among television staff.

At the inception of a network service in 1976, Lagos was the operational headquarters. This held unsavoury connotations, when read along ethnic lines. While some saw Lagos as federal territory to which all citizens could have access and lay fair claim, others saw it as belonging to their particular region. The influx of others to their zone was tantamount to a usurping of their privileges. In spite of attempts to reflect federal character in appointments and promotions, the apparent dominance of staff from particular regions in senior management posts eroded confidence in fairness. This pattern mirrored what obtained in other public establishments, especially under military rule, thus it attested to claims that broadcasting was subjugated to the Northern hegemony.

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