29. 01. 2013

MORAL VALUES BEFORE CIRCULATION

Belgrade, January 29, 2013 (Danas) - The recent incident between the leaders of the soccer club Crvena zvezda, president Dragan Dzajic and vice-president Nebojsa Covic, has once again put the problem of timely and accurate reporting of media in the public focus.

The information that two leaders of the Belgrade football club had allegedly hit each other has spread so fast not only in all local, but also in some foreign media, that no one has double-checked the source of that information.

As the Covic party has denied the physicall attack ever happening, the question of journalist's responsibility for (in)accurate reporting, namely sanctions for it, is being raised. Thus we have the accuracy and ethics in reporting on one side and the need for jumps in circulation achieved with having strong stories and being the first to publish the news on the other, which obviously shortens the time for verifying the information and its source.

Secretary General of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) Nino Brajovic says that the Journalists' Code is sacred and that the verification of the accuracy of information with at least two independent sources is the first rule of journalism. However, Brajovic says, it is sometimes impossible.

"Journalists convey relative, not absolute truth. They present different views of the same event. The question here is only the trustworthiness of the source of information. Of course the news should not wait to be published, but the journalists are duty-bound to check their information, or at least try to verify it, before sending it to air. This verification would surely not weaken the papers or tabloids; in the end, it is the credibility the media enjoys on the market, not the mere circulation", Brajovic explains.