However, the completion of the Mass Media Complex, while providing a level of production facilities for radio and television which were among the best in Africa, only began a longer term process which would ultimately allow information to pass freely throughout the country, especially into the heart of its rural communities. What was achieved initially, benefited urban audiences and has been constrained by problems of manpower, the replacement of equipment and equipment spares, created by inadequate funding and other problems arising from the country's general economic difficulties.
This dissertation is made up of four chapters as follows:.
CHAPTER ONE: analyses the role of the Mass Media, Communication and Development in the Developing Countries. The study attempts to give a general overview of the mass media and communication through a literature review.
CHAPTER TWO: traces and summarizes the political background of Zambia and examines the British government's policy on Colonial Broadcasting before the Second World War. The role played by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its Empire Service is also discussed.
CHAPTER THREE: is devoted to discussing the development of radio in Northern Rhodesia after the Second World War and how the Colonial Government used the medium to 'socialize' the Africans. The development of other media – television and newspapers, has only been referred to in passing and could be the subject of another study.
CHAPTER FOUR: which concludes the dissertation assesses the performance of Radio in relation to development with some suggested policy recommendations for both the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and the government.
Source materials for this study are from textbooks, newspapers, journals, magazines, government reports and interviews with people connected with the Northern Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation (NRBC), Zambia Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), Zambia Broadcasting Services (ZBS) and the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) as well as my personal experience as a broadcast journalist for fifteen years.
