Podgorica, (MINA) – Montenegro needs a self-regulatory body that would control the extent to which media outlets violate the Journalists’ Code of Ethics, since the practice proved that such form of control should exist, said Montenegrin journalist Amer Ramusovic.
He believes that the Code guidelines should not be definite, but there must exist the possibility that it can be periodically amended in line with ethical dilemmas that the practice would bring.
Asked if the Journalists’ Code, in the form it exists now, is a sufficient system of protection, Ramusovic told Mina that it is difficult to say “since journalists always believe it is not sufficient”.
“I believe that it is good to form a self-regulatory body that would control to which extent media outlets violate the code, since it has been proved in practice that such form of control must exist for some of media”, Ramusovic emphasized.
According to him, with the goal of higher respecting the Code and ethical reporting, the way of imposing more rigorous sanctions upon some media should be found.
Ramusovic said that Guideline for Section 7, which explicitly says that journalists must carefully report on private lives of people is very important, adding that however, there are those who do not obey it and “the modus for their sanctioning must be found, first of all in the media outlets they work for”.
Ramusovic said that it is positive that the new Code introduced some novelties, such as online comments.
He believes that it is not good that the Code does not envisage any sanctions, nor responsibilities in case of violation of the rules.
This text is produced with the financial support of the European Union, through the project of Dealing with Ethics and Fake News, reference number IPA2018/397-252. The content is the exclusive responsibility of the Mina news agency and does not necessarily reflect the positions of the EU. The text may be distributed provided that its source is duly credited.
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