DOI: 10.5176/2301-3710_JMComm16.70
Authors: Collins Obiorah, Onwughalu Vincent Chikadibia
Abstract: This opinion paper explored the media and democratization desiderata in containing violent conflicts in Africa. It argued that institutionalization of the pristine principles and values of democratic governance can offer African nations potent panacea to the orgy of social violent conflicts and steer the continent to the path of sustainable development. By rehashing the key theories of social conflicts, it located, inter alia, in misguided ethnocentrism, leadership lapses that entrench public privation, skewed predilection of the ruling class founded on prebendalism as well as egocentrism and public estrangement from the political institutions, processes and activities that comprise the political system as the major factors in the sociology of conflicts in the African continent. The paper leveraged on the social responsibility and development media theories in framing the narratives for media freedom, media responsibility and roles in peace building in Africa. The conclusion is to the effect that patterning governance in the form that places primacy on the people or masses as it pertains to harnessing and utilizing resources can create the requisite public space that conduces peaceful coexistence across the African continent.
Keywords: Mass media, democracy, democratization, violent conflict, conflict contaminant
Updating...