Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa

This article discusses citizen journalism ethics in crisis settings. It argues for an ontological critique of citizen journalism ethics where the practice must not be judged in relation to the moral taboos of mainstream journalism. Situating citizen journalism within the broader context of liquid mo...

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Main Author: Moyo, Last
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494
https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4423
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author Moyo, Last
author_facet Moyo, Last
author_sort Moyo, Last
collection DSpace
description This article discusses citizen journalism ethics in crisis settings. It argues for an ontological critique of citizen journalism ethics where the practice must not be judged in relation to the moral taboos of mainstream journalism. Situating citizen journalism within the broader context of liquid modernity and networked practices, the article argues that the practice marks the rise of personalised ethics and morality without ethical codes. Citizen journalism ethics in crisis settings are seen as ambivalent, nascent, fluid, individualised, situational, and sometimes contradictory. The personalisation of ethics also means that professional codes of conduct shift from codes to individual moral impulses in a complex melange of the deontic, virtuous and teleological, that is informed by higher-order ethics of freedom, human rights, social justice, media pluralism and citizen participation. Using case study and discourse analysis methods, the article concludes that citizen journalism represents something that remains deeply futuristic, where ethics are likely to crystallise around deprofessionalised and deinstitutionalised personal responsibilities.
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spelling ir-11408-44232022-06-27T13:49:06Z Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa Moyo, Last Citizen journalism Ethics Liquid modernity South Africa Zimbabwe This article discusses citizen journalism ethics in crisis settings. It argues for an ontological critique of citizen journalism ethics where the practice must not be judged in relation to the moral taboos of mainstream journalism. Situating citizen journalism within the broader context of liquid modernity and networked practices, the article argues that the practice marks the rise of personalised ethics and morality without ethical codes. Citizen journalism ethics in crisis settings are seen as ambivalent, nascent, fluid, individualised, situational, and sometimes contradictory. The personalisation of ethics also means that professional codes of conduct shift from codes to individual moral impulses in a complex melange of the deontic, virtuous and teleological, that is informed by higher-order ethics of freedom, human rights, social justice, media pluralism and citizen participation. Using case study and discourse analysis methods, the article concludes that citizen journalism represents something that remains deeply futuristic, where ethics are likely to crystallise around deprofessionalised and deinstitutionalised personal responsibilities. 2021-06-09T09:02:37Z 2021-06-09T09:02:37Z 2015 Article 2374-3670 2374-3689 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494 https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4423 en African Journalism Studies;Vol. 36; No. 4: p. 125-144 open Routledge
spellingShingle Citizen journalism
Ethics
Liquid modernity
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Moyo, Last
Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title_full Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title_fullStr Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title_short Digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in Zimbabwe and South Africa
title_sort digital age as ethical maze: citizen journalism ethics during crises in zimbabwe and south africa
topic Citizen journalism
Ethics
Liquid modernity
South Africa
Zimbabwe
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494
https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2015.1119494
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4423
work_keys_str_mv AT moyolast digitalageasethicalmazecitizenjournalismethicsduringcrisesinzimbabweandsouthafrica