Ética Periodística a Principios del Siglo XXI - Monitorando

freedoms of journalists since the right of orientation of the media owners is not absolute
(idem: p. 10).
There is an existing gap in the Television Law 67 , insofar as it does not regulate
the cooperation between the business owner and the person responsible for the
Information Directorate. It only stipulates the obligation of someone responsible for the
content of what is broadcasted and another person for information (article 35), which
leaves no margin of autonomy in face of business leaders. The same is not verified in
the Press Law which seeks more immediately the separation between the fields of
activity of the owner and the director, the first having to run the company and the
second the editorial orientation (article 20, no. 1, paragraph a) cit. in ERC, 2009: p. 11).
Another important issue also addressed by ERC’s resolution is the extent of this
understanding to the TV. Bearing in mind its gap, there should be an analogy in case of
omission (as posits article 10 of the Portuguese Civil Code), interpreting this gap in the
law in order to assign the same autonomy to the Director of Information. We should
also add to this consideration the provisions of article 12, no. 2 of the Journalists’
Statute: the right of these professionals to refuse any order or instruction of service
focusing on editorial matters from someone who does not have a management or
leadership position in the area of information.
The characteristics mentioned above were verified in the present case and it is
worth to highlight another topic, namely the ERC’s Regulatory Council’s efforts to
investigate the lack of application or issue of a title of director treated as journalist in
favour of Bernardo Bairrão at the “Comissão da Carteira Profissional de Jornalista”, the
Portuguese entity responsible for issuing journalists’ titles (ERC, 2009: p. 3). In
addition to this, it is not legal that someone who does not have identification of a
director performs functions of leadership in the information area in a company of this
sort (article 15, no. 3 of the Journalists’ Statute). The journalist has been arrested in
amongst internal and external pressures, in a game of horizontal forces (thereby
undermining the commitment he had made towards his team and the society) and
vertical forces (in a “spider web” of hierarchical relations typical of a corporate group).
Members of the ERC’s Regulatory Council also considered that this is an action
placed in the editorial sphere since it was about a choice on the model of a news service
(ERC, 2009: p. 12).
67 By the time this article was being written, a new Law for Television was being discussed in the Portuguese
Parliament.
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