Citizen journalism and moral panics: A consideration of ethics in the 2015 South African xenophobic attacks

ABSTRACT

This article hinges on empirical qualitative data gathered from an illustrative sample to determine perceptions on enforcing ethics on social media from people who acted as citizen journalists during South Africa’s 2015 xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals. The April 2015 attacks were mediated through userdriven social media platforms such as WhatsApp, where truthful and untruthful information on xenophobia was disseminated to warn targeted recipients of impending attacks to allow them to take precautionary measures. While these messages proliferated valid and verified information there were cases where false information was spread, causing undue panic in some sectors of the immigrant society especially. This study therefore uses moral panics and citizen journalism concepts to explore the understanding of ethical implications in mediating the attacks from the perspective of citizen journalism. In the end, the argument is made that professional journalism ethics, according to the respondents in this study, need not apply to social media. Instead, the study concludes, there is a possibility of peer-to-peer monitoring and reprisals that may work as control measures in social media and citizen journalism, especially in times of crisis.

Keywords:

• citizen journalism
• moral panics
• peer-to-peer monitoring
• professional journalism ethics
• xenophobic attacks

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shepherd Mpofu

Shepherd Mpofu holds a PhD in Media Studies and is currently a Global Excellence Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. His research and teaching interests are in media and identity, politics, digital media, citizen journalism and comparative media systems. His latest publications appear in African Identities, Journal of African Cultural Studies, African Journalism Studies and Journal of African Media Studies.

Shanade Bianca Barnabas

Shanade B. Barnabas holds a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and she is currently a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Communication Studies Department. Key foci of Shanade’s current research include heritage, indigeneity, marginality, identity, representation and culture.