Media and Communication

History
BJC 125
 Week 1: What is media studies
• It is the systematic, critical and analytical study of
the media ( television, radio, press, video, film,
internet) as the major producers and disseminators
of symbolic meanings ( content) to the public, a
group, an organization or individual.
Media and Communication history
• Study of the past.
• Why study the past
• Its in the sense of living in a society that is
characterized by change ( unending change)
that creates an historical sensibility –the
feeling of difference between now and then.
• How have these changes between past and
present come about.
 Attitude to the past
• Karl Marx once remarked, “man make their
own history, but not of their own free will; not
under circumstances they themselves have
chosen but under the given and inherited
circumstances with which they are directly
confronted. The tradition of the dead
generations weighs like a nightmare on the
minds of the livings ( Marx 1973 p146)
 Importance of media history
• It investigates the owners of the media, the
producers of media content, media content
itself, and the users ( readers, listeners, viewers).
• Looks at power relationship between the media
and politics, media and culture, media and
economy, media and society
• It looks also at the relationship between media
and democracy, and freedom of expression as a
prerequisite for democracy
 Media as technologies
• Marshall McLuhan thought of all media ( speech, writing, print,
radio , TV, etc) as an human tools or resources and called them
extension of man.
• These have developed in different times to extent what the
human brain can do through writing and telecast, as shall seen
later.
• Writing:
• The system of writing, developed as means of co-ordinating
and controlling human activities across extended time and
space.
• Writing is a system of record; a way of putting things down so
that;
• A) information can be transmitted over great distances ( space)
• B) can be preserved ( in time) as a record of what was said and
done.
Week 2: Issues in media and communication history

• Computers
• Video and DVD
• Cable and satellite
• Print media
 Computers
• 1970 computers were large and mainly used by
governments departments.
• At individual level computers have hade liberating
effect, allowing individuals immediate access to
information, and control over writing and publishing
own work.
• This invention was promoted by private capital and
dominated by USA.
• Information was a commodity and raised questions
about ownership of data, control of access, and
copyright.
• Moral concerns were raised about the effects of
 Video and DVD
• Video –recording changed both production and
reception of television in developed countries from
the mid 1970.
• It focused on the importance of leisure within the
domestic environment.
• The pop –video become the mainstay of popular
music programmes, becoming an art form in its own
right.
• Domestic recording of programmes allowed time –
shifting in viewing, selection of parts of programmes
including fast –forwarding.
• By 1980 Digital Video Disc (DVD) became the form
of recording and delivery by turn of the century.
 Cable and satellite communication
• Satellite broadcasting involves producing signals
to be distributed on a cable system.
• By 1970 these dominate in USA and provided
better reception of and greater diversity than
terrestrial channels.
• Cable system were funded by subscription, thus
offered diversity in content and services such as
home shopping and banking facilities.
• The economic importance of cable was
maintained during Thatcher government in
Britain. The motivation of cable by government in
USA and Britain was much to do with profits.
 Print Media
• By 1970 the role of newspapers changed with
the emergence of television as primary source
of information.
• The primary cost of newspaper were labor and
newsprint, and seemed to grow adverting
revenue seemed to decline.
• Attempts to cut labour were meant with
resistance with technical unions
 Week3: Media and politics

• Press and politics

• The history of the printing press from the state
show a sharp power struggle over the control
of the presses themselves.
• The press was new powerful tool for
information availability.
• Because of this religious and political found it
important to control these instrument debate.
• In 16 century in Europe print has an important
tool of propaganda mainly to denounce and
vilify the enemy –depending on whose side you
were on.
 Press and politics
• Government sought to keep tight control on printing
presses.
• In England presses could be setup and operated legally
under license from the Crown.
• Habermas and press development
• To him the growth of modern democratic politics, public
opinion and newspapers press are all intimately
connected.
• Newspapers developement conceded with the growth of
a new social group or class, the bourgeoisie based on
their economic independence in Britain.
• The class developed new form of understanding that
had to be expressed through new forms of writing –in
 Habermas and press development
• The role of newspapers was crucial in the formation,
circulation and debate of opinion on political matters.
• The very notions of the “public interest”, the right to
know- which are central to any theory of democratic
function of newspaper –emerged at this time.
• Historically in all countries content of newspapers fall
into three broad categories
• Information (intelligence) about trade and business -
economic news
• Information about and discussion of political life and
affairs –political news
• Information about and discussion of what is going on
 Broadcasting and political discussion
• Broadcasting stated on a local basis but expanded
into a national system.
• The institutional arrangement have differed from
country to country.
• But there were two dominate forms to the
economic challenges mainly to do with funding the
media.
• In USA it was funded by advertising and developed
by a small number of nationally networked
commercial services.
• In UK, it developed as a state regulated public
service (BBC) financed by an annual license fee
levied on all household with a radio receiver.
 Week 4: Media History in USA
• Broadcasting
• Broadcasting was the only form of mass communication for which the
federal government created a regulatory body.
• Federal Radio Commission of 1927 led to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) of 1934 which brought together all areas of
telecommunications.
• It had responsibility of awarding franchises (licenses) to radio and T.V
stations
• Considering cross –media and chain ownership of stations, as well as
monitoring performance of the stations.
• The move toward de –regulation of broadcasting was not accompanied
with recognition of changing character of the environment.
• This move of de –regulation posed problems for public television in the
USA since it had no guaranteed access to cable or network stations
 Broadcasting continued

• Ted Turner creator of CNN took advantage of these

changes and began to distribute the output of his
Atlanta station WTTBS via satellite to cable
subscribers across the USA in 1976.
• Turner enterprise was small in relation to the power of
three main networks (NBC,ABC,CBS) which had
dominated USA broadcasting from 1940s.
• Although they remained key players in the market,
changes in technologies, de –regulation and
expansion of international market for television
programme required substantial changes in financing
and organization.
 Print media
• Print have always been characterized by a legal
position based on the first Amendment of the
constitution.
• When this was combined with the Freedom of
Information Act , and the availability of
computing facilities, possibilities for
investigative journalism were increased
substantially as more data could be analysed
with increased speed.
 Cinema
• By 1920 USA cinema had been recognized as
crucial element in the representation of America
society to itself.
• Between 1950 and 1960s film industry entered
crisis period due to expansion of television.
• In 1970 and 1980s news strategies were required
to find a place for cinema films within the range of
leisure activities available to the consumer.
• In 1983 the acquisition of Columbia Studios by
Coca Cola marked a clear convergence of
consumer and leisure industries to take advantage
of the growing market in domestic entertainment
 continued Cinema
• Sonny had acquired substantial assets, particularly a
back library of films, as well as a theatre chain.
• Sony deal reflected the further convergence of
domestic leisure industries as a principal maker of
electrical hardware diversified into production.
 Broadcasting and political discussion
• Before WWII, radio was the only truly modern,
electrical appliance owned in the majority of
British household.
• Before broadcasting all public were particular,
such religious (church attendance), political
publics, cultural publics, entertainment publics
(theatre, cinema), sporting, etc
• .
• T.V and radio gave magic, instant,
simultaneous access to each of these event to
publics that assembled.
The British Media
 Week 5: Media history in Britain
• Print Media History
• After conservative party came to power
legislation was quickly passed to control the
activities of trade unions in Britain.
• 1980 Eddie Shah challenged the print unions
by using non –union labour in his industrialised
printing plant.
• Shah epitomized the opportunities for the small
entrepreneur in Britain in 1980 and become a
model for the new brand of aggressive
individualism promoted by the government
 Print Media Continued

• Attempts to bring new technology into fleet street by

newspapers management in 1970s failed because of;
• Inability to satisfy all unions interests
• Fear of losing even more money through industrial
disputes.
• In 1977 and 1979 Times newspapers ( TN) failed to
carry out a thorough reorganization of its production
under pressure from owners.
• The tactic used by TN was to threaten the closure of the
papers if agreements with all unions were not
forthcoming.
• Any victory claimed by management was pyrrhic, and
due to massive loses the paper was sold to Rupert
 Media history continued
• Cozy/warm relationship enjoyed by journalists were
destroyed forever as proprietors followed Murdoch’s lead
in utilizing news technologies.
• Custom –built in premises working within an even more
intensively competitive commercial environment were
developed.
• Advent of technology was exploited by
proprieties/politeness to maximize their profits and led to
further concentrations of ownership.
• Apart from Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell with
publishing background, other acquired newspapers to
complement a property or industrial portfolio.
• Ownership of newspaper was seen as an opportunity to
 Broadcasting media history
• The monopoly given of local radio to BBC in 1960s
was challenged by the development of commercial
stations in 1970s.
• By 1979 the face of British television was also
changing.
• 1982 a fourth national television channel was
established, funded by commercial companies as a
commissioning agency for programmes rather than
a producer.
• It was intended to cater for minority interests that
were not covered in normal commercial coverage.
 Broadcasting media history continued
• BBC became the focus of much of the antagonism/bitterness
of the government towards broadcasters in the early 1980s.
• Two conflicts acted as sources of complaint, and both were
concerned with the definition of Britain as a nation.
• One was the dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands
in 1982.
• Immediate television coverage had been impossible since
broadcast journalists were unable to use a satellite link with
Britain because of military necessity.
• Lack of immediacy was crucial to news management by the
government, and hampered factual reporting by television
journalists.
Week 7: Media History in Soviet Union
• By 1980 communist leaders were aware they were
presiding over a society facing imminent economic
collapse and challenged with technology of USA.
• They did not seek to compete with USA, but they were
losing the propaganda war.
• The leaders were portrayed as barbaric and uncaring was
difficult to counter since they created access to news
agencies nor had required public relations skills .
• Mihhail Gorbacheve though not a capitalist understood
the importance of image.
• He emphasised that there would be no progress without
informed criticism and secrecy of the moribund/decling
soviet bureaucracy had to be replaced by open discussion
based on Lenin’s ideas about the role of the press.
 Media History in Soviet Union Continued
• The first major test of “glasnost” was the
response to the explosion of the nuclear reactor
at Chernobyl in the Ukraine on 26 April 1986.
• It was ten day before the soviet government
produced information about the true scale of
the disaster which had affected countries
throughout Europe.
• In this it was less frank than other governments
had been in the face of nuclear disasters,
notably the USA, but it was a crucial part of the
learning process by which information was
 Media reforms in USSR
• Attempts to restructure Soviet media is in categories
three;
• First,1986 to 1990, leaders encouraged criticism
from the news media, emphasizing constructive
nature of issues rather than its perception as
dissidence.
• Secondly 1990 August involved the passing of
legislation which ended the party monopoly control
of the media
• The legislation opened up opportunities for criticism
of the whole political system and reflecting on the
setting up of new political parties.
• It was difficult for the opponents of reforms to halt
 Media reforms in USSR continued
• The third phase after 1991 was in the context of Russia
society coming to terms with the break up of the
certainties of communist authoritarian rule in the USSR,
• Emergence of virulent nationalism, and
• Definition of the role of the media in development of
capitalist, democratic Russia.
• Its very difficult to judge the long term effects of mass
media particularly television in development process in
Russia or USSR.
• The East German population were fully aware of the
changes taking place around them from viewing western
television.
• In this regards there were no attempts by the GDR
authorities to jam broadcasters from mid 1980’s
 Media reforms in USSR continued
• In Romania, a demonstration organized by
Ceausescu to show popular support turned into
a rebellion on live television with disastrous
results for the regime.
• It was not only internal audiences which were
influenced by what they saw, but also a world
wide audience through CNN reporting live from
 Week 8: Media development in Africa
• Different patterns of media development:
• In Africa there have been enormous differences
between countries in their capacity to develop and
support advanced and diversified systems of mass
media and cultural production-due to the following
factors;
• The level and extent of industrialization. Countries like
Kenya, South Africa and Egypt have experienced
greater industrialization than is general in the content.
• Large population size has usually been translated into
larger domestic audiences e.g in Nigeria.
• The availability of capital through private and state
sources for media development and cultural
Different patterns of media development continued

• The level of development of distribution networks and an

infrastructure for mass communications and cultural
production is important.
• The formation of a diversified intelligentsia which is able to
provide a substantial creative base for cultural production
and communications is a key factor in mass media
development.
• Need of a pool of skilled technical and other communication
industry personnel, and the provision of training facilities for
their production.
• State policies which have either facilitated or hindered the
development of investment in mass communication
 Linguistic variety

• Within individual African countries there are many

different native languages, some of which have multiple
dialects.
• Nigeria for example has more than 236 languages and
Congolese ( formerly Zaire) has more than 500 different
local languages, Uganda has more than 100 languages.
• Within the region, there are contiguous countries that
may not have a common foreign language
• The implications are obvious, not only are prospects for
local newspapers in indigenous language dim, but also
the market for the large circulation pan –regional
publications is not there.
 Media distribution
• A big market in Africa tend to have more media institutions.
• For the print media Egypt takes the lead with a total of 266
newspapers, magazines and other periodicals.
• The link between colonialism and the media is still a strong
influence in contemporary media landscape in Africa.
• For instead broadcasting, French established a chain of relay
stations in most of their African territories, so even today it
is possible to receive programmes that have been centrally
produced and relayed from France.
• With the British policy of indirect rule, the media in British –
controlled areas were more independent and often took a
strong nationalist stand on many political issues.
 Media regulation
• Media have been under some form of
regulation or government control through
• Direct legislation requiring newspapers and
magazines to be registered
• Or indirect mechanism as special taxes on the
newsprint and others printing materials.
• Until recently, broadcasting would be owned
operated and controlled by government
 Week 9: Media development in Africa continued
• Consumption
• Modern mass media are still urban phenomena, even though the
transistor radio has now become common in rural areas as
well .African newspapers are widely read mostly by the educated
residents of urban centers who some time share the newspaper
stories with their less –educated neighbors or relatives.
• Satellite dishes come in all shapes and sizes, and are becoming
as numerous as television antennae.
• At first satellite dishes turned to be status symbols for government
officials.
• But today they can be afforded by anybody who can build his or
her own house.
• Those who cannot afford they is a free substitute in the relay of
international satellite broadcasting programmes through local
television stations
 Sources of Revenues
• Media in Africa rely on subscription/circulation sales,
advertising and subvention, for their revenues.
• Large circulation newspapers like The Nation in Kenya, The
Punch and The Vangaurds of Nigeria realize a substantial
portion of their running costs from daily sales by their
circulation department.
• High circulation figures for print media, and high listenership
and viewership for the broadcast media, are translated into
high advertising rates.
• Many media are adopting marketing techniques not only in
positioning themselves appropriately, but also in promoting
their various clients.
• Privatization and commercialization are leading many
proprietors to demand high levels of efficiency from media
managers.
 Market features
• Modern mass media were introduced into African
through the forces of colonialism,
mercantilism/commercialism and religious
proselytism/persuation .
• As a result they were seen as elitist.
• Early newspapers were designed to keep the
colonialist and their missionary companions abreast
of development in the mother country.
• Because the colonialist and missionary worked hand
in hand, the political and religious features of the
media were not easily separable.
• Even in their content, the early media did not want
to sharp distinction between political and religious.
 Principal Market trends
• Media in Africa were motivated by the desire to use their
publications as tools for the nationalists campaigns that led to
independence.
• For example Jomo Kenyata in Kenya, Nnamdi Azikiwe in Nigeria
and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana used the media to help achieve
their political ambitions.
• Today financial gain has become the main aim for establishment
of media institutions, though some politicians still find that media
ownership brings some free publicity.
• The increasing wave of private sector initiatives,
commercialization and privatization of public companies and
internationalization of Africa business have increased the demand
for advertising space and time in the African media.
• Use of promotion is aimed at attracting more readers, listeners
and viewers, as well as assisting advertisers to be more
competitive in their sectors of the market
 Transnational Activity
• Media in Africa hardly carried beyond the national
boundaries because of the limitations in signal strength.
• Modern media are not restricted by geographical or political
boundaries.
• Content features:
• Most content pays attention to politics.
• It also pays attention to international trends of reporting
public affairs, which often starts and ends with politics.
• Sports was also an important area of coverage in African
print media, while on radio and TV it accounted for much as
25% of the total news times.
• Technology: Now computer facilities now make it easy for
newspapers and magazines to be designed and produced
at a faster speed than before.
 Week 10: Media and Pro –social development in Africa

• Media in Africa were born out seriousness/sincerity, to this day

they are expected to be deployed for pro-social development.
• As Ekweile (1978) notes every government no matter what its
ideological stripe, recognises some of role for the
communication media in national development.
• Print and electronic media have been found very useful in
development efforts relating to political education, adult and
formal education, values orientation
• mental attitude, civic issues and adoption of new ideas and
techniques.
• Social Concerns:
• Concerns about loss of state power, and fear that the media can
be used for factional and unpatriotic purposes has led to
continuing concerns by African government about press freedom
 Social Concerns continued

• In countries where private broadcasting has been

allowed, the stations are often low –powered by design,
to restrict the coverage to only a small geo –political
area.
• While the print are closely monitored.
• Many African countries have a bad record in their
treatment of journalists and exercise strict control over
how the media operate.
• South Africa was so, far the only exception.
• The African public appears to have accepted that most
of the media institutions represent overt/open or
 Ownership and control
• There are two major owners and controllers of
media in Africa.
• Government dominated the establishment and
control of early media.
• Involvement of private entrepreneurs in media
now quite long standing and dates back to pre
–independence period, through harassment
from government, low level of profits and
changing fortunes of individual proprietors
undermined significant expansion.
 Alternative Media
• The internet and other mechanism of the information
superhighway provide better alternative methods and
opportunities for sharing information with selected
audiences, without the sanction of the general public/or
state controllers of the mainstream media.
• Alternative media are/where very resilient and many of
them have survived years of repression and harassment
from government by having extremely mobile operations.
• In 1994, the federal government provided “look like”
copies of mainstream magazines (especially Tell and
African Concord) filled with pro –government articles.
• Many alternative media were believed to be sponsored
by foreign interests such as prodemocracy groups,
 Media Professionals
• Early African institutions did not have well –trained
professionals since the opportunities for
preparation in journalism were limited.
• Job differentiation and various cadres of
professionals in media requires specialization in
specific areas of communication.
• Today nearly every new employee in African media
institutions is university graduate.
• However, most of highly graduated experts have
trained from USA and Europe, thus depriving Africa
of the benefit of their training
 Week 12: Media development in East
Africa
• Media in Kenya (brief history)
• After some initial experimentation with private participation in
the running of the electronic media, state ownership was
established for both radio and television.
• The fact that electronic media were directly funded by
government limited their activities.
• Repression and privatisation
• The press which was privately and substantially foreign
owned has been subject to state intervention throughout the
post –independence period.
• The intervention has taken many forms, including detention
and deportation of journalists, intimidation, forced
resignations of editors and withdraw of government
advertising.
 Repression and privatization
• These interventions were part of state repression by the
ruling KANU ( Kenya Africa National Union) as way of
dealing with growing inequalities, tensions and conflicts
including class and regional ones.
• By 1980s funding of voice of Kenya television had
reached a crisis point –due declined advertising revenue.
• Yet advertising revenue for radio was sufficient.
• The challenge with TV was weather to import
programmes, which would be costly given declining
exchange rates and balance of payments problem.
• The privatisation of Kenyan television occurred
essentially as a double –prolonged way, i.e.
• Through creation of a new television channel, Kenya
television Network
Repression and privatization continued
• Secondly through restructuring of the voice of Kenya
as the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and giving
it increased responsibility for its own financial affairs.
• This represented a paradox since the Kenya
Television Network was owned by the Kenya Times
Media Trust whose majority shareholder is KANU,
Kenya ruling party.
• The channel was in competition with the state –run
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation which, as part of
its restructuring in 1989, has given all responsibility
for licensing radio and television sets and excepted
to run on commercial footing.
 Media in Tanzania( brief history)
• The government of Tanzania shortly after independence
decided that national press should be given greater priority
than radio.
• It was decided that capitalist newspaper production with its
news and entertainment values and dependence on advertising
revenue could not be reconciled with socialist transformation.
• In 1972 the English –language party newspaper The Nationalist
which had been heavily subsidized by government was merged
with the nationalized Standard to form the Daily Nation
• Originally both the Nationalist and Uhuru had been established
to give TANU and its government a mouthpiece both in
Tanzania and in the outside world.
• The preference of the press over radio had rested largely on
the belief that it was a more effective means of communication
 Media in Tanzania( brief history)
• continued
This preference probably reflected the fact that many key TANU
( Tanganyika African National Union) personnel were wedded to the
printed word due to;
i. partly because of their formal education,
ii. and partly because had been involved in print journalism and production
of political pamphlets and nationalists tracts in the years leading up to
independence.
• In the early Tanzanian independence state and party policy towards mass
media began to crystallize with more emphasis on radio.
• The call for greater state control of the inadequately funded Tanganyika
Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) preceded independence and become
more strident as critics within TANU argued that broadcasting had
become a vital information arm of government.
• The Tanzania government ( Mytton 1993, p.102) suggests has been
marked by a mixture of elitism and anti –elitism in its mass media policies.
• Print media was characterized with an elitism attitude and this has not
been for radio and television
 Media development in Uganda
• Modern mass media was introduced and developed its
peculiar characteristics during British Colonial rule in
Uganda.
• Colonial media legislation was enacted to control and
monitor the power of the media, and this influenced
the direction of media development in Uganda into two
broad traditions.
• The first was the emergence of an activist media
encompassing a broad spectrum of militancy.
• This ranged from engagement with socio-economic
issues of the day to political activism.
 Media development in Uganda
continued
• The second was an anodyne media tradition of
not crossing the line set by Government and
lulling the feared ‘monster’ of media control and
censorship to sleep.
• the focus was on celebrating the status-quo
and engaging in issues that were diversionary,
such as social gossip or religious news, and
not touching the Government policies and
procedures.
Colonial rule and media organization in
Uganda
• The history of media independence in Uganda is thus a
discourse on the politics of power and governance that
highlights a continuum of conflict between the media and
Government on the one hand, and within media on the other.
• As long as Uganda remained a British Protectorate, all
activities, including those of the burgeoning media, had to
converge with the interests of the Colonial Government.
• The White ideological mindset of British Colonialists, like Sir
Gerald Portal, Sir Fredrick Lugard and Sir Harry Johnston (who
signed the 1900 Uganda Agreement), who came to Uganda to
impose British Colonial rule, influenced how the media in
Uganda was organized and managed.
 Colonial rule and media organization in
Uganda
• Colonial media laws enacted across the British Empire
helped to put into context the governance mindset of
Colonial Great Britain and the coercive nature of its
imperial power on media operations.
• A number of laws were introduced in Uganda such;
• The Newspapers Surety Ordinance No. 9 of 1910 .
• Press Censorship Ordinance No. 4 of 1915 and 1949
to protect British information world war 1.
• Sections 39, 40 of the Penal Code Act to with
Seditious intention and offences.
• Newspaper and Publications Ordinance No. 33 of
1960
 Print and broadcast media in Uganda
• Print Media
• There are four categories of newspapers.
• The first category of newspaper was the religious newspapers and were the
voice of the Christian missionary enterprise.
• The second category was of natively-owned newspapers, whose proprietors
were either members of the Colonially-created landed aristocracy or
products of missionary education.
• The third distinct category was the papers owned by the Colonial regime
were and inevitably played out a propaganda role.
• The last category was of newspapers owned by foreign entrepreneurs.
• Broadcast media
• The Colonial regime established the Uganda Broadcasting Services in 1953
• The Colonial state broadcaster would also complement the Colonial
establishment newspapers in reinforcing the message of agrarian and
infrastructural development.