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Cultural Relativism In Social Media

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The media plays an important role in influencing societies views and opinions about current news, issues and events that the world face. Within the emergence of new technology like the internet and cell phones, it has such current events and current news to be easily accessible to a global audience and to be consumed in real time. The Paris Terrorist Attack is a great example for the statement above because as soon as it happened, the attack instantly went viral all over social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogs etc. This essay aims to explain the growth of social media and specifically look at the impact it has on religion. It will discuss whether journalists should be religiously and culturally trained in order to report fairly …show more content…

In other words, “right” or “wrong” are culture specific, what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality that exist, no one has the right to judge another societies custom (Ess, 2009). Cultural Relativism is closely related to ethical relativism, which views truth as variable and not absolute. What makes up right and wrong is determined solely by individual or the society (Ess, 2009). Since the truth is not object, there can be no standards which applies to all cultures. No one can say if someone else is right or wrong, it is a matter of personal opinion and no society can pass judgement on another society. The current movement to understand the radical Islam is a sign that relativism is growing. The cultural relativists believe Westerners should not impose their ideas on Islamic world, including the idea that the Terrorist bombing of civilians is evil. Islamic belief in the necessity of jihad is just as valid as any belief in the western civilian, the relativists assert, and they believe that the terrorist attack is not only their fault (Mamdani, …show more content…

In order for journalist to have or report on Good stories they must present multiple viewpoints and perspectives and they must examine the religion. 5 ethical principles of journalism, that are important for religion reporting is Human rights, Defence of the public’s right to information, Respect for truth and accuracy of information, Respect for universal values and diversity of cultures, Avoid self-interest. The News reporters that reported on the Paris Terrorist Attack did not infringe on the public’s right to know about the attack If the reporters or the journalists from these two news sites were religiously and culturally trained they would have used the concept of Religious Journalism which reports on information that rarely surfaces in secular press like for example, what was the reason behind ISIS Attack Paris? These types of journalists would look at both

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