Journalist Self-Regulation Practices in the New Democracies - Unesco

The observance of presumption
of innocence was tackled during
the conference including within
a ‘practicum’-type of session,
moderated by the Co-Chairman
of the Russian Civic College for
Complaints against Press Iurii
Kazakov. “The most serious
disease of the journalists who
write on criminal topics in
Russia is their blind trust in the
information provided by the
law-enforcement bodies, Iurii
Kazakov said. The information
is not verified and many times
the source is not quoted, and
this violates the constitutional and ethical principles of presumption of innocence.”
The participants analyzed a number of situations presented by the Executive Director of the Romanian
Independent Journalism Center Ioana Avădani. Also, they analyzed the publishing of photographs of
public persons taken in non-traditional situations, which stirred reactions after their publishing but
which made the editors consult the media experts before printing.
“It was interesting to learn through what other press councils had to go and I shared our experience,
Mihail Batig said at the end of the conference. For instance, I told my colleagues that in principle
I didn’t agree with the fact that a number of commissions in other countries reacted only to the
complaints against journalists who had signed the Code of Ethics. I think this is incorrect. The selfregulation
bodies must react to each complaint filed. Everything that is printed or broadcast, if it
generates grounded objections, it must be considered and a decision must be made.”
“I think that this regional conference was exceptionally useful to us. These two principles –
presumption of innocence and protection of privacy are traumatizing positions and bearing a
high level of uncertainty. But the society and we, the lawyers, have seen precedents now and
possible settlements at regional level. We meditate on the reasons for making a decision and on
the quality of the decisions made. So our homework will be to meditate on those precedents,”
Iurii Kazakov said at the end of the conference.
Viorica Zaharia
Journalist Self-Regulation Practices in the New Democracies
9