The role of television in Bahrain: Analysis of programming and policy formulation for mass culture.

Despite the government of Bahrain's zealous efforts to bring about overall development, there seems to be a lack of exploitation of government-owned, well developed and widely available television in the service of national development. The following questions were examined: (1) To what extent do Bahrain Television (BTV) programs cater to the divergent needs of the national audience? (2) To what extent is BTV used to promote national development or to strengthen national integration? (3) What role does BTV perform? The study uses a combination of community (historical descriptive) analysis, content analysis, documentary analysis, interviews and demography. BTV content is examined in terms of its conformance to the declared policies and its fit to the needs and interests of the national audience as ascertained by means of community analysis. The community analysis revealed the pressing need to promote national loyalty above sectarian and other loyalties. There is a need for more active popular participation in the development of the country (e.g. dependence on foreign labor, active social, political and economic participation of women), while there is a shortage of functional developmental information common to all fields. An analysis of the policies bearing on BTV performance revealed an explicit concern with committing television to a well balanced service linked to the educational, social and economic plans of the country. Television, according to these policies, should answer the need of special groups and lead special attention to women's and children's programs. Television should preserve national unity, disseminate the national culture and promote national development plans. However, the analysis revealed some inconsistencies in the declared policies, particularly with respect to striking a balance between entertainment and education. A scrutiny of BTV programs showed that they tend to fall short on all the characteristics of media that would especially serve development (i.e. localness, access and diversification). As a whole, they also fail to translate declared policies into action, especially with respect to educational aims. Recommendations for improvement are given.Ph.D.Communication and the ArtsEducationMass communicationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128880/2/9226911.pd