Three months after the Dragon King lifted the TV ban, thousands signed up for cable service that provides 46 channels of round-the-clock entertainment.

It has been a chicken and egg question: whether mass media effects changes in society or whether it 'merely' reflects (and perhaps accelerates) them? Recently Bhutan, a country that had shielded itself from the rest of the world for centuries, introduced television to the masses, and the effects have been drastic. Bhutan – a monarchy transitioning to a modern democracy – is a country where time had stood still for centuries. This spiritually and culturally rich country, founded in 1612 by a Buddhist monk, had traditionally been a place where television was banned. For centuries, people there practised the Mahayana form of Buddhism and lived their lives on principles laid down by it. As part of the recent, carefully planned, drive to modernization of the country by the current monarch – Dragon King Jigme Singye Wangchuck – the ban on television was lifted in June 1999. However, with television came a wave of changes, including crimes that were previously unheard of in this part of the world.

In August 1999, three months after the Dragon King lifted the TV ban, thousands signed up for cable service that provides 46 channels of round-the-clock entertainment. These days, many of the same subscribers accuse this service of bulldozing their culture. Before the introduction of cable service, the government had started the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), ostensibly as a bulwark against cable service. However, in its urgency to introduce television to the masses in time for the silver jubilee celebration of the king, BBS was given a mere three months to set up a national station. When the cable jaggernaut rolled in, BBS was ill - prepared. With little funding and no broadcasting experience, it was ineffective in competing against cable. Even today, because of lack of investment, BBS can only be transmitted in Thimphu (the capital of Bhutan) and tapes are sent by mule and buses to the rest of the country. The goal of BBS was to warn and teach the people to discriminate in what they see on the cable service – but it has completely failed in this aim. The proponents of cable television, however, argue that a culture as rich and sophisticated as the Bhutanese is perfectly capable of handling this onslaught of cable television. They argue that this is just a transitionary phase and it is still too early to judge.

Meanwhile, the society in Bhutan continues to change. Crimes, in a country where crimes of greed and discontent were unheard of, are becoming more commonplace. Traditional values that were sustained over centuries are being eroded. Whether this is because of modernization of society or the impact of cable is something that is still being debated. An independent study by Bhutanese academics, however, concluded that cable television has indeed caused "dramatic changes" to society – being responsible for increasing crime, corruption, an uncontrolled desire for western products and changes in attitudes towards love and relationships. The government, which has allowed cable television to operate unregulated so far is now gearing up and trying to draft its first media act.

Meanwhile, a society that once acted collectively and spiritually is being fast forwarded into a nation of hungry consumers. Cable television, with its present free rein in Bhutan, is systematically replacing one culture with another – persuading the novice Bhutanese consumer to be preoccupied with himself, rather than searching for his self, as he had for centuries.

Manish Jain has summarized an article titled ‘Fast forward into trouble’ by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy that appeared in The Guardian/UK on June 14, 2003