By 1976, Everett Rogers had acknowledged that the 'dominant paradigm' of development/modernization has 'passed'. In fact it still survived in a greatly modified form, as in a study by Katz and Wedell which is still concerned with 'the problems of harnessing broadcasting to national development' (Katz and Wedell, 1978, p vi).
ELECTRONIC MEDIA: ZAMBIA.
In a developing country like Zambia, the mass media is one of the most widely used forms of communication. Decision makers have long understood the importance of the mass media, particularly radio, in providing an instantaneous means of reaching a large segment of the population be it for mobilizing purposes, national emergencies or for transmitting diverse kinds of messages.
But before considering the role and place of radio in Zambia, it is important to underline the realities of life in the developing countries. The salient features are low literacy rates, low per capita incomes and an average life expectancy of almost half of the developed states. In addition, developing countries are characterized by rampant poverty and disease. Mwakawago (1986) says:.
'Although the death rate is high, population growth is phenomenal. The population of Africa will double by the year 2000 but food production will not match population growth. There will be more mouths to feed than food to feed them' (Quoted in Wedell, 1986, p82).
The majority of the developing countries are producers of raw materials and consumers of finished products from the developed states. That means they are on the periphery of the world economic stage. Such is the gloomy picture which of necessity has to be taken into consideration in discussing the role of radio, and indeed other mass media in development. Yet, to quote from Mwakawago (1986) again: 'in spite of this gloomy picture, there are some very significant, positive aspects in the developing countries.
