How Media Intertwines with Culture

Media and culture need each other to coexist. Furthermore, in today's society the media serves the interest of culture which is the vehicle of free speech in a diverse multicultural society. The media is part of our day to day lives inculturation in which the members of the society are used to the culture of television, radio, internet and any other forms that we use in viewing of the media of our culture.

Culture is the way of life led by a group of people as defined by their, language, religion, rituals, norms, behavior and values. It is simply a people’s way of living as distinct from other groups. Media is part of culture and culture is part of media for media practice takes place in a cultural context. Most people live their lives and learn to be what they are in their culture through what they see in the media. We can say media brings out aspects which are likely to be expected from people in different societies.

 For any medium to outline information or a story about a certain society, that medium first of all has to thoroughly understand their culture, basically how those people live. The media manages to create our cultural values, norms, rituals and religion and also further shapes us to have a perspective of our own way of life, religion, beliefs and the way we live in our different environments and backgrounds.

Media takes place in a cultural environment of any given society therefore resulting we say media is part of culture and culture is part of media because they interconnect together and are indispensable components in society. Our cultures are changing fast due to urbanization and globalization mainly being vehicled by the media in our societies. We have lost our culture as Zimbabweans, this comes due to the fact that we have so much adopted the western culture into our daily lives or we can simply say that we have been drugged by the aspect of Americanization.

We have so much relied our lives to the media that each and every little thing we do is because of the media because we live our lives exactly as to what the media expects us to do. We have local programs that broadcast on media television like Mai Chisamba Show which showcases on ZBC. This program talks about the norms and cultural rituals and practices that are expected of Zimbabweans. Fellow citizens watch this program and hence live to the expectations by Mai Chisamba who is the show host, and also live according to what other peers portray or bring out on the show.

Most Zimbabweans no longer rely on our local media news broadcasting programs like ZBC news and rather focus on other international global news networks. People state that the local news is too biased or not entertaining. They mostly listen to and watch media of the foreign nations mainly that of the western world, and as they do so, they slowly adapt their type of culture and at the same time destroy our own cultural values. Henceforth we say that media is part of culture and culture is part of media therefore they are indispensable components in the society.

In order to understand how the media has a great impact on our lives, we generally and first of all have to explore the cultural context in which the media operates and basically understand why it operates like that. Media is like surveillance for people within a society and it mirrors our cultural values and the way we live in our societies. For example call-in programs on Star FM radio station which is a platform where people within a society get together to share and resolve problems affecting them. So media also brings people together.

Culture may be defined as the symbols of expression that groups and societies use to make sense of our daily lives and to articulate their values. With the massive development and improvement of globalization, media and technology, it is practically difficult for most people to live without media in their daily lives for media mirrors the way we live. In essence we can say that media is part of culture and culture is part of media and these two components need one another for them to co-exist.