Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

All media of communication demand certain design approaches and the skills for such approaches are defined by the nature of the technology and the benefitting audiences which in an ever developing media horizon, contribute to cultural and epistemological social changes. Broadcasting as a medium stands very tall in this vein especially for rural audiences in Nigeria. The main purpose of this study is to present three theoretical approaches which look at how skills for production and consumption of both traditional and new media (print, electronic, and digital media) and how they can function in terms of contributing to the development of the society in the new approaches to media literacies; cultural techniques of broadcast production and consumption among the broadcast audiences in general, and rural broadcast audiences in Nigeria in particular. Thus, I have attempted in this paper to combine three relatively different theoretical approaches, each of considerable complexity. The areas include: media literacy which is broad, interdisciplinary in scope encompassing both the micro level of acquiring skills (pedagogy, psychology, and cognitive sciences) of media production and consumption, especially as they relate to broadcasting and the macro level of sociocultural changes due to the introduction of new media technologies as they relate to their acquisition and use (sociology and cultural studies). The other area relates to broadcast content designs and consumption among the rural audiences in Nigeria.