Television and the Issue of Identity

It is a commonly shared belief not only among laymen but also among scholars thatmass media, in particular television, have a strong impact on their audience.While most people believe that the media have a direct effect on the attitudesand behaviour of the individual, the experts have become more careful. Theydefine the role of mass media as factors in socialization, as mediators ofknowledge and world-views, and regard them as instruments of enculturation,which contribute to the shaping of a cultural identity, mainly by means of theirexplicit contents. Even television, however, with its apparently truthfulreflection of reality is not a replica-like representation of actual society,but rather a symbolic reflection of its value structure. The iconic signs oftelevision meet a whole range of cultural meanings, which on a higher level areintegrated into a comprehensive cultural picture of the world — aworld-view. The cultural determination of television systems and programmes isoften asserted, but seldom is the specific manner and manifestation of acultural influence disclosed — apart from a rather global juxtapositionof American and non-American (European or Third World countries) cultures. Whatis usually lacking are thorough analyses of the content and form of televisionprogrammes and their relation to the specific socio-cultural and socio-politicalcontext in which they appear.

A discussion of mass media in developing countries or regions almost inevitablyturns to the issue of media, tradition and change, and to the role televisionplays in the preservation and formation (or deformation) of cultural andnational identities. In Singapore, these questions are rendered even morecomplex since Singaporeans are faced with the problem of: