Media and Contemporary African Society

Abstract

This research proposes a theory that ameliorates the deficiencies of agenda-setting, two-step flow, and third-person effect theories that are linear in explaining the influence of mass media on their audience. Whereas postmodernism abhors universality because, in reality, different groupings of individuals in different societies receive and respond to media messages differently depending on the influence of both internal and exogenous variables in the society in any communication process. These lacunas in the theories birthed the environment dynamo theory which does not intend to replace but to capture the idea that science, psychology, ethnography, and technology have broadened the understanding of the nuances that determine the relationship between the media and audience, and vice versa. The environment dynamo theory cumulatively created a web to explain media effects in society based on three components that are intricately interwoven - the audience, media, and environment.