In our class on professional ethics, we had to write an essay about the media:
By Neracoulis Audrey and Vigneron Cloé There are two important journalist’s charters, the charter of 1918 and the Munich Charter written in 1971. These charters define the profession’s rights and duties. Are the principles contained in these charters still adapted to the current media ? First of all, we will see that these charters have remained quite modern, up to today ; then we will demonstrate that they are not complete enough facing the realities of current media.
I. The charter of 1918 and the Munich charter : Relevant Charters -The authors of the charters demonstrate that they are aware of the dangers of the media professions (economic and political pressure on the journalists). -the charters deals with the deviations which may be committed by journalists (disloyal methods, plagiarism, slander…). -the Munich charter contains a section concerning journalists’ rights. This is particularly adapted to the reality of current media as there is, nowadays, a wide requirement for transparency (the right to investigate and to gain access to any source of information). The principles contained in the charters are therefore well adapted to the current media as they evoke notions such as information freedom, refusal of all kinds of censorship, respect of the individual and respect of the public, of the sources, of the profession, the seeking for truth and justice, which are particularly fundamental notions for the current media, due to the various dangers to which the profession is exposed. II. A necessary updating : These charters appear, in some ways, to be incomplete. -There should be included a stronger warning concerning the possible deviations such as approximation, lack of rigour, insufficient checking of sources. -The authors might have insisted more on the dangers of the use of the spectacular effect (this is a particular danger today due to the use of new technologies and the pressures of competition). -It would have been useful to write a section which forbade any discrimination. -Concerning the respect of private life, the principles evoked by the charters are too weak and not detailed enough to enforce respect by journalists. The charters should be clear enough to bar the journalists from any excess. - It might be necessary too for the charters to define the frontiers between a journalist (who is honour-bound to provide true information) and an intellectual (who is supposed to reflect, to provide his point of view on a subject). The journalist wouldn’t, therefore, be tempted to express a personal judgement when people need to be informed and not influenced. As a conclusion, we can say that if the majority of the principles enshrined in the charters remained very modern and are still adapted to current media, these charters are not perfectly adapted and would require various types of updating. |