Corporate identity of African Independent Television (AIT) and perception of Port Harcourt residents

Abstract

This study is an examination of the corporate identity of African Independent Television (AIT) and the perception of Port Harcourt residents. The objectives were to find out the specific programmes, embarked upon by African Independent Television as identity  building mechanism that may influence the view of Port Harcourt residents and ascertain how the perception held by Port Harcourt  residents has influenced the viewership of African Independent Television (AIT). The study adopted the descriptive survey design.  Residents of Port Harcourt Capital of Rivers State formed the population of the study. The population of the study is 3,171,000 Port  Harcourt residents and the sample size for the study is 384. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the subjects for this study. The data for this study were generated using the questionnaire. The data for this study were analysed using weighted means score  (WMS), in assessing the number of affected residents by different variables. The findings showed that, the specific programmes  embarked by African Independent television as identity building mechanism are cultural message of Nigeria, „sharing African  Experience‟, indigenous culture blowing its own pipe through its identity, Odenigbo which projects Igbo culture, Minijojor that portrays  Yoruba heritage, and Africa‟s rich cultural heritage, beliefs and ways of life. Another revealed that, the impression they had about AIT was  in the area of fascinating cross-cultural theme, vibrant content, untainted appreciation of the world and its people, programmes affiliating the communities in Nigeria and share off English name of the staff-such were the African spirit. Based on the findings, it was  concluded that, the objective of having identity is to find the best image and to deliver the message related with the image to the public.  In view of the findings from the study, the following recommendations have been made that, in order to be consistent and sustainable,  organizations need to well-prepared corporate identity that does not only consists of design and symbols but also the connection  between internal and external corporate publics.