Ethical Issues and Insecurity in Africa: The Media Dimension

  • Aondover Eric Msughter Department of Mass Communication, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Nigeria
  • Martha Msoo Hile Communication & Media Studies, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Cyprus
  • Suleiman M. Yar’Adua Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/konfrontasi2.v10i2.272
Keywords: Africa; ethics; insecurity; media; and practice

Abstract

This paper addresses ethical issues and the challenges of insecurity in connection to mass media and journalistic practice in the context of Africa. In communication studies, ethics is central and critical to the issue of insecurity in Africa, especially to the credibility in the gathering, processing, and delivery of information for believability. Insecurity constitutes a major impediment to the development of Africa. There are multiple points of violent conflicts, acts of terrorism, kidnapping, and crimes. Many countries in Africa are faced with threats ranging from armed banditry, cattle rustling, armed and sea robberies and piracy, militancy, cultism, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering, and crude oil theft, illegal refining of petroleum, herdsmen-farmers clashes, activities of IPOB and other separatist groups. All of these make society tense, dangerous, and conflict-ridden with implications on journalism, its ethical practice, performance, and credibility. For an individual or people to internalize, accept, believe and actualize the content of information, such an individual or people must adjudge the source and content of the information based on truthfulness, competence, dynamism, and relevance. Often time, the challenges of insecurity in Africa are accelerated due to the way media handle such issues. When an individual is sufficiently and ethically informed, he or she becomes knowledgeable on a particular subject and the mind is freed from uncertainty, liberated from ignorance, and empowered to effectively participate in the process of national development. The growth and development of Africa have continuously failed to correlate with the quantum of resources allegedly expanded over time. Within this context, this paper examines ethics in journalistic engagement and the issues of insecurity in Africa.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Adaja, T. A. (2012). Nigerian journalism and professionalism: Issues and challenges. New Media and Mass Communication, 3(5) 15-21.
Aondohemba, N. G. (2014). Clash of civilizations and Tiv experience (an interaction between Christianity and Tiv culture).Unblished M.A. Thesis Submitted to the Department of Religion, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Augsten, L., Gagné, K. & Su, Y. (2022). The human dimensions of the climate risk and armed conflict nexus: a review article. Reg Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-022-01888-1.
Bhatt, B. (2022). Ethical Complexity of Social Change: Negotiated Actions of a Social Enterprise. J Bus Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05100-6
Coeckelbergh, M. (2022). The Ubuntu Robot: Towards a Relational Conceptual Framework for Intercultural Robotics. Sci Eng Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-022-00370-9.
Deuze, M. (2005). What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered. SAGE Publications.
Gbenda, J. S. (2005). Eschatology in Tiv traditional religious culture: An interpretative enquiry. Chuka Educational Publishers.
Littlejohn, S. W. & Foss, K.A. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory. SAGE Publication.
McNaughton, D. Rawling, P. (n.d). Deontological ethics. http://deontological-ethics.html. mediapolicyproject/2014/05/13/book-review-the-ethics-of-journalism-individual-institutional and-cultural-influences-edited-by-wendy-n-wyatt/
Moreland, J. P. (2009). Ethics theories: utilitarian vs deontological ethics. www.equip.org/article/ethics-theories-utilitarian-vs-deontological-ethics/.06-04-2017
Msughter, A. E., Maradun, L. U. & Namadi, H. M. (2021). Media law and ethics in Nigeria: issues, principles and practice. ABU Press Ltd.
Munyaka, M. Motlhabi, M. (ed). (2009). Ubuntu and its socio-moral significance. In M. F. Murove, African ethics: an anthology of comparative and applied ethics (pp. 63-84). University of Kwazulu-Natal Press.
Niekerk, J. V. (2013). Ubuntu and moral value. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis Submitted To The Faculty of Humanities, University of The Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Oppenheim, C. E. (2012). Nelson Mandela and the power of Ubuntu. Religions, 3, pp. 369-388. doi:10.3390/rel3020369.
Otekunrin, O. A. (2022). Investigating food insecurity, health and environment-related factors, and agricultural commercialization in Southwestern Nigeria: evidence from smallholder farming households. Environ Sci Pollut. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19544-w
Owens-Ibie, N. (2021). Forewordin Msughter, A.E. Maradun, L.U & Namadi, H.M. Media law and ethics in Nigeria: issues, principles and practices. ABU Press Ltd.
Pate, U. A. & Bashir, A. (eds). (2013). Influence of the pulaaku ethical code on the use of ICTs among urban sedentary Fulbe in Yola. In U. Pate, C. Nwabueze & N. Idiong, Politics, culture and the media in Nigeria (pp. 303-316). Stirling Horden Publishers Ltd.
Pate, U. A. (ed.). (2018). Ethics and nation building in Nigeria: the media dimension. Media reflections on governance and development in Nigeria. Canada University Press.
Shede, A. (2012). Fulbe code of conduct (pulaaku) as portrayed in their proverbs. Unpublished M.A. thesis submitted to the Department of African Languages and Cultures, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria.
Tergema, T. S. (2017). Ethics and regulation in the media. Unpublished paper, presented at the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano.
Tsuwa, J. T. (eds). (2014). The Tiv and the struggle for political recognition in Nassarawa State: the case of Awe and Keana Local Governments. In V. Egwemi, T. Wuam and C. S. Orngu Federalism, politics and minorities in Nigeria: essays in honour of Professor G. N. Hembe (pp. 221-232). Bahiti and Dalila.
Veronese, G., Cavazzoni, F., Vigliaroni, M. (2022). Human insecurity and mental health among Young Nigerien IDPs: a Qualitative Exploration of the Role of Quality of Life as a Risk and Protective Factor. J. Hum. Rights Soc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-021-00207-8
Wyatt, W. N. (2014). Individual, institutional and cultural influences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/
Published
2023-06-30
How to Cite
Aondover Eric Msughter, Martha Msoo Hile, & Suleiman M. Yar’Adua. (2023). Ethical Issues and Insecurity in Africa: The Media Dimension. Konfrontasi: Jurnal Kultural, Ekonomi Dan Perubahan Sosial, 10(2), 58-68. https://doi.org/10.33258/konfrontasi2.v10i2.272
Issue
Vol 10 No 2 (2023): Konfrontasi, June
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2023 Konfrontasi: Jurnal Kultural, Ekonomi dan Perubahan Sosial

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.Penulis.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (Refer to The Effect of Open Access).