This is the 'hidden curriculum' of television described by the American educational theorist Neil Postman in the 1970s, a force as powerful as the oral and poetic tradition of preliterature cultures. Whether we like it or not, all television is educational. Challenging the messages We can accept the inevitability of technological development, and attend to the social impact of the new media. But we must not accept the messages conveyed as inevitable. If there is resolve, partnership and innovation, these tools can be harnessed to purposeful and 'public' ends - as well as commercial ones.
Expression is central to all forms of human development - and humans and their cultures are diverse.
This diversity can be expressed either healthily and dynamically or in the aberrant way associated with Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Zaire. It is time to realize that cultural diversity is akin to, and as important as, biodiversity. Both need care and attention. Full self-expression requires access to the new technologies of communication that are shaping the world view. Although there are more televisions than toilets in the world, what is viewed on their screens is controlled by a very few people, primarily in the so-called developed world.