With the speed and impact of the media explosion, certain harmful effects have been observed. For many people, their conception of reality is obscured or distorted by messages conveyed by the media. The rapid increase in the volume of information and entertainment has brought about a certain degree of homogenization of different societies while, paradoxically, people can be more cut off from the society in which they live as a result of media penetration into their lives. The introduction of new media, particularly television into traditional societies has shaken centuries-old customs, cultural practices and simple life styles, social aspirations and economic patterns. Too often the benefits of modern communications - which disseminate unfamiliar, vivid, absorbing information and entertainment originating in urban centres and, more often than not, from foreign sources - have been accompanied by negative influences which can dramatically disturb established orders. At the extreme, modern media have trampled on traditions and distorted centuries-old socio-economic patterns.