Journalist Self-Regulation Practices in the New Democracies - Unesco

“So what will happen if I complain” We will be able to overcome such an attitude only
if the people see success stories and precedents and understand how and why things
were done in one way or another. We must overcome such stereotypes through work.
However, there is still a lot of work to do to overcome this stereotyped thinking that
has the right to live because we still live in rather hard conditions.
— How do the journalists react when they are pointed to their mistakes To what extent
does the self-regulation mechanism make them accountable
— In 2004, we conducted a representative survey in which 109 media managers,
employers, journalists etc. participated. It was focused on journalist ethics and selfregulation
mechanisms. The survey showed that most of the interviewees thought that
a self-regulation mechanism was needed. Most of them knew very well the principles
of journalist ethics, what a journalist should do and what he should not do, and how
should fair and unbiased information look like. However, working in conditions in
which their editors are not interested in such things, they very often forget about
the ethical standards. Many times a journalist can check a piece of information by
making a simple telephone call. He can call the person about whom he writes to check
the information. And still, he does not do it. He deliberately does not do it because
he knows that if he calls he will remain without his story. The second reason for
which the journalists violate the ethical standards is the fact that many of them have
modest knowledge about how they should write. Many times, the journalist writes
very honestly about a problem, for example about a case of sexual abuse of a juvenile.
I am sure that in 90 percent of cases the journalist does not want this abused child to
be later pointed at on the street or disowned by his colleagues and the society. But he
does not think about such things when he writes. This speaks about the fact that we
should enhance the level of knowledge of the journalists about the journalist ethics
standards.
Journalist Self-Regulation Practices in the New Democracies
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