Ethical Practices among Media Bloggers in Information Provision in Tanzania

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue III, March 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Ethical Practices among Media Bloggers in Information Provision in Tanzania

Julius Tweve and Martha Malyi
Tumaini University Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

I. INTRODUCTION

There has been a mushrooming of blogs on the Internet; in 1999, there were about 50 existing blogs and they were only known by a few individuals (Johnson, Kaye, Bichard, & Wong, 2007). However 29 percent (57 million) of American Internet users’ accessed blogs (Lenhart & Fox, 2006) and 8 out of 10 Americans knew what a blog was and almost half of America had visited blogs (Synovate, 2007). This phenomenal growth may be due to the dynamic nature of blogs; however, the aspect of ethical practices requires to be observed. While some blogs are updated weekly, many more are updated hourly (or even more frequently), with postings in reverse chronological order. Most are interactive and allow viewers to post comments (Lenhart & Fox, 2006). Unlike static websites, blogs depend upon hyperlinks not only to boost attention to their own blog but also ensure that users can be quickly led to relevant information. At their idealized best, we blogs are said to be a space to reflect on the ‘deluge of data’ (Blood, 2002) that receive, offering an antidote to the mass-mediated, corporatized culture that surrounds. They have the capability to report the news without constraints of censure or the pressures of advertising and draw upon a diverse range of sources. At their reductive worst, bloggers have been said to be strongly opinionated and even vitriolic in response to those who oppose their political positions (Johnson & Kaye, 2004).
Around the year 2005, blogging in Africa became a mainstream phenomenon, in the United States and soon in Europe; it was only beginning in Africa. In the mid-2000s, blogging was almost only for expatriates and Diaspora students based outside the continent. The cost of internet access was very high, as explained by Didier Malak a popular blogger (Kelly, 2012). Only the development of internet and technological infrastructures enabled the expansion of an African blogging sphere. And this development is unequal depending on the areas.
In Tanzania the bloggers engaged their knowledge of their readers as parents and caregivers to paint a picture of poverty (Kelly, 2012). Bloggers mentioned the juxtaposition of emotions, experiencing joy and sadness in the same experiences. “On the flip side of the joyful emotions had the sadness that came with visiting the home of a poverty stricken family of this 3-year old girl named Latecia” (Scott, 2012:34). The bloggers were largely unapologetic in their stark portrayals of poverty, attempting to persuade their readers of the severity of the conditions they were seeing.

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