Television and the Issue of Identity

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

A discussion of mass media in developing countries or regions almost inevitably turns to the issue of media, tradition and change, and to the role television plays in the preservation and formation (or deformation) of cultural and national identities. In Singapore, these questions are rendered even more complex since Singaporeans are faced with the problem of: