Mass media as agencies of socialization in Uganda

Abstract

Could the mass media be agencies of national unity and develop-ment in Uganda, the current violent upheavals notwithstanding? This article, adapted from a historical study, shows that Uganda’s mass media systems could not effectively play that role, given their structures. Socialization, the process by which people learn to be members of the human race and members of the culture in which they are bom, forms the theoretical framework of the study. At issue, therefore, is the extent to which the mass media could be agencies of socializing Ugandans to a common culture whose central elements would be national unity and development. Ugandans have had control of the modem systems of mass media since 1962, when Uganda became independent of Great Britain. But those systems are yet to be reorganized in ways that could make them more responsive and appealing to a broader spectrum of Ugandans. What follows is an assessment of the systems’ success or failure as agencies of socialization in Uganda in the context of their historical establishment and development.