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.
