Integrating Africa's Triple Religious Heritage in Reclaiming Ethical Journalism in Tanzania: A Quest for Media Stakeholders' Dialogue.

This paper argues for integrating religion into journalism to reclaim ethical and responsible practice. Specifically, the study sought to understand the perspectives of media stakeholders on the use of moral values embedded in African Traditional Religion (ATR), Christianity and Islam (Africa's triple religious heritage) in influencing ethical journalism practice in Tanzania. The current study has come in the wake of the persistence of violation of journalism ethics due to the failure to uphold self-regulation mechanisms through the observance of codes of ethics. Journalism flaws have led to the loss of public confidence in media. It is understood that journalists in Tanzania are believers of either African Traditional Religion, Christianity or Islam (Mbiti, 1969). All three religions, famously known as Africa's triple religious heritage, stress truth, fairness and honesty. Despite a plethora of literature on the deployment of religion on socio-political and cultural issues, little is known and studied on its application in journalism. In order to understand the missing link between upholding ethical journalism and religious beliefs, the study sought information from 83 media stakeholders using mixed research methods of questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Media stakeholders acknowledged knowing the journalism codes of ethics and admitted to being believers of Christianity and Islam while not associating themselves with African Traditional Religion. Some of the respondents proposed the integration of Africa's triple religious heritage in journalism practice, while others opposed it by suggesting that commitment and constant reminders of journalism ethics would restore ethical journalism. The current study calls for a dialogue among media stakeholders to integrate values and principles embedded in the three religious beliefs to formulate an ethical journalism framework that fits the local realities of journalists in Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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