1989 Volume 3 Number 2 Culture of Communication Research Future Communication Policies Multilingualism in Africa TV Broadcasting in Nigeria Copyright © 1989 by the African Council on Communication Education (ACCE), Nairobi, Kenya. ISSN 0258-4913 Africa Media Review provides a forum for the study of communication theory, practice and policy in African countries. It is published thrice yearly by the ACCE Institute for Communication Development and Research, P.O. Box 47495, Nairobi, Kenya. Telephone 27043/722089/334244 Ext. 2068. Correspondence and Advertising Authors should send contributions the Editor, ACCE Institute for Communication Development and Research, P.O. Box 47495, Nairobi, Kenya. Books for review, book review articles and all other matters regarding AMR should be addressed to the Publications Manager, same address as above. to Subscription Rates: One Year Two Years Three Years US$ 39.00 US$ 69.00 US$ 99.00 These rates include packing and postage. Single copies are US$ 13.00. Cheques or money orders should be made payable to African Council on Communication Education and sent to the above address. Special arrangements will be entered into where applicable for subscribers in Africa through their nearest ACCE National Co-ordinator. ACCE institutional and individual members receive AMR as part of membership privileges. Editor Associate Editor Publications Manager Lewis Odhiambo, School of Journalism, University of Nairobi, Kenya. Faustin Yao, CERCOM, Universite d'Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire S.T. Kwame Boafo, African Council on Communication Education, Kenya ACCE Executive Co-ordinator Batilloi Warritay, African Council on ACCE President Communication Education, Kenya Tom Adaba, NTA TV College, Jos, Nigeria. 0) Comment on the Contents of this Issue Volume 3 No. 1 of the AMR is a rich blend of studies in mass communication in Africa. As in past issues, the articles in this issue reflect the growing concern of African communication scholars for the development of critical and theoretical perspectives that would more aptly reflect the African communication reality. Richard M'Bayo and Robert Nwako, for instance, outline some of the recurring issues in mass communication research and suggest ways in which African communication scholars might contribute to the global debates in the field. Evelyn Onyekwere, on the other hand, explores a message-based persuasion theory within the Nigerian cultural context and suggests that strategies based on coercion or sanction may result in more compliance behaviour than those based on explanation, need and circumvention. This argument has serious implications for policy makers and planners of change programmes and campaigns. Des Wilson examines different aspects of the cultural context of communication and proposes the adoption of communication policies for Africa which recognize traditional communication systems and processes along with modern ones. He terms this a diachronic-synchronic view of communication. Rotimi Badejo looks at multilingualism in sub- Saharan Africa. He gives an overview of the language situation in a select group of African countries and then proceeds to investigate the place of multilingualism in education and mass communication. He finally proposes a model for classifying countries according to their levels of commitment to the use of African languages. In The Advent and Growth of Television Broadcasting in Nigeria', Charles Umeh examines the political and educational motivations which led to the proliferation of the medium in Nigeria. He assesses the performance of educational television in the country and concludes that, by and large, it has been quite successful. In the final article in this issue, Dapo Adelugba reviews Wole Soyinka's film, Blues for a Prodigal, and hails it as an "innovative and courageous work' which reaffirms Soyinka as a keen observer of life. (ii) Table of Contents 1 16 26 40 54 67 The Political Culture of Mass Communication Research and the Role of African Communication Scholars by Richard M'Bayo and Robert N. Nwako Culture, Persuasion and the Management of Environmental Attitudes by Evelyn C.C. Onyekwere Towards a Diachromic-Synchronic View of Future Communication Policies in Africa by Des Wilson Multilingualism in Sub-Saharan Africa by B. Rotimi Badejo The Advent and Growth of Television Broadcasting in Nigeria: Its Political and Educational Overtones by Charles C. Umeh Wole Soyinka's Blues for a Prodigal: A Review by Dapo Adelugba (iii)