Cultural relativism

Cultural relativism

Cultural relativism maintains that people’s values, practices, and beliefs should be understood on the basis of their own culture instead of being judged against the criteria of others. Through cultural relativism, certain social practices are only understood based on the cultural meanings of the society in which they take place.

For a long time, Cultural relativism has been demonstrated in the media where readers fail to look beyond their customary media channels like papers and televisions. Different global institutions and organizations such as UNESCO have been on the front line campaigning for press freedom and inclusion. This was demonstrated during the 25th edition of World Press Freedom Day, where different organizations came together with aims of honoring global efforts for press freedom. Consulting different media arguments as well as facts, is important as it creates better-informed citizenries.

Additionally, various campaigns such as ‘Media Unite for Press Freedom’ should be aimed at turning the spotlight on the sensitive role played by a free and independent press in democracies. According to UNESCO, a critical and informed civil society assists in ensuring the transparency of political processes as well as state institutions that are always accountable to the public.

Cultural relativist maintains that different societies have different moral codes and that there is no objective standard good enough to judge another society’s code as better than another. The media should, therefore, consult sources from different cultures to provide people with comprehensive information. Cultural relativism leads to an emphatic understanding of different issues. To do so, people should first understand that their cultures are among many others in the world with different codes and that the understanding results from comparison and contrasts, which allow others to exist.