Igbo Indigenous Culture at the Mercy of Western Culture Dominance: What can the Mass Media do?

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the role of the mass media in the sustenance of Igbo indigenous culture. The study's theoretical underpinning was the Agenda Setting Theory. In this study, the survey research design was used. The population consists of 555,500 residents in the Owerri Metropolis. The sample size of 384 was determined using the Wimmer and Dominick sample size calculator, and the multistage sampling procedure was used as the sampling method. To collect the data, a questionnaire was used as the instrument. Findings revealed that at a mean score of 3.0 (N = 360), the mass media promote foreign culture more than Igbo indigenous culture. It was also revealed that, on average, 62% of mass media have not been effective in sustaining the Igbo indigenous culture. We, therefore, conclude that the mass media promote the Igbo indigenous culture to a moderate extent. However, they pay more attention to promoting foreign cultures than the Igbo indigenous culture. Because of the lack of commitment they put in, they have become ineffective in sustaining the Igbo indigenous culture. We recommend that the mass media put more effort into promoting the Igbo indigenous culture by ensuring that their contents promote indigenous culture rather than western culture; also, more space or time should be allocated to indigenous cultural content, while the western cultural content to be disseminated by the media should be censored and limited.