Mass Media and the Need of an Ethical Code

Mass Media and the need of an ethical code

In the process of securitization, the media framing (Balzacq, 2011:79) plays a crucial role in convincing the audience with the emergency of a threat. In order to achieve this goal, the media in its mass variant exploits many communication tools such as movies, audio recordings and internet including communication techniques which involves the invitation of experts or individuals with nihilist opinions to convey a certain image of the threat. Whether the threat factually exists or does not, there are individuals who are directly involved in this securitization process and whom may fall victims of popular anger or extremist 's revenges. In the last twelve years securitization of Islam in Netherlands within the development of the Global War on Terrorism, many individuals with political agenda or without have been victim of the instrumentalisation of the media in the securitization process. For instance, the film director Theo van Gogh who has been murdered by an Islamite terrorist on the street of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the securitization 's process through the media 's framing procreates stereotyping cultures which encourage discrimination and racism against minorities. After a medical research, the discrimination is a direct cause of mental disease between the monitories members (Oxford Journals. 7-2-2013). Hence it imposes heavy cost on the society. It is an evidence that the civilian causalities ratio in a military action is significantly higher than those of the media campaigns; and also the causes of schizophrenia are unrestricted to discrimination 's distress, but it is quite obvious that the management of the process of securitization through media needs an ethical code rather than to focus on threshold 's parameters (Balzacq, 2011: 120) of the securitization success or failure as the only criteria to the engagement of media in securitization.

A securitization failure (Mubarak 's speeches)

During the Egyptian revolution the president Hosni Mubark has hold many speeches in which he emphasized on the existence of external as internal threats to the nation. However, his speeches did not achieve any illocutionary or perlocutionary (Balzacq, 2011:5) act from the audience. The president was hoping that his securitization 's approach by fear will create an emergency situation (Balzacq, 2011:125) that should lead to an immediate cession of the people 's occupation of the streets in Cairo and other cities. However, the Egyptian people had already acquired new values deriving from the globalization order such as human rights and political freedom. The Egyptian state has missed this particular change in its people and hence the securitization process could only fail. This failure informs us about the central importance of the co-dependency of agency and context (Balzacq, 2011:11) in the success of the securitization process. In addition, it introduces the impact of the globalization and the fast change in the values of social groups worldwide. Both factors present real challenge to the successes of securitization process. Therefore, it is crucial to keep close track to the potential changes in societal values or may be to construct societal values under control of the state in order to avoid securitization 's failures. Though, this last approach may be controversial with the democratic principles and should be carefully tackled.

References

(Balzacq, T. (2011) Securitization Theory. How Security Problems Emerge And Dissolve. Routledge.
Oxford Journals. Discrimination and the incidence of psychotic disorders among ethnic minorities in The Netherlands. [http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/4/761.full].7-2-2013.

References: (Balzacq, T. (2011) Securitization Theory. How Security Problems Emerge And Dissolve. Routledge. Oxford Journals. Discrimination and the incidence of psychotic disorders among ethnic minorities in The Netherlands. [http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/4/761.full].7-2-2013.