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ABSTRACT
The role of the mass media in any modern society in the world cannot be over emphasized. Be it the print media, electronic media, or new media, the primary roles are to inform, entertain, or educate people. Television as a means of communication helps in curbing and reducing societal vices. Arguably, of all the technologies and innovations that modern man has evolved in the 20th century, it is those in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) that have made the most significant impact on the existing social order. The advent of ICTs has birthed a number of new global realities like the phenomena of globalization and cultural imperialism. This study adopted the survey method of research, which entails the use of the questionnaire as instrument to collect data from the population of the study to investigate the cultural relevance of television programmes to check the state of cultural decadence and erosion of indigenous culture among indigenes and residents of Benin City using “Heritage “an award-winning Pan-African tourism and cultural programme on Independent Television Station (ITV), Benin. Findings showed that respondents recognized and affirmed that the programme Heritage promotes various aspects of Edo culture such as marriage tradition, funeral rites, festivals and traditional administrative system. It also discovered certain difficulties such as illiteracy, beliefs and gender equality facing television stations in the process of promoting culture. The study concludes that television should continually create culture based programmes that can help promote and preserve societal values and transform the society in general. This study discovered that people in Edo State identify with their cultural beliefs; hence they suggested that there should be continuous transmission of such programmes on television stations. On this note, the researcher therefore concludes that television stations in Nigeria should continue to serve as the custodian of people’s indigenous culture and recommends that television stations already airing indigenous culture oriented programmes should be encouraged to increase the number of such programmes and adjust broadcast period to prime time as well as the frequency of broadcast as a way of enhancing its positive impact on the population.
