ABSTRACT

Against the backdrop of a largely competitive and commercialized media landscape, where audiences have virtually limitless viewing choices, producers and media makers are constantly seeking ways to remain relevant. One strategy has been to drive and boost conflict by shaping discourses as wars of words. These efforts yield primarily argumentative models of communication, where issues are framed conflictually and in postures of offense and defense. In this chapter I submit that, while such strategies shed light on some important issues, they can also be limiting. They inhibit collaboration where this is possible and quite possibly desirable. I propose that for contemporary and particularly post-colonial societies that are rediscovering their own values, alternative models of public discourse are worth considering. The sub-Saharan philosophy of ubuntu is one compelling ethic that could ground such an approach by offering assumptions of relationality, harmony and cohesion as a basis for social organization.