Cultural Competence And Ethnorelativism

Ethnorelativism is the acquired ability to examine various values and behaviours as a culture. To view your own culture and compare it with other cultures. Ethnocentrism and ethnocentrism measure how well we relate to other cultures. It is a denial and defence on the ethnocentrism side, while there is an acceptance, integration, and adaptation on the ethnorelativism side (Mangla, 2005). It is a narrow mindset which doesn’t lend itself to reducing cultural differences and learning how to communicate with people from different cultures efficiently. The purpose of cultural competence is to move from ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism aspect which can help us to see similarities and understand the cultural sensitivities. For instance, Indian immigrants in the USA are facing many cultural issues, and also Americans do not accept them easily. Because few people know about the Indian context, and most people view them according to our own culture. Also, Indian move from denial to being able and accept them and to the adapt stage of the cultural gaps. When Indian colleagues work with native Americans, they face communication hurdles; however, with time, they overcome them and raise their effectiveness.

Cultural competence refers to understanding people across cultures and communicating with them effectively. According to Wanner et al. (2016), cultural competence means being aware of other cultures and developing a positive attitude toward other cultures. It also refers to acquiring knowledge of various cultural practices. For instance, learn about honour, histories, cultures, traditions, and children rearing, etc. In the USA, people across the globe have migrated, having different cultures and religions. So multimedia communication should consider all these religious and cultural differences. For instance, there is a large Muslim community, and most of the Muslims are peaceful. However, due to the 9/11 incident and onward, they faced criticism on television and other mediums.

Media is used for information sharing and entertainment purposes. It disseminates information to the audience around the country and across borders. The use of the internet and social media has removed all the hurdles and broadened the scope of multimedia communication. Moreover, it has increased the responsibility of media professionals to consider cross-cultural sensitivities (Igger, 2018). American media has viewers around the world due to its authenticity and, to a greater extent, unbiased and culturally acceptable around the globe. Initially, I had an issue communicating with Indians due to our cultural differences and ethnocentrist perspective. However, when during my professional life I had many Indian colleagues and I learned about the Indian context, I found their culture very colorful, interesting, and full of traditional events.

Ethics is very important in media making and newsgathering; it is a huge responsibility, and a media professional should consider all the ethical standards. Ethics in newsgathering is not against competitiveness. Certain strategies can overcome biases in newsgathering and media making. Here, I will discuss three strategies that can help mass media professionals perform their duties in a very professional way.

Being transparent regarding the content which is used to be published in the media, the news should be published with all relevant proofs and witnesses. The content should be shared with the name of the content owner.

The safety of the contributors and their emotional state should be considered. The dignity and self-respect of a person should not be affected by the news published in the media (Luetkemeyer & Jorden, 2019). Being a media professional, I always get permission from the content providers and victims because, in some cases, they don’t show their identity or publish their stories.

Many challenges are facing as a media creator, especially in the era of social media. Sometimes, a little mistake can create bigger problems for us. Some of these challenges will be discussed here briefly.

• Safety issues of the contributor
• Rights and legal issues
• Flow and resources.

In some cultures, we don’t understand, but some of the news is highly sensitive, and people are not allowed to express their ideas. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, no one is allowed to say something about their government. On the next day, the person will be imprisoned. Similarly, in some cultures, you are not allowed to talk about the religious founders. So, ethnorelative and cultural competence is essential. Similarly, the rights and legal issues are important, especially when you are going to post pictures or videos of the contributor. For instance, in some cultures, like Asians, the females sometimes don’t allow you to post their pictures on social media.

Cultural competence and ethnorelativism are important especially in the USA because of its diversified culture. The immigrants here are still bound by their cultures and traditions. All of them have the right to live in their own way. During my professional career, I learned may facts regarding cross-culture communication and my professional responsibilities. I have learned about work ethics and my professional responsibilities during my on-the-job training and workshops. I have also learned work ethics during my studies. The professional ethical standards of mass media can be learned from the internet, and other published materials published by the regulating bodies.

I believe that the reporter must be accurate, and the story or news content should be taken from reliable resources. When there are certain errors in the news disseminated, it should not be ignored and the corrections must be submitted. News related to a private person must be carefully published, and the privacy rights of the person must be considered. However, public figures have fewer privacy rights according to US law.

References

Iggers, J. (2018). Good news, bad news: Journalism ethics and the public interest. Routledge.

Luetkemeyer, J., & Jordan, R. (2019). Impact of a study abroad courses on cultural sensitivity. Online learning.

Magala, S. (2005). Cross-cultural competence. Routledge.

Wanner, L., Blat, J., Dasiopoulou, S., Domínguez, M., Llorach, G., Mille, S., … & André, E. (2016, June). Towards a multimedia knowledge-based agent with social competence and human interaction capabilities. In Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval for Multimodal Interaction (pp. 21-26). ACM.