THE INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN (USA) ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT ON TELEVISION ON SOUTH AFRICAN ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT

Media are global communication mechanisms, and they are renowned for bringing different communities together. After the inception of television in South Africa content development has been a critical challenge. It is therefore imperative to note that the South African television content was seen as extension of the western (American) production few years after the abrupt establishment of television; the western (American) television content was conspicuous feature in the local television content. The western (American) television productions had advent consequences on the content development on South African television industry.

The bone of contention is that many people in South Africa spend a plethora of their leisure time watching television. It is a fact known that television content has a huge potential of influencing the audience/viewers. Unlike other forms of Media, television carries multi-dimensional content ranging from culture, religion, health, sports, entertainment and education. This multi-dimensional nature of television content suggests that television content influences many viewers especially on their decision making, attitude and/or behaviour.

In a liberal state such as South Africa a nation that prides itself for possessing a cultural diversity and variety of languages.  A culturally diverse nation should strive for preservation and promotion of its own culture. The point is South African television content is supposed to be unique and profitable. More often than not expects South African content developers to minimise noticeable adoption of western concepts, e.g.  The Big Brother Africa in South Africa is United States of America’s original version of Big Brother. SA got talent came after the American’s US got talent. The other conspicuous example is the South Africa’s version of the SA Idols which was originally established in USA as Idols. There are other examples that accentuate this point. The South African soap operas are arguably the local version of American (USA) soap operas namely The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives and The young and the restless.

The problem is that South African television content is influenced by Western (American) television content. This existing predicament has certain implications on South Africans as  viewers of television. The media content must reflect/portray the attributes or realities that are taking place in its constituencies.