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Ubuntu and communitarianism in media ethics

A robust and visionary media ethics depends on the normative theory in which it is rooted. Two such paradigms have grown up independently—ubuntu in Africa and communitarianism in Europe and North America. For both, the community is ontologically prior to persons. They serve as an antidote to mainstream libertarianism. Ubuntu as a universal idea solidifies dialogic communitarianism and keeps it oriented intellectually. Ubuntu’s total focus on humans and its insistence on the moral dimension of society produce an ubuntu communitarianism that is the most mature version of any to date. As a normative paradigm for media ethics, ubuntu communitarianism emphasises authentic disclosure for news and moral literacy as the media’s mission. Its liberatory journalism empowers citizens to come to agreement about social problems and solutions among themselves rather than depending on the political elite or professional experts.

Keywords: Collectivism, communal, communitarianism, critical, consciousness, libertarianism, normative theory, objectivity, ubuntu