Community Radio Pledge (pdf) - amarc

ApproachWhat is essential to bring peace is knowledge and ethical behavior.Ethical code of conduct, incidentally, happens to be an issue of intensestudy of ethics. This is linked with each and every sphere of human activity.But this book will deal with issues which confront one in the course ofundertaking activities in the field of mass communication and also conflictthat erupt driven by personal interest. Conversely, the content will berestricted to how alert one should be in doing one's duty, and professionaldilemma thrown by the consequences thereof.There is always a need for some universal values while accomplishing thetasks so that the same is beneficial to all concerned. Some important contextswill be dealt in this book so that one is able to review the situation one is in, canassess the social impact of the same, can identify the decisions that must betaken then and there while one can also identify the individual and group whichwill be affected by the decision, to remain alert to professional responsibility,one's belief and faith and to find out belief and faith of other individual andgroup involved in such a situation before one can evaluate the outcome ofones action and come to a conclusion to deal with such a situation in future. Ananalysis of such contexts can be expected to introduce journalists with one'sethical standing, something which can affect their competence in spontaneousmanner at definite time.There is no unanimity among pundits of ethics when it comes to defineit. But just too many pundits have however suggested study of ethics inunanimous manner. According to them the scope of the study of ethics isnature of social values, and conflict between individuals and level ofunderstanding. There are certain words with us which more or less denotethe same connotation and comprise values-perception, morality, law andethics. Here, let us first of all try to identify such words before finding outdistinction between them and their connotation.What is well known are values and perception, morality and lawsvary as the cultures change. For example, Nepalese law has put any unionwith close relative in the bracket of criminal act by considering it as anincestuous relationship. But there are certain communities in Nepal in whichunion is possible between cousins. Values and perception and morality tooare subject to similar nuances.But can ethics be different when the cultures are different? Thisincidentally is the question that will demand us poring over it with tensebrow. Given the cultural moorings, Limbus, Tamangs, Rais, Brahmins, Newarsand Tharus are different from each others. But ethics applicable in programproduction cannot and should not be different when a Brahmin, a Limbu ora Tharu works for a radio station. While laws outlines basic activities ofman and also outlines punishment in the case of their violation, ethics in13