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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | The moral foundations of media ethics in Africa |
| Author: | White, Robert A. |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Periodical: | Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies (ISSN 0256-0054) |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 42-67 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | journalism professional ethics |
| External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02560054.2010.9653411 |
| Abstract: | A number of the analyses of media ethics in African contexts argue that journalists and other media workers vacillate and are inconsistent in following basic norms of ethical practice because this practice is not anchored in an underlying moral foundation rooted in African values. Various models of foundational African moral philosophy have been proposed, such as communalistic Afrocentred values, but there is little evidence that media practice is actually related to these abstract formulations of African values. The present study argues that foundational values must be inferred from accounts of ethical decisionmaking in newsroom and other media production practices. This article reviews six areas of experience in which foundations of journalistic values and ethics surface: discussions about the basic role identity of journalists; sensitivity to the suffering of vulnerable people; the communalistic basis of African moral commitments; the support of professional colleagues; organizations committed to developing norms of professional media conduct; and academic research on media ethics. It proposes a composite formulation of journalistic ethics that can be tested in further research. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |