**6. Conceptual framework on digital dichotomy**

Digital dichotomy simply refers to the digital divide. It is the centre of the conceptual frame of this paper. This hitherto referred to as 'technological divide.' As technologies have progressed into the digital phase, the divide has expanded more into a digital dimension-hence the term 'digital divide.' It has been the hallmark of persisting debate between developing nations and the otherwise developed ones. This is as a result of global media being a huge empire built on several years of inventions and innovations that have in turn been consistently improved upon. This technology remains dominated by the West (the large information-developed Northern hemisphere).

Therefore, Nyam [2] is of the view that many countries have at one point or the other lamented that the technical capacity of the Western media has been abused towards information flow disorder against developing nations. This position was largely termed the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate. In ensuring dynamics, the international media, many of which are based in Europe and North America, as well as modern Asia are believed to have the capacity to influence the media outcomes of developing societies, mainly in Africa and South America.

Within this context, scholars like Ozuru and Ekeanyanwu [10] remarked how communication at the international level comes with many consequences. Some of these consequences arise because of some imbalances, news manipulations, and sometimes, misrepresentation of some nations and people in the media systems of others. Corroborating this, Ciboh [11] observed that in 1973, governments of nonaligned nations met and discussed media and information flow issues, suggesting ways to counter the real or perceived imbalance.

Based on the preceding, there is an apparent digital dichotomy. The global digital divide is not denied, except there is a feeling that it is not a very valid point that can devalue the role of digital technology in much of modern existence. The global divide describes the unequal distribution of information, and communication technologies across nations. It has become a description for the information-have, and have-nots, although, much of these positions are complex to understand. In the words of argued that within academic circles it is well established that the digital divide encompasses more than physical access to D-ICTs. It is also a function of how D-ICTs are used. It is crucial to develop policies and programs that would bridge the global digital divide through D-ICTs.

For instance, former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan agrees that the digital divide is a serious issue, Annan's successor, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, admits, and leaders of the World Bank think so too. President James Wolfensohn, former World Bank even described the divide as "one of the greatest impediments to development." However, the significance of the digital divide has been challenged on several occasions, like Bill Gates thinking that the digital divide deserves no special attention because it is simply a symptom of economic disparity across nations, and thus the lack of access to information technologies in developing nations merely reflects the poverty level of those nations. Gates at a conference on the digital divide said "most of the world doesn't have cars, but we don't talk about the auto divide." Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple, reiterated the views saying that the so-called "digital divide" is "just a new sticker that people use to cover up a more important word: poverty."

In whatever point critics look at it, the significance of the digital divide becomes apt when culture, and media orientation of audience from a technology-adopting environment fail to key into the original intentions of inventors, as compared to audiences from a technology-inventive environment like the United States. Again, the digital divide becomes a more serious issue when the economic, and political policy, legal framework, and infrastructure of developing technology-adopting nations fail to meet up with international standards, and best media-communication practices.

The essence of digital technology is what prompted the conviction that the world is "truly" global. Yet some scholars are still sceptical that the export of digital technologies has not fully bridged the gap between developed, and developing worlds, because the hitherto less developed third world has not been able to conquer attraction to media contents of the West.
