Final paper
Electronic media in Africa
by Alayne Moody
November 20, 2001
PART I: AFRICA, BEFORE AND DURING COLONIALISM
PART II: NATIONALISM & DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
INTRODUCTION
Humans occupied Africa before they occupied the Western world (i.e., Europe and North America), but it was westerners that developed and introduced electronic media in Africa. The central question I hope to answer is: how have electronic media affected Africa? But before getting into this question, I want to quickly address the question of why these innovations were introduced to Africans rather than developed by Africans. After all, Africans are, as a people, older than westerners, so the question presses: Why didn't Africans develop and introduce electronic media to Europeans, rather than vice versa?
Jared Diamond(1999) attempts to answer this kind of question in his book Guns, Germs and Steel. An ultra-brief summary of his analysis goes something like this: Environmental factors limited the availability of domesticable plants and animals. This inhibited food production, which in turn prevented the growth of large, socially stratified communities. Specialized occupations were not possible, and so advanced writing systems did not develop. The oral histories and communal memories of Africans, while functional on many levels, were not conducive to the accumulation of copious amounts of data stored in written records. As a result, the pace of technological innovation, driven by accumulated technical knowledge, was slower in Africa than in Europe, where conditions were more favorable for the development of writing.
So back to the central question of this paper: How have electronic media affected Africa? European colonization of Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries makes this question anything but simple. The first electronic mass medium, radio, did not drop out of the sky and land in the laps of stunned African villagers. Radio was not introduced to a virgin Africa. It was introduced to a continent that had been ravaged socially, politically, materially, and economically by foreigners for decades. Because African life was so altered from its natural condition by colonization, the effects of radio, and later of television and the Internet, cannot be discussed without giving significant attention to this overarching influence.
The first part of this paper will look at the traditional media of African: the oral, musical and visual methods of communication that developed in Africa in the place of writing and prior to the arrival of Europeans. It will then discuss the arrival of European colonists, their treatment of the indigenous people and some of the cultural shifts that occurred as a result of colonization. The second part will look at the role and perceived duty of the early press in nationalist movements. It will also review the history, nature, purpose, and effects of the broadcast media in Africa. Finally, it will review the state of diffusion of Internet technology in Africa. In my conclusion, I will review the major themes discussed in the paper, and I will identify what I see as the most profound effect of electronic media on African culture.
PART
I: AFRICA, BEFORE AND DURING COLONIALISM
Pre-colonial
Africa: Traditional communication systems
Before encountering Europeans, Africans had effective and complex systems of interpersonal and mass communication. In general, interpersonal and small group communications were more important than mass mediated communications. Messages typically passed from person to person until the information became widely diffuse; however, messages also went out to general audiences through callers, criers, bards and drummers (Doob, 1961).
Communication media were the tools employed by these people to facilitate conveyance of the messages. For example, the drum messenger's medium was the "talking drum." Callers, criers and bards frequently used whistles, bells, gongs or horns to attract audiences, but these instruments did not carry primary messages. As such, they cannot be considered true communication media. The callers, criers and bards were actually the media because they acted as the instruments of message conveyance. After choosing a time, usually in the evening, when people would have returned home from the fields, these messengers would sound the attention-getting tool to call people to assembly. At this point, they would announce their news, which often emanated from tribal chiefs or elders. (Doob, 1961).
Marketplaces served as important settings for the development of talking drums as a communication medium (Bohannon, 1964). Unlike town criers, drummers usually did not have the undivided, simultaneous attention of the entire intended audience. Rather, message recipients were passers-by who happened to be within earshot of the drums. To try to attract attention and guarantee comprehension, messages were drummed repeatedly. "No message of course can be called typical," Doob (1971) says, but notification of religious ceremonies or immediate safety threats are examples of messages that could be drummed (p. 246). Established, easily recognizable drum patterns enabled listeners to decipher messages, but information about novel events could be conveyed using new combinations of old patterns. Other instruments that could carry messages include whistles, horns, reeds, and wood cylinders called tom toms (Doob, 1971). Ugboajah (1985) describes a traditional form of music in Ghana called Adowa. This "oramedia" can convey sentiments through song and whole texts through drumbeat (p. 170).
Media that carried messages independent of a human purveyor (i.e., a drummer, caller, crier or bard) were functional objects, such as tools, or religious items, such as statues, that had been encoded with meaningful attributes (Doob, 1961). These permanently encoded media, akin to today's newspapers and magazines, took second seat to auditory communication in early Africans' communication repertoire. Spoken communication, often referred to as the oral tradition, was the predominant method for conveying messages, both for immediate consumption as well as for posterity.
Spoken language had other important uses. For example, differences in language or dialect demarcated social boundaries; people who spoke differently were considered 'others' (Hachten, 1971). Communication with 'others' (i.e., people from different tribes) was achieved silently. For example, during the Middle Ages, forest dwellers from the Guinea Coast traded gold for salt with Arabs from the Sahara region. These groups did not share a common language, but they managed their dealings through a communication ritual that became known as the "silent barter" (Hachten, 1971, p. 11).
In both silent and oral communications, facial expressions, non-verbal sounds (i.e., whistles, hums, claps, snaps, and hiccoughs), gestures (i.e., scratching, spitting, and hand signals) and physical attributes (i.e., dress, scarring, and posture) carried a great deal of meaning, not only about the message purveyor, but also about the message itself (Doob, 1961). Anthropologist Paul Bohannon observed in 1964, "Africa is a country on the move, and it appears that it always has been" (p. 213). The nomadic tendency of Africans coupled with the power of silent communication to overcome language barriers enabled effective diffusion of information across geographically large and culturally diverse regions.
Permanent media in the form of written works were uncommon in Africa because only two societies -- the Vai and the Mum, both in West Africa -- developed scripts (Hailey, 1957). Permanent media instead were masks, statues, and other objects that had a functional attribute in addition to carrying a message (Doob, 1961). Interestingly, these objects tended to be sculptural rather than flat. Doob (1961) relates, rather cautiously, anecdotal evidence indicating that Africans, probably because of lack of experience, may have had difficulty interpreting the flat media (i.e., paper, canvas and photography) introduced by colonialists. He cites "without comment" an observation made by the early 20th Century missionary Agnes Kenton Fraser:
Even pictures are hard to understand, as one realized watching an African woman standing before a photograph…and gradually discovering that it was a human head [she was seeing]. She discovered in turn the nose, the mouth, the eye, but where was the other eye? I tried by turning my profile to explain why she could only see one, but she hopped round to my other side to point out that I possessed a second eye, which the other lacked! (p. 104)
The African woman's apparent puzzlement probably stemmed more from her first experience with the realism of a flat photographic image. Although unusual, flat media were not unheard of in pre-colonial Africa. A traditional presentation media called flannelgraph allowed speakers to strategically place colorful flannel shapes on a flat, static surface, such as a blanket, to demonstrate a scenario or explain a subject (Doob, 1961).
Researchers have had difficulty studying the array of communication media available to Africans prior to the introduction of European technologies (Hachten, 1971). "The informal mechanisms of distributing information are difficult to locate, not because they lack a structure, but because their very informality makes them less conspicuous and hence less amenable to research" (Hachten, 1971, p. 11). Contributing to the difficulty of interpreting traditional modes of communication is the Western bias with which many researchers approach the topic. Because they were not raised within Africa's social, cultural, political, or communication tradition frameworks, they are unable to easily or thoroughly interpret them, especially those modes that are subtler. However, within the last few decades, African researchers have contributed to the study of traditional communication systems.
Ugboajah (1985) addresses the issue of cultural bias in the study of African communication systems, and he offers his analyses of traditional, or folk, media. "They take on many forms and are rich in symbolism," he says. "Folk media cannot therefore be conveniently separated from folk cultures in whose context the are significant" (p. 166). Although these traditional forms of communication fell from the ranks of mainstream media when colonialists arrived and installed their own communication systems, but Ugboajah asserts folk media, or oramedia, retained their significance to the indigenous masses.
The colonial period: European influence on African culture
European colonialism changed Africa's traditional social, economic, cultural and political organization. It introduced the seeds of modernization (and conflict) that blossomed during the later part of the 20th Century, especially after Africans regained their political sovereignty. The communication technologies introduced by colonists were certainly forces of change. Print and radio, in particular, played important parts in the push for independence and, later, in nation-building and development campaigns. But before discussing the effects of these media, it is important to address the cultural environment into which they were introduced.
Europeans introduced mass media "late in the game," that is, after they already had pioneered mining and farming industries and established colonial bureaucracies intended to support these industries (Bourgault, 1995, p. 23). In southern Africa, gold and diamond mining promised great profits, and in West Africa, iron was the anticipated cash cow. Plantations throughout Africa produced exotic fruits, coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber and other crops for export (Bourgault, 1995).
Colonial administrators greased the wheels of industry. Tax officials provided mines and plantations with cheap African labor by levying taxes on native people, who then were forced to find employment to pay the taxes. Army and police forces ensured stability and security for European civil servants, entrepreneurs and their families. Civil engineers built transportation infrastructure to facilitate industrial activities. Schools provided Africans with just enough math and literacy training to equip them for low-level administrative jobs within the colonial government (Bourgault, 1995). Colonizing countries said they intended simply to help get African countries on track for modernization and self rule, however colonists' exploitation of natural resources and their reluctance to leave suggest that philanthropic intentions were overstated.
Colonists' administrative practices had extensive effects on Africa's social, economic, cultural and political traditions. For example, taxes forced able-bodied men to give up village or family-oriented subsistence farming to take salaried work on plantation farms. As a result, Africa moved away from a barter economy toward a Western-style cash economy, which was (and remains) dependent on international markets and imported goods (Bourgault, 1995). Among the imported commodities on which Africa would later depend are Western radio and television programs.
The division between the urban, administrative class and the rural/proletariat classes is (arguably) the most profound effect of colonialism on modern Africa and its media systems. Colonists' education programs focused Africans students' attention outward, toward the West, rather than inward, toward their family's cultural heritage. Schools were often remote, requiring students to leave home, which disconnected them from traditional forms of social and cultural education as well as immediate and extended family members. Roles and rituals were forgotten or never learned. Returning home, even as an adult, would be rife with awkwardness because greeting rituals and family members’ names could not be recalled. Africa's children became outsiders within their own family systems. When, as adults, extended family members would come to the city looking for favors from disconnected relatives, feelings of resentment would arise because the Westernized relative (who generally had more to give) placed less value on traditional ideas about familial obligations (Bourgault, 1995).
Africans educated in the Western tradition also were taught to think in the linear style that evolved in Europe after development of the printing press by Guggenheim in 1490 AD. This further put them at odds with their rural brethren who were still accustomed to non-linear way of thinking that grew out of Africa's oral heritage. Also, native languages lost their saliency for Western-educated Africans.
Over time, a linguistic, social, cultural, and economic chasm grew between Africa's urban elite and its rural and proletariat masses. After independence, Western-educated Africans occupying low level administrative posts in the cities automatically assumed the higher level jobs and lifestyles left vacant by their departed European bosses. As a result, a political gulf also positioned itself between the groups. The defection of the urban African elite from traditional lifestyles and value systems is important because in controlling governance of the new African nations, it also controlled the growing mass media.
PART
II: AFRICAN NATIONALISM & DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
Mass
media & nation-building: The press' duty to the state?
Interpersonal media — telephone, post, and telegraph — allowed European administrators and expatriates to stay in touch with their families, friends, and colleagues, both on the African continent and in Europe. When mass media finally came on the scene, it was (again) used to serve the interests of white colonists, not black natives (Bourgault, 1995).
European-style printing presses came on the scene in Africa in the late 18th Century. Freetown, Sierra Leone, gained a press in 1794, however a French raiding party looted the town soon after delivery, which delayed press operation until after the turn of the 19th Century. By that time, printing presses had begun operating in Egypt and South Africa (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). At that time, newspapers were considered the most effective means of reaching the masses. Ziegler and Asante (1992) say early indigenous African papers were political and outspoken on the rights of Africans around the world. "Thus," they say, "Africans were galvanized toward independence and freedom by the media" (p. 12).
Because of the strong role of the media in moving toward independence, the proper role of the press in Africa came under debate during the 20th Century. Some African leaders, such as President Nkrumah of Ghana in 1963, argued that the press:
Must present and carry forward our revolutionary purpose…to establish a progressive political and economic system upon our continent that will free men from want and every form of injustice, and enable them to work out their social and cultural destinies in peace and at ease" (Quoted in Ainslie, 1967, p. 19).
In the revolutionary press paradigm, the African press was a direct instrument of revolutionary efforts. Coverage should "explain and inspire" revolution rather than criticize revolutionary agents or activities (p. 19). This is a view that shaped press systems in Algeria, Guinea, and Mali.
Others supported the notion of a press that is free of political obligations. In 1965, a newspaper editor named Kelvin Mlenga called newspapers owned and operated by the government "valueless" because a newspaper must "have freedom to disagree -- sometimes quite violently -- with Government policy" (Quoted in Ainslie, 1967, p. 19). Government control of media, however, became a standard in Africa, especially for radio stations, because the government was the only entity with enough money and educated personnel necessary to operate media outlets (Hachten, 1971).
Broadcast media: Characteristics, purposes and effects of African broadcast media
Introduction dates of radio in Africa vary by country. South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Kenya had radio broadcast systems in place in the 1920s; Zambia, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, in the 1940s; Burundi, Gambia, Swaziland, Rwanda, and Tanzania, in the 1960s (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). Adoption dates do not necessarily parallel those of printing technology. For example, although Sierra Leone had one of the first printing presses, the country did not have a radio system in place until the 1950s. Egypt and South Africa, on the other hand, held their position as early adopters of communication technologies by adopting radio in the 1920s, not long after it became widely adopted by Western audiences (Ziegler & Asante, 1992).
Adoption dates for television, likewise, are not consistent with adoption dates for printing and radio. For example, although Sierra Leone was quick to acquire and utilize printing technology, it lagged behind in terms of establishing a radio system; however, the country went on to pioneer television broadcasting in African by establishing a TV network in 1963 (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). Conversely, South Africa was quick to adopt print and radio technology, but the it was slow to establish a television system, something it did not do until 1972 (Ziegler & Asante, 1992).
Egypt comes out the winner in terms of consistent early adoption of communication technologies: it was among the first African countries to adopt print, radio and television. Egypt, however, has some characteristics that distinguish it from other African countries. For example, writing evolved on its own in the region occupied by Egypt (Diamond, 1999). The availability of papyrus, a material that could easily be transformed in to a writing medium "gave rise to a culture which (sic) exploited its natural resources to record its oral traditions" (Ziegler & Asante, 1992, p. 5). As a result, the region of Africa in and around Egypt may have followed a development path that is more similar than other areas of Africa to the development path of Europe.
Although Egypt differs from other African countries in this respect, it may not be fair to say that the country should be considered separately from the rest of the continent. Ziegler and Asante (1992) suggest that "myths, histories and values" were conveyed from southern African civilizations along the Nile to Egypt, and as a result, scholars must consider Egypt when trying to analyze communication traditions or modern mass media in Africa (p. 5).
Although most African countries operate radio systems, many have been slow to establish television systems. For example, in 1990, Somalia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Rwanda, and Gambia were still without a national television system (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). Because these countries adopted radio rather late, it may seem safe to make the generalization that late adoption of one medium suggests late adoption of subsequent media. However, this is not entirely true. As mentioned, South Africa adopted print and radio at relatively early dates, but national leaders were reluctant to adopt television because of concern that the medium would permit hegemonic influence from American and Britain programming and potentially unleash social conflict over policies of apartheid (Asante & Ziegler, 1992; Hachten, 1971).
Equatorial Guinea represents the flip side of the South Africa approach to adoption of media innovation. This west-central African nation never instituted a radio system, but in 1968 it ranked among the first African countries to establish a television system. Not only did the country leapfrog an entire generation of communication technology, but it beat comparatively sophisticated countries, such as South Africa, to the punch in terms of adopting television (Ziegler & Asante, 1992).
Because radio programming is inexpensive and relatively easy to produce, it is far more diffuse in African than television. Fewer trained and salaried individuals are required to run a radio station; production, distribution and reception technology for radio signal is more affordable for radio station owners and listeners; and programming in various languages is much easier to achieve. This is particularly important because more than 1,000 languages exist on the continent (Ngwainmbi, 1999).
Government ownership is even more common for African broadcast media than for print media . The high cost of operating these stations is one factor inhibiting private ownership. In addition, most African governments are compelled to take responsibility for broadcast operations because they perceive radio and television as important tools for social and economic development planning (Ziegler & Asante, 1992). Although governments incur giant expenses for this commitment to mediated development, most have refused to let commercial advertisers help foot the broadcast bill. Ziegler and Asante (1992) explain this policy as an attempt "to maintain national integrity and keep consumerism under control" (p. 60).
Broadcast media in Africa are also highly centralized in urban areas where people are "socially, educationally, politically, economically, and informationally" more advantaged than people in outlying regions (Ziegler & Asante, p. 60). Some exceptions to this rule are Botswana, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, all of which have central broadcast operations or powerful radio transmitters that can reach their most rural constituents.
One of the main motivations for government broadcast efforts is nation-building, with an emphasis on promoting education, socioeconomic development and cultural identity. Since the 1970s, there also has been increased emphasis on restoring the prominence of traditional values (Katz & Wedell, 1977).
Education is predominant among the reasons for national radio and television programming. Numerous experiments testing the efficacy of mass-mediated education have been carried out with the help of the UNESCO, UNDP and World Bank. Scholar Wilbur Schramm, like other visionaries, had great hopes for the marriage of mass media and education:
To a country where highly trained teachers are scarce [the mass media] offer the opportunity to share its best teachers widely. Where few teachers are trained to teach certain subjects, these media offer the hope that those subjects can be taught even before qualified teachers become available. Where projectors and films are scarce, television can serve as a ‘big projector’ for hundreds of schools at a time. And where schools are not yet available for people who, for one reason or another can not got to school, radio and television can offer some educational opportunity without schools" (Schramm, 1964, p. 164).
Some of the best documented media-education studies went forward in the Ivory Coast, Niger, and Senegal; but most of these studies yielded results that would disappoint Schramm. Problems of reception, though far less severe for radio than television, have greatly limited the effectiveness of radio and television education programs. In addition, the poor quality of most educational programming has meant that teachers are reluctant to incorporate the material into their lesson plans. For example, in the late 1950s, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation used $250,000 granted by the Ford Foundation to produce a series of five hundred instructional television programs, which were produced over the course of 18 months. Most of these programs were of such low quality that the money and effort invested in their production was largely "wasted" (Katz & Wedell, 1977, p. 124). Also, inadequate support from regional ministries of education contributed to the program’s failure (Katz & Wedell, 1977).
Government use of media for socioeconomic development, sometimes characterized as modernization, shows more satisfying results, but uncertainties remain. Katz and Wedell (1977) point out that non-media variables, such as those typical in the Western world (i.e., schooling, proximity to urban areas, personal ambition, and openness to innovation) introduce "noise," which makes it difficult to ascertain the role of mass media in socioeconomic progress.
Despite the empirical uncertainty, Katz and Wedell (1977) reserve much credit for radio and television. The few studies pertaining their role in socioeconomic development show a strong correlation between media use and "modernizing attitudes and practices" (Katz & Wedell, 1977, p. 182). Literacy and political participation also correlate strongly with broadcast media consumption. Other indicators of modern attitudes and behaviors include social and political empathy and innovativeness on the farm and in the home, variables that also correlate significantly to use of mass media. However, as noted above, other variables (i.e., social status) reduce the correlation. One scholar, Frederick Frey, suggested looking for relationships between two sets of variables categorized as either "exposure to change" (i.e., education, mass media exposure, proximity to urban areas) or "cognitive flexibility" (i.e., empathy, open-mindedness, and innovativeness) (Katz & Wedell, 1977, p.183).
Using use of some kind of non-media field support for mass-mediated development messages helps maximize effectiveness. For example, efforts to change farming practices are more successful if instructional radio programs are supplemented with agricultural trainers who work hand-on with rural farmers. Katz and Wedell (1977) say the same is true of other kinds of development programming relating to family planning, health, and literacy programs. "It is an error to exaggerate the power of radio and television to induce change by themselves," they say (p. 184). Field support that reinforces the mediated message and permits discussion and feedback is one catalyst for powerful media effects.
Community viewing centers, such as those run by the Broadcasting Network of Northern Nigeria, serve the dual purpose of making television available to the rural masses and providing an interactive forum to reinforce development messages. Katz and Wedell (1977) compare these centers to group psychotherapy sessions in which individuals benefit from personalized attention. Tanzania and Senegal have also realized marked success with group television-viewing and radio-listening programs. For example, in Senegal, twice-weekly broadcast conversations between rural development experts and villagers consumed in group settings stimulated discussion between audience members (Katz & Wedell, 1977). This reinforced the messages and therefore strengthened their effects. Listeners had the opportunity to submit letters to the program producers. Some of these letters were read and answered on follow-up shows, thereby heightening the interactivity and effectiveness of the media message (Katz and Wedell, 1977).
Despite the evidence showing that broadcast media help promote modernization of attitudes and behavior, critics assert that the effects are minimal. Robert Hornik, for example, argued in 1975 that evidence failed to show that mass media were responsible for wide-scale changes on the individual or national level (Katz and Wedell, 1977).
During the early years of broadcast introduction, national media planners were most interested in the educational and socioeconomic factors cited above, however toward the last quarter of the 20th Century, concern about the apparent fading of traditional cultural values in favor of Western values prompted a second look at entertainment-oriented radio and television content. Observations by the African elite drove this reexamination of program content:
They saw people around them adapting their farming to cash crops, only to find their children moving to the city. They see people listening to radio, viewing television, beginning to dress differently, and whistling Western songs. They see people accepting the idea that some part of the future is in their own hands and abandoning some of the ancient arts and crafts. Even those most committed to modernization sometimes ask whether there are no more authentic forms of response to change than the wholesale adoption of Western popular culture" (Katz & Wedell, 1977, p. 192).
Entertainment programming typically had been perceived by planners as diversionary, a way for listeners and viewers to escape the hardships of life. Entertainment was not taken very seriously from a planning point of view because it did not clearly relate to development efforts. However, when it became clear that imported entertainment programs were laden with Western values that were being assimilated by African audiences, the need for original entertainment shows became salient (Katz & Wedell, 1977). This was particularly true of television programs, which were usually imported because of high production costs that African broadcast operations could not afford.
The Internet: State of diffusion
In November 2000, Eritrea became the last African country to gain Internet access, which brought the entire continent, including all 54 countries and territories under the Internet umbrella (Jensen, 2001). At least fifty-three of these areas receive Internet service via satellite (Intelsat, 2001). Within each country, however, Internet access is available only in the biggest cities. Some countries have established points of presence (POPs) in secondary regions, however only about 250 of these sites, 100 in South Africa alone, exist throughout the entire continent (Jensen, 2001). In addition, telephone systems in 18 countries permit dial-up Internet from remote areas for the cost of a local call, thereby keeping the cost of Internet access low for people living in outlying regions (Jensen, 2001).
Internet Service Providers report about 1,300,000 accounts across the African continent, however, about 750,000 subscribers live in South Africa, leaving only about 550,000 distributed among the remaining countries (Jensen, 2001). The estimated number of users per account is estimated between three and five, bringing the total number of African Internet users to about 4 million, 63% of which live in one country: South Africa (Jensen, 2001). In general, these figures work out to about one Internet user for every 200 people, which is far lower than the worldwide average of 1 Internet user for every 30 people (Jensen, 2001).
In 1999, 120 newspapers and magazines maintained an Internet presence (Jensen, 2001). In addition, a growing number of Internet-only news services, such as newafrica.com and allafrica.com, occupy space on the information superhighway (Jensen, 2001). African journalists are not making great use of Internet technologies for news production, however groups like the West African News Media and Development Centre offer training on computer-assisted reporting (Jensen, 2001). Meanwhile, international journalists working in Africa make ample use of Internet connectivity for transmitting reports, including fully edited radio reports (Jensen, 2001).
Ngwainmbi (1999) recommends the use of new media, such as the Internet, to "foster unity and progress" (p. 113). He criticizes the urban and administrative elite for allowing themselves to become disconnected from the African masses, but he says the gap can be closed through responsible new media policies that facilitate communication between citizens and government and reduce the need for extensive government bureaucracies. Downsizing the government will stimulate growth in the private sector, reduce citizens' sense of dependency on government, increase the number if middle income jobs, and encourage free enterprise (Nwainmbi, 1999).
CONCLUSION
The effects of mass media on Africa are so intertwined with the effects of colonization on Africa that it is difficult to discern where colonization effects end and mass media, especially electronic media, effects begin. However, looking at the general themes that arise from the sections on pre-colonial, colonial and revolutionary periods of Africa's history gives some insight. Pre-colonial history tells us that interpersonal, interactive, oral forms of communication are most natural for Africans. Colonial history tells us imposing Western perspectives on Africans triggered a social shift that resulted in an enormous rift between Africa's western-educated elite and its masses. A review of revolutionary-era history indicates that support for nation-building is expected to some degree from the mass media, particularly the electronic media.
A review of the nature, purpose and effects of broadcast media indicate that education of the rural masses may not be possible because of inadequate infrastructure (i.e., transmitters) and equipment (i.e., unworkable radios). It also tells us that the most effective development approaches involve interactivity, either through discussion among audience members, Q & A with broadcasters, or field support. Finally, we learn from the review of African broadcasting, that the cost of television broadcasting is much higher than radio broadcasting. Footing the bill for television taxes cash-strapped governments. However, Western television imports have deleterious effect on traditional African culture, which makes governments want to produce programs in-country.
In terms of Internet diffusion, we see that this new medium is rapidly making its way into Africa. Satellite connectivity and special Internet-only rates for long-distance offer promise for even quicker diffusion. The Internet can deliver audio messages, as well as written messages (in a vast array of languages), using interactive components. The cost of producing television-like material for the Web is relatively inexpensive. Ngwainmbi (1999) points out that the gulf between the elite class and the masses can be bridged using this media. It would seem that expansion of Internet accessibility in Africa, in both urban and rural areas, might be the key to harnessing the positive development effects for which African governments have been hoping. Ngwainmbi (1999) points out one roadblock to further expansion of the Internet through Africa: Energy. He says at present, Africans consume only a fraction of the energy consumed by people in other countries. In addition, Africa produces enough fossil fuel to be self-sufficient if only the people of Africa could afford to energy bills. If a solution can be found to this economic problem, Africa's development goals can be largely achieved through connecting the rural masses to the information superhighway.
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