Media Imperialism Reconsidered – Again: Local, Western and Indian Media Use in Uganda

This study examines the use of local, Western and Indian media by Ugandancollege students in order to reconsider the media imperialism thesis in the contextof increasingly complex global flows of media and culture. We surveyed aconvenience sample of 193 students at Makerere University in Kampala in June2003 and asked, among other topics, about their media use patterns, theirperception of cultural threats posed by foreign media and their reasons for likingand disliking local and foreign media. We used a combination of closed andopen questions. Consistent with previous studies, we discovered that therespondents preferred local media over foreign. But when asked specificallyabout foreign media, they preferred Western media to Indian media even thoughthey believed Western media posed a more severe cultural threat to Ugandathan Indian media. However, the respondents also may have felt some culturaland political proximity to Indian films despite the language barrier. We alsofound, again consistent with previous research, that respondents were activerather than passive media users. The respondents seemed particularly activewhen they expressed dislike for media. The respondents also raised concernsabout intra-national cultural dominance by the major language group in thecountry. The results suggest that the media imperialism thesis may bereconsidered again to take into account complexities created by South-to-Southmedia flow, but also intra-national concerns about cultural domination andsubordination.